WhatsApp Business and HubSpot are two powerful platforms that can work together to help businesses boost engagement and manage customer conversations more efficiently. Linking your WhatsApp Business account to HubSpot allows you to track and log conversations happening on WhatsApp directly within HubSpot for seamless contact management.
Overview of WhatsApp Business and HubSpot
WhatsApp Business is a free-to-download messaging app for businesses to connect with customers. It provides useful features like business profiles, messaging tools, and analytics. HubSpot is a popular customer relationship management (CRM) platform that helps businesses organize, track, and manage all their customer interactions in one place.
Here are some key benefits of linking WhatsApp Business with HubSpot:
- Sync contacts and chat history from WhatsApp directly to HubSpot CRM for unified contact management.
- Build and nurture relationships with customers by continuing conversations seamlessly between WhatsApp and HubSpot.
- Log WhatsApp conversations as activities in HubSpot for better visibility into customer interactions.
- Use HubSpot reporting to analyze performance on WhatsApp and optimize business messaging.
- Personalize conversations at scale using HubSpot Workflows and Sequences.
Prerequisites
Before you can link WhatsApp Business to HubSpot, you need to fulfill these prerequisites:
- Have an active WhatsApp Business account set up.
- Be on the HubSpot Starter plan or above.
- Install the WhatsApp Business for HubSpot integration app in your HubSpot portal.
- Have Administrator permissions in your HubSpot portal.
- Only the primary WhatsApp Business account owner can connect to HubSpot. Have them ready to initiate the setup.
Step 1: Install the WhatsApp Integration App
The first step is to install the WhatsApp Business for HubSpot integration app, which allows HubSpot to connect with your WhatsApp Business account API.
Here are the steps to install the app:
- Log in to your HubSpot portal and go to Settings > Integrations.
- Click on ‘App Marketplace’ in the left sidebar.
- Search for ‘WhatsApp Business’.
- Select the listing for ‘WhatsApp Business for HubSpot’ published by WhatsApp.
- Click ‘Install’ and accept the permissions to install the app.
Once installed, you’ll see the WhatsApp Business integration in your list of HubSpot integrations.
Step 2: Connect WhatsApp Business Account
Next, you need to connect your WhatsApp Business account to HubSpot. This allows HubSpot to sync your contacts, messages, and other account data.
Follow these steps:
- Go to Settings > Integrations in HubSpot.
- Click on ‘WhatsApp Business’ in the list of integrations.
- Click on ‘Connect WhatsApp Business Account’.
- A pop-up will open. Log in using your WhatsApp Business account credentials.
- The primary account owner needs to scan the QR code shown on the pop-up using the WhatsApp Business app on their phone.
- Once successfully linked, click ‘Done’.
Your WhatsApp Business account is now connected to your HubSpot portal. The integration will start syncing your contacts and messages between the two platforms automatically.
Step 3: Manage Sync Settings
You can configure how frequently the WhatsApp Business integration syncs data between your WhatsApp account and HubSpot portal.
Here are the sync settings you can customize:
- Contacts: How often to sync WhatsApp contacts to HubSpot.
- Messages: How often to import WhatsApp messages into HubSpot.
- Message statuses: How often to sync message delivery status and read receipts from WhatsApp into HubSpot.
- Archived chats: Whether to sync archived WhatsApp chats into HubSpot or not.
The default sync frequency for contacts, messages, and statuses is set to 1 hour. You can change this to 5 minutes for near real-time syncing or 24 hours if you have high WhatsApp volumes.
To update the sync settings:
- Go to Settings > Integrations in HubSpot.
- Select ‘WhatsApp Business’ integration.
- Click on ‘Settings’ and adjust the sync frequencies as needed.
- Click Save. The new sync schedule will take effect on the next cycle.
Step 4: Map WhatsApp Contacts to HubSpot Contacts
For proper syncing between platforms, your WhatsApp contacts need to be mapped to the matching contacts in HubSpot CRM. This mapping happens automatically using phone numbers to match contacts.
You can map contacts manually in these scenarios:
- When syncing for the first time, not all numbers may find a match.
- If you have contacts with the same number in both platforms.
- If sync is unable to match a WhatsApp contact to a HubSpot contact.
To manually map contacts:
- Go to Settings > Integrations in HubSpot.
- Select ‘WhatsApp Business’ integration.
- Click on ‘View Unmapped WhatsApp Contacts’.
- Select the checkbox next to each WhatsApp contact you want to map.
- Click ‘Map to HubSpot Contact’ and select the corresponding contact.
