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Welcome to our HubSpot Product Spotlight for April. In this blog, we’ll explore some of the team's favourite HubSpot updates from the last month.
Ready? Let’s dive in!
Now Live
These are all the new features live and ready to use in your HubSpot portal.
1. Alt text and image dimensions in HubDB image columns
What is it?
Support for setting alt text and image dimensions in HubDB image columns.
Why does it matter?
Alt text is an essential attribute of website images for SEO and accessibility. Additionally, the ability to specify image width and height helps content creators set how large an image should be displayed, and helps optimise page load speed.
Previously, alt text and image height and width were not something customers using HubDB image columns were able to set through the editor (only through the API), so either customers would create separate column types to house this data, or not use them at all.
2. Order and Cart Public APIs
What is it?
New CRM public APIs are now available for two objects: Orders and Carts. These APIs will now enable customers, partners and developers to read and write order and cart data in HubSpot.
Why does it matter?
HubSpot's new public APIs for Orders and Carts offer the ability to seamlessly utilise these objects in custom apps and integrations.
Previously, the absence of Orders and Cart objects in HubSpot posed challenges, leading partners to adopt workaround solutions by syncing this data into the Deals object. However, this approach was suboptimal as Deals primarily catered to sales functions, causing complications for customers relying on it for their sales pipelines.
By introducing the Order and Cart APIs, we aim to address these issues and empower partners and developers to create advanced ecommerce integrations for HubSpot. They can now effortlessly sync ecommerce orders to HubSpot's dedicated Orders object and monitor abandoned carts and checkouts using the Cart object.
Importantly, the Orders API's utility extends beyond ecommerce scenarios. ERP systems like Netsuite can leverage the Orders object to sync sales orders into HubSpot. With these APIs, we seek to support ERP and Commerce partners in seamlessly representing order data within HubSpot, thereby enhancing the overall integration ecosystem.
3. Multi-language support for AI Assistant in Conversations Inbox
What is it?
Multi-language support for AI Assistant in Conversations Inbox will automatically detect the language being used in the composer to return AI generated content in the language in which a user is typing.
Why does it matter?
As it exists today, the AI Assistants for generating/editing text and summarizing conversations in Inbox return text in the set portal language. This restricts users that may have conversations with contacts in multiple languages and requires manual effort to translate outgoing messages.
Multi-language support will increase efficiency by returning AI generated content in the Inbox in the language used in the composer.
4. AI Assistant for Google Search Ads
What is it?
HubSpot users can now use AI Assistant in Ads to generate ad copy from scratch using simple prompts for Google search ads. For more information, please check out our knowledge base doc here.
Why does it matter?
Content creation is not only time-consuming, but harder than ever - and is paired with consistently higher bars for what customers will interact with.
At HubSpot, we want to empower our customers by making quality ad creation quick and easy. We want to help you create ad campaigns that have a higher chance of performing well and free up more time for you to focus on managing and optimising your ad campaigns.
You can now use the AI assistant in Ads which will enable you to generate ad copy from simple prompts. You can also rewrite, expand, and shorten generated copy to give you more control over the AI-generated text.
5. New filters for Reports in the Middle Column
What is it?
You can now choose between three different filters for single object reports in the middle column of the record: associations, subject, and unfiltered.
Why does it matter?
Let's imagine you're jumping on a call with a customer. You want to see:
- How much the customer spent last quarter
- And, how that compares to total customer spend in the last quarter
You can now answer that question with the new filters on single object reports for the middle column.
6. Connect WhatsApp to Help Desk
What is it?
WhatsApp is now available as a channel to Help Desk, HubSpot's new ticket management workspace, purpose-built for your support team to provide efficient and empathetic customer service.
Help desk consolidates tickets and conversations in a centralised workspace, allowing your support team to intake, triage, troubleshoot, and resolve customer requests much more efficiently. With ticket automation, omnichannel messaging (now including WhatsApp), a 360-degree customer view powered by the CRM, and a growing list of AI-backed features, help desk contains all the tools your team needs to provide world-class service, at scale.
Why does it matter?
Businesses wishing to provide omni-channel support, meeting their customers where and when they choose, can now do so in Help Desk over WhatsApp, a popular instant messaging platform used by ~2 billion people worldwide, hundreds of millions of whom prefer to contact businesses over that channel.
7. Calling as a channel in the Help Desk
What is it?
The Help Desk (public beta) now includes calling as a channel. You can now connect a HubSpot-provided phone number to your Help Desk, directing inbound calls to a group of reps. Inbound calls will simultaneously ring up to 100 available users and create a new ticket in the connected pipeline.
Why does it matter?
Help Desk is a powerful new feature that consolidates tools that enable customer support agents to resolve issues efficiently. This new feature update enhances its omni-channel capabilities by introducing calling. Benefits include:
Increased efficiency and collaboration:
- Inbound calls simultaneously ring up to 100 users, ensuring swift connection with an available rep
- Call notes and recordings are logged on threads, for efficient context gathering
- Users can make outbound calls from existing threads, and easily switch channels for streamlined follow-up
Improved Caller experience:
- configure channel working hours, set custom voicemail messages, and seamlessly switch channels for faster issue resolution.
