Segment customer agent audience

Use audience segments to tailor your customer agent's responses and support experience for different groups of visitors. Each segment defines an audience and lets you customize the knowledge sources, guidelines, and human handoff process the agent uses when interacting with that audience. 

For example, you can use segments to deliver different support experiences based on language, subscription tier, or customer type. Learn more about audience segment use cases. 

If you're managing multiple brands, learn more about creating and managing multiple customer agents.

Please note: you can manage AI feature access in your AI settings and configure what data is shared. Review HubSpot's AI Trust FAQs and AI Model Cards for detailed information on AI security controls, data use, and compliance.

Create customer agent segments

Create customer agent segments by setting filters based on contact properties, existing CRM segment membership, or visitor context, such as language or country.

Examples of customer agent segments

Create a segment

1. In your HubSpot account, click More, then navigate to Service > Customer Agent. If More doesn't appear in your account, navigate to Service > Customer Agent directly.

2. In the left sidebar menu, click Define > Segments. 

3. If this is your first time creating a segment, click Create segment. To add a new segment, click Add new in the top right of the table.

4. In the right panel, enter a segment name and description, then set up your filter criteria: 

   • In the Segment matching section, select a filter category. Then, select one or more of the following criteria to determine which visitors belong to the segment: 

     • • Contact property (e.g., the Contact owner property)
       • Visitor Context (e.g., Language)
       • Existing CRM segment (e.g., CRM segment membership)

1. • Click the dropdown menu and select the property, event, or membership to filter by.
   • Select an operator (e.g., is equal to, is known).
   • Set your criteria based on the field type.
   • To change the logic within or between a group, click the and or or dropdown menus and update the logic. Learn more about AND and OR logic.
   • To add a filter group, click + Add group. 
   • In the bottom left, click Save.
      
     

Qualify visitors without asking for their email

If you've turned off email capture in your customer agent channel settings, the agent can ask visitors qualifying questions to determine which segment applies to them. The questions are based on CRM properties used in your segment filters.

Once the agent identifies the matching segment, it continues answering the visitor's original question using that segment's knowledge sources, guidelines, and handoff settings.

Please note: when a visitor is identified during the conversation, any contact properties collected through visitor qualification are automatically synced to their CRM contact record.

1. In your HubSpot account, click More, then navigate to Service > Customer Agent. If More doesn't appear in your account, navigate to Service > Customer Agent directly.

2. In the left sidebar menu, click Define > Segments. 

3. Click the CRM usage tab.
4. Toggle the Visitor verification switch on.

Customize the customer agent experience for each segment

After creating customer agent segments, you can assign knowledge sources, apply guidelines, and customize the handoff process for each customer agent segment.

Assign knowledge sources to a segment

After creating a customer agent segment, assign knowledge sources that are relevant to that audience. When a visitor matches a segment, the customer agent uses both its general knowledge sources and the sources assigned to the matching segment.

Learn how to apply knowledge sources to a customer agent segment. 

Apply communication and behavior guidelines to a segment 

Use guidelines to customize how customer agent communicates and behaves when interacting with different audiences. For example, you can tailor the agent's tone, response style, and instructions for specific segments.

Learn more about applying guidelines to a customer agent segment.

Customize handoff guidelines for a segment 

Use handoff guidelines to customize how customer agent handles requests for human support. You can apply different handoff instructions to specific a segments based on their support needs.

Learn more about applying handoff guidelines to a customer agent segment.

Route handoff based on a segment 

Use customer agent segments to route conversations to different teams when customer agent hands a conversation off to a human.

1. In your HubSpot account, click More, then navigate to Service > Customer Agent. If More doesn't appear in your account, navigate to Service > Customer Agent directly.
2. In the left sidebar menu, click Train > Human handoff.
3. In the When a handoff is triggered, the customer agent will follow the live handoff process, click Edit handoff process. 
4. To assign customer agent to tickets or conversations using workflows, select I want to hand off issues to different users or teams based on a set of conditions.
5. Depending on your setup, under the Inbox or Help desk section, select the Reassign ticket based on audience segment for customer agent handoff workflow.
6. Click Use template.
7. By default, the actions will be set up. To configure handoff rules, learn more about configuring the rotate record to owner action in workflows. 
   
   
8. Once configured, turn the workflow on.

Learn more about configuring customer agent handoff process.

Test audience segmentation 

Test how customer agent responds when a visitor matches a specific segment.

1. In your HubSpot account, click More, then navigate to Service > Customer Agent. If More doesn't appear in your account, navigate to Service > Customer Agent directly.
2. In the top right, click Test [agent name].
3. To select the channel for previewing the agent's behavior, click the email Email or messages Live Chat icon.
4. In the testing panel, click the Segment dropdown menu and select Test as a segment. Then, select the segment you want to simulate. 
   
   
5. Ask questions relevant to the selected segment and verify that the agent uses the expected knowledge sources, follows the appropriate guidelines, and applies the correct handoff behavior.

Learn more about testing customer agent.

Manage and edit segments

After creating segments, you can update their priority, edit their criteria, or remove them entirely.

1. In your HubSpot account, click More, then navigate to Service > Customer Agent. If More doesn't appear in your account, navigate to Service > Customer Agent directly.
   
2. In the left sidebar menu, click Define > Segments.

3. To reorder segment priority:

   • In the table, you'll see each segment's priority listed in the left column. 
   • To reorder manually, click and drag a segment to a new position.
     
     

1. In the Enabled column, toggle the switch on/off.
2. In the Applied to column, view what the segment is being applied to. For example, a handoff process, or knowledge source. 
3. To edit the segment, hover over it and click Edit.
4. To delete a segment, hover over it and click Delete.
5. To add a new segment, click + Add segment.

Manage CRM properties used by segments 

Manage which CRM properties customer agent can ask visitors about when it can't identify them using existing CRM information.

1. In your HubSpot account, click More, then navigate to Service > Customer Agent. If More doesn't appear in your account, navigate to Service > Customer Agent directly.
2. In the left sidebar menu, click Define > Segments.
3. Click the CRM usage tab. 
4. In the CRM properties table, review:
   • Property name: the CRM property used in segment filters.
   • Segments: the customer agent segments that use the property.
   • Visitor qualification: whether customer agent can ask visitors for the property.
   
   

Use case: Personalize support experiences by customer audience

Sprocket Supply Co. supports a diverse customer base, including international shoppers, subscription customers, and business buyers. Their support team wants to scale customer service without creating separate customer agents for each audience.

Previously, customers received the same responses regardless of their language, subscription level, or customer type. This created friction when customers needed region-specific shipping information, enterprise implementation guidance, or business purchasing resources.

To address this, Sprocket creates three segments:

• German-speaking shoppers: uses visitor language or country property to provide access to German-language support resources.
• Enterprise subscribers: uses the contact's subscription tier to provide enterprise-specific product and implementation guidance.
• Business buyers: uses CRM segment membership to provide business purchasing resources and route handoffs to a specialized support team.

Sprocket then assigns relevant knowledge sources, applies segment-specific guidelines, and customizes the human handoff process for each audience.

As a result, each audience receives tailored support through a single customer agent, eliminating the need to create and manage separate agents.

Outcome

Customers receive responses tailored to their needs and context, helping them find relevant information more efficiently and reducing the need for human support.