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How do I configure the HubSpot integration in Chat?

Jonathan Gittins
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The HubSpot integration lets a Chat Journey create and update HubSpot Contacts, update properties and owners, and log the conversation on the Contact. HubSpot can be the only CRM on your tenant, or it can be connected alongside Salesforce.

Table of Contents

Connecting HubSpot

HubSpot is connected once for your whole organization, from Command Center > Integrations. The setup steps and the permission scopes are in Configuring the HubSpot Integration for your Organization.

If Salesforce is already connected, HubSpot connects alongside it. Each CRM keeps its own row and its own connection status:

Integrations page with Salesforce and HubSpot both connected

Note: When HubSpot is connected, the Marketo integration is not shown on the Integrations page.

Data Field Mapping

Once HubSpot is connected, each data field shows a Mapping to Hubspot section. On a tenant with both CRMs, it sits below the Mapping to Salesforce section, and a data field can carry a mapping to each.

  1. Go to Command Center > Data Fields.
  2. Open the data field, for example Email.
  3. In the Mapping to Hubspot section, select Add Mapping.
  4. Select the HubSpot object and field, for example Contact > email.
  5. Select Publish.

Email data field mapped to Salesforce Contact and Lead email, and to HubSpot Contact email

⚠️ Warning: Map Email to the HubSpot Contact > email field before you build a Journey with HubSpot nodes. HubSpot nodes match and create Contacts by email, and this mapping is not added for you when you connect HubSpot.

Routing rules can use HubSpot fields as well. On a tenant with both CRMs, a rule can combine Salesforce and HubSpot conditions.

Journeys are listed under Chat Flows. HubSpot nodes appear under CRM Operations when you add a node to a Journey. On a tenant with both CRMs, Salesforce and HubSpot nodes are listed together, each with its CRM's icon:

Node menu listing Salesforce and HubSpot nodes under CRM Operations

All HubSpot nodes need the visitor's email, so capture it earlier in the Journey.

Update or Create Contact Node

After collecting an email, you can update an existing HubSpot Contact or create a new one at any point in your Journey.

Chili Piper first checks whether a Contact with that email exists:

  • Update Matched Contact – when enabled, a matched Contact is updated with the data fields captured earlier in the Journey. When disabled, existing Contacts are not modified;
  • Create Contact – when enabled, a new Contact is created if none matches. Choose one of two options:
  • Create Contact – creates the Contact only if the visitor's email domain matches a HubSpot Company;
  • Always create Contact – creates the Contact whether or not a Company matches, and associates it with the Company when one does.

New nodes start with Update Matched Contact enabled and Always create Contact selected.

Update or Create Contact node with Update Matched Contact enabled and Always create Contact selected

⚠️ Warning: A data field only replaces a value that already exists on the Contact when Overwrite is enabled on its HubSpot mapping. Overwrite is disabled by default, so enable it on each data field you want kept up to date (see Data Field Mapping).

Note: Chat visitors are often new to your company. With Create Contact, a visitor whose company is not yet in HubSpot does not get a Contact.

Create Engagement Node

Within the Meeting Scheduled paths, after a Route for Meeting node and an Update or Create Contact node, this node creates a HubSpot Engagement attached to a related object: Company, Deal, or Ticket.

Create Engagement node configuration

You can also choose whether the Engagement is deleted when the meeting is canceled or deleted from the rep's calendar.

Note: Create Engagement is not offered when Salesforce is also connected. See Using HubSpot and Salesforce on the Same Path.

Update Property Node

After an Update or Create Contact node, you can set a Contact, Company, Deal, or Ticket property in HubSpot to a chosen value at any point in your Journey. You can update several properties in the same node.

Update Property node configuration

The properties in this example are picklists with options defined in HubSpot. For other property types, type the value to set.

Update Ownership Node

This node sets the HubSpot owner (the standard Owner field) to the assignee Chili Piper selected during a live chat or a meeting.

To use this node, first route the visitor for a live chat or a meeting, and add an Update or Create Contact node.

