How to setup WhatsApp integration with HubSpot using TimelinesAI

Sign-in into TimelinesAI or register a TimelinesAI Account if you don’t have it already;
Connect your WhatsApp account to TimelinesAI by navigating to "My account" tab, within the WhatsApp section; generate and scan the QR code with your WhatsApp mobile application (works both with regular and business WhatsApp accounts);
Navigate to the HubSpot Integration section, within your TimelinesAI account, and click on “Connect HubSpot”.
If your HubSpot user is linked to multiple HubSpot accounts, choose the HubSpot account you want to connect to TimelinesAI (WhatsApp conversations will sync to that account);
Grant access to your HubSpot account data by clicking on “Connect app”;
Configure integration settings to enable/disable auto-creation preferences for Contacts and Deals (you can always return here later, to change the settings);
Click on “Test integration” (will be disabled if you haven’t connected WhatsApp account yet);
A popup will be displayed with a link to a test Contact created in your HubSpot account; click on it. If you missed the popup, navigate to your HubSpot account and find the “TimelinesAI Support” contact;
Navigate to the “Activity” tab and select “WhatsApp” filter, so that your WhatsApp message will be displayed for Contacts;



Navigate to Sales/Deals and find “Whatsapp deal (TimelinesAI Support)”. Navigate to the “Activity” tab and select “WhatsApp” filter there as well.
And you are all set! From this point onwards, messages from connected WhatsApp accounts in your TimelinesAI workspace will automatically appear in Activity timeline of appropriate contacts and deals (according to integration settings).

How does the WhatsApp ←→ HubSpot Integration work on TimelinesAI?

Contacts in your WhatsApp account will be matched automatically with Contacts on HubSpot, based on their WhatsApp number. The matching will work with any phone number format you may be saving numbers in (with or without "+"/country code/etc.).

If a Deal has multiple HubSpot Contacts associated with it, then we'll only synchronize sent/received messages of the first contact in that list

WhatsApp messages are inserted as a custom Activity item, within the Activity feed of a Contact, and the most recently updated related Deal (if it exists). The entries will be aggregated in 24-hour blocks that will capture the whole conversation that took place during a given date:


Chat Link: Clicking on this link will allow you to open the chat thread on TimelinesAI
Contact's chat messages: These will always show up on the left side, with their respective chat timestamp
Team member's chat messages: These will show up on the right, with their chat timestamp included as well
Activity creation date: The system will create an activity for that given date and will capture all chats accordingly

Attachments sent or received, in WhatsApp chats with your contacts, will be automatically uploaded into the Files section of your HubSpot account and linked to corresponding messages, in Contact and Deal Activity feeds.

HubSpot Integration Settings

Create new Contacts automatically: This option will automatically create new HubSpot Contacts, whenever a new incoming chat is received in your connected WhatsApp accounts on TimelinesAI

You can choose to turn this off, in case you want to create the contacts manually on HubSpot and contact them via WhatsApp afterwards. TimelinesAI will still sync chats accordingly.

Create new Deals automatically: It will allow you to automatically create Deals, if we detect no active Deals associated with a HubSpot Contact.

If you turn this off, you'd then need to create a Deal manually before contacting someone over WhatsApp, so we can properly sync the chat to it.

Update contact and deal owner when chat assignment changes ( turned off by default ): If you update a chat responsible within the Shared Inbox (Chats section) on TimelinesAI, then we'll make sure to sync that update on HubSpot, so the most recent Deal (with recent activity or synced messages) and Contact there can also be updated accordingly with the new owner.

It's important to note that your team members' email address on TimelinesAI must match the one they have on HubSpot, so we can properly identify their profiles there.

Select Pipeline: This option allows you to set a Pipeline on HubSpot, where we'll be able to automatically create Deals for you. By default, the first pipeline in your HubSpot setup is shown as "Default pipeline", but you can select any available pipeline and stage from their respective dropdown menus.

Select Pipeline Stage: And with this option, you can select the specific stage you want your automatically created Deals to be in.