8. Gauge Comparisons in Custom Report Builder
What is it?
Gauges in the Custom Report Builder can now use "Compare by" to enable over time comparisons. Add a date based property and select from preset comparisons or create a custom one.
Why does it matter?
Gauges are great for providing a quick, visual summary of performance against a predefined goal or benchmark.
Understanding that performance over time is critical for telling the whole story.
New Gauge comparisons make it easy to add time comparisons to your Gauges.
9. Improvements to 'Marketing event' associations in Campaigns
What is it?
We have improved the association functionality of ‘marketing events’ with a HubSpot campaign: You can now add marketing events including offline event data to a campaign, and, create a new marketing event from within the ‘Add assets’ modal.
Why does it matter?
Historically it was only possible to add 'online' marketing events to a campaign when selecting the 'Marketing events' category. The respective marketing events data origins from HubSpot's Marketing events object, allowing you to manage online (virtual) marketing events activities with an event integration such as Zoom, Eventbrite, GoToWebinar etc.
However, restricting event activity in the Campaigns tool to solely 'online' marketing events is leading to incomplete campaign management processes, forcing you to find time-consuming and cumbersome workarounds. With trade shows remaining a vital ROI-source for marketing teams, 'static contact lists' have oftentimes been added to a campaign to help track offline event registrants, attendees, no-shows and more.
With the latest improvements to HubSpot's Marketing events object, you can now manage both online marketing events (via integration) and non-online marketing activities (via new import flow) from within one object. This means that you can now bring all your marketing events data into HubSpot, and use the power of HubSpot Marketing events to manage and automate your event activities.
This, in turn, enriches the marketing events data inside the Campaigns tool which makes it easier for you to manage and report on your marketing campaigns that include online and offline event data - removing the needs for workaround and siloed campaigns reporting.
10. View exact upcoming release dates in the Product Updates UI
What is it?
Customers can view their exact release dates for upcoming changes through the Coming Soon tab in the Product Updates UI.
Why does it matter?
Customers often run into issues when changes are made to their account without prior notice. They’re unable to have an effective change management process and are forced to adopt a reactive approach to change.
Surfacing exact upcoming release dates solves for this by providing admins with prior notice of changes, helping them switch to proactive change management. With this, admins can effectively test changes, update their documentation, and enable their users before a feature is live in their account.
These exact release dates are found through the Coming Soon tab in the Product Updates UI, which includes updates that are scheduled to be sunsetted or go live within your account. This tab is meant to act as a resource for staying up to date on all expected changes so that your users are able to seamlessly adopt new features upon release.
Note: Release dates may change without notice.
11. Discover Academy Content in Global Search
What is it?
Now, you can search for HubSpot Academy training via the global search bar in the HubSpot navigation. Search through HubSpot Academy's comprehensive content catalog to learn new strategies, tactics, and software features available in your account. Search results will provide a detailed description, instructor(s), difficulty level, and duration to help you find the educational content that fits your needs.
Why does it matter?
In global search, you can now see Academy videos with actionable details to find the right content for your needs. You will now be able to view the COURSE, LESSON, or CERTIFICATION tag, along with the instructor, level, video duration, and description of the video.
12. Import an opt-out list for a specific business unit
What is it?
Users can now target a specific business unit when importing an opt-out list.
Why does it matter?
Previously, you were only able to import opt-out lists for the account default business unit. This meant that users who wanted to opt contacts out of communication from a different business unit had to manually do so after importing, or set up automated workflows that handled this process. This process simply did not scale for upmarket customers when they updated subscription preferences, and could lead to an incorrect number of billable contacts in their portal. With this new functionality, it will be much easier for admins to manage the opt-out process for their contacts in one import, saving them time as they manage their contact database.
13. Proactive alerts for new duplicate records
What is it?
Introducing the ability to configure proactive alerts for new duplicate records!
Why does it matter?
As your business grows, so does the amount of data in your CRM. Managing and cleaning that data should be easy, intuitive, and, ideally, something that your CRM platform helps out with!
In the past, users have had to check for new duplicate records in-app. Not anymore! Notifications can now be configured through the data quality command center, and are sent whenever new duplicates are detected.
Alerts can be viewed in-app, and then easily actioned from within the duplicate manager.
14. Find Companies by owners, industry and address fields
What is it?
Now, you can find companies by standard HubSpot fields of country, state, street address, and industry, using the Global Search. You can also find companies by the email address, first name, or last name of the company's owners.
Why does it matter?
Previously, when you were working with a company by region or industry, you couldn't find all companies through Global Search at a particular address or by their industry.
If you wanted to find companies you own or companies that a colleague owns, you would have to remember the names of the companies someone owned, as shown below.
15. Email reply notifications
What is it?
You can now be notified via HubSpot if a contact replies to an email sent from your personal connected email.
Why does it matter?
