HubSpot Associations: New and Improved

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Please note: as of April 18, 2022, this update is live to all accounts. The text of this post will not be updated moving forward. For up to date information about the rollout and what's included, refer to this post. For detailed product instructions, visit the Associate records and Create and use association labels Knowledge Base articles.

Do you have a contact who is an employee at one company, but an advisor for another? Are you working on a deal or ticket that involves multiple companies? Your business has its own unique relationships, and it’s time for your CRM to reflect that. 

With HubSpot’s new association improvements, you can associate multiple companies to a contact, deal, or ticket record. If you’re a Super admin in a Professional or Enterprise tier portal, you can also create association labels to describe the relationships between associated records -- and users can run lists or workflows based off of those labels.

 

What is an association? Why should I care about this update?

Associations are connections between records in HubSpot. For example, if John Doe is the owner of the company Doe’s, you should have a contact record for John Doe that is associated with a company record, Doe’s. If you’re selling a service to his company, you can associate a deal with both John’s contact record and the Doe’s company record to keep all of your interactions organized and connected across objects. Learn more about objects and records in your CRM.

Now let’s say John Doe is also an advisor to another company. Previously in HubSpot, you couldn’t associate John with that additional company, which means your CRM wasn’t truly reflecting your business. With the association enhancements, you can associate John Doe with Doe’s, and with the company he advises for. Additionally, in a Professional or Enterprise account, you can label John as the Owner for Doe’s, and an Advisor for the other company. Finally, your HubSpot CRM can tell the whole story.

 

I want the update! How do I start?

Please note: as of January 18, 2022, associations improvements are included in all newly created HubSpot accounts.

If you're in an existing HubSpot account, these new associations improvements are currently in public beta, and you can opt-in for early access. Users with Super admin permissions can go to any object settings page and click the beta modal on the bottom-right-hand side of the screen. For full instructions to opt-in and use the new association features, refer to this knowledge base article.

I’m a Super admin. What do I need to know before I opt-in?

To ensure you feel comfortable before opting-in, learn what will happen to your HubSpot account.

 

Will any data be lost or removed?

No, all of your data will remain in your account.

 

What happens to my existing associations and tools using associated records?

All of your existing associations will be maintained. For existing associated companies, a single company associated with a record will now be considered the record’s Primary associated company. The Primary company of a record will be the company shown on each index page in the Associated company column, and will be referenced in any lists, workflows, reports, or personalization tokens used in your account. Those tools will continue to function as they did when the limit was one associated company per record, now just using the Primary company. Moving forward, you can modify existing, or create new lists and workflows to use multiple associations or association labels. Once you’ve associated multiple companies to a contact, you can also change which company is primary.

If you have any concerns about your existing associations, lists, or workflows, reach out to your Customer Success Team or Manager.

Possible exception: if in the past you’ve associated multiple companies to deal or ticket records via an API workaround, any workflows you created for all associated companies will no longer work as intended. With the new associations turned on, the workflow will use the Primary company. Once opted-in, you need to manually edit your workflows to include all associated companies rather than the Primary company.

 

Can I change back if I don’t like the enhancements?

No, you are not able to opt-out once you’ve opted-in. Opting-in for the new associations means you’re gaining early access to features which will become standard in HubSpot. If you’re a current customer who is curious about these changes, we recommend reaching out to your Customer Success Team or Manager for guidance.

 

How many companies can I associate with each record if I opt-in?

The one associated company per contact, deal, or ticket record limit will be lifted. You can now associate up to 10,000 company records with any contact, deal, or ticket record in HubSpot.

 

Are association labels only for companies?

No! You can create association labels to explain the relationships between all standard CRM objects, including contacts, companies, deals, and tickets.

 

I opted in! How should I use these new associations?

The new association functionality is designed for flexibility, which means there are lots of ways to associate and label records specific to your business. That said, if you’re looking for some guidance to get started, below are possible use cases for when to associate certain records, how to label the associations, and where to use these labels in other HubSpot tools. 

 

Associate multiple companies to a contact, deal, or ticket

The following are possible scenarios where you could associate multiple companies to your records:

• A contact is an employee at one company, a former employee at another company, and an advisor to a third company. 
• A deal involves a company who will receive and purchase your service, as well as a re-seller who is selling the service on behalf of your company.
• A ticket involves a company who is having a problem with your service, as well as an agency who helps resolve their clients’ issue and communicates with your business on their behalf.
• A contact is a teacher at one school and also a parent at another school where her child attends.

Create and use association labels to define relationships between records (Professional and Enterprise only)

With the latest association improvements, you can create up to 10 labels for each object pair to describe the relationships between records. We recommend that these labels are terms that can be used often, across many records, and that do not need to be updated frequently.

The following are scenarios where association labels can help provide clarity about your records’ relationships:

• For contacts with roles at multiple companies, you might want to create Employee, Advisor, Investor, and Board member labels.
• For companies with many associated contacts, you might want to create Billing contact, Point of contact, and Decision maker labels to keep track of who to reach out to.
• For deals with multiple companies involved, you might want to create Re-seller, Purchasing company, and Agency labels.
• For tickets with multiple contacts involved, you might want to create Issue reporter and Point of contact labels.

Use association labels in lists and workflows (Professional and Enterprise only)

Once you’ve created association labels, you can use them to filter your records in lists and workflows. The association labels you create will depend on how your business operates, but the following are possible use cases.

 

Lists

• Create a contact-based list to include contacts associated with a company in a specific region, who have the label Decision maker. You can provide this list to a sales rep for that region to reach out.
• Create a contact-based list to include all contacts associated with a closed ticket with the label Point of contact. You can send them an email with a survey to ask about their experience working with your support team.
• Create a company-based list to include all companies associated with an open deal with no recent activity, and have the label Re-seller. You can reach out to those re-sellers to check in if they need help closing the deals.

Workflows

• Create a company-based workflow to automatically send a billing-related email to any associated contacts with a Billing contact label.

• Create a contact-based workflow to set a company to a target account if an associated contact with a Decision maker label fills out a sales form.

Resources

• Looking for an app that helps automate the association between records in your system? Check out operations-related apps in the HubSpot App Marketplace.
• Need more help setting up your associations or association labels? Refer to this knowledge base article for full instructions.