How do I clean up my HubSpot contacts?

If you use HubSpot CRM, chances are that at one point or another you’ve had an experience where someone has asked how they can remove themselves as a contact. Whether it's because you've updated their name and address information but they haven't changed theirs, or if they have moved away and no longer wish to be kept up-to-date with company news via email, the process isn't always intuitively obvious.

Here is our guide to removing yourself from any list in HubSpot. It should help you become more efficient, reduce spam, and increase your email delivery rates.

How do I permanently delete contacts from HubSpot?

To delete a person who doesn't want to receive emails from HubSpot anymore, first ensure that they're not already removed by going into My Content " People " All People. Then find the record for the contact whose details you'd like to change. You will see two options below each Contact Record—Edit & Delete. Click Edit and then click the green button located next to Remove Me From This List. Confirm this action by clicking Yes, Remove Me.

Next, go back to the edit screen and choose Delete from the dropdown menu under Actions, which appears after selecting Edit. Choose Delete By Email Address (or other field) and select the fields that identify them. Finally, confirm again by choosing Yes, Delete.

When deleting multiple records, make sure there aren't any duplicates! To check duplicate entries, navigate to Manage Lists " Duplicate Entries. If you find anything suspicious here, please report them so we may investigate further.

Now let's move onto what happens when you try to send an email invitation to someone who hasn't opted out.

Should I delete unsubscribed Contacts?

Yes, absolutely! When people subscribe to your mailing list through HubSpot, they agree to receive promotional emails. However, sometimes they might forget about subscribing, or even opt out once they've subscribed. In these cases, you'll need to manually delete those accounts. Here's how...

Navigate to Dashboard " Administration " Subscription Management. Now, scroll down until you reach Unsubscribe Options. Look for Accounts that match the subscription type you used when setting up the subscriber. Hit Show More and expand the Account Details panel. Next, highlight the account(s) you would like to delete and hit the blue trash icon next to the entry. Once done, click Done at the top right corner.

You don't necessarily have to follow these steps exactly. The important thing is that you actually delete the relevant accounts. For example, if you set up subscriptions using different types of users (e.g., Admin vs. Customer), you should only unlink them from the admin user group. Otherwise, all customers could end up being deleted unnecessarily, leaving behind others who did unsubscribe.

It's also worth checking whether memberships are active before cleaning up inactive accounts. Go to Customers " Overview and look for the Active Status column. If applicable, you'll see either Green/Active or Red/Inactive next to customer names. Highlight customers with the wrong status and click the red cross next to their name. After hitting OK, enter Cancel Membership in the pop-up dialogue box.

This method works great for regular subscribers. But if you're trying to add new ones, you'll have to take extra measures since HubSpot won't allow you to cancel existing subscriptions. Instead, you must create a temporary trial membership instead. We recommend creating trials for both free and paid memberships. That way, you can avoid accidentally canceling active monthly plans.

The trial period lasts 30 days maximum. At the start of the trial, members automatically gain access to full functionality. They can continue making purchases during this time without paying upfront fees. Once the trial ends, however, they must pay the standard rate unless they qualify for an extension.

To create a trial plan, head over to Plans " Create New Plan. Enter the desired plan name and price range, and proceed to the Pricing section. There, input the amount per month that you intend to charge your clients. Make note that prices vary based on your country. Also, remember that you cannot offer discounts for payments made within 60 days.

Once created, the plan shows up in your Subscriptions page. Simply give everyone access to the plan and set the billing date accordingly. Don't worry—you still control who receives trial memberships. Just open up Settings " Security " Restrict Access To Your Products and Services. Under Product Types, enable Only Authorized Users and pick whichever product category you want to restrict access to.

After doing so, anyone who wants to sign up for your service needs to provide proof of eligibility. This usually involves submitting a valid government ID card or passport number along with payment info.

Lastly, keep in mind that while most plans last indefinitely, trial periods expire after 90 days. Therefore, make sure to set reasonable limits to prevent abuse.

How do I get rid of unsubscribed Contacts?

Sometimes people simply stop receiving updates from companies due to various reasons such as moving house, changing jobs, etc. As mentioned earlier, it's important to know that unsubscribing does NOT mean opting out of marketing communications altogether. So long as you leave the option enabled, you'll continue getting updates via email. However, if you turn off auto-delivery completely, you won't hear from us ever again.

We highly recommend turning auto-deliver off entirely. Head over to Preferences " General " Auto Delivery. Find the No automatic deliveries radio toggle button and flip it to Off. Alternatively, you can disable specific groups as well.

Another approach is to temporarily suspend automatic delivery for certain contacts. Let's say that you recently added a bunch of new employees to your team. Their profiles contain outdated information, and therefore you wouldn't want to bombard them with unnecessary alerts every day. Using the same scenario above, you can block unsolicited messages from all new contacts except those whom you specifically whitelist.