When working in your email client, it is easy to see replies to your emails enter your inbox. However, when working in HubSpot, it can be frustrating to have to leave the app to know you should follow up with a contact. Now, you can be notified by your preferred channel while working.
16. Google Enhanced Conversions for Leads
What is it?
Google enhanced conversions is an ad conversion events feature that can improve the accuracy of your conversion measurement and unlock more powerful bidding. It supplements your existing conversion tags by sending hashed first-party conversion data from your website to Google in a privacy-safe way. The feature uses a secure one-way hashing algorithm called SHA256 on your first-party customer data, such as email addresses, before sending to Google.
Why does it matter?
As cookies go away and ad tracking becomes more limited, it is important for advertisers to get their conversion data back to the ad networks in a secure, privacy first manner. With enhanced conversions, HubSpot will send offline lifecycle stage change data back to Google server side. This will:
- Recover conversions that otherwise wouldn’t have been measured
- Improve bidding optimisation through better data
- Be privacy safe with hashing of first-party customer data
17. New Export functionalities in Campaigns
What is it?
You can now make use of a brand-new, customisable Export functionality on your Campaigns details page.
In our efforts to ensure the Exporting experience in Campaigns is as consistent as possible, we have also enabled the Export CTA in the 'influenced contacts' modal, and will soon start with the development of an Export functionality inside the 'Compare Campaigns' tool.
18. Repeat Imports Are Now More Flexible
What is it?
The repeat import tool is now more flexible. When repeating an import, you can now:
- Have column headers with different letter casing ('first name' instead of 'First Name')
- Rearrange the order of your columns in your new import
- Add additional columns if needed
Why does it matter?
When we first launched repeat imports, the file headers in your new import file had to exactly match the columns from the previous import you did. This meant a small change in casing, the order of the columns in your file, or additional columns would render the template useless. Feedback from customers showed that they typically want to use repeat imports as a starting point, but the restrictions we put in place here limited their use cases for them.
With this update, we're making the repeat import functionality more flexible, so customers can better take advantage of this functionality as a starting point for their import.
19. Custom Lead Properties, Required Lead Properties and Lead Form Customisation
What is it?
Custom properties, our most requested feature since launch, is now available! This release includes the ability to:
- Add custom properties to the lead object
- Control which properties are required to progress a lead
- Customise the lead creation form
Why does it matter?
Prior to this launch, customers were only able to use the default properties available on the lead object. However, many organisations have complex sales processes that require modifications to our out of the box leads model. Examples include:
- Additional properties that need to be captured when a lead is created
- Properties of objects associated to the lead that need to be synced to the lead record for routing, reporting and more
- Required properties that need to be captured before creating, qualifying or disqualifying a lead to ensure proper data hygiene and accurate reporting
20. Marketing contacts settings in custom feedback surveys
What is it?
Customers now have the flexibility to mark contacts created through a custom feedback survey as "marketing contacts" or regular contacts.
Note: Please note that this change is applicable only to customers who have both Service Hub Pro+ subscription and Marketing Hub Starter+ subscription.
Why does it matter?
Customers will have better control over how they manage their contacts created through custom feedback surveys.
21. Improved Record Attachments Experience
What is it?
With this rollout, we give users a robust file management system on records. You can now:
- Bubble up the files you care most about by sorting, searching, and filtering your attachments.
- Rename your attachments and take bulk file actions such as download and delete.
- View a lot of the file metadata that was previously unavailable to you such as upload date, source, and file type.
Why does it matter?
Today, users spend a lot of time painfully browsing through a long list of attachments to find what they are looking for. They can now access a list of record attachments with its associated metadata in a simplified grok table. Users can now sort, search, or filter to quickly find the files they care most about and take bulk actions. This makes users more efficient and gives them time back to do their core jobs instead of struggling to manage their record attachments.
22. Use Global Search through keyboard shortcuts
What is it?
You can now use keyboard shortcuts to open and close Global Search as well as to quickly navigate through the results.
Why does it matter?
Searching for anything in Global Search required moving back and forth between the mouse and keyboard to click into global search, type a search term and then scroll through and select a result. This was a user experience with lots of friction for efficiency.
23. Associate Custom objects from Contacts, Companies, Deals and Tickets on iOS
What is it?
iOS Users can associate a Custom object from a Contact, Company, Deal or Ticket record, as well as add association labels.
Why does it matter?
Users who have configured Custom objects want to be able to create associations between other record types when using the mobile app on the go. Users were previously able create associations between Custom objects and Contacts, Companies, Deal and Tickets (CCDTs) from the Custom object record, but they are not able to do this from CCDT records. Now users can also make these associations from the CCDT record.
24. Clone your Social Posts and Marketing Emails
What is it?
Marketers can now win time and be more efficient with the new cloning capability enabled for their social posts and marketing emails from their phones.
Users can now clone their social posts in any stage – draft, scheduled, or published – using this feature. It's only applicable to posts created and published through the HubSpot Social tool. Let’s dive deep into this feature!
How does it work for Social?
