HubSpot Contact Management SOP

Standard operating procedure for maintaining HubSpot contact data quality, including enrichment hygiene, segmentation, suppression management, and bounce handling.

Steps

• Confirm the review scope and data window
  The CRM administrator confirms the contact segment, date range, and maintenance objective before making changes. Include: - The contact population to review (all contacts, a lifecycle stage, a campaign list, or a suppression list) - The review period or refresh cycle - The business purpose for the cleanup or update - Any exclusions that must remain untouched Record the scope in the SOP log or task note before proceeding.
• Export or open the target contact set
  The marketing operations specialist opens the target contact list in HubSpot or exports it for review. Verify that the list includes the intended contacts and that filters match the documented scope. If the list count differs materially from the expected population, stop and investigate the filter logic before continuing.
• Check required fields and enrichment completeness
  The CRM administrator reviews each record against the required contact fields defined by the business. Check for missing or stale values in fields such as: - Email address validity - First name and last name - Company name - Job title - Lifecycle stage - Owner assignment - Country or region, if required for segmentation Use only approved enrichment sources. Do not overwrite verified values with unconfirmed data.
• Resolve duplicates and obvious data errors
  The database manager identifies duplicate contacts, malformed emails, invalid domains, and clearly inconsistent values. For each issue: - Merge duplicates according to the company merge rule - Correct formatting errors where the source of truth is clear - Flag ambiguous records for review instead of guessing If a record cannot be corrected with confidence, mark it as a non-conformance for follow-up.
• Validate segmentation rules and list membership
  The revenue operations specialist verifies that active lists, static lists, and workflow filters still reflect current business rules. Confirm that segmentation criteria are: - Based on current field values - Free of obsolete lifecycle or campaign logic - Consistent with the approved audience definition If a segment contains contacts that no longer meet the criteria, remove them or update the rule set according to change control.
• Update suppression lists and opt-out records
  The marketing operations specialist updates suppression records for unsubscribed, do-not-contact, legally suppressed, and manually excluded contacts. Apply the company suppression rule consistently across lists, workflows, and campaign sends. If a contact appears on a suppression list but is still eligible for outreach in another system, escalate the discrepancy before any send is launched.
• Review bounced contacts and delivery status
  The CRM administrator reviews hard bounces, repeated soft bounces, and invalid delivery statuses. Determine whether the contact should be: - Suppressed from future sends - Corrected if a verified email update exists - Escalated for manual review if the bounce pattern is unclear
• Suppress contacts with confirmed delivery failure
  The marketing operations specialist suppresses contacts with confirmed hard bounces or repeated undeliverable status from future email sends. Document the suppression reason and date. Do not re-add the contact to active send lists until a verified, deliverable email address is available.
• Apply verified corrections and recheck the record
  The CRM administrator updates the contact record only with verified information from an approved source. After the update, recheck the record for: - Correct email format - Updated segmentation fields - Suppression status consistency - Any new data conflicts introduced by the change
• Document non-conformances and escalate exceptions
  The database manager records any unresolved issues, including missing required fields, conflicting suppression status, uncertain duplicates, or inconsistent segmentation logic. Escalate items that exceed the operator's authority or cannot be resolved with approved data sources to the SOP owner or manager.
• Save the maintenance log and close the review
  The CRM administrator saves the maintenance log, including the date, scope, changes made, exceptions, and reviewer name. Confirm that the record of work is complete enough for audit traceability under documented information requirements.