In episode 24 of PodSpot, the unofficial UK HubSpot podcast, host Kerry Thompson talks to Matt Wood, Digital Strategist at Karman Digital. Together they discuss HubSpot’s chatbot functionality and how to make the most of it.

Kerry kicks off this conversation by asking Matt to explain what chatbots are and why companies may want to consider them. Matt shares that the most common use for them is automating customer support or service and cites conversational marketing tool Drift, saying that 35% of people use chatbots to resolve issues and that chatbots themselves have seen a 92% increase in usage since 2019 alone.

Kerry goes on to ask Matt to give some insight into how chatbots work within HubSpot and the technicalities of building them out. Matt explains that building chatbots with HubSpots Chatflows tool is very simple, but, much like building workflows for automation, the planning can be a real sticking point. He suggests fully mapping out the programme ahead of time and trying to keep objectives simple to get the best results.

(Learn more: PodSpot #15 - The wonderful world of workflows)

Next, Kerry turns the conversation toward best practices for chatbots, asking Matt to expand on his points above. Matt reiterates the importance of planning and advises getting into the HubSpot system to have a look at the pre-existing templates, both for inspiration and to, potentially, save yourself time by using an off-the-shelf solution. He also advises implementing a minimum viable product approach and launching the bot with only its core functionality first. You can then add layers of complexity as you go.

As the episode begins to wind down, Kerry asks Matt to share his thoughts on what the future looks like for chatbots. For him, this is early days for the life of bots. He sees them getting more capable and less time intensive as AI and machine learning advance. Matt also hopes the usher in ‘death to forms’ and streamline the user experience.

If you’d like to learn more about HubSpot or digital transformation, get in touch. We’re ready to help you unleash the potential of digital in your organisation.

Intro 0.00 - 1.04

• Overview of chatbots
• What HubSpot offers in terms of chatbots
• The complexities of chatbots
• Where to get started
• Benefits and uses for chatbots
• Best practices for chatbot building
• The future of bots

Outro - 37.08