As a salesperson, you know the key to hitting your quota is engaging the right leads at the right time with the right message. But to execute targeted, timely outreach at scale, you need a system to organize your contacts and surface key insights at a glance. That‘s where HubSpot‘s contact properties come in.
Think of contact properties as containers that store valuable data points about the people in your CRM. There are default properties like name and email, as well as custom properties specific to your business. Some simply display static information added manually, while others update dynamically based on a contact‘s behavior and engagement over time.
The magic of contact properties lies in using them strategically to understand your audience and tailor your approach. "By taking the time to populate key properties and use them to segment your database, personalize content, and trigger sales plays, you‘ll be able to connect with prospects on a deeper level and accelerate deals," says Emmy Jonassen, VP of Acquisition at HubSpot.
Research shows that salespeople spend just 34% of their time actually selling. Contact properties help you make that time count by focusing on the hottest leads and opportunities. According to HubSpot analysis, sales emails that mention a common connection with the prospect have a 468% higher chance of leading to a meeting booked.
Ready to harness the power of contact properties to work smarter, not harder? Check out these 15 self-updating properties every sales team should use in HubSpot, complete with examples of how to use them to boost productivity and results.
1. Job Title
What it is: The contact‘s professional title
Why it‘s useful: Understanding a contact‘s role and seniority helps you determine if they are involved in the decision making process for your product/service. It also informs how you personalize your messaging and position the value of your offering.
Where to find it: Contact record > About section
How to use it:
- Create a list segmenting your contacts by job title to see the breakdown of your database and identify trends in your ideal buyer persona
- Use job title to gauge a contact‘s influence and prioritize outreach to key decision makers
- Reference a contact‘s job title in prospecting emails to empathize with their goals and challenges (e.g. "As a fellow sales manager, I know driving consistent rep activity is tough")
2. Industry
What it is: The contact‘s business vertical
Why it‘s useful: Contacts in the same industry face similar pain points. Knowing a contact‘s industry allows you to speak their language, demonstrate relevant expertise, and spotlight customers they can relate to.
Where to find it: Contact record > About section > Company Information
How to use it:
- Filter your contacts by industry to assess your penetration into key verticals and uncover new markets to target
- Customize email templates and call scripts with industry-specific messaging
- Prioritize contacts from industries with historically high win rates and deal sizes
3. Company Size
What it is: The number of employees at the contact‘s company, bucketed into ranges
Why it‘s useful: Company size indicates what types of businesses match your ideal customer profile – enterprise, mid-market, or SMB. It also suggests a contact‘s buying power and potential deal size.
Where to find it: Contact record > About section > Company Information
How to use it:
- Define company size ranges that align with your target segments
- Analyze average deal size and sales cycle by company size to forecast pipeline
- Disqualify contacts from companies that are too large or small to be a good fit
4. HubSpot Score
What it is: A predictive score from 1-100 that estimates a contact‘s engagement and likelihood to close based on behavior across channels
Why it‘s useful: HubSpot Scores help you quickly spot your most engaged, sales-ready leads so you can follow up at the right moment to convert interest into active opportunities.
Where to find it: Contact record > About section
How to use it:
- Sort your contacts by HubSpot Score to prioritize hot leads
- Set up notifications when a contact‘s HubSpot Score passes a threshold (e.g. 80+) so you can reach out while they‘re thinking about you
- Include HubSpot Score as a required property in deal stage definitions to standardize pipeline management
5. Lead Status
What it is: A property that tracks a contact‘s qualification stage, from Subscriber to Marketing Qualified Lead to Sales Qualified Lead to Opportunity
Why it‘s useful: Knowing a contact‘s lead status tells you how much interest they‘ve demonstrated in your business and how to tailor your outreach. It also aligns marketing and sales around a common definition of a quality lead.