Update Ownership node configuration

You can choose which object is updated, depending on which object was matched in HubSpot.

Log Activity Node

This node writes the finished conversation onto the HubSpot Contact, so reps can read what was discussed without leaving HubSpot.

Log Activity needs two things earlier on the same path: an Update or Create Contact node, and either a Route for Live Chat node or a Start Chat AI node. Without either, the Journey does not publish.

Two settings are available on the node:

  • Delay before Logging Activity – how long to wait after the last message before the activity is logged. The default is five minutes, which gives the conversation time to finish. The example below is set to one minute;
  • Include chat transcript in activity log – on by default. Turn it off to log the conversation details without the message lines.

Log Activity node with the delay set to one minute and the transcript included

The conversation is logged once. It is not updated afterwards, and it is attached to the Contact only.

Activity or note

How the conversation appears in HubSpot depends on when your HubSpot connection was last authorized:

  • Connections that include the timeline scope get a Chili Piper activity on the Contact's timeline, showing the flow name, the last page the visitor was on, the assigned rep, a link back to the chat log in Chili Piper, and the transcript;
  • Older connections get a note on the Contact carrying the same content.

The activity is the better of the two, because it is a HubSpot event type – you can use it in dynamic lists, lead scoring, workflow enrollment triggers and reports. A note cannot be used that way. To upgrade, ask your HubSpot admin to reconnect the integration. See Configuring the HubSpot Integration for your Organization.

Using HubSpot and Salesforce on the Same Path

When both CRMs are connected, every Web Experience flow can use both – a Journey path can include HubSpot nodes and Salesforce nodes. Each node writes only to its own CRM.

A common setup: marketing uses HubSpot and sales uses Salesforce, and HubSpot's own Salesforce sync copies new Contacts across to Salesforce as Leads. The HubSpot node creates the record, and the Salesforce node waits for the synced copy instead of creating a second one.

  1. Add an Update or Create Contact node (HubSpot) after the visitor's email is captured.
  2. Add an Update or Create Record node (Salesforce) after it.
  3. On the Salesforce node, under Create Contact or Lead, select Retry matching to lead or contact.

HubSpot Update or Create Contact node followed by a Salesforce Update or Create Record node set to Retry matching to lead or contact

Retry matching to lead or contact tells Chili Piper not to create a Salesforce record. Instead, it re-checks for the record by email, on a retry schedule that runs for up to 48 hours while the HubSpot sync completes. If no matching record appears in that window, no record is updated.

⚠️ Warning: After a HubSpot node, the Salesforce node's Create Contact or Lead section defaults to Create Contact or Lead. Select Retry matching to lead or contact yourself. Creating the record in both systems produces duplicates once the sync runs.

How the two CRMs work together

  • Meetings are written to Salesforce only. The meeting, and the event on it, go to Salesforce;
  • Create Engagement is not offered. The HubSpot Create Engagement node is removed from the node menu while Salesforce is connected;
  • Both connections need to be healthy. Every Journey on the tenant uses both CRMs, so if the HubSpot connection is in trouble, Salesforce steps wait as well. Reconnect a connection that is in trouble from Command Center > Integrations.

Checking the result

The session's chat log lists the record in each CRM under CRM Records:

Chat log showing a Salesforce Lead and a HubSpot Contact under CRM Records, with the meeting scheduled

Select a HubSpot node in the chat log to see what it did – for example, that the Contact was created:

Chat log with the HubSpot Update or Create Contact node showing the Contact was created

For a booked meeting, the CRM Actions tab of the meeting in the Meetings Report lists every Salesforce and HubSpot action and its status:

CRM Actions tab in the Meetings Report listing Salesforce and HubSpot actions

Limitations

  • All HubSpot nodes require the visitor's email to be captured first in the Journey;
  • When both CRMs are connected, meetings are written to Salesforce only, and the Create Engagement node is not available;
  • The Log Activity node logs the conversation once, on the Contact only.

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