Customer support teams use HubSpot Service Hub to manage conversations, solve problems, and keep track of tickets. As a new agent, learning how to use these tools early on helps you stay organized, respond faster, and work smoothly with your team.
If your team uses automation or service level agreements (SLAs), HubSpot can also ensure no ticket is missed and no deadline is overlooked. Learning the basics early will help you avoid confusion, keep customers happy, and feel more confident in your role.
We’ll walk you through how to use HubSpot’s Service Hub, step by step. You’ll learn how to sign in, see your dashboard, manage tickets, talk to customers, use time-saving tools, and track your progress.
As a customer support agent, HubSpot Service Hub is where most of your day will happen. It’s where you’ll answer questions, solve problems, and work with your team. To do that well, you need to know where things are, how to handle tickets, and how to stay on top of your work.
Here are a few simple steps to set you up:
Before you can help customers, you need to ensure your account is ready and you know where to find the tools you’ll be using daily.
Go to the HubSpot login page and sign in using your work email and password.
Once you're in, click on the "Service" tab in the top menu. This takes you to the Service Hub. Here’s where you’ll see your tickets, conversations, reports, and more.
Take a moment to explore the layout. You’ll use this space every day, so it helps to know where things are. The dashboard shows you everything that matters: open tickets, customer messages, and key tools all in one place.
Once you’re inside HubSpot Service Hub, your dashboard is the first thing you’ll see, and it’s where most of your work will happen. This dashboard helps you keep track of your tickets, messages, tasks, and team activity, all in one place.
Here are the main parts you’ll use:
Take some time to click around and get comfortable. The more familiar you are with the layout, the easier it will be to stay focused and work faster during your day.
Support tickets are at the heart of your work in HubSpot. Each ticket represents a customer issue or request, and your job is to ensure it gets handled properly. Tickets can come in through email, chat, or forms—and once they show up in HubSpot, it’s your job to keep them moving.
Here’s what you need to know:
You can create tickets manually by clicking “Create Ticket” if you’re logging an issue yourself. But most tickets will be created automatically from messages that come in through your inbox or contact forms.
Once a ticket is in the system, it needs to be assigned. You can assign it to yourself or to a teammate by selecting a name in the Assignee field. This makes it clear who’s responsible for solving it.
To view and update a ticket, click on it. You’ll see the full details—like the customer’s message, contact info, and past interactions. From there, you can do a few essential things:
Each ticket moves through a pipeline, a set of stages like New, In Progress, Waiting on Customer, or Closed. Updating the stage as you work helps your team stay on the same page and keeps reports accurate.
Keeping your tickets organized and up-to-date is one of the most important things you can do as a support agent. It helps everyone work faster and ensures no customer is left waiting.
Once a ticket comes in, the next step is responding. In HubSpot, you can reply to customers directly from the ticket. This keeps everything in one place. No switching between tabs or tools.
You’ll see a “Reply” button when you open a ticket. Use this to send an email back to the customer. If the ticket came from chat, you’ll reply in the same window using the chat panel.
To save time, HubSpot lets you use email templates. These are pre-written messages you can customize before sending. Look for the “Templates” dropdown when writing your reply. Templates are great for answering common questions quickly.
You can also leave internal notes. These are messages that only your team can see. Use them to share updates, ask for help, or explain your actions. Ensure you’re writing in the Internal Note tab—not the email tab—so the customer doesn’t see it.
You can also use @mentions inside your note to tag a teammate. They’ll get a notification and can jump in if needed. This helps you work together without needing a meeting or separate message.
If you're chatting live, HubSpot's Conversations Inbox shows you real-time customer messages. You can reply to them immediately or assign the chat to another agent if you're busy. Live chat is a great way to solve quick issues quickly.
Customers are more likely to pay more when they know they’ll get good support—68% say they’ll spend extra with brands known for great service.
As more tickets come in, staying organized becomes key. HubSpot helps with this by letting you sort, filter, and save different views. This makes it easier to focus on the tickets that need your attention first—whether it’s urgent issues, open cases, or anything waiting on a reply.
When you open the Tickets tab, HubSpot shows you built-in views like:
These views update automatically and help you start your day with a quick scan of what’s active.
You can also make your own views using filters. Let’s say you want to see only high-priority tickets, or tickets assigned to you, or those opened this week.
Click the “Filters” button at the top of the ticket list and choose what to include—like owner, priority, pipeline stage, or ticket status.
Once your filters are set, click “Save View” so you don’t have to rebuild it next time. You can even pin it for quick access.
You don’t always need a saved view. You can also sort tickets on the fly—by clicking on column headers like Status or Date Created, or by using the quick filter bar.
This is handy when you’re just scanning your list or trying to find something fast.
When tickets are sorted well, nothing slips through the cracks. You spend less time hunting and more time helping. Views also help managers see how tickets are flowing through the system—and spot issues before they pile up.
Automation helps you work faster and avoid repetitive tasks. In HubSpot, automation can assign tickets, send reminders, and even respond to common questions. When used well, it helps you stay focused on helping customers.
Some teams set up automation rules that assign tickets as soon as they arrive. For example, tickets from the website chat might go to one team, while email tickets go to another.