Users can now clone their social posts in any stage – draft, scheduled, or published – using this feature. It's only applicable to posts created and published through the HubSpot Social tool. Enabling the clone option allows marketers to create their posts including visual content such as images and videos faster on the go.
Once the user selects the clone option, the Social Editor will appear pre-filled with all the information ready to schedule, save as a draft or publish the post. This feature is only available on iOS.
How does it work for Marketing Email?
Marketing Email, cloning is supported for scheduled, drafted, and sent marketing emails. By default, each email will be cloned as a regular email. Marketers can then adjust the settings and elements, including the subject line, preview, and so forth.
In this initial version, AB Regular, AB Automated, and Blog emails cannot be cloned.
On mobile, we view convenience as a must. Improving our existing feature with more capabilities like cloning allows marketers to generate easily content in between moments of their lives wherever they are.
25. Skill-based Ticket Routing: Quality of Life Improvements
What is it?
We are delivering several quality of life improvements to skill-based routing, primarily around the relationship between users, skills, and skill-based routing rules, and also reducing the time it takes an admin to set up their skills.
Why does it matter?
Because managing skill-based routing is as much about managing users and skills as it is routing rules, we are making it easier to understand the connection between users, skills, and routing rules.
26. Approvals on Marketing Emails on Mobile
What is it?
Marketers can now manage their approvals from mobile. Marketers can request an approval for their marketing email and managers can approve or request changes on the go.
Why does it matter?
Today, marketers need to jump through too many loops before they can send a marketing email. They have to go back and forth using multiple external tools to make sure all stakeholders involved review the email. This decentralised process is inefficient, unproductive, and causes a lot of friction for customers.
Approvals on mobile centralise and streamline the process, making collaboration easier for marketers.
27. 'Property breakdown' filters is rolling out to all of customer journey analytics
What is it?
'Property breakdowns' is the best feature to use when you are creating a report in journey analytics and need a little help getting started. If you aren't trying to filter to a specific event property or don't know which property values to filter to, this feature will do the work for you. All you have to do is select the event property you want to have broken down. Then, tell us how many top results you want to see, and we'll automatically create the branch for you.
Why does it matter?
The ability to filter on an event inside customer journey analytics means you can hone in on any part of the journey to understand what's working and what's not. However, with so many different channels and possible pathways, it can be time-consuming to identify which pathways are the most taken by contacts in your CRM.
Now, all you have to do is select the property you want to break down and we'll show you the most common pathways.
28. Date property filtering now defaults to Account timezone
What is it?
We are making understanding and applying date filters in your lists and workflows easier. Previously you could choose between your Account’s timezone and UTC to determine when your date filters would be applied.Now, custom date property filters will be applied at midnight of your Account’s timezone.
Note: This only applies to Custom Date properties (Date/Time properties defined by HubSpot will not be affected by this update)
Why does it matter?
With this update, we are making the experience of selecting and applying date filters consistent and easy to understand. This will lead to an improved experience with workflows and lists that rely on date filters, and eliminate confusion that often led to automation errors.
29. Display message on archiving/unarchiving subscription action
What is it?
Previously, there wasn't clarity on what happens when a subscription type is archived or unarchived. Now, on attempting to archive or unarchive a subscription type, you will be informed about what to expect and the implications from that action.
Why does it matter?
Reduce accidental archiving or unarchiving of subscription types. When a portal user attempts to archive or unarchive a subscription type, they will see an information modal about implications for that action.
30. Collaboration sidebar in the CTAs tool
What is it?
The Collaboration sidebar is now part of the newest CTAs tool.
You can now comment on CTAs within HubSpot, create tasks for yourself or colleagues and view your Marketing Calendar all while editing CTAs.
Why does it matter?
Up until now, there were no options to collaborate and work directly with colleagues inside the CTAs tool.
You had to rely on external sources like e-mail or Slack to ask colleagues to review CTAs and provide feedback on the required changes. These external conversations meant that the context was quickly lost.
Adding the collaboration sidebar into the CTAs tool allows these conversations to happen seamlessly within HubSpot while holding all relevant context easily accessible when needed.
31. Converting Landing Pages in Free and Starter tiers to an advanced editing experience
What is it?
With this update, we're making it easier to customise landing pages in Free and Starter tiers by converting the Landing Pages to having advanced editing functionality, including:
- Drag and drop access to custom and default modules
- Add HTML to their Header and Footer
- Access and make changes to the site source code
Why does it matter?
Having access to edit the code of a page and custom modules means that users can make more fine-tuned changes to their pages and add richer content to their landing pages.
32. Association Label History and In-App Association API Details
What is it?
Admins can now view the association label history for updates to association labels and their limits. The label history captures which user made each change, what the label was when it was created, when a label limit was updated, and if the label changes. In addition to the label history, admins will be able to view API details for the association labels, including the internal values of association definitions.
Why does it matter?
As customers continue to use and update their association labels to adapt to dynamic business needs, it’s hard for admins to keep track of all the updates that were made over time. If an admin wanted to reference a previous state because an association label was changed by mistake or find the internal values of association definitions to use in the API, there’s currently no way for them to self-service and find that information in-app.
