The HubSpot INBOUND25 review: AI, the Loop, and what it means for your business

HubSpot's INBOUND25 conference just wrapped, and the message was loud and clear: AI is no longer a shiny side project, it's the entire playbook. This year's event laid out a whole new direction for marketing, sales, and service, with a dizzying 200+ product updates all pointing to a future where humans and AI work side-by-side. The vision was big, and the energy was definitely there.

But now that the conference buzz is fading, we're left with the real questions. It’s not about if AI is the future, but how your business can actually start using it without having to rip out and replace your entire tech stack. While the announcements were exciting, they also felt a little… self-contained.

Let's break down the key takeaways from INBOUND25, from "The Loop" to "Breeze Agents," and figure out a practical path forward, even if your company doesn't run exclusively on HubSpot.

What is loop marketing? A look at the INBOUND25 headliner

The biggest new idea dropped at INBOUND25 was the shift away from the classic sales funnel to something HubSpot is calling "The Loop." This isn't just a new buzzword they’re trying to make happen; it’s a pretty fundamental rethink of how businesses should find and keep customers in a world swimming with AI.

The old funnel was a straight line: attract, convert, close. The Loop, as the name suggests, is a continuous, adaptive cycle.

It breaks down into four stages:

• Express: This is all about nailing down your brand's unique voice and point of view before you let AI get involved. The idea is to lead with human authenticity. You give the AI a clear personality to work with, not the other way around.

• Tailor: Once you know who you are, you use AI and a unified view of your data to send out messages that feel like they were written for one person. We're talking way beyond just using a first name in an email, it’s about using customer behavior to predict exactly what they need to see next.

• Amplify: This part is a reality check. Your customers aren't just sitting on your website waiting for you. You have to get your content out to where they, and the AI models they're using, already are. That means focusing on social media, podcasts, communities like Reddit, and a new idea they called AI Engine Optimization (AEO).

• Evolve: Finally, you use AI to test, measure, and tweak your campaigns on the fly. It's a constant feedback loop that helps you learn and adapt much faster than the old "set it and forget it" model.

This new framework is HubSpot’s response to how people buy things now. We don't just "Google it" anymore. We get answers from AI summaries, watch TikToks, and ask for tips in private Slack groups. The Loop is designed to meet people in all those different spots.

Key platform updates: Smart CRM and Breeze Agents

To make this "Loop" concept work, HubSpot is rolling out some huge updates to its core platform. These new tools are all about creating an AI-powered engine that can run this continuous marketing cycle.

The Smart CRM and Data Hub: The foundation for AI

HubSpot is turning its CRM into what it calls the "Smart CRM." It’s no longer just a digital filing cabinet for your contacts; it’s being pitched as an active brain for your whole business. New features like self-generating data, where the CRM automatically pulls insights from your emails and call notes, are meant to handle the grunt work for you.

At the same time, Operations Hub is getting a rebrand as the Data Hub. This highlights how important a clean, unified data foundation is. The goal is simple: get all your data in one place so your AI tools actually have the context they need to be useful. The message is pretty straightforward: good AI requires good data, and HubSpot wants to be the place you manage it all.

Breeze AI: Assistants and agents as digital teammates

The AI tools themselves are being bundled under the name "Breeze." It's split into two main types:

• Breeze Assistant: Think of this as the next evolution of HubSpot's Copilot. It’s a helper tool that assists with daily tasks like drafting social posts or prepping you for a sales call.

• Breeze Agents: Now these are the really interesting part. They're designed to be autonomous "digital teammates" that can handle complex, multi-step jobs all on their own. The first few agents announced include a Customer Agent for support, a Data Agent for cleaning up your CRM, and a Prospecting Agent for sales outreach.

HubSpot also announced a Breeze Studio and a Breeze Marketplace, which will let companies build and customize these agents for whatever they need.

The challenge: Complexity and being locked in

But here’s the catch. This is a powerful vision, but it's one designed to work best inside the HubSpot ecosystem. To really get the most out of the Smart CRM and Breeze Agents, you have to be fully committed to their platform.

For teams that have spent years building their workflows around great tools like Zendesk, Freshdesk, or Intercom, adopting these new features isn't a simple upgrade. It's a massive migration project that can disrupt everything.