Note: Both, Select Pipeline and Select Pipeline Stage settings require the Create new Deals automatically setting to be enabled, so these can work as expected. Otherwise, both options will be grayed-out.

Reload Pipeline Settings: This button will refresh the details we receive from your HubSpot pipelines. It is ideal in case you update a pipeline and its stage(s) on HubSpot.

Sync WhatsApp Group Chats on HubSpot

How does it work:

We'll sync group chats automatically: We'll search group chats on HubSpot based on their Contact Name - you can create Contacts on HubSpot and paste the group chat name, which can be copied from TimelinesAI

Group chats are exclusively matched by name, not by phone number

Upon a successful match:

If multiple HubSpot Contacts share the same group chat name, then the most recently updated one is selected for synchronization.

The group JID is placed in the "Phone Number" field on HubSpot, to support sending messages via HubSpot Workflows, without overwriting existing values.

We allow you to send automated messages to WhatsApp group chats via HubSpot Workflows: Custom Actions. You can learn more about it by referring to this article: How do you send an automated message to a WhatsApp group chat via HubSpot Workflows?

Automatic creation and ownership assignment for Contacts and Deals

In order to automatically create a Contact in your HubSpot account, in case no match by phone number is found, enable “Create new Persons automatically” within the HubSpot Integration settings
In order to automatically create a Deal, in case no Deal is linked to the matched or auto-created Contact, enable “Create new Deals automatically” in the HubSpot Integration settings
When a Contact or a Deal is automatically created, the HubSpot user that created the integration will be assigned as an Owner by default.
If a Contact and/or a Deal is auto-created in HubSpot by TimelinesAI, when the first message is received in a new chat, it is likely that the only information that is known about the new contact is their WhatsApp number. Therefore, the new Contact/Deal in HubSpot will be named according to the number. Once such contact is renamed in TimelinesAI or WhatsApp account, it will automatically be renamed in HubSpot as well. A Contact or Deal that was not auto-created, will not be automatically renamed.

How to synchronize multiple WhatsApp accounts into HubSpot

Your team can connect multiple WhatsApp numbers. It may be useful in case your salespeople use individual numbers, or if you have several departments using WhatsApp for different purposes (sales, customer support, evaluating leads, etc.)
To connect additional WhatsApp numbers, you just need to invite the team member into TimelinesAI and ask them to scan the QR code in the WhatsApp section, with their Whatsapp application. One user profile can connect a single WhatsApp number, but all users in your workspace can do it. Technically, it’s possible to connect unlimited number of WhatsApp numbers this way (subject to purchase of seats in your plan).
If you have the HubSpot integration active in this workspace, all chats from all connected WhatsApp accounts will be seamlessly synchronized just like in the case with a single WhatsApp account.

How to Uninstall/Disconnect HubSpot from TimelinesAI

You can refer to the steps below in case you want to uninstall/disconnect both services.

Disconnect HubSpot from TimelinesAI

You can disconnect HubSpot from TimelinesAI by following these steps:

Go to the HubSpot Integration section on TimelinesAI
Click on "Disconnect":



Once done, both services will be disconnected and the integration will stop working

Uninstall TimelinesAI from your HubSpot Account

Another option here is to uninstall TimelinesAI from your HubSpot account:

Go to your HubSpot Account
Click on the Settings button that's in the top-right section of the screen



Once there, head to the "Account Management" section and select "Integrations → Connected Apps":



You'll see the TimelinesAI app there. Click on "Actions" and then, select "Uninstall"

HubSpot will ask you to confirm this action by typing "uninstall":



You can also follow these steps found within HubSpot's knowledge base to uninstall TimelinesAI from your HubSpot account

How Disconnecting/Uninstalling this Integration might affect your HubSpot account(s) and data

Disconnecting/Uninstalling this integration will stop WhatsApp chats from syncing to your HubSpot account(s).

Chats that were already synced prior to the disconnection will be kept in your HubSpot account, within your Deals and Contacts
HubSpot Workflows: All of the workflows you set where you used the TimelinesAI Custom Actions will have to be re-edited to restore them

Updated on: 29/10/2024