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What is the difference between HubSpot Marketing Contacts and Non-Marketing Contacts?

Many users don't know the difference between the types of contacts.  But, there's multiple uses for each. 

Marketing Contacts

  • What they are: These are the contacts that you actively engage with using HubSpot's marketing tools.

  • How they're used:

    • Sent marketing emails (e.g., newsletters, promotional emails, nurture campaigns).

    • Targeted with ads through HubSpot's ad tools.

    • Included in marketing automation workflows that send marketing emails.

  • Billing Impact: These contacts count towards your HubSpot subscription's contact tier, and you are charged for them. Your monthly or annual HubSpot fee is directly tied to the number of marketing contacts you have. If you exceed your current tier, HubSpot automatically upgrades you to the next tier, increasing your cost.

  • Default Status: When new contacts are added to HubSpot, they are often set as marketing contacts by default, especially if they come from marketing-related sources like forms.

Non-Marketing Contacts

  • What they are: These are contacts that you store in your HubSpot CRM but do not actively market to using HubSpot's marketing tools.

  • How they're used:

    • You can still store their full CRM record (contact properties, activity history, associated deals/companies).

    • Sales teams can engage with them via one-to-one sales emails (sequences), calls logged in the CRM, or meetings.

    • Service teams can manage support tickets for them.

    • They can be included in reports and lists for segmentation or analysis, even if not for marketing.

  • Billing Impact: These contacts do NOT count towards your HubSpot subscription's contact tier, and you are NOT charged for them. You can typically store a large number (e.g., up to 1 million) of non-marketing contacts for free.

  • Management: You must explicitly designate contacts as "non-marketing" either manually, in bulk, or through automated workflows.

How to Change Contact Status (Marketing to Non-Marketing & Vice Versa)

Managing your contact status is crucial for optimizing your HubSpot costs. HubSpot provides several ways to do this:

1. Manually (Individual or Small Batches)

  • Navigate: Go to Contacts > Contacts in your HubSpot account.

  • Select: Check the box next to the contact(s) you want to change.

  • Action: Click the "More" dropdown menu at the top of the table.

  • Choose: Select "Set as marketing contacts" or "Set as non-marketing contacts."

  • Confirm: Follow the prompts to confirm the change.

2. In Bulk (Using Lists or Imports)

  • From a List:

    • Create a list of contacts you want to change (e.g., "Contacts with no engagement in 6 months").

    • From the list, select all contacts, click "More," and choose "Set as non-marketing contacts."

  • Via Import:

    • You can export your contacts, update a column in your spreadsheet to indicate "marketing" or "non-marketing" status, and then re-import the file. Ensure you map the "Marketing contact status" property correctly during the import process.

3. Using Workflows (Automation - Requires Operations Hub or Marketing Hub Professional/Enterprise)

  • Automated Designation: Workflows are the most efficient way to manage contact status at scale.

  • Triggers: Set up workflows to automatically change a contact's status based on specific criteria:

    • To Non-Marketing:

      • If a contact unsubscribes from all emails.

      • If an email to the contact results in a hard bounce.

      • If a contact has no engagement (e.g., no email opens, clicks, or website visits) for a defined period (e.g., 6 months, 1 year).

      • If a contact's lifecycle stage changes to "Unqualified" or "Other."

      • For internal employees, partners, or vendors who should never receive marketing emails.

    • To Marketing:

      • If a non-marketing contact submits a marketing form (e.g., downloads an ebook, signs up for a newsletter).

      • If a non-marketing contact clicks a marketing link or shows renewed engagement after a period of inactivity.

  • Actions: Within the workflow, use the "Set a contact property value" action for the "Marketing contact status" property.

Important Considerations for Status Changes:

  • Effective Date: Changes from Marketing to Non-Marketing status typically take effect on the first day of the next month or on your subscription renewal date, whichever comes first. This means you might still be billed for them for a short period.

  • Deleting Contacts: While deleting contacts frees up capacity, it does not automatically downgrade your contact tier. Tiers can only be downgraded at your subscription's renewal date.

  • Data Retention: Setting a contact as "non-marketing" allows you to retain their historical data in the CRM without paying for them as a marketing contact. This is crucial for sales and service teams.

Why this distinction matters (and why it's a common challenge):

The "marketing contacts" model was introduced by HubSpot to give businesses more control over their billing, allowing them to only pay for the contacts they actively market to. However, the challenge arises when:

  • Contacts accumulate: CRMs naturally grow with leads, customers, partners, and even unengaged contacts.

  • Lack of proactive management: If businesses don't regularly review and re-categorize contacts as "non-marketing" when they become unengaged or irrelevant for marketing purposes, they end up paying for contacts they're not effectively using. This leads to unnecessary costs and reduces the ROI of their HubSpot investment.

By actively managing the distinction between marketing and non-marketing contacts, businesses can significantly optimize their HubSpot subscription costs and ensure their marketing budget is focused on their most valuable and engaged audience.

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