- Click ‘Map WhatsApp Contacts’. Selected contacts will now be mapped.
Step 5: Set Up Workflows
With WhatsApp Business connected to HubSpot, you can create customized workflows and automations between the platforms.
Here are some examples of workflows you can set up:
- Welcome message: Send a personalized welcome message from your business profile to new WhatsApp contacts when they are added in HubSpot.
- Appointment reminders: Schedule automatic appointment reminder messages to be sent over WhatsApp when meetings are created in HubSpot calendar.
- Lead nurturing: Send targeted content, offers, and notifications to leads via WhatsApp when they hit specific lifecycle stages in HubSpot.
- Support alerts: Notify support reps on WhatsApp when new tickets are created for their accounts in HubSpot Service Hub.
- Event promotion: Send event details and reminders over WhatsApp when someone registers for an event in HubSpot.
You need to install the WhatsApp Business for HubSpot integration app to access WhatsApp messaging capabilities in workflows.
To create a WhatsApp workflow:
- Go to Workflows in HubSpot.
- Click ‘Create Workflow’.
- Build out the workflow steps and triggers as usual.
- Add a ‘Send Message’ action and select the WhatsApp channel.
- Compose your WhatsApp message with personalization tokens.
- Activate and test the workflow.
Step 6: Manage WhatsApp Conversations in HubSpot
As your WhatsApp Business account syncs into HubSpot, you can start managing conversations directly in HubSpot alongside other channels like email and messaging.
Here are some tips for managing WhatsApp conversations in HubSpot:
- Go to Contacts > All Contacts to view contact profiles synced from WhatsApp. Their WhatsApp chat will be visible in the conversations section.
- Filter by ‘WhatsApp’ in the conversations list view to see only WhatsApp messages.
- Open a WhatsApp conversation logged in HubSpot to see message history and continue the chat via HubSpot.
- Use the transcript generated in HubSpot to track key details of conversations happening over WhatsApp.
- Log calls, meetings, or tickets directly from a WhatsApp conversation to create CRM records.
- Mark messages as spam if needed. This will be synced to your WhatsApp Business account.
This unified messaging experience helps you provide excellent omnichannel customer service and have all conversations with a contact in one place.
Step 7: View WhatsApp Analytics
HubSpot provides detailed analytics on the performance of your WhatsApp messaging so you can optimize it over time.
Key WhatsApp metrics available in HubSpot include:
- Volume metrics like total incoming and outgoing messages
- Response time to incoming messages
- Number of sessions and unique users reached
- Most frequently contacted users
- Busiest messaging hours and days
- Automation metrics if using WhatsApp workflows
To view WhatsApp analytics:
- Go to Reports > Conversations in HubSpot.
- Filter by ‘WhatsApp’ channel.
- Select your desired report to view metrics.
- Customize the date range as needed.
- Export reports to share data with stakeholders.
Tracking these key metrics can help you identify usage patterns to staff WhatsApp appropriately and optimize your WhatsApp business messaging strategy.
Troubleshooting Tips
Here are some troubleshooting tips in case you face any issues setting up or using the WhatsApp Business integration for HubSpot:
- Make sure the integration app is installed in the same HubSpot portal where you want to use WhatsApp messaging.
- Double check that the primary WhatsApp Business account owner completes the QR code scanning step to link accounts.
- Try re-installing the integration app if sync is not working. This resets the connection.
- Confirm whether you have the required HubSpot portal permissions to install apps and manage integrations.
- Check if you have any restrictions within your WhatsApp Business account settings that may block API connectivity.
- Increase sync frequencies to 5 minutes if contacts, messages or statuses are not syncing properly.
You can also contact WhatsApp or HubSpot customer support if any setup issues persist. With correct installation, the integration should work seamlessly.
Conclusion
Linking WhatsApp Business to HubSpot creates a powerful unified messaging platform so businesses can connect with customers in a personal and timely way. Key highlights include:
- Sync contacts, messages, and analytics from WhatsApp Business into HubSpot.
- Continue conversations seamlessly across WhatsApp and HubSpot interfaces.
- Create automated workflows to engage customers on WhatsApp at scale.
- Analyze WhatsApp performance and optimize messaging approach.
- Provide omnichannel customer service with complete conversation history.
With some simple setup steps, you can configure this integration and transform how your business uses WhatsApp to drive real results. The ability to link messaging platforms like WhatsApp Business to your CRM system is becoming more critical for sales and support teams to deliver five-star service.