At the end of 2020, HubSpot changed part of its licensing scheme, mainly about the number of contacts in the CRM.

Marketable Contacts or Marketing Contacts is the new way you can manage your database in HubSpot.

What are Marketing Contacts?

They are those contacts in your database that you are going to actively use for marketing actions such as mailings and ads.

This means that you will now be able to have both marketing and non-marketing contacts in your HubSpot CRM database . That is, contacts that you are actively working with and contacts that you are not going to work with for now but that you want to keep in the same place without having to pay more for them.

This changes a lot the way of working within HubSpot and you will be able to have up to 1 million non-marketing contacts without paying extra for them.

How do I get Marketing Contacts?

If you are already using HubSpot on a paid license, we recommend that you talk to your account manager as a change of contract is required to make the switch. If you are working with a partner agency, talk to them and ask them to assist you in the process.

If you haven't already signed up for a paid HubSpot licence, it's a little easier, as all new contracts from 2021 fall under this new scheme.

How are Marketing Contacts managed?

When it comes to managing your new marketing contacts, you need to work in an orderly fashion. What is important here are the definitions, the process, the reporting and, of course, the follow-up.

• definitions: the first thing to do is to define when a contact will be worked from Marketing and when it will no longer be taken into account.
• the process: know which tools within HubSpot automatically create marketing contacts and which do not. We can also generate automated processes that update the status of a contact, i.e. move it from marketing to non-marketing and vice versa.

• reporting: having a reporting dashboard to help you understand the available capacity of marketing contacts will allow you to manage them efficiently.

• monitoring them: define a periodicity with which to review your marketing contact capacity. You may initially need to review your reports on a weekly basis or until you approach your contracted maximum capacity.

IMPORTANT: activities performed by the sales or support/service team are not considered marketing actions, therefore contacts that are working do not need to be marked as marketing contacts.

ATTENTION: the licensing scheme for Marketing contacts follows a different scale than above. If the number of contacts in your CRM exceeds your contracted capacity, HubSpot will upgrade your capacity to the next level and bill automatically. That's why it's important that you don't go over unless you really need to. However, don't worry, HubSpot will let you know when you are close to your maximum capacity.

How is the capacity of Marketing Contacts updated?

Capacity changes from month to month or period to period. This means that you can change the selection of your marketing contacts in the CRM at any time of the month, but it will only take effect on the first day of the following month.

If you would like training on how to use Marketing Contacts or need help setting it up, we can help you. Contact us and let's get started.