Where to find it: Contact record > About section
How to use it:
- Enroll marketing qualified leads in lead nurturing campaigns to educate them until they are ready for sales
- Trigger tasks for reps to follow up with sales qualified leads via phone to qualify them further
- Report on the rate at which contacts convert from one stage to the next to identify bottlenecks in your funnel
6. Buyer Persona
What it is: The fictional representation of a contact‘s demographic, firmographic, behavioral, and psychographic traits
Why it‘s useful: Assigning contacts to a buyer persona provides shorthand for their core attributes, goals, and concerns. It enables you to deliver persona-driven content and campaigns that resonate.
Where to find it: Contact record > About section
How to use it:
- Define 3-5 target buyer personas and map them to lifecycle stages
- Survey your database to gather insights into each persona
- Segment your content by persona and push it dynamically to contacts based on their persona property
- Train your reps on each persona‘s unique needs and buying process
7. Recent Conversion
What it is: The most recent meaningful form submission or engagement a contact completed on your website, like downloading a whitepaper or requesting a demo
Why it‘s useful: A contact‘s recent conversion reveals the topics and products that interest them now. It‘s a timely trigger for sales outreach.
Where to find it: Contact record > Activity Feed
How to use it:
- Set up alerts when a contact submits a high-intent form like a Contact Sales or Demo Request so you can follow up immediately
- Reference a contact‘s recent conversion in your outreach to add context (e.g. "I noticed you downloaded our pricing guide…")
- Suggest relevant content offers based on a contact‘s previous conversions to continue educating them
8. Original Source
What it is: The first source, channel, or campaign a contact interacted with before converting on your website
Why it‘s useful: Knowing how a contact originally found you gives a clue into their mindset, intent, and relationship with your brand. It can also reveal which of your marketing efforts are driving the highest quality leads.
Where to find it: Contact record > About section > Analytics
How to use it:
- Give contacts from high-converting sources, like organic search or referrals, a higher priority score
- Personalize your outreach based on source (e.g. "I saw you requested a demo from our Facebook ad about…")
- Report on lead-to-customer conversion rates by original source to allocate marketing budget to the most efficient channels
9. Contact Owner
What it is: The sales rep responsible for managing the relationship with the contact
Why it‘s useful: This property makes it easy to see which contacts you own so no one slips through the cracks. It also allows you to track your team‘s activities and performance.
Where to find it: Contact record > About section
How to use it:
- Filter your views to only show contacts you own
- Use the @ mention feature in notes to loop in a contact‘s owner
- Analyze contact volume, pipeline, and revenue generated by rep to balance territories and spot coaching opportunities
10. Last Contacted
What it is: The last date a rep emailed, called, or met with the contact
Why it‘s useful: Last Contacted helps you see how long it‘s been since you last reached out to a contact so you can maintain a consistent cadence. You can also use it to identify and revive stale relationships.
Where to find it: Contact record > About section
How to use it:
- Create a list of contacts who haven‘t been contacted in the last 30, 60, or 90 days
- Enroll neglected contacts in a re-engagement sequence offering new, relevant content
- Report on outreach volume and outcome by rep to standardize activity levels
11. Last Activity
What it is: The last time a contact interacted with your website, email, or social media channels by visiting a page, clicking a link, filling out a form, etc.
Why it‘s useful: Last Activity reveals how recently a contact engaged with your brand and which channels they prefer. It helps you gauge their interest and time your outreach strategically.
Where to find it: Contact record > Activity Feed
How to use it:
- Trigger a task to call contacts who view a pricing page
- Follow up with an email when a contact clicks a product link from a previous email
- Let contacts go longer between touches if they regularly engage with your content, since they are educating themselves
12. Email Engagement
What it is: Email Engagement is a group of metrics showing the number of times a contact opened, clicked, or replied to your one-to-one sales emails
Why it‘s useful: These metrics indicate a contact‘s propensity to engage with sales outreach. Contacts with high open and click rates are more likely to convert to customers.
Where to find it: Contact record > Activity Feed > Email Engagement
How to use it:
- Optimize send times based on when contacts are most likely to open
- A/B test subject lines and copy to improve specific metrics
- Pinpoint your most engaged contacts to capitalize on their interest and request a meeting
13. Meetings Booked
What it is: The number of meetings a contact has scheduled with your team
Why it‘s useful: Meetings Booked is a measure of how much direct selling time you‘ve invested in a contact. It can help you decide whether to request another meeting or move on.