To do so, just navigate to Preferences " Messages " Deliverability Optimization. Select Suspend Message Delivered Automatically for Selected Senders. Input your preferred sender domains and the email addresses of individual recipients. Save changes and restart HubSpot Mail.

What happens when a contact unsubscribes HubSpot?

As previously stated, HubSpot allows subscribers to unsubscribe at anytime. Should you notice that someone stopped receiving updates from you, don't hesitate to ask why. Remember, HubSpot provides several ways to communicate whenever possible. Sometimes, people prefer talking directly to support rather than reading lengthy newsletters. And besides, there's nothing stopping you from replying personally to inquiries.

HubSpot recommends sending an automated reply message to customers who request to be removed from your database. It informs them that they were unable to complete the requested operation, and prompts them to rejoin the system. Furthermore, HubSpot offers a dedicated tool called Removals Manager that lets admins manage large numbers of unsubscribers. With Removals Manager, you can modify data stored in the customer profile, including first name, last name, phone number, email address, etc.

Remember that HubSpot keeps track of your removal requests. If you later decide to return to the platform, HubSpot will notify you if anyone tried to unsubscribe from your list.

Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.

You've probably heard that if you want to get a high-quality list of names and emails, it's important to have good quality data coming into the system first. And with most marketing platforms like MailChimp or Constant Contact, this is pretty easy—just make sure all those people on your list actually opted in.

But what about when you're using HubSpot as an internal tool instead of just sending out emails through Gmail? How can you ensure your data has been collected ethically? What are some tips and tricks for cleaning up your contact list? Keep reading to learn how to keep your HubSpot database squeaky clean.

How do I clean my HubSpot contacts?

The first thing to consider before deleting any old records is whether they'll be useful at all. If someone hasn't opened their newsletter in six months, does it really matter anymore? You might think so because there was only one record, but imagine trying to find them again down the line. It could take forever.

It's also worth considering whether the information will help build better relationships with clients, partners, or other employees. For example, let's say you work in human resources and you use HubSpot to manage employee communications. Do you plan to remove anyone who wasn't contacted by management last month? Or would removing those individuals even help build stronger working relationships between different departments within the company? In general, if you don't need these records, then try deactivating them rather than deleting them completely. Otherwise, here's how to go about manually purging outdated entries.

To purge inactive accounts, log into HubSpot Marketing and navigate to Contacts " Manage Accounts. This screen shows every account associated with your current profile. Select View Details & Edit Info next to each entry, and hit Delete Account. Choose Yes if prompted to confirm the action, and you'll see the account disappear under Deactivated Accounts.

If you'd prefer not to deal with individual users directly, you can filter inactive accounts via Groups & Users. Just click Filter Active/Inactive under the dropdown menu next to Each User and choose All Other Employees. Now, whenever you search for inactive users, you won't come across any results. To activate an employee, simply select Activate Employee from the same Filters section. The person should receive an email asking them to verify their login credentials. Once verified, they'll become active again.

For bulk deletion, we recommend creating filters based on date range. Create two separate fields — Date Last Opened (or Date Joined) and Status. Set the status field to Unverified, Deleted, or Activated. Then create three more columns next to Date Last Opened: Open, Close, and Closed. Next, set up another column labeled No Match which displays True or False depending on whether there were matches found. Finally, add Sort Criteria to sort the rows alphabetically by Name, Email Address, Phone Number, etc., according to whatever order works best for you. Click Search after setting everything up, and you should immediately notice a decrease in time spent looking for records.

Once you've identified the bad apples, follow our guide to mass deleting HubSpot leads. We cover basic steps such as filtering out duplicate contacts and identifying groups of similar contacts. Afterward, you may wish to run reports against your new, cleaner database to further analyze its contents. There are many ways to identify duplicates and group related records together. One way to start is by sorting your contacts by first name, last name, phone number, and email address. Look for commonalities among certain sets of addresses, which could indicate possible duplicates. Another method is to compare full mailing addresses, phone numbers, and email addresses to look for discrepancies.

We hope you never have to resort to manual cleanup methods like this ever again! But until technology catches up, sometimes having too much data isn't always ideal either. That's why it pays to know how to properly manage your HubSpot contacts. Here's how to handle the worst case scenario...

How do I mass delete HubSpot contacts?

Sometimes, you end up with thousands upon thousands of contacts just sitting around doing nothing. These unused contacts consume valuable storage space and clog up your databases. Fortunately, HubSpot includes features specifically designed to prevent this problem.

One option is to automatically archive old contacts. When you access Contacts, switch over to Advanced Tools " Archive Old Records. From there, you'll need to specify when to archive your oldest contacts. By default, the feature archives anything older than 120 days. However, you can change this value to 30, 60, 90, or 180 days. Of course, longer periods give you greater control over archiving while shorter ones allow less room for mistakes.

