Understand communication subscription events in the custom report builder

HubSpot tracks two communication subscription events that you can use in the custom report builder to analyze how contacts' subscription and consent preferences change over time.

Each event records a point-in-time change, so a contact who unsubscribes via a preference page and is later unsubscribed via a workflow will have two separate events—one for each action.

Use case: Subscriber Attrition Root-Cause Analysis & Channel Fatigue Audit

The Problem

During a quarterly performance review, an organization sees a sharp rise in database attrition and opt-outs but lacks the attribution data to pinpoint why.

The team cannot tell whether churn is due to poor audience-content fit, workflow issues, or channel fatigue from high-touch mediums like SMS. This limited visibility blocks targeted retention efforts and system fixes, putting long-term revenue and lead generation at risk.

The Solution

Using point-in-time event tracking, a Marketing Operations Manager can build a custom report to diagnose the precise technical or strategic origin of audience loss.

Rather than relying on static, overwritten contact records, this report captures the historical trajectory of opt-outs, providing an auditable timeline of how and why preferences changed.

Create reports from Communication subscription templates

The report templates available include:

• Communication subscription activity by month
• Communication consent activity over the past 6 months
• Communication subscription activity by source over past year
• Communication subscription activity over the past 6 months

To create reports from these templates:

1. In your HubSpot account, navigate to Reporting > Reports.
2. In the top right, click Create. Then, select Create report.
3. In the left sidebar menu, click Template report library. Then, click Next.
4. In the left sidebar menu, click on the Data sources dropdown menu, and select Communication subscriptions.
5. Select one of the available templates, and continue customizing the settings of your report. Settings may vary by report.
6. Once you have finished customizing the report, click Save report. The report will now be available to view in your report library.

Understand event types and source values

Below, learn more about what each event type and source value property represents:

Event 1: Communication subscription status updated

This event fires when a contact's subscription status changes for a specific subscription type (e.g., "Marketing Information").

Event 2: Communication channel consent updated

This event fires when a contact's consent to receive communication on a particular channel (email, SMS, or WhatsApp) is updated.

Event source values

Both events share the same Source property values. Here's what each means:

Important considerations

Before building reports with communication events, review these key technical behaviors and structural distinctions:

• Immutable historical logging: Each change to a subscription status or channel consent generates a unique, independent event. HubSpot never updates or overwrites existing events. If a contact modifies their preferences multiple times or through different operational sources, each distinct action produces its own event record, preserving a flawless historical audit trail.
• Contact-centric architecture: these tracking events are contact-centric and are tied directly to the individual contact record.
• Subscription types vs. Channels: when configuring your custom reports, note the distinction between these two primary properties:
  • Subscription type (status event): represents specific content categories your organization distributes (e.g., "Marketing Information," "Product Updates").
  • Channel (consent event): Represents the communication medium itself (e.g., Email, SMS, WhatsApp).