Improving Contact Segmentation in HubSpot with Custom Properties

A well-maintained CRM delivers greater marketing precision and sales efficiency. One of the most practical ways to achieve this within HubSpot is by creating and using custom contact properties. These properties allow businesses to classify contacts in ways that align with their specific audience, sales cycle, or service model—beyond what the default fields permit.

Begin by assessing the limitations of standard HubSpot contact properties. Common attributes such as “Lifecycle Stage” or “Lead Status” offer broad utility, but they rarely reflect the nuances of a particular business model. For example, if you serve clients across multiple regions or industries, you might benefit from a custom property like “Region Served” or “Primary Industry.”

Navigate to HubSpot’s property settings by selecting “Settings,” then “Properties,” and filtering by contact properties. Use the “Create Property” option to define a name, field type, and description. Choose a field type that matches the data you intend to collect, dropdowns for standard categories, text fields for freeform entries, or checkboxes for multiple selections.

Integrate your new property into contact forms, workflows, or list filters. For instance, if you collect industry information on form submissions, map the form field to your custom property. This enables immediate segmentation and better targeting from the point of first contact. When combined with workflows, custom properties can trigger tailored email sequences or assign contacts to specific sales reps.

Periodically review the distribution of your custom property values using HubSpot’s list tools or custom reports. This helps ensure that the data remains accurate and actionable. Delete or archive properties that are no longer used, and be cautious of redundancy or overlap with existing fields.

Clear and consistent use of custom properties helps refine audience targeting, personalize communication, and strengthen reporting. Small and mid-sized businesses that take time to configure HubSpot around their operational model see improved alignment between marketing effort and customer relevance.

Summary Tip: Use custom HubSpot contact properties to segment your CRM in ways that match your business structure and marketing goals.