Another approach is to turn off the autoarchive feature altogether. Head back to Contacts " Settings " Archived Record Expiration and disable AutoArchive. With this option turned off, you'll still be able to archive contacts without worrying about hitting any limits.

Finally, you may decide to delete large batches of contacts based on specific criteria. Maybe you want to clear everyone who joined since October 1st 2014, for instance. This type of batch removal takes advantage of advanced grouping capabilities available in the platform. First, head to Contacts " Settings " Bulk Actions and enable Batch Actions. Next, enter your desired date ranges and click Run Report. You should now see a table listing all contacts matching your chosen parameters. Simply check boxes as necessary, press Apply, and voilà, your entire list will be deleted in no time.

Note: Be careful when choosing dates. Make sure none overlap and avoid times close to holidays and weekends. Also, remember to leave enough buffer time to double-check that your selection worked correctly.

Should you delete unsubscribed contacts from HubSpot?

HubSpot offers tools to help you maintain your subscriber lists, including automatic notification delivery and unsubscribe options. Unfortunately, the process doesn't always work flawlessly. Sometimes you may miss a user opting out of newsletters because they didn't read past the title page. So yes, occasionally you may need to manually delete subscribers' records. Before getting rid of a lead, though, ask yourself whether it's truly useless. Is it going to hurt you to reach out to this customer? Will you lose future business opportunities if you continue to send unwanted content? Chances are, the answer is no. So feel free to purge deadbeats once and for all.

How do I delete contacts in HubSpot import?

When you create a campaign in HubSpot and begin collecting data, you might realize later on that you made a mistake somewhere along the way. Perhaps you accidentally added an invalid email address to the list. Luckily, there's a simple solution to fix these types of errors. On the Campaigns tab, scroll down to Error Management and open the Modify List button. Entering a new email address will update the existing entry, thus fixing the issue.

Also, to quickly review your campaigns and campaigns' performance statistics, visit Reports " Performance Statistics. Your dashboard provides details like total clicks, opens, and bounces per campaign. If you spot something wrong, you can easily edit the affected entries right away.

There are a few ways to handle the people who want to opt out of receiving emails from you, and there's no one-size-fits-all approach here. But if you're looking to get rid of those annoying spammy newsletters that always end up cluttering your inbox without offering any real value, it's time to start organizing them properly in order to cut down on unwanted messages and keep your list cleaner than ever before.

If you use HubSpot CRM (or have used it in the past), we’ll provide an overview of how to manage your contacts so you can better control what you send out and make sure they stay opted in. To help with this process, let’s take a look at different approaches to managing your contacts, as well as tips on organization.

Do unsubscribed Contacts count in HubSpot?

When deciding whether or not to delete someone from your mailing list, consider the following three things: 1) Is deleting the person possible? 2) If they were deleted would they be able to find their way back into your marketing mix? 3) Are you comfortable sharing sensitive information about individuals with third parties?

The answer to all these questions should be yes—unsubscribing isn't just a courtesy but also good business practice. You'll need to decide which data is important enough to share with partners like affiliates and other marketers while keeping others private. The more information you have, the easier it will be to reach out to prospects later on when you do plan to offer something new. And don't worry about forgetting anyone—HubSpot has you covered there too!

Once you've decided who gets to stay, it's time to move onto the next step. We recommend using the "Unlist" feature in HubSpot CRM to completely remove contacts from your database. This allows you to easily maintain multiple active mailing lists within HubSpot, each with its own set of rules and restrictions.

For example, you could create a separate list for customers only, another for clients, another for leads, etc., then apply specific settings based on user preferences and behavior. It gives you great power over whom you choose to target with certain offers, campaigns, and communications.

We know that many businesses struggle with building meaningful relationships with their existing customer base, but by creating dedicated lists for loyal followers and potential future buyers, you can build stronger bonds with your most engaged subscribers. From there, you can continue to nurture them with helpful content and valuable promotions until they become full-fledged customers.

In addition to making it easy to manage individual subscriber preferences, HubSpot CRM lets you customize your entire subscription form, including setting expiration dates, changing default language options, adding custom fields, and much more. In short, it makes the whole signup process smoother, faster and less intimidating for users.

With HubSpot, you can even integrate your unsubscribe button directly into your website header or footer code. That means everyone visiting your site knows exactly where to go to stop getting spammed—and why.

So now that you've got a clear picture of what needs doing, let's talk about how to actually organize your contacts once you've cleaned up your list.

How do I organize my HubSpot contacts?

Organizing your contacts may seem confusing at first, especially if you’ve never had to do this type of thing before. Luckily, HubSpot does a lot of the legwork for you, automatically categorizing your contacts according to your preferred categories. So after cleaning up your list, check under “People Management” in HubSpot CRM to see if everything was sorted correctly.

