Install the HubSpot app from the Intercom App store and connect your HubSpot account, which needs admin access. It sends Intercom leads and conversations to HubSpot as contacts and timeline activity, one way only. For a two-way sync, Intercom points you to the Data Sync by HubSpot app, or you can link the two with Zapier.
What crosses from Intercom into your CRM
Your chat widget is catching leads, and your sales team lives in the CRM. The point of this connection is to stop anyone copying names across by hand. Here's what Intercom's own HubSpot app moves, and how.
| Data | How it arrives in HubSpot | Timing |
|---|---|---|
| New leads | Created as contacts with lifecycle stage Lead (not customisable) | After installation only |
| Lead details | Name, email and phone number | With the lead |
| Owners and qualification data | Synced with the lead | With the lead |
| Conversations | Logged on the person's activity timeline | Started after connecting, with an end-user reply |
| End-user replies | Added to the timeline | Real time |
| Teammate replies | Added to the timeline | When the conversation is closed |
Everything in that table flows one way, from Intercom to HubSpot. Nothing travels back.
Installing the HubSpot app
- Make sure you have admin access in your HubSpot account.
- In the Intercom App store, find HubSpot and click Install now.
- When prompted, connect your HubSpot account.
- Go to App Store, then HubSpot, then Settings, and choose to send leads and conversations Automatically or Manually.
- Turn on Automatic contact creation if you want every lead and user with an email address created as a HubSpot contact.
- Pin the HubSpot app in the inbox sidebar using Edit apps, and use Create contact when you want to send a single conversation.
- In HubSpot, make sure Intercom is switched on under Integrations in your activity filters, or the conversations won't show on timelines.
That last step is the one people skip, then assume the sync is broken. Check the filter before you start troubleshooting.
The HubSpot card in your Intercom inbox
Once installed, a HubSpot card appears alongside conversations. It shows a fixed list of six fields: Name, Email, Company Name, Lifecycle Stage, Lead Status and Owner. You can't customise that list.
If you need another HubSpot field visible to your support team, there's a workaround. Create a custom attribute under Settings, People data, sync the field into it with Data Sync by HubSpot, then pin it to the User Data or Company Data panel.
Nothing from before installation comes across
The Intercom Help Center is direct about this. The Intercom-built HubSpot app is one-way, and only leads created and conversations started after installation are sent. With Automatic contact creation on, earlier leads and users are left behind, so you'll need to export them from Intercom and import them into HubSpot yourself.
The same goes for conversations: only those started after you connected the app, and that include an end-user reply, reach HubSpot. If you want data flowing the other way, from HubSpot into Intercom, that needs the separate Data Sync by HubSpot app.
Two-way sync, Zapier and other chat tools
Data Sync by HubSpot is the app Intercom names for bidirectional sync, and it's also what feeds extra fields into custom attributes.
Zapier lists Intercom and HubSpot templates such as creating HubSpot tickets from new Intercom tickets, and updating or creating Intercom contacts when HubSpot contact properties change. I'm going on the template titles, so check each zap's fields before switching it on.
HubSpot live chat is built on the CRM itself and routes leads and customers to the right person on your team, which removes the need for a link at all. Freshchat covers customer messaging, live chat and chatbots, with an upgrade route to Freshdesk Omni for ticketing.
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If you're reviewing your chat setup, my roundup of other customer messaging tools is a good next read.
My take for a small sales and support team
Install the app, set it to Automatically, switch on Automatic contact creation and check the activity filter in HubSpot the same day. Then export your older leads once and import them, so nobody's missing from the CRM. When the contacts are flowing, my set of HubSpot follow-up workflows gives you something useful to do with them.
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Frequently asked questions
Does Intercom sync with HubSpot both ways?
Not with Intercom's own HubSpot app, which is one-way from Intercom to HubSpot. For both directions, use the Data Sync by HubSpot app.
Do old leads sync?
No. Only leads and users created after installation are created automatically. Older ones have to be exported from Intercom and imported to HubSpot.
What lifecycle stage do new contacts get?
Lead, and Intercom says this can't be customised.
When do conversations reach HubSpot?
End-user replies sync in real time, and teammate replies sync once the conversation is closed.
Can I connect them with Zapier?
Yes. Zapier lists templates such as creating HubSpot tickets from new Intercom tickets.
