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HubSpot Contact Properties: Custom Fields for Sales Intelligence
Your CRM is only as useful as the data inside it. And in HubSpot, "data" lives inside contact properties—the fields that describe who your leads are, where they came from, how engaged they are, and whether they're worth pursuing. Out of the box, HubSpot gives you dozens of default properties: name, email, lifecycle stage, lead status, and so on. But the real power comes when you build custom contact properties tailored to the way your go-to-market team actually sells.
If you've ever opened a contact record and found it cluttered with empty fields, conflicting data, or properties nobody remembers creating, you already know the problem. Poorly managed contact properties slow down reps, break automations, pollute reports, and make it nearly impossible to build reliable lead scoring models. On the other hand, a well-structured property architecture turns your CRM into a genuine competitive advantage—one where every field earns its place and every data point drives a decision.
This guide covers everything you need to know about HubSpot contact properties: the different field types available, how to create and organize custom properties, naming conventions that scale, and the best practices that separate high-performing revenue teams from everyone else.
What Are HubSpot Contact Properties?
A contact property is any field associated with a contact record in HubSpot. Every piece of information you store about a person—their job title, the number of times they've visited your pricing page, their fit score, their ICP tier—lives in a property. Properties power everything downstream: list segmentation, workflow enrollment, lead scoring, reporting dashboards, and sales sequences.
HubSpot organizes properties into two broad categories:
- Default properties – Pre-built by HubSpot (e.g., First Name, Email, Lifecycle Stage, Lead Source). These cannot be deleted, though some can be customized.
- Custom properties – Created by your team to capture data specific to your business. These are where your unique sales intelligence lives.
The distinction matters because default properties are shared across every HubSpot portal in the world. They're generic by design. Custom properties are where you encode your ICP definition, your qualification criteria, and your enrichment data. If you're piping signals from a tool like Octave into HubSpot—fit scores, intent indicators, product usage data—custom properties are how that data becomes actionable inside the CRM.
HubSpot Contact Property Field Types
Choosing the right field type isn't just a UI decision—it determines how the data can be filtered, reported on, and used in automations. Here's a breakdown of every field type available for contact properties in HubSpot.
| Field Type | Best For | Example | Reportable? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Single-line text | Short free-form values | Job Title Override, LinkedIn URL | Limited (text matching) |
| Multi-line text | Notes, longer descriptions | Disqualification Reason (detailed) | No |
| Number | Quantitative values | Fit Score, Employee Count, ARR | Yes (avg, sum, range) |
| Dropdown select | Single value from a defined list | ICP Tier (Tier 1 / Tier 2 / Tier 3) | Yes |
| Multiple checkboxes | Multiple values from a defined list | Pain Points, Use Cases Discussed | Yes (contains/not contains) |
| Single checkbox | Boolean true/false | Is Champion, Has Product Access | Yes |
| Date picker | Dates and deadlines | Last Enrichment Date, Trial Expiry | Yes (date range) |
| Calculation | Derived values from other properties | Days Since Last Activity | Yes |
| Score | HubSpot's built-in scoring | HubSpot Lead Score | Yes |
| Rich text | Formatted notes | Competitive Intel Notes | No |
How to Create Custom Contact Properties in HubSpot
In your HubSpot portal, click the gear icon in the top navigation bar, then select Properties from the left sidebar under "Data Management."
Use the object filter to select "Contact properties." This view shows all default and custom properties currently in your portal.
You'll be prompted to choose an object type (Contact), a group (more on this below), and a label. The internal name will auto-generate from the label, but you can override it.
Choose the appropriate type from the table above. Remember: this decision is difficult to change later without losing data, so choose deliberately.
For dropdown and checkbox fields, define your options. Set validation rules if applicable (e.g., number ranges). Decide whether the property should appear on forms, and whether reps can edit it or if it should be system-managed only.
After saving, add the property to the relevant contact record sidebar sections so reps can actually see it. A property that exists but isn't visible is effectively useless.
Naming Conventions That Scale
When you have 15 custom properties, naming doesn't matter much. When you have 150, it's the difference between a usable system and chaos. Establishing a naming convention early prevents the inevitable cleanup project six months from now—and makes CRM hygiene dramatically easier to maintain.
Recommended Naming Patterns
| Pattern | Example | Why It Works |
|---|---|---|
| [Source] - [Descriptor] | Octave - Fit Score | Immediately identifies where the data comes from |
| [Category] - [Specific] | ICP - Industry Match | Groups related properties visually in alphabetical lists |
| [Object] [Action] Date | Contact MQL Date | Clarifies which object and what the timestamp represents |
| [Tool] Sync - [Field] | Salesforce Sync - Lead Rating | Flags integration-managed fields that shouldn't be edited manually |
Naming Anti-Patterns to Avoid
- Vague labels – "Score," "Status," "Type" with no context. Score for what? Status of what?
