New in Hot Local Business
64 new features and updates.
CRM and contacts
Keep every customer and lead in one organized list. (8 features)
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Check for similar companies before creating one
See possible matches while adding a company, so your team can check for an existing record before creating another one.
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More flexible custom object fields and records
Rename a custom object's display field, copy internal names and open uploaded documents from the record list to keep your data easier to work with.
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Clearer association labels on records
See each association label's paired label and let eligible admins start creating a missing label from the record picker.
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Verify email addresses during contact import
Choose email verification when importing contacts and track progress in bulk actions. Filter contacts by verification status and create saved lists to review valid and invalid addresses before sending.
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Create and link companies from email domains
Use a contact’s business email domain to find a matching company or create a company record with its name and logo. Configure exclusions and choose whether to apply the automation to existing contacts.
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Organize contact documents with folders
Keep each customer’s documents in folders, move files without uploading them again and restore deleted custom folders or files from Trash within 60 days. Nested folders help keep related paperwork together.
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Filter HubSpot records before you import
Moving over from HubSpot? You can now choose which contacts, deals, companies and tasks to bring in, filtered by when they were created or last changed. Record counts update as you go, so you can see how many will be imported before you start.
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Check email addresses while you import contacts
When you import a contact list, you can now tick one box on the last step to start checking the email addresses as the import runs. Addresses that look invalid get flagged so you can clean them up before your first email goes out, and you can follow progress from your bulk actions history.
Conversations
Reply to customers from one shared inbox. (3 features)
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Resize your conversation panels
Drag panel dividers to give more space to the conversation list, message thread or customer details. Your selected widths are saved for the next time you open the inbox.
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Search inbox messages by keyword
Find a word or phrase across your inbox or within one customer conversation. Open the matching message and narrow results by date, channel, owner, attachments and more.
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Filter conversations by calls, contacts and deals
Focus your inbox using six new filters for channel account, last call status, contact type, opportunity pipeline, stage and status. Combine conditions to find callbacks and follow-ups that need attention.
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Phone and Voice AI
Handle calls with business numbers and voice AI. (2 features)
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Number pool calls now show the right ad platform
Call tracking now labels Facebook ad calls as Facebook Paid, and calls from TikTok, LinkedIn, Microsoft (Bing) and Google ads clicked in apps are labeled by platform too. Visits from ChatGPT and similar AI tools show as their own source, and new calls get these labels with nothing to set up.
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Ring number pool calls to up to 6 team members on the device they choose
Send number pool calls to up to 6 team members at once, and all of their devices ring at the same time. Each person can answer on web, mobile, a desk phone or their own phone number.
Calendars and booking
Let customers book time that fits your schedule. (3 features)
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Updated time zones for Canada and Morocco
Updated time zone options help keep appointments and notifications aligned with local time in British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba and Morocco. Choose the matching regional time zone in your settings.
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Customize and export your calendar view
Adjust your calendar timezone, grid intervals, buffer display and working-hour shading in one settings panel. Admins can choose staff colors, and you can export the current filtered view as a PDF or CSV.
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Attach booking forms to bookings you create yourself
When you create a service booking yourself, you can now attach the booking form and fill it in for your customer. Your usual form is preselected and the contact's name, email and phone come prefilled, so bookings made by your team capture the same intake details as online bookings.
Websites and funnels
Build pages that turn visitors into leads. (24 features)
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Point AI Studio at files and skills faster
Reference a project file with @ in Code view, or start a built-in skill with / in Builder. A file reference names the file and does not pin its contents into context.
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Connect your domain before you publish
Connect your own domain to an AI Studio project before its first publish, so you can set up the site address as part of your launch.
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New templates for local business marketing
Start with new templates for a website, survey, social ads, workflow follow-up and reporting, then customize the content for your services and customers.
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Connect a Conversation AI agent to live chat
Connect an existing Conversation AI agent to your AI Studio site's live chat widget from site settings. Review the connected agent and its tag conditions, or update the connection as your needs change.
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Add more products to AI Studio sites
Add more than 100 store products to your AI Studio site, select a page of products at once and search your added products to manage a larger catalog. With checkout set to All products, buyers are offered only the first 100 products.
