Every type of data and interaction centralized in HubSpot’s Customer Platform is a business’s (and admin’s) dream, but have you ever experienced challenges in making that dream a reality? Today, we are thrilled to introduce the brand new Custom Channels API beta, a giant leap for the HubSpot ecosystem to manifest that dream in the case of one-to-one customer communication.
My name is Eric Hirsh. I am a Product Manager for Service Hub’s Communications Product Group at HubSpot. For the past few years, we’ve been investing in ‘omnichannel’ in a variety of ways, one of which being quietly and carefully preparing to open our messaging platform up to the ecosystem.
Quiet no more! We are now loudly and enthusiastically inviting you to the Custom Channels API. You can seamlessly integrate any two-way, text-based messaging channel directly to Help Desk or Inbox, the workspaces and tools where customer support teams do their jobs, and your channel will ‘just work’ with all of the native, key features of those tools.
Challenges meeting customers in a multi-channel world
Omnichannel is not a competitive strategy. It is a consumer reality. Customers expect to be able to interact with a company on and across any channel they prefer, and they expect those interactions to be unified and seamless. Omnichannel means aligning your business around your customers instead of aligning your customers around your tech stack. Easier said than done, right?
A successful company needs to unify all of its messaging into an easy to use customer platform. HubSpot knows omnichannel: our suite of supported channels has grown in recent years with the addition of WhatsApp and SMS, and our differentiator is breaking down silos by connecting those channels to a CRM used by all front-office teams. Beyond stalwarts like Email, Chat, and Calling, the choice of messaging channels has proliferated in recent years, as visualized in the image below, and HubSpot won’t be able to keep up with consumer demand on its own. There is a big opportunity for our ecosystem to ‘bridge the channel gap.’
Introducing Custom Channels API
Scott Brinker, HubSpot's VP of Platform Ecosystem, recently stated,
“Strengthening our APIs is pivotal in empowering our app partners to craft tailored solutions that meet our mutual customers' evolving automation and integration needs.”
The Custom Channels API is precisely that - our solution to enabling the ecosystem to partner with us to deliver exceptional omnichannel experiences. It is designed to excel at the use case of powering two-way real-time messaging for reactive customer support, which in HubSpot happens in Service Hub’s all-new Help Desk workspace.
The Custom Channels API takes a platform approach by giving you access to the same underlying system and data framework that powers our own messaging channels (like WhatsApp and SMS) and all of the ways in which channels interact with the key features that support reps need to manage customer communication. We architected this API in a way that you only need to focus on getting messages in and out - HubSpot’s Customer Platform does all the heavy lifting with its native UI features for message threading, editing, contact association, notifications, CRM object creation, reporting, and more. This benefits admins and reps because there are consistent patterns for the settings and behaviors of all of their different channels. It benefits developers by accelerating time to a working integration, letting you focus more of your energy on going to market and getting customer feedback instead of wrestling with code.
Key Benefits
Opening the doors to HubSpot’s omnichannel customer communication platform brings a huge opportunity to our partners and developers. The consumer demand for connecting with businesses over familiar mobile channels is increasing. That means there is a wide and expanding market for partners to address opportunities in serving...
- upmarket customers who might have the need for custom integrations like customer portals or contact centers.
- international customers who might primarily conduct business over something like LINE or WeChat instead of email or WhatsApp.
- customers in niches and verticals that might rely on industry-specific channels.
Together, we’ll be able to solve for the customer by delivering them the full choice of channels to meet their customers where they are and unify those interactions. The Custom Channels API helps your messaging channel benefit from the differentiation of being seamlessly integrated with all of the rich data and functionality in HubSpot’s Customer Platform (visualized below), which is precisely what scaling support teams need to keep up with their customers’ expectations.
We have seen some early success stories in private beta and are so excited for more people to build here. Solution partner Tropical Hub has been working on WhatsApp and CPaaS integrations for its Latin American customers and said,
“The Custom Channels API has opened up a long-awaited horizon of possibilities. We can now envision HubSpot as a single service center, centralizing multiple channels together with other technological stacks."
How to get started
Here’s how you can get started with the Custom Channels API and begin building your own integration. Start by following these steps:
If you don't already have a developer account, create one. Otherwise, you can leverage your Sales and Service Hub Enterprise account and create the public app. This app will connect your external messaging service with HubSpot’s Inbox or Help Desk.
When creating your app, it’s important to configure the scopes on the Auth tab. Ensure that you include the following scopes, as these are necessary when using the Custom Channels API:
conversations.custom_channels.read:To read messages and threads published to HubSpot by your custom channel.conversations.custom_channels.write:To publish messages to HubSpot.conversations.read:To retrieve a list of conversation inboxes in the account.
Note the app ID, client ID, and your secret to use later.
- Register your custom channel in HubSpot
After you create your app, use your HubSpot Developer API Key and your app ID to register the custom channel with HubSpot using the POST request:
The body of this request should contain necessary information, such as channel name, webhook URL, and channel capabilities. For an example of the request body, refer to the documentation.
- Connect the channel accounts
Once the custom channel is registered, connect specific channel accounts (external messaging accounts) to a user’s HubSpot account by leveraging the following POST request:
You must provide the inbox ID and other necessary information in the request body.
Note: You can also create a connection flow for your custom channel when you want to distribute it to multiple customers via the HubSpot Marketplace. Register an account connection flow that will appear within the HubSpot Inbox or Help Desk Connection flow. Please refer to our documentation for more information.
- Handle the incoming and outgoing messages
Incoming messages:
When the external service receives a message, publish it to HubSpot with:
Include message details in the body of your request.
Outgoing messages:
HubSpot will send a POST request to the webhookUrl you specified when you registered your channel. Handle this request in your service to send messages to the external platform.
- Manage channel events
HubSpot will notify your webhook URL when there are updates, such as messages being sent or channel accounts being modified. These notifications include events such as:
OUTGOING_CHANNEL_MESSAGE_CREATEDwhen HubSpot sends a message.CHANNEL_ACCOUNT_UPDATEDwhen an account is updated.CHANNEL_ACCOUNT_PURGEDwhen an account is deleted.
Resources
- Documentation: Check HubSpot’s API documentation for details on scopes, endpoints, and schemas.
- Developer Slack channel: Connect with other developers leveraging the Custom Channels API at #custom-channels-api-beta.
- Note: You must join the HubSpot Developer Slack to access this channel.
- Custom Channel API feedback form: This is not a support request. If you have feedback regarding your experience, use case, or ways to improve the API, please submit it through this form.
By following these steps and referring to these resources, you can build and deploy your own custom messaging integration using the Custom Channels API!
Summary
The dream of centralizing all customer interactions in HubSpot’s Customer Platform is now a reality with the Custom Channels API. Customers now have more options than ever, allowing businesses to integrate the messaging platform they choose.
HubSpot is committed to expanding the ecosystem with new apps in the marketplace dedicated to custom communication channels. We invite you to join us in this exciting journey by participating in the beta, sharing your feedback, and helping us build a rich ecosystem of channels for HubSpot customers.
Together, let’s continue to shape the future of the omnichannel customer experience.