How to qualify marketing leads using custom properties in HubSpot Chatflows

If you’re tired of sales wading through junk leads or marketing wondering what happened to that “hot” chat, this guide’s for you. We’ll cover how to use custom properties in HubSpot Chatflows to qualify leads right in the chat — so you get better data, fewer headaches, and way less busywork. No fluff, no hype. Just what you need to actually improve lead quality.

Why bother with custom properties in Chatflows?

Out of the box, HubSpot’s chatbot tool is fine for simple stuff — booking meetings, answering FAQs, that kind of thing. But if you want to actually qualify leads (not just keep score of who clicked what), you need more than the basics. That’s where custom properties come in.

Custom properties let you:

  • Ask the questions you care about (not just “What’s your email?”)
  • Store answers on the contact record for sales and marketing to see
  • Trigger automations or lists based on real data, not just guesses

If you’re still using generic chatbots that dump every name into your CRM, you’re wasting time. Qualifying leads at the chat stage is faster and less awkward than chasing people down later.

Step 1: Decide what “qualified” really means (don’t skip this)

Before you touch any settings, get clear about what makes a lead worth your team’s time. If you don’t know what answers you want, you’re just building another form nobody wants to fill out.

Ask yourself:

  • What info does sales actually need to follow up? (Industry, company size, budget, etc.)
  • What questions will leads actually answer in a chat without getting annoyed?
  • What’s “nice to know” vs. “must-have”?

Pro tip: If your sales folks never use the “favorite color” field, don’t ask for it in chat.

What works

  • Keep it simple — 2-4 qualifying questions max, or people bail.
  • Use plain language — “What’s your role?” not “Please describe your purchasing authority.”
  • Make some questions optional if you can.

What doesn’t

  • Long lists of questions. Nobody wants to chat with a robot for 10 minutes.
  • Asking for sensitive info (like budgets) right out of the gate — you’ll scare good leads off.

Step 2: Create your custom properties in HubSpot

You can’t collect data you don’t have a place to store. Head to your HubSpot settings and set up custom properties for each qualifying question you want to ask.

How to do it:

  1. In HubSpot, go to Settings (the gear icon).
  2. Select Properties from the left sidebar.
  3. Click Create property.
  4. Fill out:
  5. Object type: Usually “Contact” — unless you’re qualifying companies.
  6. Group: Where in the CRM the property will live.
  7. Label: Keep it clear (e.g., “Company size,” “Use case,” “Project timeline”).
  8. Field type: Pick what makes sense (dropdown, single-line text, etc.).

Tips:

  • For dropdowns, keep choices short and use language your leads use.
  • If you already have a property for something, don’t make a new one — use what’s there.

Step 3: Build your Chatflow with qualifying questions

Now it’s time to put those properties to work in your chatbot. Head over to Chatflows and set up a new conversation.

How to do it:

  1. Go to Conversations > Chatflows in HubSpot.
  2. Create a new chatflow (or edit an existing one).
  3. Add a Question action for each qualifying point.
  4. For each question, select “Save response to property” and choose your custom property.

What to ask:

  • “What brought you here today?” (Open-ended, good for surfacing intent)
  • “What’s your role?” (Dropdown: Owner, Marketing, IT, etc.)
  • “How many people work at your company?” (Size ranges)
  • “Are you looking to buy in the next 3 months?” (Yes/No/Not sure)

Things to watch out for:

  • Don’t force every visitor to answer everything. Use logic to skip questions that don’t fit.
  • If you’re routing chats to a human, make sure you’re not doubling up on questions the rep will ask again.

What works:

  • Use quick replies and buttons, not just open text — it’s easier for the visitor, and the data’s cleaner.
  • Add a “None of these fit me” option to avoid bad data.

Step 4: Use logic to qualify (and send real leads to sales)

Here’s where a lot of folks mess up: they collect the data, but don’t do anything with it. If you want to avoid dumping every random chat into your pipeline, use Chatflow logic to route or score leads based on their answers.

How to do it:

  1. In your chatflow, use the If/then branches after key questions.
  2. Set up rules like:
  3. If “Company size” is over 50, offer to book a meeting.
  4. If “Timeline” is “Not sure,” send them more info instead of a meeting link.
  5. If “Role” is “Student,” send them to a resource page or polite goodbye.

Pro tip: Be ruthless. If someone isn’t a fit, don’t send them to a sales rep. You’ll get better results and less burnout.

Step 5: Set up automation and notifications

Once you’re collecting good data, use it to make your team’s life easier.

What you can automate:

  • Send a Slack or email alert to sales only for leads who actually qualify (based on your custom properties).
  • Add qualified leads to a HubSpot list for targeted follow-up.
  • Trigger nurture emails for people who aren’t ready yet.

How to do it:

  1. Go to Workflows in HubSpot.
  2. Build a workflow that starts when a contact property (your custom property) is set.
  3. Add actions based on property values (notify, assign, add to list, etc.).

Watch out for:

  • Over-notifying — nobody wants a flood of “maybe” leads.
  • Letting in unqualified leads because your property values are too broad. Be specific.

Step 6: Check your data and tweak as you go

This is the unsexy part, but it matters. Check in after a few weeks and see if your chat is actually surfacing good leads — or just collecting noise.

How to review:

  • Look at the new contacts created via chat. Are they the right type?
  • Talk to sales — are the leads actually worth their time?
  • Check your custom property data. Is it clean, or are people gaming the system or dropping off?

What to fix:

  • If you’re getting lots of blanks, reword the question or make it optional.
  • If you’re getting “Other” as an answer too often, your choices might be too narrow.
  • If sales is still drowning in weak leads, tighten up your logic or qualifying questions.

Things to ignore (for now)

A few features and “best practices” you’ll see in the wild that aren’t worth your time at first:

  • Chatbot personality — Don’t waste hours writing quirky intros. Focus on clarity.
  • Over-the-top branching — Start simple. Only add complexity when you actually need it.
  • Fancy lead scoring — If your team isn’t already using lead scoring well, don’t complicate things with chatflow scores yet.

Summary: Keep it simple, review, and don’t be afraid to change

You don’t need to build the perfect chatbot on day one. Start with a couple of custom properties, ask the questions that matter, and route only the good stuff to sales. Watch how it’s working, fix what’s broken, and ignore the bells and whistles until you actually need them.

The best lead qualification systems are the ones your team actually uses — and that your leads don’t hate. Keep it simple, be honest about what’s working, and you’ll save everyone a lot of time.