Understand marketing contacts

If your Marketing Hub subscription includes marketing contacts, you can choose which contacts you'll be billed for. Below, learn more about marketing contacts and how you can use them in HubSpot. For answers to frequently asked marketing contacts questions, check out the marketing contacts FAQ.

• Marketing contacts: contacts that are set as marketing will count towards your contact tier. HubSpot tools can market to these contacts. Contacts cannot be set as marketing then non-marketing in the same month.
• Non-marketing contacts: contacts that are set as non-marketing will not count towards your contact tier. HubSpot tools cannot market to these contacts. Contacts cannot be set as marketing then non-marketing in the same month.

Check your access to marketing contacts

Even if your HubSpot account has a Marketing Hub subscription, you may not have access to marketing contacts. To check whether your Marketing Hub subscription includes marketing contacts:

• In your HubSpot account, click your account name in the top right corner, then click Account & Billing.
• Under Products & Add-ons, check whether your Marketing Hub subscription shows Marketing Contacts.
  
  

If you don't have access to marketing contacts but would like to, reach out to your Customer Success Manager.

Tools that only work with marketing contacts

The following marketing tools in your HubSpot account will only work with marketing contacts:

• Marketing emails, including follow-up emails after form submissions
• Ads
• Marketing actions in workflows, such as Send email and Add to or Remove from ads audiences.

Learn what happens when you try using the above tools on a non-marketing contact and how you can set a contact as marketing

Please note: other types of emails can still reach your non-marketing contacts, including sales one-to-one emails, chat transcript emails from conversations, registration emails, ticket kickback emails, transactional emails, and customer feedback surveys.

Marketing contact properties

• Marketing contact until next update: indicates if the contact will become a marketing or non-marketing contact upon the next update date.
  • When it is Yes, the contact will be set as a non-marketing contact on the next update date.
  • When it is left blank, the contact will remain as it is.
• Marketing contact status: indicates if the contact is currently a marketing or non-marketing contact.
  • When it is Marketing contact, the contact is a marketing contact and will count towards your contact tier in this period.
  • When it is Non-marketing contact, the contact is a non-marketing contact and will not count towards your contact tier in this period.
• Marketing contact status source type: indicates the tool that set the latest value in the contact's marketing contact status.
• Marketing contact status source name: indicates the ID of the specific activity that set the latest value in the contact's marketing contact status.

Learn how to check a contact record's property value.

Set contacts as marketing and non-marketing

When you don't intend to market to a certain contact, learn how to preemptively set them as non-marketing so they don't count towards your contact tier.

You may decide to market to a contact that was previously set as non-marketing. Learn how to set them as marketing so you can use HubSpot marketing tools with them. Once a contact is deemed as a marketing contact, they cannot be set as non-marketing within the same month.

You can also prevent other users from setting contacts as marketing.

Default marketing contact status for HubSpot  tools

Contacts can be created by different HubSpot tools, such as forms and chatflows. These tools have a default marketing contact status for the contacts they create.

Learn the default marketing contact status for these tools and how you can update the default marketing contact statuses for some of them.

Billing & limits

In your HubSpot account, you pay for your contact tier. If you have access to the marketing contacts functionality, contacts whose Marketing contact status has been set to Marketing contact will count towards your contact tier. Contacts who are set to Non-marketing contact will not count towards your contact tier. Contacts cannot be set as marketing then non-marketing in the same month.

You'll automatically be upgraded to the next contact tier when your number of marketing contacts exceeds your current contact tier. You'll then receive a pro-rated charge the following day. Learn how to prevent a contact tier upgrade.

When the number of marketing contacts goes below your current contact tier, your account will not automatically be downgraded. Once you've been upgraded to a new contact tier, you'll continue to be billed for that contact tier. Reach out to your Customer Success Manager for more information about your contact tier. 

Email send limits

Your monthly email send limit is determined by your current contact tier and Marketing Hub subscription:

• Marketing Hub Starter: 5x your current contact tier.
• Marketing Hub Professional: 10x your current contact tier
• Marketing Hub Enterprise: 20x your current contact tier.

Exceeding your email send limit will not upgrade you to the next contact tier automatically. Learn more about marketing contact pricing and send limits.