You don’t need to do anything here unless your manager asks you to review the rules but it’s good to know how tickets land in your queue.
Canned snippets are short, reusable messages you can drop into replies. They’re different from templates—they’re usually just a few sentences, like answers to common questions or a quick greeting. To insert one, type # while writing your message, and choose a snippet from the list.
These are a big time-saver and help you respond quickly without rewriting the same thing over and over.
If your team uses workflows, some follow-up tasks may already be automated. For example, if a customer hasn’t replied in 3 days, HubSpot can send a reminder or move the ticket to a new stage. These are set up by admins or managers, but you’ll see them in action as you work.
Some common automation examples:
If your team tracks SLAs (service level agreements), you might see timers on your tickets. These show how much time you have left to send a first reply or to close the ticket. Meeting these timers helps your team keep promises to customers—and avoid penalties.
Always check your active tickets for timers, especially if one is close to running out.
Automation takes care of small tasks in the background, so you can focus on helping people. It also makes your team more consistent—customers get faster, more accurate responses, and no one has to remember every detail manually.
Once you’ve started working on a ticket, it’s important to update it as things move forward. This helps you stay organized, and it keeps your team in the loop. It also makes it easier to report on what’s been done and what still needs attention.
Each ticket flows through a pipeline, which is a list of stages like:
You can move a ticket to a new stage by updating the Status field. Keeping this updated helps your team know what’s going on without having to ask.
Sometimes, a ticket is too complex to handle on your own. If that happens, don’t wait too long—escalate it. You can reassign it to a manager or another department by updating the Assignee field or @mentioning them in a note.
Escalating quickly helps the customer get a better answer, faster—and shows your team that you’re thinking ahead.
Once you’ve solved the customer’s issue, it’s time to close the ticket. Change the ticket status to Closed. If your team has feedback tools set up, this may also trigger a CSAT survey (Customer Satisfaction survey) to ask the customer how their experience was.
A closed ticket means the job is done—but it also helps keep your queue clean so you’re only looking at what’s still active.
When support is done well, it pays off. 93% of customers say they’ll come back to buy again after a great service experience.
Keeping your tickets updated as you go builds trust with your team and with your customers. It shows that nothing is getting lost or forgotten, and it keeps the system clean so you can find what you need quickly.
Once you’ve been working with tickets for a while, it’s helpful to look back and see how things are going. HubSpot has built-in reports that show how fast you’re responding, how many tickets you’ve closed, and how happy your customers are.
These reports aren’t just for managers—they’re also useful for you as an agent to understand what’s working and what might need improvement.
If your team uses CSAT surveys, customers will get a quick feedback form after their ticket is closed. These results show up in your reports so you can see how people felt about the help they received.
A high CSAT score means customers are happy. If you get a lower score, take a look at what happened—there might be something you can do differently next time.
You can also check how long it takes to close tickets. Look for the “Average Time to Close” or “Time to First Response” stats. These numbers help you see if you’re responding quickly enough—or if any steps in your process are slowing you down.
If your team has SLA goals, staying within these time frames is really important.
HubSpot’s reports can also show how many tickets you’ve handled, how many are still open, and how your numbers compare over time. If your manager has shared a dashboard with you, use it to see where you’re doing well—and where you can improve.
These insights aren’t meant to pressure you. They’re there to help you grow in your role and give the best support possible.
Knowing how to use the tools is important—but the way you work matters just as much. These best practices will help you stay organized, support your teammates, and deliver a better experience to every customer you help.
Start each shift by checking your open tickets. Use filters or pinned views to quickly see what needs your attention. Look for anything that’s overdue, waiting on a reply, or close to hitting an SLA timer.
Reviewing your queue regularly helps you avoid surprises and respond faster.
You don’t have to solve everything alone. If you need help or want to share an update, leave an internal note in the ticket. Use @mentions to tag teammates so they’re notified right away. This keeps communication clear and saves time for everyone.
Update ticket properties—like priority, status, or issue type—as things move forward. It only takes a few clicks, and it helps others know exactly where things stand if they need to step in.
Also, leave short notes about what you’ve done. These don’t need to be long, but they should be clear enough for someone else to understand the full picture at a glance.
Even a small boost in customer loyalty can make a big impact. Raising retention by just 5% can grow profits by up to 95%.
Even a quick message to let the customer know you're looking into their issue goes a long way. Aim to reply fast—even if the full answer takes time. That first touch builds trust and shows the customer they’re not being ignored.
If you’re using templates or canned replies, make sure to personalize them so they feel human, not robotic.
Don’t waste time on things HubSpot can handle for you. Use templates, snippets, and saved views. Let workflows remind you about follow-ups or close out old tickets. Automation keeps things moving without putting more on your plate.
Getting started with HubSpot doesn’t have to be complicated. Once you learn how to log in, use the dashboard, manage tickets, talk to customers, and check your progress, everything starts to feel easier.
The tools are designed to help you stay organized, save time, and work better with your team.
As you continue in your role, remember the basics: keep your tickets updated, use filters and automation to stay on top of your work, and don’t be afraid to ask for help using notes and mentions.
These small habits make a big difference—and they’ll help you give great support every day.
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