How to Create a Live Chat in Hubspot

Adding live chat in Hubspot lets you talk to visitors in real time, qualify leads faster, and route conversations to the right team members. This guide walks through every step of creating, configuring, and publishing a live chat channel using the conversations inbox.

Getting Started with Hubspot Live Chat

Before you build a chatflow, you need access to the conversations inbox in your Hubspot account. Live chat is created and managed in the chatflows tool, which connects directly to the inbox so your team can reply from one central place.

To prepare:

Confirm you have permissions to use the conversations inbox.
Decide which team or pipeline will handle incoming chats.
Plan your welcome message, language, and routing rules.

Once that is ready, you can create a new chatflow specifically for live chat.

Create a New Hubspot Live Chatflow

To set up live chat, you start from the chatflows tool and choose your website channel and chat type.

In your Hubspot account, navigate to the Chatflows tool under Conversations.
Click Create chatflow.
Select the channel type Website.
When prompted to choose a chatflow type, select Live chat (not bot or knowledge base options).
Click Next to proceed to basic configuration.

From here, you will configure language, inbox, and availability so that your live chat runs reliably for visitors and your internal team.

Configure Basic Hubspot Live Chat Settings

The first configuration step sets the foundation for how live chat will behave and which team will own the conversations.

Select the Conversations Inbox

Every live chatflow must be connected to a single inbox.

In the Select an inbox section, choose the inbox where new chats should arrive.
If you manage multiple inboxes, pick the one dedicated to sales, support, or a shared team queue.

This choice determines which users can see and answer incoming messages.

Set the Live Chat Language in Hubspot

The language setting controls default text labels in the widget, such as system prompts and buttons.

Under Language, choose the language that matches your website audience.
Review any default messages to ensure they appear correctly for your chosen language.

Language can be updated later if you localize your site or support multiple regions.

Availability Options for Hubspot Live Chat

Availability rules decide when visitors see live chat and what happens outside working hours.

Choose Your Availability Type

In the Availability or Chat availability section, you can typically choose between:

Available during business hours only.
Available whenever a user is online.
Always available with optional away messages.

Pick the option that reflects how your team can respond to chats in real time.

Configure Business Hours and Away Behavior

If you choose business hours or online user–based availability, define what visitors see when no one is available.

Set business hours for each day of the week.
Customize an away message or offline message.
Decide whether to show an email capture form when the team is away.

In Hubspot, these rules help capture leads even when no agent can respond immediately.

Customize Hubspot Live Chat Display

Appearance and position of the chat widget have a major impact on engagement. The display settings let you change how the widget looks and where it appears on your pages.

Choose Widget Position and Behavior

Within the live chat configuration panel:

Select whether the widget appears in the bottom-right or bottom-left corner.
Decide if the chat widget should display on desktop, mobile, or both.
Choose if the welcome message automatically opens after a time delay or scroll percentage.

These controls help you balance visibility with a non-intrusive user experience.

Adjust Brand Colors and Avatar

You can match the live chat style to your brand:

Set the primary color to align with your brand guidelines.
Add a team avatar or logo visible in the chat header.
Preview changes before publishing to ensure consistency with your site design.

Branding consistency inside Hubspot reinforces trust and improves click-through on the widget.

Edit Live Chat Copy and Conversation Settings

Next, edit the actual text that visitors will see at each step of the live chat conversation.

Welcome Message and Prompt

Use a concise and friendly welcome message that sets expectations.

Explain what kind of help visitors can get via live chat.
Clarify whether they are talking to sales, support, or a general team.
Mention typical response times to reduce confusion.

You can test different welcome messages in Hubspot over time to improve engagement.

Conversation Routing Rules

To ensure chats reach the right people, set routing rules:

Route to specific users or teams based on topic or page.
Send all chats to a general queue if your team shares responsibility.
Set fallback rules for when no one is assigned.

Routing ensures that every message landing in Hubspot has a clear owner and reduces delays.

Targeting Rules in Hubspot Chatflows

Targeting decides which visitors see the live chat widget and on which pages it appears.

Define Page-Based Targeting

Inside the chatflow targeting settings:

Target All pages to show chat across your entire site, or
Specify certain URLs (for example, pricing, contact, or support pages).

Use patterns and rules (contains, starts with, equals) to control where the chat shows up.

Refine Audience Targeting

Advanced targeting options allow you to tailor chat visibility by visitor attributes, such as:

Country or language.
Device type (desktop, tablet, mobile).
Returning vs. new visitors.
Contact properties for known contacts in your CRM.

These rules help you use Hubspot live chat more strategically, for example by offering chat only to high-intent pages or specific segments.

Preview and Test Your Hubspot Live Chat

Before publishing your chatflow, preview the widget to confirm everything looks and functions correctly.

Use the built-in preview option to see how the widget appears on desktop and mobile.
Check the welcome message, button text, and colors for clarity.
Test a conversation to ensure messages route into the right inbox and to the correct users.
Verify business hours, away messages, and email capture behavior.

Testing prevents broken experiences and ensures your team can handle new chats efficiently.

Publish Hubspot Live Chat to Your Website

After configuration and testing, you are ready to publish the chatflow.

In the chatflow editor, switch the live chat to On or Publish.
If you have not yet installed the tracking code, add the Hubspot tracking script to your website templates or tag manager.
Confirm that the widget appears on targeted pages in a private browser window.

Once active, all visitor messages will appear in the selected conversations inbox, where your team can respond, assign, and close conversations.

Manage and Optimize Hubspot Live Chat Over Time

After launch, continue to refine your configuration based on performance and team feedback.

Monitor conversation volume, response time, and close rates.
Update routing rules as teams grow or responsibilities change.
Refine targeting to show chat on the most valuable pages.
Iterate on welcome messages and availability rules.

Because live chat is tightly integrated with the CRM, Hubspot makes it easy to review contact timelines and align chat outcomes with sales or support goals.

Additional Hubspot Live Chat Resources

To go deeper into each option shown in this guide, review the official instructions for creating a live chat in the knowledge base: Hubspot live chat documentation.

If you need strategic help implementing live chat or broader CRM workflows, you can also consult specialists at Consultevo for tailored guidance.

By carefully configuring targeting, availability, and routing, you can use Hubspot live chat to turn more visitors into qualified contacts while providing a faster, more personal support experience.

Need Help With Hubspot?

If you want expert help building, automating, or scaling your Hubspot , work with ConsultEvo, a team who has a decade of Hubspot experience.

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