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Challenge: No Native HubSpot Integration for Credit Union Branch Appointment Booking Software 

For credit unions, capturing and utilizing prospect and member data effectively is essential for continuous optimization and growth.  That’s why our client, Leaders Credit Union, was in need of a solution for syncing meeting data from Coconut's appointment booking software, to their HubSpot CRM. 

Without having the systems “talk” to each other, there was a disconnect between the data housed within both platforms – ultimately impacting how frontline employees conduct appointments and provide service to new and existing members. This affects member experience and operational efficiency, which are top priorities for sustainable credit union growth. 

What Does this Look Like in Practice? 

Without an integration, frontline employees needed to first locate records in HubSpot and faced a barrier in logging comprehensive appointment notes – especially for non-members without an existing record. This led to a lack of clarity on interactions, leaving an incomplete picture for the credit union teams to reference and affecting follow-up opportunities. When all team members have access to detailed interaction histories, they can personalize their approach and address member needs more effectively, ultimately enhancing satisfaction and retention.

The data sync issues also created challenges around viewing real-time appointments and member information. Without having this data immediately available in HubSpot, team members were missing out on valuable activity updates, like which financial products a member is interested in. As a result, they’re missing out on opportunities to meet a prospect or member’s needs and boost sales growth.

The Need for Complete HubSpot Records

In order to keep notes consistent and employees up-to-date, we needed a way to have Coconut send real-time updates to HubSpot, and for HubSpot to properly receive and associate these appointment details to contact and/or member records. Without a native HubSpot integration for Coconut, we needed to develop our own solution for bringing this data into Leaders’ HubSpot portal.

Solution: Custom Integration with Coconut API 

In order to support more Coconut-specific data within HubSpot, we decided to create a custom object in HubSpot for Coconut Appointments. This would not have been possible with a meeting activity, and timeline events weren’t a feasible option due to cost and complexity of customization.

As an appointment is booked or a walk-in appointment is created through Coconut, a custom HubSpot Project endpoint would be triggered to create the appointment record in HubSpot. With each update in Coconut, a workflow is triggered and the meeting record is updated within HubSpot.

Building the Integration 

To get started with our own custom HubSpot integration, we would first need to understand which tools were available to us within each platform. We started by looking into the Coconut API to see which events could be sent over to HubSpot, like appointments, absences, walk-ins, and more.

By leveraging the Operations Hub Professional advanced option enrollment trigger in workflows (when a webhook is received), this information could be sent over immediately upon being updated, eliminating the need for the team to wait for a scheduled bulk update. This allows the information to be used by team members within a matter of seconds, enabling timely communication and follow-up actions.

Organizing Data on the HubSpot Side

As appointments are being updated in Coconut, we needed to tell the platform which URL to send the webhooks to. By using workflows triggered by information being sent over, we could instruct HubSpot on what to do with the data coming in from Coconut.

However, we also had to solve for appointment data when there was no existing record within HubSpot, as this is a restriction within the existing workflows. The solution we came up with was to use HubSpot Projects and Serverless Functions in Content Hub Enterprise. Using these features, we could create a new URL, specifically for receiving data without an existing record.

Updating Coconut Appointments within HubSpot

Once there was an existing appointment record within HubSpot, we utilized Custom Code Actions in workflows through Operations Hub to keep meeting activities up to date. These workflows associate the appointment to a contact or member record, create a meeting activity on the associated record, update the meeting activities, or archive a deleted appointment and its associated meeting activities.

Results: Boosted Playbook Usage and Activity Logs

Prior to our custom integration, there was minimal to no usage of Sales Hub features, like Playbooks. This led to inconsistencies in how appointments were conducted and member information was collected, leaving team members without notes that could inform future interactions. Now, we can clearly see that the sales and service teams at Leaders have been leveraging these tools to track activities across the board.

To date, we have tracked the creation of more than 30,000 Coconut Appointments custom object records in HubSpot across 16 branches and departments:

Visibility into the services conducted during the appointment gave the marketing and sales teams insights into which Playbooks and follow-up workflows to prioritize for build-out, so they can work more efficiently:

Setting up frontline team members to manage these Coconut appointments directly in HubSpot increased their usage of the Playbooks tool, leading to more consistent collection of valuable information:

Impact: Standardized Processes and Improved Member Experience

With this integration, sales and service team members can move more of their work into HubSpot as they’re completing appointments. Once the appointment is started in Coconut, team members can then move to the record in HubSpot, and begin using Playbooks in Sales Hub to gather information.

“We encourage all of our financial champions to log playbooks when they are sitting down with prospective and existing members to deliver that consistent member experience through all of our conversation. The integration with Coconut and HubSpot allows us the clarity and ease of use for our frontline staff.”
–Hinna Jamal, Sales Strategy Officer, Leaders Credit Union

There’s no need for employees to complete every action in Coconut and copy it over into HubSpot later, and the team can rely on HubSpot’s more sophisticated CRM capabilities. After the initial appointment creation, our workflows keep data synced with updated activity records.

This solution creates a convenient and standardized method of collecting appointment information for both prospects and members. For employees, this also means enhanced visibility across both platforms, enriched HubSpot records, and more advanced reporting capabilities.

In addition, the integration impacts the service delivered during appointments, with more efficient and personal face-to-face interactions. Along with an improved sales and service experience, Leaders can offer more personalized follow-ups through the data they collect on their members. This results in a more member-centric process, which is at the heart of credit union success.