The new association label history functionality allows admins to view the association label and limit history to easily track down the details around specific association label changes that were made.
In addition to viewing the label history, admins will also be able to easily see information on the internal values of association definitions, which is sometimes necessary for using the API or integrations. Currently, customers have to use public endpoints to find those internal values but it is not intuitive or convenient to find for most customers.
33. Growth Theme: 3 New Landing Pages
What is it?
With this update, we are introducing 3 new landing pages to HubSpot's default website theme, Growth.
Why does it matter?
The 3 modernised landing pages below provide new starting points for users to convert leads through HubSpot.
34. Improved file property experience in HubSpot's Smart CRM
What is it?
You are now able to upload and manage files using a custom file property in HUbSpot's CRM, enabling you to more seamlessly manage files across the Smart CRM.
Why does it matter?
These enhancements to custom file properties will improve file management in HubSpot. Some examples of how they can be used:
- Requiring that a purchase agreement is attached to every new deal created using the 'Create Deal' form
- Requiring a file property based on the value of another property using conditional property logic
- Requiring a contract to be uploaded to a file property when 'Deal Stage = Closed/Won'
- Uploading a CV to a contact record, and control which users can access that property ('CV') using field-level permissions
35. HubSpot AI Location Formatting Suggestions for Contacts
What is it?
HubSpot AI searches for contacts with missing data or mismatches in location properties like Country, ZIP/postal Code and provides clean-up suggestions.
Why does it matter?
Location data (country, state/region, ZIP/postal code, time zone) comes into the CRM in a variety of formats - full-length, abbreviated, etc.. Without standardisation on these fields, it can be difficult to create reports, lists, or trigger automation. With this feature, HubSpot AI automatically suggests the correct format for your business to make it easy to detect, review, and resolve potential issues.
36. Create custom events for Custom Objects!
What is it?
Track activity for processes and relationships unique to your business with custom objects and custom events. Custom events created via API can now be linked to custom objects.
Why does it matter?
Custom events allow you to capture actions unique to your business and unlock a truly custom data model within HubSpot by linking these actions to Custom objects.
37. Blog Post Narration
What is it?
Introducing blog post narration for your blog content! This feature converts blog post content into engaging text-to-speech audio through an embedded module. You can also choose from a variety of voices for your audio content.
Why does it matter?
We are making it easier for content creators to repurpose their blog content for users who prefer audio consumption.
38. All-New Help Desk Workspace for Support Teams
What is it?
Help desk is HubSpot's new ticket management workspace, purpose-built for your support team to provide efficient and empathetic customer service.
Help desk consolidates tickets and conversations in a centralised workspace, allowing your support team to intake, triage, troubleshoot, and resolve customer requests much more efficiently. With omnichannel messaging, a 360-degree customer view powered by the CRM, and a growing list of AI-backed features, help desk contains all the tools your team needs to provide world-class service, at scale.
Why does it matter?
In a field where success is often measured in seconds, every click matters. Customer support agents need to be able to prioritise an influx of incoming requests, access key customer context, and leverage time-saving functionality all in the same place.
Prior to help desk, key support functionality was scattered across two different experiences: the conversations inbox and tickets. Each workspace contained different functionality, and the relationship between conversations and tickets was unintuitive. Many of our customers expressed that this was impacting their team's efficiency—draining precious time and resources bouncing between different tools, constantly trying to keep tickets and conversations “in sync”, and cobbling together processes to help make sense of it all.
In response to this feedback we built help desk: a simplified-yet-more-powerful home base for your support team in HubSpot. Help desk combines the best of inbox and tickets, so you get the advantages of inbox (real time updates, SLAs, agent presence indicators, live channels like chat, and more) plus the pros of tickets (custom properties, more advanced workflows and reporting, list-style layout options, advanced filters and views) all in one place.
39. Data Trends
What is it?
A new chart and table that enable users to see common sources that are creating, deleting, updating and merging records.
Why does it matter?
Customers have more data coming from more sources all the time. Currently it’s difficult to identify trends in what’s creating or updating records. As a result, customers are unable to answer core questions about their data like:
- How are most of my deals created?
- What caused so many tickets to get deleted last week?
- Was there a major spike or dip in my usual update/create volume?
40. Accept Partial Payments on Invoices
What is it?
Merchants can now accept multiple partial payment amounts on an invoice (previously, only one payment was accepted, equaling the total amount due).
Partial payments can be made with different payment methods, and can be recorded manually, accepted through HubSpot Payments or Stripe, or a combination.
Why does it matter?
Partial payments are most commonly used when a buyer would like to make payment using two payment methods. For example, if you purchase tax preparation services for $5000, you might want to pay $1000 on your credit card for the points, but pay via check for the remaining $4000. This is called a "split tender" scenario.
Other use cases include:
- Merchant makes a payment plan for their customer if the customer is unable to pay the full invoice amount at once.
