HubSpot’s Customer Agent helps service teams deliver fast, consistent answers across chat, email, WhatsApp, Facebook and more. The real advantage comes from doing the setup correctly, assigning the right channels, wiring approved knowledge sources, and instrumenting performance. This guide shows you how to create, deploy, and govern a Customer Agent in HubSpot, with practical checkpoints for leaders and admins.
Prerequisites and Access
Create Your Customer Agent
Add Trusted Content Sources
Assign Channels and Handoffs
Set Up Actions and Integrations
Preview, Test and Iterate
Measure Performance and Improve
FAQs
Before you can create or manage a Customer Agent in HubSpot, you’ll need to ensure that your account, permissions, and content assets are properly configured. The Customer Agent feature is available within the Service Hub at specific subscription tiers, so access may vary depending on your plan.
Start by confirming that your user account has the correct permissions. To edit or publish a Customer Agent, your HubSpot Super Admin must grant Customer Agent permissions under:
Users with only conversation or inbox access will be able to view but not configure or train the agent.
Next, make sure that the Service Hub seat is active for all users who need to monitor or adjust the agent’s performance. If your team uses multiple business units or shared inboxes, check that each inbox is connected correctly and that ownership rules are clearly defined to prevent conflicts when routing live conversations.
For the Customer Agent to reference the right information, the knowledge base, website, and blog content must be live and publicly accessible (or at least visible to the relevant portal). Drafts or restricted pages cannot be indexed. You’ll also need to have the Conversations Inbox configured, as this is where the Customer Agent will handle chats, emails, and tickets.
Finally, review your data and privacy policies. Because Customer Agent responses may reference customer data or knowledge base content, it’s essential that your account’s data governance and retention settings comply with internal policies and local data protection laws such as POPIA or GDPR.
By confirming these prerequisites—access rights, connected channels, and compliant content—you set a stable foundation for reliable Customer Agent performance and governance across your service operations.
Navigate to Service then Customer Agent, and select Set up your agent. Give the agent a name, set the role, and choose a personality profile that aligns to your brand or select your configured brand voice if available. Personality options include Friendly, Professional, Casual, Empathetic or Witty. Click Next to continue.
Select which content the Customer Agent can reference. You can add HubSpot knowledge base articles, website pages, landing pages and blogs through Add existing content. Maintain a curated, up-to-date library to minimise hallucinations and ensure consistent answers.
Open the Manage tab and go to Deployment & Channels. Click Assign and choose to connect channels from an inbox or help desk. Supported options include WhatsApp, Facebook, Calling in beta, Live chat and Email. Configure handoff rules so unresolved questions route to the right users or teams, or flow into the Unassigned view for triage.
If you operate rule-based chatflows today, you can hand off to Customer Agent using the Send to Customer Agent action within a chatflow. This allows you to specify exactly when the AI takes over.
Actions allow your Customer Agent to perform tasks through API calls to external apps, such as checking order status or resetting a password. From Service then Customer Agent, select Manage then Actions, and click Create action. Provide a name, description and trigger phrases that will prompt the action. Actions require appropriate subscription level and use HubSpot credits.
Use Test [agent name] in the top right of the Customer Agent screen to simulate questions. You can try pre-populated prompts or ask custom queries. Crucially, preview and testing do not consume HubSpot credits, which supports rapid iteration.
In Performance you can track resolved and deflected conversations, escalations to humans, unanswered questions, workload and query volume. Use these reports to identify gaps in content, refine actions and adjust staffing. Enterprise accounts can also review Customer Agent changes in the central audit log.
WhatsApp, Facebook, Calling in beta, Live chat and Email are supported through Deployment & Channels.
Yes. Use the Send to Customer Agent action in a rule-based chatflow to hand off at a precise decision point.
Actions trigger API calls to external apps using defined phrases. They require specific Service Hub tiers, permissions and HubSpot credits.
Within Service then Customer Agent, click Test [agent name]. Testing does not consume HubSpot credits.
Resolved and deflected conversations, escalation rate, unanswered questions and workload trends. Enterprise plans can use the central audit log for governance.