Last updated: November 12, 2020
When you're using marketing contacts, every newly created contact in your HubSpot account will have a marketing status.
- Marketing contacts will count towards your contact tier. HubSpot email marketing and ad targeting tools can work with these contacts.
- Non-marketing contacts will not count towards your contact tier. HubSpot email marketing and ad targeting tools will not work with these contacts.
HubSpot tools that create contacts will automatically have default values for the Marketing status property. For some of these tools, you can set the default value you want.
Default marketing statuses for each tool
Defaults that cannot be customized
The default value set in the Marketing status property for these tools cannot be changed.
By default, the following contact records will be initially set as Non-marketing:
- Contacts created in the contacts home
- Contacts created in the HubSpot mobile app
- Contacts created through logging emails
- Contacts created through the meetings tool
- Contacts created through HubSpot email extensions: Chrome, Outlook, and Office 365
If you want to market to these contacts, you can set them as marketing after they are created.
Defaults that can be customized
- The import tool by default will set contacts as Non-marketing.
- The chatflows tool, both live chats and bots, by default will set contacts as Non-marketing.
- The HubSpot forms tool by default will set contacts as Marketing.
- Non-HubSpot forms by default will set contacts as Marketing.
- Any integration by default will set contacts as Non-marketing.
Learn how to update these default marketing statuses for these tools.
Set default marketing status
Contacts created from imports
When importing contacts, you can set the contacts in the file as marketing contacts or non-marketing contacts. In the Details step:
- To set the contacts in the import file as marketing contacts, select the Set all contacts as marketing contacts checkbox. Their Marketing status property will be set as Marketing contact.
- To set the contacts in the import file as non-marketing contacts, leave the Set all contacts as marketing contacts checkbox blank. Their Marketing status property will be set as Non-marketing contact.
Contacts created from chatflows
When you create a chatflow, you are creating a live chat or a bot for your website or Facebook messenger. When a visitor chats with your business, a contact record can sometimes be created when they are new to your business.
For each live chat or bot, you can set the default marketing status of a newly created contact that submits to a form.
- In your HubSpot account, navigate to Conversations > Chatflows.
- Click the chatflow you want to set the default for.
- In the left sidebar menu, click Options.
- In the Marketing contacts section, the Marketing Contacts switch is toggled off by default. If you want contacts created from this chatflow to be set as marketing contacts, click to toggle the switch on.
- Click Save.
Contacts created from forms
When a visitor submits to a HubSpot form and they are new to your business, they will be created as a new contact record. For each HubSpot form, you can set the default marketing status of a newly created contact that submits to a form.
- In your HubSpot account, navigate to Marketing > Lead Capture > Forms.
- Click the form you want to set the default for. If it's a live form, once you click the form, click Edit in the upper right.
- Click the Options tab.
- The All new contacts will be set as marketing switch is toggled on by default. If you want contacts created from the form to be set as non-marketing contacts, click to toggle the switch off.
- To take the form live, or update the existing live form, click the Preview tab and in the upper right, click Publish.
Contacts created from non-HubSpot forms
When a visitor submits to a non-HubSpot form and you've set up the tool to create new contacts based on the form, new visitors will be created as a contact record. You can set the default marketing status of newly created contacts from non-HubSpot forms. This will not affect contacts that were previously created by HubSpot forms.
- In your HubSpot account, click the settings icon in the main navigation bar.
- In the left sidebar menu, navigate to Marketing > Forms.
- Click the Non-HubSpot Forms tab.
- Click to toggle the Set new contacts created through non-HubSpot forms as marketing contacts switch on/off to set the default marketing status of these created contacts as marketing/non-marketing.
Contacts created from integrations
Learn how you can customize each integration's default setting for marketing contacts.