- Merchant asks for a portion of the invoice total to be paid now (a "deposit"), and the remainder of the invoice total to be paid at a later date.
Beta
These updates are currently in the works and nearly ready to be released on your HubSpot Portal.
1. Reply Recommendations in Help Desk
What is it?
With this update, users will see Reply Recommendations in the Help Desk composer and can send, edit, or close suggestions with one click.
Why does it matter?
Writing responses to customer inquiries is a time-consuming task for Help Desk users today. We’ve now incorporated Reply Recommendations into Help Desk!
This tool will automatically review thread context and knowledge base articles to suggest responses to incoming messages in Help Desk. By adding Reply Recommendations to the reply window, we aim to give users time back in their day to focus on delivering a high-quality customer experience.
2. Use HubSpot Sales Chrome extension Across the Web
What is it?
Sales teams can now leverage the HubSpot Sales Chrome extension to work anywhere across the web while doing research on companies. Users can enroll contacts in sequences, send emails, make calls, and view HubSpot records directly from their prospect’s websites.
Why does it matter?
Salespeople often do research on their prospect’s websites to gather context and prioritise accounts, and then want to leverage HubSpot’s Sales Engagement tools to engage with their prospect. In the past, salespeople would have to open multiple windows between their prospect’s websites and HubSpot to be able to execute on their tasks. Now, sales teams can leverage HubSpot's Chrome extension to execute sales activity directly from their prospect’s website.
3. AI Chatbot
What is it?
We are excited to introduce an AI Chatbot for Live Chat, designed to provide our customers' websites with a seamless GPT-powered chat experience.
Why does it matter?
Through an AI Chatbot, businesses can now deliver personalised responses to their visitors within minutes. No longer will you need to dedicate hours to crafting and refining rules-based bots. With AI Chatbots handling repetitive tasks seamlessly, you will be able to free up time for your front-office teams to prioritise revenue-generating activities. Rest assured with built-in guardrails, that your AI will respond when it's confident and transfer to a team member when it's not.
4. Improved Button Padding in Email
What is it?
The new inner and horizontal padding options in the Email Editor will allow users to further customise the appearance of the button in their Marketing Email.
Why does it matter?
Styling your Marketing Emails' button is crucial for enhancing visual appeal and readability. Adequate padding ensures buttons are easily clickable and leads to a better and more accessible recipient experience and higher engagement rates.
5. Add custom cards (UI extensions) to the preview sidebars
What is it?
This public beta is dependent on the public beta for UI extensions with CRM development tools. By joining this beta, you will also be joining the parent beta. See the parent public beta here.
You can now build extensions for the preview sidebar as a new location and bring the all information from multiple systems and integrations to the users at the right place, without having to go to record pages.
View demo Loom.
Why does it matter?
The preview sidebar enables reps to get a quick summary of a record without leaving the page they are only typically index or board view or another record page. This sidebar can now be customised to display different information based on the user (see knowledge base article). With this, you can now build extensions for the preview sidebar as a new location so that users can get the right information from different systems in one single view without having to open the record page, resulting in increased efficiency and productivity.
6. Store sensitive data in HubSpot's Smart CRM
What is it?
As part of this rollout, customers will be able to create custom properties that store sensitive information, and then restrict user access to the properties using field level permissions. Examples of sensitive information that will be covered by this rollout include government ID number, low-risk financial data, and non-HIPAA-covered medical information.
Why does it matter?
Enabling customers to store sensitive data in HubSpot opens the door to more use cases that have not yet been possible for HubSpot users. Now, with sensitive data, users can collaborate effectively across teams, run reports using enhanced data, create segments, and more. With sensitive data, there’s no longer a need to leverage workarounds or keep this data outside of HubSpot.
7. Connect HubSpot tickets to Slack and sync replies
What is it?
Service teams can now connect their help desk workspace to Slack to drive cross-collaborative ticket resolution. New features of HubSpot's Slack app include:
- Configuring the types of tickets sent to a connected Slack channel
- Sending qualifying new tickets to all connected channels
- Syncing threaded replies from Slack and ticket comments in HubSpot, including at-mentions
- Enabling quick actions from the ticket in Slack, like updating ticket properties
Why does it matter?
Ticket resolution is often a collaborative effort. Support teams frequently connect with colleagues throughout their organisation to resolve tickets and this collaboration commonly takes in place in tools like Slack. Reps want real-time connectedness and collaboration with other internal stakeholders to resolve tickets.
Previously, the only way to send ticket-based notifications to a specific Slack channel was to configure a ticket-based workflow in HubSpot. There was no way to sync internal comments and threaded Slack replies or action on the ticket from Slack, which hampered collaboration.
Now, you can configure a connection between your help desk and Slack that comes with out-of-the-box notifications about new tickets (no need to create specific workflows for this) to specific channels, an embedded action to update the ticket from Slack, and the ability to sync ticket comments with Slack threads replies for better collaboration and better customer service.
8. Reorganised Navigation and Keyboard Shortcuts in Workflows
What is it?
