Data quality is the cornerstone of any effective CRM strategy. Accurate, organized, and up-to-date data enables businesses to make informed decisions, streamline operations, and deliver exceptional customer experiences. However, when data is messy, outdated, or incomplete, it can derail your marketing, sales, and customer service efforts. In the context of HubSpot, maintaining high data quality is crucial as it directly impacts the effectiveness of your CRM system.
As our Sales Director, Josh Domagala, points out: “Messy data equates to missed opportunities.”
If we don’t have clean, reliable data in our CRM, then:
From a sales perspective, we can’t clearly identify which deals to focus on. We also lose visibility into where each opportunity truly stands in the pipeline, and what actions are needed to move them forward.
From a marketing standpoint, poor data may mean we’re not capturing qualified leads — or we’re unable to pass them effectively to the sales team.
Ultimately, bad data means you don’t really know where to invest your time. As a result, you end up putting effort into the wrong areas — instead of reinvesting that time and energy into the business where it could actually drive productivity and growth.
By prioritizing data quality, you ensure that your team has access to reliable information, which can drive better business outcomes. Investing time and resources in data clean-up and migration processes is essential for leveraging the full potential of HubSpot.
Before diving into the data cleanup process, it's important to prepare your data effectively. This preparation involves several key steps and tools that will help streamline the cleanup process and set the stage for successful data migration.
Conduct a thorough audit of your existing data to identify areas that need attention. This includes pinpointing duplicates, outdated information, and incomplete records. A comprehensive data audit provides a clear picture of the current state of your data and helps prioritize cleanup efforts.
Segment your data into manageable chunks based on criteria such as customer type, geographic location, or purchase history. Data segmentation allows you to focus on specific areas and makes the cleanup process more organized and efficient.
Use specialized data cleanup tools to automate and simplify the process. Tools like HubSpot's data management features, data deduplication software, and data validation tools can significantly reduce the time and effort required for data cleanup.
Establish clear data governance policies to ensure consistency and accuracy in your data management practices. This includes defining data entry standards, setting up regular data audits, and assigning data stewardship roles within your organization.
Cleaning up your data in HubSpot involves several best practices that can help ensure accuracy and organization in your CRM. By following these 5 steps, you can streamline your data management processes and improve the overall quality of your CRM data.
Before cleaning your data in HubSpot, set clear rules for how records will be handled. This ensures consistency and prevents costly mistakes.
Deduplication: Decide which properties (email, phone, name, etc.) will identify duplicates. HubSpot uses email and domain by default, but your business may need custom or fuzzy matching logic.
Merge Rules: When combining records, define which one should win. Use criteria like “last updated” or create more complex logic based on field completeness.
Deletion Criteria: Clarify when a record can be deleted—e.g., contacts without names, companies with no contacts, or deals with missing amounts.
These rules create the foundation for a smooth, strategic cleanup process.
Once your rules are defined, it’s time to remove duplicate records. This can be done within HubSpot or using external tools.
Using Operations Hub, HubSpot identifies potential duplicates based on properties like name and email. You can then review the suggestions, set your merge criteria (e.g., most recently updated, oldest, most engaged), and merge selected records directly.
If your deduplication logic is more complex, tools like Dedupely allow for customized rules and more advanced matching.
👉 Want a step-by-step walkthrough? Check out the webinar recording at the end of this post.
One of the often-overlooked, yet essential, step in data cleanup is record association.
In HubSpot, this means linking contacts with the correct companies or deals so that information flows accurately across the CRM. Record associations links related data types, such as contacts to companies or deals. This ensures that your CRM reflects the true relationships between entities, giving your teams full context and a 360-degree view of your database.
To manage this, you’ll need to export your data, manually match records using their unique Record IDs (for example, linking a contact ID to the correct company ID), and then re-import that updated dataset. This step is essential to preserving meaningful relationships between your records. For larger datasets or more complex association needs, using HubSpot’s API is the most scalable and efficient route.
After the associations have been added to your dataset, the next move is to bring the data back into HubSpot. This re-import process isn’t just about uploading a spreadsheet—it’s about ensuring the system knows how everything connects.
When re-importing, you’ll select the types of records you're working with—like contacts and companies—and then map the appropriate properties. HubSpot’s import tool makes this straightforward by splitting the mapping view: contact properties appear in one section, and company properties in another. As long as the Record IDs are correctly aligned, HubSpot will recognize and apply the associations during the import.
With your records cleaned and re-associated, the next phase is data enrichment—filling in the gaps to make your CRM even more powerful.
There are a few ways to handle this. HubSpot’s built-in B2B Intelligence tool (often referred to as Breeze Intelligence) can enrich certain fields during the import process. If your needs are more extensive, tools like ZoomInfo or Apollo offer deeper data sets and native integrations that keep your CRM up-to-date. That said, enrichment doesn’t always come from external sources. In many cases, your team holds key knowledge—like identifying deal owners or confirming contact roles. The best time to add this kind of detail is while preparing your spreadsheet before import. A bit of manual enrichment at this stage can go a long way in ensuring your CRM reflects the full picture.
Migrating data to HubSpot requires careful planning and execution to ensure a smooth transition. The following techniques can help you successfully migrate your data without losing valuable information.
Create a Migration Plan: Develop a detailed migration plan that outlines the steps, timeline, and resources required for the migration process. This plan should include data mapping, migration tools, and a clear timeline for each phase of the migration.
Data Mapping: Map your existing data fields to the corresponding fields in HubSpot. This ensures that your data is transferred accurately and consistently. Pay special attention to custom fields and unique data structures to avoid data loss or misalignment.
Use Migration Tools: Leverage migration tools and software to automate the data transfer process. HubSpot offers several integration and migration tools that can help streamline the migration and minimize manual effort.
Test Migration: Conduct a test migration with a small subset of your data to identify any issues and make necessary adjustments. This helps ensure that the actual migration goes smoothly and reduces the risk of errors.
Data migration can present several challenges, but with the right strategies, you can overcome them and ensure a successful transition to HubSpot.
Migrating data into HubSpot can come with a few common challenges, but with the right steps, each one can be addressed effectively.
Data loss is a top concern during migration. To avoid it, always back up your data before starting and run tests to confirm everything transfers correctly.
Data incompatibility happens when formats or structures don’t match between systems. Use data mapping to align your fields with HubSpot’s requirements, and clean up any inconsistencies before importing.
Downtime and disruption can affect business operations if the migration isn’t planned well. To minimize this, schedule your migration during quiet hours and keep your team informed throughout the process.
Data integrity means keeping your records accurate and consistent. Run validation checks and review the results during and after migration to catch any issues early.
With careful planning, these challenges can be handled smoothly and your data will be set up for success in HubSpot.