Retrospective dates

[cyberchick]

How do you upload client contacts with retrospective dates? If I have some clients I've been working on since July 2022, can I put a date and action per client (there are up to 9 on some of them), or do I have to start with today's date as if they're brand-new in the sales cycle?

[karstenkoehler · Accepted solution]

Hi @cyberchick,

If you're referring to the dates associated to the Lifecycle stage property, these cannot be backdated, no. If you set a contact as Lifecycle stage "Customer" today, they'll receive today's date as Became a customer date and this cannot be changed.

However, you can always create your own custom date property, e.g. Contract start date, and set it to a value in the past for better context on the contact record.

Best regards

[SNigam · Accepted solution]

Hello @cyberchick ,

I suggest to use custom date property to store restrospective dates. To upload client contacts with retrospective dates in HubSpot, you can use the HubSpot import tool or API. Here are the steps you can follow:

1. Create a CSV file with the client contact information, including the retrospective date you want to assign to each client and any associated actions.

2. In HubSpot, go to Contacts > Contacts.

3. Click on the "Import" button in the top right corner of the screen.

4. Choose the CSV file you created and follow the prompts to map your CSV columns to the appropriate HubSpot fields.

5. When you get to the "Date Properties" section of the import process, make sure to select the retrospective date field you included in your CSV file.

6. Complete the import process.

Once your clients have been imported into HubSpot, you can view their contact records and see the retrospective dates and actions you assigned to them. These dates will be reflected in any associated reports and workflows.

It's important to note that HubSpot works based on the date fields in the system. So, if you want to start a sales cycle from a past date, you need to make sure that you update the relevant date fields in HubSpot accordingly. Otherwise, the system will default to using the current date as the starting point for any reporting and workflows.

Thank you 

Shubham Nigam

[karstenkoehler · Accepted solution]

Hi @cyberchick,

If you're referring to the dates associated to the Lifecycle stage property, these cannot be backdated, no. If you set a contact as Lifecycle stage "Customer" today, they'll receive today's date as Became a customer date and this cannot be changed.

However, you can always create your own custom date property, e.g. Contract start date, and set it to a value in the past for better context on the contact record.

Best regards