HubSpot Properties Design
Properties are the fields that store data on contacts, companies, deals, and tickets in HubSpot. Well-designed properties give you clean data for reporting, segmentation, and automation. Poorly designed properties give you duplicates, blank fields, and reports that don't work.
The principle: design properties for the reports you need, not the data you might collect. Every property should answer: "What report or automation depends on this field?" If the answer is "none," the property probably shouldn't exist.
Property Design Framework
Before creating a property, answer these questions
| Question |
Why it matters |
| What report will use this property? |
Properties without a reporting purpose become unused clutter |
| What automation will trigger on this property? |
Workflows need structured, reliable data |
| Who is responsible for filling this property? |
Properties nobody owns stay empty |
| How will this property be populated? (manual, automation, integration, enrichment) |
Manual properties have lower fill rates. Automate where possible |
| Does this property already exist under a different name? |
Duplicate properties are the #1 HubSpot data quality problem |
Naming Conventions
Property naming rules
| Rule |
Example |
Anti-pattern |
| Use consistent case |
"ICP Fit Score" or "icp_fit_score" (pick one style) |
Mixing "ICP fit score", "Icp Fit Score", "icp_fit_Score" |
| Prefix custom properties by team/function |
"Sales: Close Reason" or "Mkt: Lead Source Detail" |
"Close Reason" (no prefix, unclear ownership) |
| Use specific names |
"Outbound Reply Rate - Last 30d" |
"Reply Rate" (which channel? what timeframe?) |
| Include the object in cross-object properties |
"Company: Employee Count" on a contact record |
"Employee Count" (is this the contact's or the company's?) |
| Avoid abbreviations unless universally known |
"Annual Contract Value" or "ACV" (widely known) |
"PPPR" (pipeline per rep per period - nobody will remember) |
Internal name (API name) rules
- Use snake_case for internal names.
icp_fit_score, not ICPFitScore or ICP Fit Score. HubSpot auto-generates internal names but you can customize them
- Keep internal names short but clear.
sales_close_reason, not the_reason_the_sales_deal_was_closed_or_lost
- Never change internal names after creation. Integrations, APIs, and workflows reference internal names. Changing them breaks everything downstream
Property Types
Choosing the right field type
| Data type |
HubSpot field type |
When to use |
When NOT to use |
| Predefined options |
Dropdown select |
Status fields, categories, stages |
When users need to enter free text |
| Multiple predefined options |
Checkbox (multi-select) |
Tags, multiple categories |
When only one value should apply |
| Yes/No |
Single checkbox |
Binary states (ICP fit: yes/no) |
When there are more than 2 options |
| Short text |
Single-line text |
Names, emails, short identifiers |
When options should be standardized |
| Long text |
Multi-line text |
Notes, descriptions |
When you need structured data for reporting |
| Numbers |
Number |
Scores, counts, dollar amounts |
When the value is categorical, not numeric |
| Dates |
Date picker |
Milestone dates, deadlines |
When you need a timestamp (use datetime) |
| Calculated |
Calculation property |
Derived values (days since last activity) |
When the calculation is complex (use workflow instead) |
Field type rules
- Use dropdowns over text fields for anything you'll filter or report on. Free text "Industry" field: 47 variations of "SaaS" ("SAAS", "Software as a Service", "SaaS - B2B", "saas"). Dropdown: one value. Dropdowns produce clean data
- Limit dropdown options to 15. More than 15 and users struggle to find the right option. If you need more, consider a hierarchical approach (category dropdown → subcategory dropdown)
- Use number fields for scores, not text. "Lead Score: 75" as a number field can be filtered (> 50), averaged, and used in calculations. "Lead Score: 75" as a text field cannot
- Use date fields for dates, not text. "Last Activity: 2025-03-15" as a date field enables date math (days since last activity). As a text field, it's just a string
Property Organization
Property groups
| Group |
Properties |
Owner |
| ICP & Qualification |
ICP fit score, ICP segment, qualification status, BANT fields |
RevOps |
| Outbound |
Outbound status, sequence enrolled, reply status, last outbound date |
SDR/Sales Ops |
| Attribution |
First touch source, last touch source, self-reported source |
Marketing Ops |
| Enrichment |
Enrichment source, enrichment date, data quality score |
RevOps |
| Deal Intelligence |
Close reason, competitor mentioned, champion identified |
Sales |
| Product Usage |
PQL score, activation status, feature adoption |
Product/RevOps |
Organization rules
- Create custom property groups. Don't dump everything into "Contact Information." Group properties by function. This makes forms, views, and admin navigation manageable
