HubSpot Contact Record Customization

Customizing contact record layouts, properties, columns, and segments allows each team to surface the data that matters most and target the right people with the right communications. HubSpot offers several layers of customization — from individual view columns to global property definitions — each with different scope and implications.

Contact List Views

The contact list view functions like a spreadsheet. Columns can be added, removed, and reordered to match your workflow.

To edit columns:
1. Navigate to CRM → Contacts
2. Click Edit Columns (upper right)
3. Search for any property by name and add it to the view
4. Drag columns to reorder them

Key distinction: The "Company Name" field on a contact record is a contact property — it is not automatically populated from an associated company record. To display the associated company name in a list view, search for the company-level name property under Edit Columns rather than the contact-level field. This is a common source of confusion when contacts show a company logo (indicating an association) but no company name in the column.

Filtering and saved views:
- Use Advanced Filters to narrow contacts by any property (e.g., State = "CO" or "Colorado")
- Combine multiple filter conditions with OR logic to catch inconsistent data entry (e.g., abbreviated vs. spelled-out state names)
- Save filtered views for repeated use — each team member can maintain their own saved views

Working efficiently in views:
- Right-click any contact and open in a new tab to avoid losing your filtered list
- Use this pattern to work through a list without navigating back and forth

Contact Record Layout

Each user can customize the layout of individual contact records independently. A global layout can also be enforced across all users if consistency is required (e.g., for larger sales teams).

To customize a contact record layout:
1. Open any contact record
2. Click the gear icon on the left panel
3. Add, remove, or reorder property cards
4. Click the pencil icon on the "About this contact" card to reorder individual fields within that card
5. Drag fields up or down to set priority order

New properties added via this interface typically appear at the bottom of the card and must be manually repositioned.

Right-panel cards (e.g., LinkedIn Sales Navigator, Deals) can also be reordered by grabbing the grid handle and dragging them up or down.

Managing Properties

Properties are the underlying fields that power views, records, and workflows. Changes to properties affect all records that use them.

To edit a property definition:
1. From a contact record, go to Actions → View All Properties → Manage Properties
2. Search for the property by name
3. Open the property to see: field type, dropdown options, and how many records currently use each value

For dropdown properties, you can:
- Add new options
- Rename existing options
- Reorder options
- Delete options (with caution — existing records using that value will be affected)

⚠️ Caution: Renaming or deleting dropdown values changes them on all existing records. Review the record count shown next to each value before making changes. When in doubt, ask your HubSpot admin or agency to make property changes.

Permissions note: Editing properties requires super admin access. If the "Manage Properties" option is not visible, a super admin must update the user's permission set. Changes may require logging out and back in to take effect.

Segments and Marketing Contacts

Segments (called Lists in HubSpot) allow you to group contacts for targeted email sends or workflow enrollment.

Marketing contacts vs. non-marketing contacts:
- Marketing contacts count against your subscription limit and can receive marketing emails with full HTML templates and tracking
- Non-marketing contacts can receive transactional/informational emails (e.g., operational notices) but with significant restrictions on formatting and volume
- A contact's status is controlled by the Marketing Contact Status property — it must be explicitly set to enable marketing sends

To create a segment:
- Go to the email send flow and click Create a new segment, or
- Navigate to CRM → Lists and build a list with filter criteria

When sending an email, HubSpot will show the total segment size and the number of contacts who will actually receive it (excluding opted-out contacts).

Practical Recommendations

Standardize dropdown values early. Inconsistent entries (e.g., "CO" vs. "Colorado") create filtering problems that compound over time. Establish conventions before the database grows.
Use views as your primary workspace. Reports and dashboards are useful for summaries, but views let you act on data directly — filter, sort, open records, and log activities without leaving the list.
Let your agency handle property changes. The blast radius of a property rename or delete is easy to underestimate. Describe what you want and have someone experienced make the change.
Request custom reports rather than building them yourself. Building a report from scratch can take hours and produce frustrating results. Describe the output you want (fields, filters, groupings) and have it built for you.

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