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Guide quiz respondents to a relevant next step
Send people to different service pages or resources based on their quiz answers or scores. Set redirect rules using overall scores, category scores or the highest and lowest scoring categories to help visitors find a useful next step.
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Build campaigns with new survey and ad templates
Start with one new survey template and 7 new ad templates for Facebook and Google. Customize the wording and design for your services, with options covering automotive, medical and other business categories.
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Create QR codes for website pages
Create and customize a QR code from a website page, or choose a website and page in the QR builder. Download it for signs, cards or printed materials and check scans after updating the linked page.
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Apply saved brand colors to QR codes
Choose your brand board colors or saved custom colors when styling a QR code. Match printed signs, cards and other materials without entering the same color codes again.
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Create a brand board while editing an email
Create your first brand board from the email color picker. Import a website’s colors, logo and fonts or choose a preset, refine the details and save without leaving the email editor.
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Define a full type hierarchy in brand boards
Set heading, subtitle, body and caption styles in your brand board. Adjust fonts, sizes, weights and line heights, then preview the hierarchy together before saving.
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Preview templates in your brand colors
Choose a saved brand board while previewing a supported template and see the design in your colors. Apply the template with those colors already selected.
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Add graphics from the page builder library
Browse icons and illustrations inside website, funnel and store builders. Add graphics to the page or to an element, customize icon colors, or create an AI illustration and review it before use.
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QR codes for appointments and services
Share a QR code that takes customers to a booking calendar or service page. Access a prepared code from the relevant booking tool, customize or download it and check scans from the same place.
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Add quizzes directly to website and funnel pages
Drop a quiz element onto a website page or funnel step, then choose an existing quiz or create one. Edit the quiz in a popup within the page builder.
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Show form products based on customer answers
Use product selections to control form and survey messages, redirects and fields. Show or hide individual products and variants so customers see the options that fit their answers.
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See where and how customers scan QR codes
Review QR scans by device, browser, country, state or city alongside total and unique scans. Use the breakdowns to plan local campaigns and check the pages your audience visits.
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Share and connect forms from one integration tab
Preview embeds, copy links, customize a prepared QR code and view connected workflows in one tab for forms, surveys and quizzes. After saving, choose a sharing, embedding or automation step.
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Comments and replies on blog posts
Add a comments section to your blog posts. Readers can comment, reply and react. Review, approve or answer comments from the Comments tab. You can require approval before comments are published, and you can turn on email notifications for new comments.
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Templates for home services, automotive and restaurants
Funnel, survey, social post and ad templates are available, including options for home services, automotive businesses and restaurants.
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Smart error checks for forms, surveys and quizzes
When you save a form, survey or quiz, any errors now show up in one list and next to the field that needs fixing. Each error comes off the list as soon as you fix it. New recommendations also flag common slip-ups before you go live, like placeholder URLs, payments still in test mode and bot protection that isn't turned on.
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Add quizzes right inside funnels and websites
Drag the new quiz element onto any funnel step or website page, with no embed codes to copy and paste. You can build a new quiz or pick one you already have, then edit it in a large popup without leaving the builder.
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Fresh templates for websites, emails and ads
New ready-made templates are here, including a beauty and fashion website, a new email and a new survey. There are also social and ad templates for businesses like home services, medical, legal and barber shops. Templates offer customization options that can help you launch faster and spend more time on your customers.
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Save QR codes to Apple Wallet or Google Wallet
You can now save any new or existing QR code to Apple Wallet or Google Wallet right from the QR code builder. Each pass shows the scannable code with its name and details, so it is ready to pull up at the counter, on a job site or at a local event. The pass opens without a signal, though the page it points to still needs one.
Email marketing
Stay in touch with customers by email. (3 features)
- New
Navigate a refreshed email marketing workspace
Manage campaigns, templates, results and settings in a refreshed email workspace. Use consistent editing controls and campaign views as you build messages and review their performance.
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Adjust email layouts for mobile screens
Set separate mobile spacing, alignment and typography for supported email elements while keeping desktop styles. Preview both layouts and refine buttons, images and other content for smaller screens.
