Set guidelines for the customer agent

Guidelines provide instructions for how the customer agent communicates. By configuring guidelines, you influence the agent's persona, tone, response style, formatting, and behavioral boundaries.

For example, you can specify topics the agent should avoid and how it should handle them, define how it structures answers, provide reusable scripts for common scenarios, and set clear instructions for how it should respond to frustrated customers.

You can apply guidelines to all contacts or a customer agent segment. 

Please note: while guidelines influence how customer agent responds, AI-generated responses may not always exactly match the specified formatting or wording. For the best results, use clear, specific instructions and test your guidelines before publishing.

Set guidelines for your customer agent

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 > Guidelines. Then, set up your customer agent's guidelines:

• • In the Communication style section:
    • Click + Add Communication style. To edit an existing communication style, click the edit Edit icon. 
      
      

• • • Enter a Guideline name.
    • Click the Segment(s)* dropdown menu and select customer agent segment this communication style will apply to. 
    • In the Guidelines text box, describe how you want your agent to communicate. This can include attitude, emotion, and response structure and formatting. For example, Use a friendly and professional tone in all customer interactions.
    • To use a prebuilt template instead, click the + Insert Template dropdown menu and select an option.
      
      
      

• • In the Guardrails section, define the topics your agent should avoid:
    • Enter a Guideline name.
    • Click the Segment(s)* dropdown menu and select the customer agent segment that these guardrails will apply to.

• • • Enter topics your agent should avoid and specify how it should respond if a customer raises them.
      
      
    • To use a prebuilt template instead, click + Insert Template dropdown menu and select an option.
  • In the Custom section, add additional instructions: 
    • Enter a Guideline name.
    • Click the Segment(s)* dropdown menu and select the customer agent segment these custom instructions will apply to.

• • • Enter any additional instructions that your agent should follow. 

3. Once you're done setting up your agent's guidelines, learn how to test and publish them.

Test and publish customer agent guidelines 

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 > Guidelines.
3. In the top right, click Test [agent name].
4. In the right panel, test how your customer agent will apply the new guidelines.
5. To test customer agent as specific contact or segment:
   • Click the Unknown down carat icon.
   • To test as a list of contacts, click Test as a segment. Then, select your segment.
   • To test as a contact, select Test as CRM contact. Then, in the pop-up box, select the contact and click Select.
6. After you've finished testing, on the Guidelines page, click Publish set your changes live.

Learn more about testing customer agent.