Evelyne Berden and Jolien Struyf share insights on HubSpot INBOUND in Boston

Evelyne Berden: We heard a lot of inspirational speakers, but the HubSpot Spotlight session is always a highlight. This year's annual kick-off session was led by CEO Yamini Rangan, co-founder Dharmesh Shah, and VP of Product Andy Pitre. They discussed the introduction of Breeze, HubSpot's new AI assistant, and the role of AI agents in the future of marketing and sales. Their vision of how AI can improve the customer experience and automate processes was enlightening. Dharmesh focused on his new project agent.ai, a database of AI agents that you can integrate into HubSpot to simplify your day-to-day work, for example by generating email subject lines, sparring about blog content or building personas. 

Jolien Struyf: As Evelyne mentioned, the Spotlight session is always unmissable. There were also numerous other sessions that not only give practical tips, but also provide inspiration for our own customers. For example, Kyle Jepsen's education sessions or Jay Schwedelson and Pierce Ujjainwalla's email teardown talk were very straight forward and practical, so we can use some of the ideas they shared right away. 

Evelyne Berden: A striking trend is the integration of third-party tools into marketing automation solutions. Since the autumn, HubSpot has made it possible for app developers to build a custom interface within HubSpot, which means that many tools can now be offered entirely within HubSpot. PandaDoc, for example, already had a good connection with HubSpot and has now launched an in-app CPQ (Configure, Price, Quote), eliminating the need to switch between HubSpot and PandaDoc. 

In addition, Neil Patel's session on content marketing was very valuable. He emphasised that AI-generated content often attracts less traffic. As he put it: 'Most AI content flops.' This suggests that a human touch is still needed to create truly impactful content. 

Jolien Struyf: Many sessions were also about 'growth' and the increasing challenges we all face achieving growth. It's getting harder and harder to attract visitors to your website, generate leads, get them to convert, and then to retain. AI plays a role in this, such as through the availability of instant-response tools such as ChatGPT. Customers are more likely to trust peers than companies, leading to more research via social media. As a result, customers often know you better than you know them, so more is expected of sales at the moment of first contact. AI can also provide some support in this regard. 

Evelyne Berden: Integrating HubSpot with other systems is challenging, as on average businesses require more than 10 integrations to extract the most value from their tools. Every organisation has unique needs that require customisation. Successful companies leverage HubSpot effectively by integrating the right features into their tech stack and taking a strategic approach. 

Jolien Struyf: "That complements the other lessons we have talked about. Connecting different tools offers added value but requires a strategic approach. Essential questions are: what will control your data, what data does your automation software need? Is one-way or bidirectional integration necessary? Linking systems should never be a rush job. 

Evelyne Berden: The big tech players, Google and LinkedIn were there. Their focus on first-party data was striking. At a time when it is becoming more difficult to gather and use data correctly, HubSpot offers powerful solutions. Connecting HubSpot with social media channels such as LinkedIn creates an impressive marketing machine for personalised ads and retargeting. 

Jolien Struyf: Allyse Slocum of Trustpilot talked about the declining trust in companies. She talked about the 90 percent of executives that think their customers trust their company, while only 30 percent of consumers actually feel that way. This loss of trust affects revenues, making focusing on transparency and reviews more important than ever. Automation can play an important role here too. 

Evelyne Berden: In addition to the PandaDoc integration, tools like Dealhub and Propensity (ABM) also stood out. These provide CPQ capabilities and high-quality leads for sales, respectively. Connecting these tools to HubSpot creates a best-of-both-worlds situation. 

Where HubSpot is strong in lead generation, the lead can then be nurtured by the Sales Hub and eventually converted into a sale via PandaDoc or Dealhub.

Evelyne Berden: It's surprising to see how far AI has already been integrated into marketing strategies. While AI was still a thing of the future during the previous edition of INBOUND, it’s a common tool now. In addition, it’s a wake-up call for the many companies that are still struggling with poor quality data. A clean database is essential for everything from segmentation and automation to reporting. 

Jolien Struyf: I agree with Evelyne's comment about data quality. Successful  automation depends on the quality of your data. We see an increasing demand for data clean-up processes and action plans, because more and more attention is being paid to this. Data enrichment is also playing an increasingly important role, and HubSpot is responding to this with Breeze. We are curious to see how this develops further and are convinced that AI will continue to play a major role in this.