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Check campaign spam risks before sending
Run a check from the campaign send screen to review content, sender setup and reputation signals. Use the risk levels and suggested fixes to revise your email, then check it again before sending.
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SMS and messaging
Reach customers with timely text messages. (3 features)
- New
Keep WhatsApp workflow messages up to date
Updates to WhatsApp templates and snippets can now carry into workflow messages, helping your automations use current wording.
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Offer WhatsApp booking flows in more languages
Choose a language for the appointment booking flow, including its date selectors, labels and confirmation button. Preview the translated flow and see its language in the list; write separate form flows in the languages your customers use.
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Send forms in WhatsApp conversations
Customers can fill in a form within their WhatsApp conversation. You can reuse an existing form and preview which of its fields are supported. Responses are saved to form submissions and associated with the matching contact.
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Automations and workflows
Put routine follow up on autopilot. (10 features)
- New
Split contacts evenly or by weight in workflows
The Split action now supports Even split and Weighted split alongside Random split. Enter whole-number percentages that total 100% for a weighted split, and use Reset test to change a locked split's settings.
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Clean up workflows and empty folders
Review default-named workflows, inactive workflows and empty folders in Workflow Maps so your automations stay easier to manage.
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WhatsApp replies now follow the selected workflow branch
WhatsApp button and list replies now continue through the branch a customer selects, including replies with personalized labels.
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Add a WhatsApp typing indicator to workflows
Add a typing indicator before a WhatsApp workflow reply so customers can see when their message is being handled.
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Explore workflow activity with AI analytics
Use Workflow AI to review a contact's path, compare workflows and versions, and export an analysis when your team needs a closer look at automation activity.
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Run every matching workflow branch
Use the Router action to send a contact through every matching branch in the order you choose. Notify each relevant service team from one request, with options for custom rules, always-run steps and a fallback.
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Repeat workflow steps for each list item
Use the Loop action to repeat steps for each item in a list or each number in a range. Create a task or opportunity for every requested service, then review the results for each iteration.
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Compare workflow paths with A/B tests
Split contacts evenly across two to ten workflow paths, choose a conversion goal and set an end condition. Review results, then route new contacts to the winning path or keep splitting while you assess the outcome.
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Build workflows using your existing account records
Name an existing form, pipeline, tag, template or team member when asking AI to build a workflow. Review the records selected for each step, complete any remaining setup and test before publishing.
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Start workflows from social post status
Start a workflow when a social post needs approval, is scheduled, is published or fails to publish. For example, use it to notify your team. Filter the trigger by platform, post type, category, connected account and tags.
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Memberships and courses
Offer courses and member content online. (1 feature)
Communities
Give customers and members a place to gather. (2 features)
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Customize community levels and points
Set custom community levels and choose how members earn points for posts, participation, reactions received and course completion. Shape rewards around the activity that matters to your business.
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Welcome new community members automatically
Send new community members a personalized welcome message and guide their first steps with a configurable checklist. Help members find useful ways to get involved from the start.
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Reporting and analytics
See what is working at a glance. (1 feature)
AI employee
Get AI help with everyday tasks. (3 features)
- New
Save more contact field types from AI conversations
Let a conversation agent save customer answers into radio buttons, checkboxes, dropdowns and phone fields. Review the available choices in the agent settings and test how answers map to your contact fields.
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Build and edit AI agents by describing what you want
In agent studio, you can now create or change a managed agent by simply telling it what you want, like "make the tone friendlier" or "add a trigger for the contact form." It changes only what you asked for, asks a quick question when a request is unclear, and shows each change in a live panel you can edit yourself. It also works with the forms, calendars, pipelines and knowledge bases already in your account.
- New
Start AI agents when a new lead or deal comes in
Managed agents can now run on their own when a new contact is added, when a new opportunity is created, or when an opportunity changes status. Filter by pipeline, stage and status so the right agent handles welcome messages, lead qualification or follow-up after a job is won or lost.
Account settings
Manage your account, users and permissions. (1 feature)
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