Currently, HubSpot allows users to create association labels to define the relationships between records (such as contacts, companies, and deals). These labels help segment and organize data, like distinguishing a “Primary Company” from an “Investor” or “Board Member”. While it’s possible to filter lists, some workflows, and Lists by association labels, there are still significant limitations and inconsistencies across HubSpot’s Lists and automation tools.
Why this matters:
- Precision segmentation: Many businesses have contacts or deals associated with multiple companies or roles. Being able to filter and trigger workflows based on specific association labels (e.g., only contacts labeled as “Investor” or deals associated with a “Primary Company”) enables more targeted automation and lists
- Cleaner data and better insights: Filtering by association labels in lists helps identify and resolve data quality issues, such as deals missing a primary association or contacts with ambiguous roles.
- Automation opportunities: Triggering workflows based on association labels would allow for more sophisticated automation, like sending onboarding emails only to contacts labeled as “Customer” or escalating deals where the “Decision Maker” label is missing.
Suggested improvements:
- Enable association label filtering in all lists types, not just lists and some custom lists.
- Allow workflow triggers and branches based on association labels for all standard and custom objects.
- Add the option to use “none of” or “does not have” association label criteria in filters and triggers for even more flexible segmentation.
- Ensure that these capabilities are available in both the UI and via API/integrations for maximum flexibility.
Impact:
Implementing these features would empower HubSpot users to create more accurate lists, automate complex processes, and maintain cleaner CRM data. It would be especially valuable for organizations with complex relationship structures or those managing multiple business lines, partnerships, or investor relations.
Feel free to adapt this idea for your internal team, HubSpot Community, or the HubSpot Ideas forum!