The workflows tool is getting a new space-saving navigation bar and time-saving keyboard shortcuts. Settings and review will also be brought into the workflow builder for an all-in-one build experience that helps you make decisions in context.
Why does it matter?
The workflows tool has gotten so many new features over the past year, we've run out of space! Additionally, the workflows tool had evolved to use buttons, tabs, and drop-downs which made for a confusing set of UI patterns. This navigation update will allow us to better optimise our use of space by bringing navigation items closer together, in a logical system of organisation, so you can always find what you need. We also know as automation lovers, you care about saving time and working efficiently. The new keyboard shortcuts for menu actions will help you build more quickly and with ease. These two changes will also create a more accessible navigation system for all.
As part of this re-organisation, we're also making it easier to set up your workflows with all of the relevant options accessible from a single place. No more clicking around and building in a disjointed order. We're changing the settings tab into a sidebar option that appears directly in the builder, so that workflow settings can be configured and reviewed within the context of the workflow you're building, for easier decision making and increased focus. Next, during the beta period, we'll be doing the same with the workflow "review" experience.
9. User Object available in Workflows
What is it?
Workflows can now be configured to be User-based. Customers will experience the same behavior that they are used to when building workflows centered around Users.
Why does it matter?
As we move towards a world where Users are full CRM Objects, it's important to expand the functionality outside of the Users & Teams space. By enabling Users as an object in Workflows, Admins can automate tasks like setting User properties, notifying team members about changes to a User, and setting up alerts for when a user's email or calendar accounts have been disconnected. The User Object on Workflows will help save Admins time and streamline their User setup process, freeing up their time to be spent elsewhere.
10. AI assistant to build workflow actions
What is it?
Building a workflow can be a technical, time-consuming task. Since automation requires an upfront investment of time, it can be a barrier to automating in the first place, even when you know there will be efficiency gains on the other end.
Why does it matter?
With AI Assistant in workflows, we bring even more time-savings and efficiency to automation, allowing front office teams to automate and streamline processes in a couple of clicks while maintaining full control over the outcome. AI Assistant also decreases the learning curve and helps you build those automated processes that you have considered, but may not know how to configure from scratch.
Example action prompts AI Assistant can help with:
- Wait 7 days, then send the "Welcome" email to the customer. Then, send a Slack notification to the account manager.
- Set marketing contact status to non-marketing contact and remove from "Leads" list
- Send an in-app notification with subject: "A new meeting has been booked" and create a task for the deal owner called "Prepare for meeting" due in 3 business days
11. Consider Working Hours When Booking Meetings Through Scheduling Pages
What is it?
We're adding the ability for users to set their time zone and working hours in HubSpot, which can be taken into account when calculating meeting availability on scheduling pages.
Why does it matter?
Today, when users set their availability on the scheduling page, they need to select a specific time zone. This works well for individual scheduling pages, but it's not ideal for group or round-robin scheduling pages. It can quickly lead to mistakes, which would cause team members who work in a different time zone or have different working hours to get booked outside their preferred time.
To fix this, we're introducing new individual time zones and working hours that can be set for each user. This means you can open up your scheduling page's availability while still making sure that people with set working hours aren't booked outside of those times.
12. Connect HubSpot tickets to Slack and sync replies
What is it?
Service teams can now connect their help desk workspace to Slack to drive cross-collaborative ticket resolution. New features of HubSpot's Slack app include:
- Configuring the types of tickets sent to a connected Slack channel
- Sending qualifying new tickets to all connected channels
- Syncing threaded replies from Slack and ticket comments in HubSpot, including at-mentions
- Enabling quick actions from the ticket in Slack, like updating ticket properties
Why does it matter?
Ticket resolution is often a collaborative effort. Support teams frequently connect with colleagues throughout their organisation to resolve tickets and this collaboration commonly takes in place in tools like Slack. Reps want real-time connectedness and collaboration with other internal stakeholders to resolve tickets.
Previously, the only way to send ticket-based notifications to a specific Slack channel was to configure a ticket-based workflow in HubSpot. There was no way to sync internal comments and threaded Slack replies or action on the ticket from Slack, which hampered collaboration.
Now, you can configure a connection between your help desk and Slack that comes with out-of-the-box notifications about new tickets (no need to create specific workflows for this) to specific channels, an embedded action to update the ticket from Slack, and the ability to sync ticket comments with Slack threads replies for better collaboration and better customer service.
13. Sync Microsoft Teams Webinars to HubSpot Marketing Events
What is it?
With the Microsoft Teams Integration you can now:
- Sync webinar data such as event name, date, start time, end time, organiser, status, and description to HubSpot Marketing Events
- Sync webinar activity data such as registrations, attendees, cancellations, no-shows, attendance duration, etc. and display this activity on contact pages
- Create new contact records for registrants not yet in HubSpot
Why does it matter?
If you've been hosting webinars on Microsoft Teams, historically you may not have had an easy method to import webinar data into HubSpot, leading to challenges in analysing event performance and contact engagement.
Now, you can sync webinar event and activity data to HubSpot - making it easier to centralise your marketing efforts, create new contacts, and perform data driven customer outreach.