Next, click on Contacts & Lists and select My Lists. Then click on Create New List. Fill out whatever details you feel necessary, such as name, description, privacy level, and add tags. Once done, hit Save. Now simply drag and drop the relevant labels right above the appropriate contacts in the left sidebar menu. Your categories should appear immediately.

Now, every time you open HubSpot CRM, you won’t have to spend precious minutes searching through your long list of contacts trying to figure out who belongs where. Instead, HubSpot takes care of that itself, giving you access to detailed reports to show exactly how many contacts belong in each category. Plus, tagging your contacts helps identify groups of similar interests, saving you tons of time and resources when communicating with large numbers of people.

A couple notes worth mentioning here: First, because HubSpot doesn’t require you to assign names to your contacts, you might receive lots of duplicate entries in your list. Don’t fear! Just head into People > Contact Information to rename them manually. Second, remember that unlike LinkedIn, HubSpot doesn’t allow you to search for contacts by last name alone. Therefore, grouping your contacts together by job title is extremely useful.

Finally, if you notice anything amiss in your current organization setup, try reordering your lists by dragging and dropping them around. Also, feel free to change the label colors to differentiate between various types of contacts. For example, green text indicates inactive contacts, blue identifies members currently working for your company, red shows accounts already assigned to team leaders, and black displays employees who haven’t yet been added to a team.

It's very easy to reorganize your lists within HubSpot CRM. Simply navigate to My Lists in the top navigation bar. Select Add/Edit Lists and follow the prompts to rearrange your lists however you'd like.

How do you organize HubSpot?

While organizational tools like Google Docs and Excel excel at letting us sort our lives into neat little boxes, HubSpot’s built-in organizational tool is capable of handling larger amounts of data in far fewer rows and columns. When it comes to sorting and filtering your contacts, HubSpot provides plenty of flexibility and customization options.

To begin, click on Customizations in the upper right corner of HubSpot CRM. Under Data Filters, select Filter By Attributes. On the next page, enter the criteria you wish to filter by. Here, you can input values such as First Name, Last Name, Email Address, Phone Number, Gender, Country, Industry, Job Function, Company Size, Years At Current Employer, and More. For each attribute, you can further refine your results by selecting AND or OR operators.

You can use advanced filters to extract precise sets of records. For instance, if you wanted to pull only those contacts whose gender equals male and occupation consists of CEO, President or Founder, you can use the Advanced Search tab located below the main filter window. There, you can modify the query to include additional attributes from Companies, Industries, Functions, Locations, Languages, Interested Parties, and Tags.

On the same screen, you can also tweak the Query Builder to narrow down your selection even further. Use the Refine section underneath the Query Builder to limit your results to only companies smaller than $50 million dollars, for example. Or pick a maximum number of matching hits per page to avoid overwhelming yourself with hundreds of matches.

Another cool option is the ability to exclude certain items from your filtered result altogether. Clicking on Exclude will give you the chance to choose any column that contains either true or false, thereby excluding that item from your selected group.

From there, you can adjust the Sort Order field beneath the bottom toolbar. Dragging and dropping the icons below changes their position accordingly. You can also choose to reverse the order of your results by clicking Reverse Results below the Sort Options box. Finally, you can expand the Advanced Settings area and enable the Hide Items Without Values toggle. Doing so ensures that you aren’t pulling up empty cells containing irrelevant information for your chosen parameters.

Lastly, you can also utilize the powerful Find Feature to locate particular contacts quickly. All you have to do is type in the name of the contact you’re looking for in the search bar and press Enter. Alternatively, you can search for all contacts by typing Contacts in the Find Field box.

Underneath the search icon, you can add additional filters by choosing one of the available fields. These include First Name, Last Name, Email Address, Telephone Numbers, Street Address, City, State, Postal Code, Date Added, Location, Notes, Birthdate, Birthday, Social Media Profiles, URL Links, Website Link, Client ID, Client Secret, and Mobile Device IDs.

How do you organize contacts?

One of the biggest challenges associated with maintaining a healthy database of contacts is ensuring that your list stays organized. While HubSpot automates a lot of the work for you behind the scenes, it still requires some elbow grease from your part to ensure your list remains tidy and easy to manage. Fortunately, HubSpot includes several features designed specifically to help you achieve this goal.

First off, you can view your total record counts for each category under Lists in the left side panel. With this knowledge, you can determine which ones you really need to prune. Remember, if you have thousands upon thousands of contacts, it might take quite awhile to scroll through them all.

Also, don’t forget to regularly review your Active Subscribers to track how your efforts are paying off. After cleansing your list, you can compare your old versus new subscriptions to see what works and what doesn’t.