- Acronyms without explanation – "MPC Flag" means nothing to a new hire. Use "Marketing Program Completion Flag" or at minimum add a description.
- Duplicate-adjacent names – "Lead Source" vs. "Original Lead Source" vs. "Lead Source Detail" creates confusion. Be explicit about what each captures.
- Inconsistent casing and separators – Mixing "lead_score," "Lead Score," and "leadScore" across properties makes programmatic access painful, especially when building integrations with tools like Clay and Octave.
Organizing Properties with Property Groups
Property groups are HubSpot's way of categorizing properties into logical buckets. They appear as collapsible sections in the property settings view and help admins navigate large property sets. While contacts won't see group names on record views, groups are essential for admin sanity.
Recommended Property Groups for GTM Teams
| Group Name | What Goes Here |
|---|---|
| Firmographic Data | Company size, industry, revenue, location (contact-level overrides or enrichment data) |
| ICP & Scoring | Fit score, ICP tier, persona match, qualification status |
| Engagement & Intent | Page views, content downloads, product usage signals, intent score |
| Sales Process | BANT fields, next steps, competitive intel, deal blockers |
| Enrichment - [Tool Name] | Data from specific enrichment tools (e.g., Enrichment - Octave, Enrichment - Clearbit) |
| Integration Sync | Properties managed by integrations that shouldn't be manually edited |
| Marketing Attribution | UTM parameters, original source, first/last touch data |
| Internal / Admin | Flags, system dates, migration artifacts, deprecated fields |
To create a new property group, go to Settings > Properties, click the Groups tab, and select Create group. Assign a clear name and move existing properties into it. This is especially valuable if you're about to pipe in new enrichment data from a platform like Octave—you'll want a dedicated group ready before the data starts flowing.
Best Practices for Managing Contact Properties
1. Audit Your Properties Quarterly
Properties accumulate like browser tabs—you create them with good intentions and then forget they exist. Set a quarterly calendar reminder to review all custom properties. For each one, ask: Is this property populated on more than 10% of records? Is it used in any active list, workflow, report, or integration? If the answer to both is no, archive or delete it.
This kind of regular maintenance is a core part of CRM hygiene for GTM alignment. Stale properties create noise that makes it harder for reps to find what matters on a record.
2. Separate Human-Entered from System-Managed Properties
One of the most common sources of bad CRM data is reps overwriting system-managed fields, or automations clobbering rep-entered notes. Clearly delineate which properties are meant for manual input and which are managed by workflows, integrations, or enrichment tools. Use the property description field to state this explicitly: "This field is managed by the Octave integration. Do not edit manually."
3. Use Calculated Properties to Reduce Manual Work
HubSpot's calculated property type (available on Professional and Enterprise plans) lets you derive values from other properties without workflows. For example, you can create a "Days in Current Stage" property that calculates automatically based on a date field. This reduces the number of workflows you need to maintain and ensures derived data stays fresh.
4. Standardize Dropdown Values Across Teams
If marketing uses "SaaS" and sales uses "Software" as an industry value, your segmentation is already broken. Lock down dropdown options and enforce them. If a value isn't in the list, it's a conversation with RevOps—not a reason to switch to a free-text field.
5. Map Properties to Your ICP Framework
Your custom properties should directly reflect your Ideal Customer Profile. If your ICP includes criteria like company size, industry, tech stack, and buying intent, each criterion should map to at least one structured property. This is how you move from a vague ICP document to an operationalized fit score that reps can actually filter and sort on.
6. Document Everything
HubSpot provides a description field for every property. Use it. Include: what the property captures, where the data comes from, who owns it, and when it was last reviewed. Future you (and every new RevOps hire) will be grateful.
Custom Properties for Sales Intelligence
The highest-leverage use of custom properties is encoding sales intelligence directly into the contact record. Instead of asking reps to check three different tools before making a call, surface the insights where they already work—inside HubSpot.
Key Sales Intelligence Properties to Consider
- Fit Score (Number) – A composite score indicating how closely a contact matches your ICP. Tools like Octave can calculate and sync this automatically, combining firmographic, technographic, and behavioral signals into a single number that reps can prioritize by.
- ICP Tier (Dropdown) – A human-readable tier (Tier 1 / Tier 2 / Tier 3 / Non-ICP) derived from the fit score, useful for list building and routing rules.