14. Place Inbound Calls on Hold
What is it?
Now you can place a caller on hold, if you need to step away from a live call temporarily.
How does it work?
After answering an inbound call, click on the call icon in the navigation to open the call remote. Click the "Hold" button to initiate the process. You can also use the Inbound calling window to access call controls.
While on hold, participants will not be able to speak or hear one another. Instead, the caller will hear hold music until the button is clicked again.
15. Forecasting with Multicurrency
What is it?
Users can now set their preferred currency in the forecasting app, enabling them to view forecast data and submit manual forecasts in their currency of choice.
Why does it matter?
Forecasting is critical to understanding the current and future state of your sales pipeline. Until today, forecasting for companies that deal with multiple currencies was a headache, as they had to view all forecast data in the default company currency, regardless of where their team was based or what currencies they dealt with. It was just as tedious for sales reps, who had to do countless conversions themselves in order to submit their manual forecasts in the company currency. For some teams, this limitation made HubSpot forecasting unusable.
That all changes with the release of forecasting with multicurrency, which enables each user to select their preferred currency in the forecasting app, after which they can both view forecast data and submit manual forecasts in their currency of choice.
16. Predictive Deal Score
What is it?
We are adding predictive deal scores to deals. Based on inputs such as deal velocity, rep activity, and buyer engagement, this score provides a powerful and standardised way to assess deal health and prioritise sales efforts.
Why does it matter?
Sales reps often struggle to effectively prioritise their deals, resulting in missed opportunities and wasted time. With predictive deal scoring, AI will be used to rank deals based on their likelihood of closing. This empowers sales reps to focus their efforts on the most promising opportunities and gain a deeper understanding of the key factors that drive success. Additionally, sales managers can utilise these scores to provide targeted coaching and set achievable goals for their team.
17. Mobile Push Notification Support for Sharing Dashboards [iOS and Android]
What is it?
You can now use push notifications to receive once-off or recurring dashboards to your mobile phone.
Why does it matter?
As a leader, Dashboards are how you keep a pulse on your business. This is why receiving once-off or recurring dashboards into your email inbox are vital to create a healthy process for monitoring your metrics.
There is only one problem though - you have to monitor your inbox to review these dashboards. What if you are away from your desk getting lunch or out visiting a client?
With push notification support for sharing Dashboards, you can monitor and act on your key business metrics right from your mobile phone - no matter where you are.
18. Social Content Creator
What is it?
Introducing the Social Content Creator which uses AI to maximise content creation.
Marketers can now expedite their content process with the Content Creator automatically producing effective posts tailored to your marketing goal, audience, brand voice and social media accounts.
Why does it matter?
Content creation is key part of the social marketers day to day process, however teams often struggle to create new and exciting content that engages the targeted audiences and achieves their marketing goals, all while still maintaining their brand messaging across various social media channels.
We are making it easier for marketers to set up content creation tasks so they can leave it and forget, generating effective social media posts daily.
The Content creator will consider your:
- marketing goal, targeted audience and brand tone
- important key topics/themes identified
- upcoming blog posts
- existing calendar and upcoming social posts for each network
- the performance of previous social media content
- the best times when your audience is most engaged based on your marketing goals
19. Sync Property Type
What is it?
Sync Properties are a new property type that copy a property value across objects. This feature eliminates the need for manual entry or workflows to keep two properties in sync across objects. This makes it even easier for customers to have the data they need, when they need it, where they need it. Watch this demo to see it in action!
Why does it matter?
Imagine a sales rep working with a customer (Contact) and needing information about the customer's company. How many employees does it have? Where are the offices located? Do they have open high-risk support issues? Previously, reps would have to navigate from the Contact to the Company - sounds easy but do it 30-60 times a day. It leads to frustrating feedback about CRM "clickiness".
As a workaround, admins duplicate their property data, manually keeping the data in sync or creating workflows to copy property values from one object to another. This is costly to set up and maintain.
Sync Properties mean admins can say goodbye to painful and time-consuming workarounds. This feature eliminates those cross-object data silos and ensures that your data is consistently updated and aligned across objects.
20. The meetings engagement API will now default to the start time of the meeting if hs_timestamp is missing
What is it?
We're making a small change to how meetings are created through our API.
When the hs_timestamp is missing, we'll default to the meeting start time (hs_meeting_start_time) instead of the creation time (which is currently the default).
Why does it matter?
When a MEETING_EVENT object is created without a hs_timestamp, we'll automatically set it to the meeting's start time. This change matches how HubSpot treats meetings created through HubSpot or synced to HubSpot. It'll make things more consistent between meetings created internally and those created through the API.
The change will start rolling out to all portals on July 8th, 2024. If you're an app developer or user who uses our engagement API to create meeting engagements or meeting objects, you should make sure that hs_timestamp is being set. Or, you should check that setting hs_timestamp to the meeting start time won't break any of your apps or processes.
By opting into this beta, you'll have time to test any changes you need to make before the change is introduced automatically.