Where to find it: Contact record > Meetings Feed
How to use it:
- Set a meetings goal per contact/account based on your average sales cycle
- Trigger an automated workflow to revive contacts who book a meeting and then ghost
- Analyze meetings booked by rep, source, and persona to see patterns in what generates the most meetings
14. Deals
What it is: The Deals property displays a contact‘s associated deals, along with key details like deal stage, close date, amount, and owner
Why it‘s useful: Associating contacts with deals provides visibility into your pipeline and tracks contacts through the entire buyer‘s journey, from lead to customer.
Where to find it: Contact record > Deals section
How to use it:
- Click into a deal from the contact record to log activities and update the deal stage
- Filter your contacts to show only those associated with deals above a certain amount or close date
- Report on deal velocity and win rate by contact persona and source to optimize your strategy
15. Notes
What it is: Free-form text fields where reps can log notes from sales calls and interactions with a contact over time
Why it‘s useful: Notes are the best way to capture and share unstructured information about a contact, like their use case, goals, and concerns. They help your team deliver a consistent experience as contacts interact with multiple reps across a long sales cycle.
Where to find it: Contact record > Notes section
How to use it:
- Train reps to add notes after every meaningful interaction with a contact
- @mention teammates and use #tags in notes for easy searching
- Reference notes from past conversations to pick up where you left off
The table below summarizes the key benefits and use cases of the top contact properties for sales:
| Property | Benefit | Use Cases |
|---|---|---|
| Job Title | Identify decision makers | Personalize outreach Prioritize contacts |
| Industry | Speak the prospect‘s language | Customize messaging Spot industry trends |
| Company Size | Gauge fit and buying power | Disqualify poor-fit leads Forecast deal size |
| HubSpot Score | Identify sales-ready leads | Prioritize hot leads Trigger follow-up |
| Lead Status | Track qualification stage | Align with marketing Convert leads to opps |
| Buyer Persona | Understand needs and goals | Segment content Train reps on personas |
| Recent Conversion | Capitalize on intent | Personalize outreach Recommend next steps |
| Original Source | See best lead generators | Prioritize high-converting sources Optimize marketing spend |
| Contact Owner | Manage rep responsibilities | Track rep activities Balance territories |
| Last Contacted | Maintain consistency | Revive stale contacts Standardize cadence |
| Last Activity | Gauge engagement | Time outreach Choose channels |
| Email Engagement | Identify most responsive contacts | Test and optimize emails Know when to call |
| Meetings Booked | Track sales investment | Set meeting quotas Analyze meeting sources |
| Deals | Understand pipeline | Track buyer journey Prioritize high-value deals |
| Notes | Share key context | Collaborate with teammates Personalize experience |
By taking the time to enrich and leverage these key contact properties, sales teams can run a well-oiled sales machine that delivers the right message to the right leads at the right time.
"At first, keeping all those properties updated seemed tedious to my reps," says Ryan Smith, Head of Inside Sales at LaunchPad Media. "But once they saw how much easier it made prospecting and deal management, it became a no-brainer. Our meetings booked increased by 38% the first month after we got serious about contact properties."
Of course, to reap the full benefits of contact properties, you need a consistent process to maintain data quality. Here are a few best practices:
- Define required properties for each lifecycle stage and deal stage
- Integrate enrichment tools like ZoomInfo and Clearbit to populate missing properties automatically
- Hold regular data clean-up days for your team to audit and update contact records
- Create saved views for target segments and deal stages so reps can access them in a click
- Use dependent properties so fields change dynamically based on other properties
- Set up reports to track property completeness by rep and team
With accurate, actionable data in these key HubSpot contact properties, your sales team can work smarter, not harder, to hit quota and grow revenue. For more tips on using contact properties strategically, check out HubSpot Academy‘s free Sales Software Certification course.
