3 Ways to Extend HubSpot Chatbots with Custom Code

In the next two years, chatbots will save businesses $8 billion

You read that correctly: $8 billion! But how is that possible? 

Most businesses implement a chatbot to replace simple human interaction, whether it’s for customer support or lead generation, saving time and money. In fact, when deployed across different departments, chatbots are a catalyst for optimized performance. And now, with HubSpot’s custom-coded chatbot actions available in Operations Hub Pro, you can create unique chatbot functionality to strengthen your efforts. 

First Off, Why Would You Need a Custom-Coded Bot Action?

Before diving into examples of custom chatbot capabilities, it’s essential to highlight why you may want to consider it. HubSpot’s chatbot functionality allows for a good deal of customization, but there are still some limitations. With custom codes, you can circumvent those restrictions to extend your chatbot’s capabilities. 

Now, What Are Some Examples?

Custom code opens up a world of possibilities for your chatbot. So much so it may be challenging to know where to start! Fortunately, there are a few ideas that can kickstart your creativity, such as:

1. Product Selection

Imagine you sell mattresses or a product that requires knowing your customer’s preferences. Using custom code on your bot’s backend could trigger a set of intelligent questions that build upon one another until your lead or customer is ultimately served an answer. For instance, you could start with a question like, “Are you a light sleeper?” Then your chatbot would learn from that answer and provide a series of follow-ups like, “Do you sleep alone?” “Soft or firm?” Once they’re done, your custom code will generate an ideal selection! 

2. Calculations

Another example would involve using your custom code to enable intricate calculations. Take a financial advisor. They may want to generate and segment leads based on wealth or other scenarios. Your bot could answer a more serious question like, “How much wealth do you want to acquire in [X] amount of years?” by leading up with other questions such as, “How much do you earn?”, “Are you single or married?” and so on.

3. Reservations or Recipes

A restaurant or other retailer could also easily use custom code to enable their chatbot to perform some pretty exceptional tasks. They could have it help place orders for pickup, make a reservation, or provide recipes based on a users’ selections (this last one would likely be set up like the above examples). 

What Else?

Custom-coded bot actions will allow you to create complex algorithms that answer your leads’ or customers’ most pressing questions, all with the data from your portal. By taking over these low-skill tasks and combining them with custom functionality, you can see why chatbots are truly business-saving must-haves. For any help with your chatbot or other Operations Hub features, don’t hesitate to reach out to our team