In this article we are going to tell you everything you should know and think about before integrating your business Whatsapp with HubSpot.

It is true that technology is constantly advancing, marketing and sales tools are becoming more user-friendly and communication channels are becoming more numerous. But....sí, there is always a but, not because there are multiple tools and channels we should use them all for the business. And if after a proper analysis we decide to use them, we must define who, how and when. And as we always say in Andimol, we must first define the processes that will support the use of that channel or tool.

Now, after the parochial warnings that the topic deserves, we are going to tell you what we learned in recent months thanks to having early access to the Whatsapp Beta with HubSpot, and that no one else knows, about integrating both platforms.

Recall that the integration is available to users of HubSpot's PRO and Enterprise licenses and with both Whatsapp and Facebook Business accounts.

Cons (we eat the toad first and talk about the limitations).

• You lose the use of the official WhatApp app on your mobile. So if your salespeople are on the road all day and communicate with prospects and customers from their WA app, this integration would not benefit them. Even if they can reply to WA messages from the HubSpot app, it's not ideal for salespeople's personal phones.
• You lose history- When converting a personal account to a WhatsApp Business account, in-app conversations will be completely deleted. So, if you don't know how to backup the information you lose your history. And when you connect the WhatsApp with HubSpot that history does not appear in the CRM.
• You cannot receive calls: If you were using that WhatsApp number for both messages and calls, the integration would not be beneficial either, since you would not be able to make calls from the CRM, but only receive messages in the inbox.
• You cannot send private messages: unlike the particular use that was made from the app, in the CRM you will be able to send general ("mass") messages through automations but not send a personal message to a specific contact. Or yes, but only if you initiate a conversation using a template pre-approved by Facebook.
• You cannot use automations if the contact does not previously exist: although you can use HubSpot automations to send automated messages, keep in mind that for this to happen the contact must previously exist in the CRM. That is, you will only be able to communicate with your existing contacts. So you must first create the contacts that come from new conversations. For example, if you want to send an automatic "Out of Hours" message if the contact is new, they will not receive it (because as they do not exist as a contact in HubSpot the automation is not triggered and the message is not sent).
• You cannot create tickets from new WhatsApp conversations: related to the previous point, if the contact does not exist in the CRM you cannot create other objects such as Attention Tickets automatically. You must first create the contact and then the ticket.
• The integration process itself is complex: You need administrator permissions for the Facebook account. There are several configurations to make in Facebook with the WhatsApp account and validations to wait for. The process can take several days to weeks if you don't have everything in order.

But it's not all bad, and there are very profitable benefits for your business as a result of integrating WhatsApp with your HubSpot portal.

Pros

• You have all the information integrated in one place: by integrating WhatsApp and HubSpot you will have all your team's conversations with your prospects and customers in 1 place. This way, when someone from the team is away or leaves the company, anyone else can know where they are in the conversation and continue working on the opportunity just by looking at the contact's record.
• You save response time: By being able to integrate your WhatsApp number into the HubSpot inbox you can manage all your conversations (along with Facebook, chats and emails) from one place in the inbox. This saves a lot of team time by avoiding using 3 or more different support platforms and helps to unify the company's conversational tone.
• Quick connection with the sales team: By having all the information in the same place, your HubSpot CRM, you can easily refer the conversation that enters the inbox to a sales manager. This improves your SLAs/response times and the probability of closing opportunities.
• Quick connection with the customer service team: If your customer service or Customer Success team is working in HubSpot's CRM, you can easily escalate the inbox conversation to a customer service manager. This improves your SLAs/response times and problem (ticket) resolution times.
• You can have automated messages with workflows: You can take advantage of the message templates you create on Facebook to send them in an automated way with a Workflow (Note that the templates are previously created on Facebook).
• Quick connection with HubSpot: the integration process is quite simple if you are clear about everything you need and make the required configurations in Facebook.
• You have control at all times of your assets: the connection process helps that at all times the administrator of the Facebook, Whatsapp and HubSpot accounts has access and full control over the assets (fundamental for companies today).

To integrate or not to integrate that is the question?

As you may have read, there are several points to take into account and that in each particular case will help to make the decision on whether it is convenient to integrate your business WhatsApp with your HubSpot portal.

And is that the decision is not a resounding yes or no, but it has more to do with the way you use WhatsApp for your business and the processes associated with it (rather than technical issues). With this article we simply want to help you make a better, informed decision.

So who is this integration ideal for?

Successful cases of this integration have been those Whatsapp numbers that was used as:

• A general contact number (similar to an 0800 or sales line).
• A general Sales number (shared by a team)
• A dedicated customer service number: to generate support cases or tickets and/or receive vouchers.
• Channel to send general communications to a segmented list (e.g. customers or distributors).

Other marketplace integrations with WhatsApp and HubSpot.

While this native integration has its benefits and limitations, we should also mention that there are other 3rd party developments in paid versions (in addition to your HubSpot license) that address some of these issues. You can find them as always in the HubSpot App Marketplace.

Of course hiring these apps will depend on your company's budget and the need for any particular extra functionality.

If you have doubts and need help to put together a better communication strategy and channels for your company, you can contact us and we will assist you.