- Limit total custom properties. 50-100 custom properties is healthy. 200+ means many are unused. Audit quarterly and archive unused properties
- Every property has an owner. One team or person is responsible for the property's data quality. If nobody owns it, archive it
Common Property Sets
Contact properties
| Property |
Type |
Group |
Purpose |
| ICP Fit |
Dropdown (Tier 1/2/3/Not ICP) |
ICP & Qualification |
Segment contacts by fit |
| Lead Source (Self-Reported) |
Dropdown |
Attribution |
"How did you hear about us?" |
| Outbound Status |
Dropdown (Not contacted/In sequence/Replied/Meeting booked) |
Outbound |
Track outbound engagement |
| Enrichment Source |
Dropdown (Apollo/Clearbit/Manual) |
Enrichment |
Track where data came from |
| Last Outbound Date |
Date |
Outbound |
Prevent double-contacting |
Deal properties
| Property |
Type |
Group |
Purpose |
| Close Reason |
Dropdown (5-7 reasons) |
Deal Intelligence |
Win/loss analysis |
| Competitor |
Dropdown (top 5 competitors + Other) |
Deal Intelligence |
Competitive tracking |
| Champion |
Contact lookup |
Deal Intelligence |
Track the internal champion |
| Source (Inbound/Outbound) |
Dropdown |
Attribution |
Pipeline attribution |
| Qualification Score |
Number |
ICP & Qualification |
Deal quality tracking |
Company properties
| Property |
Type |
Group |
Purpose |
| ICP Segment |
Dropdown |
ICP & Qualification |
Account-level ICP fit |
| Target Account |
Checkbox |
ABM |
Flag ABM target accounts |
| Enrichment Date |
Date |
Enrichment |
Track data freshness |
| Tech Stack |
Multi-select |
Enrichment |
Technology indicators |
| ARR Tier |
Dropdown |
Firmographic |
Revenue segmentation |
Automation with Properties
Common property-triggered workflows
| Trigger |
Action |
Example |
| ICP Fit = Tier 1 |
Route to enterprise SDR |
High-fit leads get premium treatment |
| Outbound Status = Replied |
Notify rep in Slack |
Immediate notification on positive reply |
| Close Reason = Competitor |
Add to competitive intelligence report |
Auto-tag for win/loss analysis |
| Enrichment Date > 90 days ago |
Re-enrich the record |
Keep data fresh automatically |
| Deal Amount changes |
Notify sales manager |
Pipeline value changes trigger alerts |
Measurement
| Metric |
Definition |
Target |
Frequency |
| Property fill rate |
% of records with the property populated |
> 80% for required properties |
Monthly |
| Total custom properties |
Count of active custom properties |
50-100 (audit if > 150) |
Quarterly |
| Unused properties |
Properties with < 5% fill rate and no automation |
0 (archive them) |
Quarterly |
| Duplicate properties |
Properties with overlapping names or purposes |
0 |
Quarterly |
| Data quality score |
% of dropdown properties with valid values (not "Other" or blank) |
> 90% |
Monthly |
Pre-Creation Checklist
- [ ] Property answers "what report or automation uses this?"
- [ ] Checked for existing duplicate properties (different name, same purpose)
- [ ] Naming follows team convention (prefix, consistent case)
- [ ] Field type matches the data (dropdown for categorical, number for numeric)
- [ ] Dropdown options limited to 15 or fewer
- [ ] Property assigned to a group
- [ ] Property has an owner (team responsible for data quality)
- [ ] Population method defined (manual, automation, enrichment, integration)
- [ ] Required on forms or stage transitions where applicable
- [ ] Internal name is clean and won't need changing
Anti-Pattern Check
- Creating properties without a reporting purpose. "Favorite color of the prospect's dog." Why? Unless it drives a report or automation, it's clutter. Every property needs a reason to exist
- Text fields for categorical data. "Industry" as a free-text field produces 47 spellings of "SaaS." Use a dropdown. Always. For anything you'll filter, report, or segment on
- 300 custom properties with 60% unused. Every new initiative added properties. Nobody removed them. Quarterly audit: if a property has < 5% fill rate and isn't used in any report or workflow, archive it
- No naming convention. Properties named "lead_source," "Lead Source," "leadSource," "Source of Lead," and "LS" all exist. They all mean different things. Or the same thing. Nobody knows. Establish a convention and enforce it
- Duplicate properties across teams. Marketing created "Lead Source." Sales created "Source." RevOps created "Original Source." All track the same thing differently. Audit for duplicates before creating new properties
- Required fields on every form. Every form requires 15 fields. Form completion rate drops to 20%. Only require fields that are essential for routing or qualification. 3-5 fields per form maximum
- Never cleaning up. Properties from 2022 reference products you don't sell, personas you don't target, and integrations you've removed. Clean quarterly. Archive the dead weight
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