- Buying Intent Level (Dropdown) – Low / Medium / High / Very High, based on behavioral signals like pricing page visits, demo requests, or product trial activity.
- Tech Stack Match (Multiple Checkboxes) – Which relevant technologies the contact's company uses. Critical for positioning and competitive intelligence.
- Last Enrichment Date (Date) – When the contact's data was last refreshed by your enrichment pipeline. Stale data degrades over time—knowing when a record was last updated helps reps gauge reliability.
- Persona (Dropdown) – The buyer persona this contact maps to (e.g., "VP of Sales," "RevOps Leader," "IC SDR"). Drives messaging and content recommendations.
- Disqualification Reason (Dropdown) – Why a lead was marked as unqualified. Structured disqualification data is gold for refining your scoring models over time.
Common Mistakes When Managing Contact Properties
Even experienced RevOps teams make these mistakes. Recognizing them early saves significant cleanup effort later.
Creating Properties Without a Consumer
Every property should have at least one "consumer"—a report, workflow, list, sequence, or human process that uses it. If you can't name the consumer before creating the property, you probably don't need it yet. Build for current needs, not hypothetical future ones.
Over-Relying on Free Text
Free-text fields are tempting because they're flexible. But flexibility is the enemy of consistency. When 200 reps each describe an industry in their own words, you end up with 200 variations of the same 15 industries. Use dropdowns. Add an "Other" option with a companion free-text field if you must, but make structured input the default.
Ignoring Property History
HubSpot tracks the change history of every property. This is invaluable for debugging automation issues, understanding lead progression, and auditing data quality. Don't overwrite properties with workflows unless you intentionally want to lose the previous value. For sequential states (like lifecycle stages), consider using separate date-stamp properties to preserve the timeline.
Not Aligning Properties Across Objects
Contact properties, company properties, and deal properties should tell a coherent story. If your contact has an "ICP Tier" and your company has a "Target Account Tier," make sure the values align and the relationship is documented. Misalignment between object-level properties is one of the most common causes of conflicting reports—a problem that deepens when your CRM data enrichment strategy doesn't account for cross-object consistency.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many custom contact properties can I create in HubSpot?
HubSpot allows up to 1,000 custom properties per object on all plans. If you're approaching that limit, it's time for a property audit—most portals have significant numbers of unused or redundant properties that can be safely removed.
Can I change a property's field type after creating it?
In most cases, no. Changing a field type (e.g., from text to dropdown) typically requires creating a new property, migrating the data, and updating all lists, workflows, and reports that reference the old property. This is why choosing the right field type upfront matters so much.
What happens to data when I delete a custom property?
Deleting a property permanently removes it and all associated data from every contact record. HubSpot will warn you if the property is used in any active lists, workflows, or reports. Always export the property data before deleting, and check for dependencies first.
Should I store enrichment data on contact or company records?
It depends on the data. Firmographic data (industry, employee count, revenue) belongs on the company record. Role-specific data (job title, seniority, persona) belongs on the contact. Behavioral data (page views, email clicks) is typically contact-level. When in doubt, store at the most granular level—you can always roll up from contact to company, but you can't disaggregate company-level data down to contacts.
How do I sync custom properties with external tools?
HubSpot supports property syncing through its native integrations, the API, and middleware platforms like Clay or Zapier. For syncing scoring data from Octave, you'll map Octave's output fields to corresponding HubSpot custom properties. Ensure the field types match (number to number, text to text) to avoid sync errors.
What's the difference between a property and a property group?
A property is an individual data field (e.g., "Fit Score"). A property group is a category that organizes multiple related properties together (e.g., "ICP & Scoring"). Groups are purely organizational—they affect how properties display in settings and on some forms, but they don't impact data, automations, or reporting.
Bringing It All Together
HubSpot contact properties are the foundation of every CRM-driven workflow your team runs. Default properties get you started, but custom properties are where your competitive edge lives. They encode your ICP, surface sales intelligence, and power the automations that keep your pipeline moving.
The principles are straightforward: choose structured field types over free text, name properties consistently, organize them into logical groups, audit them regularly, and always ensure every property has a clear purpose and consumer. If you're investing in data enrichment and scoring—whether through lead scoring models or automated fit scoring—clean property architecture is what ensures that investment actually reaches your reps in a usable form.
Start with an audit of what you have today. Identify properties that are unused, duplicated, or mistyped. Establish a naming convention and property group structure. Then build forward deliberately, creating new properties only when you can name the specific workflow, report, or rep behavior they'll support. Your future RevOps team will thank you.