A screenshot of the Freshdesk landing page, an alternative help desk tool mentioned in the HubSpot INBOUND25 review.

A screenshot of the Intercom landing page, another alternative platform discussed in the HubSpot INBOUND25 review.

This is where a more flexible, integration-first approach starts to look pretty appealing. Instead of replacing your whole tech stack, you can add a specialized AI layer that plays nicely with the tools you already use. Platforms like eesel AI are built to plug directly into your existing help desk, pulling knowledge from all your different sources, like Confluence, past tickets, and internal docs, to deliver powerful automation in minutes, not months.

A screenshot of the eesel AI landing page, positioned as a flexible AI layer in the HubSpot INBOUND25 review.

A screenshot of the Confluence landing page, a knowledge source that can be integrated with AI tools according to the HubSpot INBOUND25 review.

HubSpot Marketing Hub pricing

As you might have guessed, getting access to these new AI marketing tools requires a spot on one of HubSpot’s paid Marketing Hub plans. The price tag is pretty hefty, especially when you add in the mandatory, one-time onboarding fees. It really drives home the point that going all-in on HubSpot's new vision is a serious business decision.

Here’s a quick look at the Professional and Enterprise plans, based on their current pricing.

Feature	Professional Plan	Enterprise Plan
Starting Price	$800/month	$3,600/month
Included Contacts	2,000 marketing contacts	10,000 marketing contacts
Key AI Features	Breeze social post agent, Marketing studio, Data agent (uses credits)	Everything in Pro + Lookalike Lists, Customer journey analytics, Journey automation
Omni-channel Automation	Up to 300 workflows	Up to 1,000 workflows with advanced triggers
Custom Reporting	Up to 100 custom reports	Up to 500 custom reports
Teams	Up to 10 teams	Up to 300 teams
Onboarding Fee	Required, $3,000 one-time	Required, $7,000 one-time

Applying AI to your support team today

Alright, let's bring this all back down to earth for a minute. The big ideas from INBOUND25, unifying your data, automating tasks, and personalizing interactions, are things everyone wants. But you don't have to be a HubSpot-only company to start doing them. It's just about finding the right tool for your team and your existing setup.

For customer support teams especially, there's a much faster and more practical way to get started with AI.

Here's how a tool like eesel AI delivers on the promise of INBOUND25, but without the massive headache:

• Get up and running in minutes, not months. Forget about long migrations and expensive onboarding. eesel AI is built to be self-serve, with one-click integrations for the most popular help desks. You can connect it to your current systems and start seeing results almost right away, skipping the pain of a "rip and replace" project.

• Train on your most valuable asset: past tickets. One of the hardest parts of setting up a new AI is teaching it how your business actually works. eesel AI solves this by learning directly from your historical support tickets from day one. It automatically picks up on your brand voice, common customer problems, and what a good answer looks like, all without manual training.

• Test with confidence before going live. Rolling out a new AI can be nerve-wracking. What if it says the wrong thing? eesel AI has a simulation mode that lets you test your AI agent on thousands of your past tickets in a safe environment. You can get an accurate preview of its performance and tweak its behavior before it ever talks to a real customer.

• You're in complete control. Instead of being stuck with a rigid, all-or-nothing system, eesel AI lets you call the shots. You can choose exactly which types of tickets the AI should handle, customize its personality, and even define custom actions it can take. This lets you start small, build confidence, and scale up your automation at a pace that feels right for you.

The difference is pretty stark: one path involves a massive platform migration, while the other is about upgrading the tools you already have in an afternoon.

This video offers reflections on the key RevOps and AI takeaways from the HubSpot INBOUND25 review.

Your next steps in the AI era

So, what's the real takeaway from INBOUND25? AI is fundamentally changing how we connect with customers. The companies that get ahead will be the ones that build smart teams that blend human strategy with AI-driven execution.

The choice you have to make isn't if you should adopt AI, but how. You can go all-in on a single, all-encompassing platform like HubSpot, with all the costs and complexity that entails. Or, you can take a more flexible, best-of-breed approach.

For support teams looking to step into the future without blowing up their current workflows, the path is pretty clear. Start by making the most of the data and tools you already have. See how eesel AI can plug into your existing help desk and start automating your support in minutes.