HubSpot Ideas

usmiclow

Automatic Phone Number Formatting

When a phone number field has data put into it, it is up to the User to format it the way they deem appropriate. That is not the most user-friendly or data-centric approach. This is a good way to allow users to enter incorrect or sloppy data and cause possibly difficulty with search results while also affecting adoption. There are many other CRM platforms out there (At least 12 I could find) which will automatically format a telephone number.   Hubspot does not currently have this basic feature.

 

Suggested solution: When a telephone number is typed into a phone field, the number should automatically format to the Contact's standardized country format with a country code in front of it.  So, for US, +1 (555) 555-5555, for UK, +44 5555 555555, etc.  Some countries do not have standardized formats, but widely accepted formats, or multiple formats depending on when the phone number was assigned. I do not know of an easy solution for that, but choosing one format or at the minimum, placing the correct country code in front of the numbers according to the selected country on the Contact or Company would be helpful. Possibly a non-editable drop-down with country abbreviation and code which auto-fills but is still selectable in case of error. This could also help with the calling feature if calling out of the country.

 

An admin User should be able to toggle in settings whether or not the field will auto format with country code. At the bare minimum, as a US based company, it should at least format any 10 digit numbers into standard US format (555) 555-5555.

162 Replies
GeorgSoller
Contributor

very lol - why hubspot dont bring this?

CFE
Member

It appears that HubSpot has begun implementation! Our account is auto-formatting numbers to E164 for any new customer entries and any edits to existing phone numbers. Looks like our 3CX integration tests are also pulling a full E164 formatted number from customers that have been updated. Hopefully it's here to stay!

PSughrue
Member
YEAHHHHHH thanks
M4tr1xN30
Contributor

Hopefully this is true, and they're staging the roll-out.

 

Our account is still formatting numbers as +44 1234 567890. where as true E.164 has no spaces, so +441234567890

 

We also run the 3CX integration, however, our trunk numbers currently present numbers as 01234567890, so we updated all new numbers added to HubSpot to match.

The sooner we can use the standard E.164 format in HubSpot the better. I can then update the SIP trunks to match and no more weekly number updates!! 😄 

Jrao
Member

Up

As famous CRM, Hubspot has to offer to his customers a country code and all entries to phone number contact property or worflows allowing to do this.

We almost quite you for this reason ...

 

PSughrue
Member
Where do I choose the option for the format?
CFE
Member

Not sure if they're rolling this out gradually, as MHarris90 said. We now have auto-formatting (see below), and at least US numbers are returning in correct no-space E164 format. After running all our US phone numbers through Excel to reformat them back into E164 format, all the numbers are correctly showing up as validated.

 

Screen Shot 2022-04-06 at 9.59.02 AM.png

M4tr1xN30
Contributor

@CFE Number formats look good in your image. Although, are you seeing the same formatting in Company & Contact numbers?

 

I might be wrong, but your image looks like the user phone number section under User Preferences?

 

It could be that this is how HubSpot is now displaying numbers in Company/Contact cards, it's just i can't see them as the roll-out has not hit us yet.

BPorter5
Member

Not yet for me. Phone numbers are still just a string of text

CFE
Member

@M4tr1xN30This is in the customer view—better pic attached. Interestingly, the formatting is not popping up for Company object phone numbers—they remain a regular string. We don't use Company contacts much so I didn't notice that before. Hopefully the rollout/update will be swift!

 

Screen Shot 2022-04-06 at 2.01.45 PM.png

M4tr1xN30
Contributor

@CFE Looks good! Hopefully they will do the same with companies as well as contacts.

 

Looking forward to the roll-out.

BPorter5
Member

The formatting is good. But this is not very useful in its current form. I have to select  which type of formatting I want everytime for existing contacts. The program defaults to the correct format when creating a new customer why can't it just apply the same logic and at LEAST default to the country code of the current customer location or better yet a way to apply formatting to every existing phone number in the program. If a number (if any) has the wrong country code I can manually change it if I run across it. Instead I have to manually change EVERY number that already exists. If I do have to manually adjust each existing phone number please provide a default country so I can do it with one click.

TCorkum
HubSpot Employee

Hi Product Team!

Posting on behalf of a customer. The new update for Australian phone numbers reflects the mobile number in the international format and they want the option for the landline number in international format (+61 2 9999 9999). Thanks in advance!

 

Screen Shot 2022-04-08 at 9.28.11 AM.png

leechen
HubSpot Employee

Hey team!
Writing on behalf of a customer as well - would be great if the setting above can be toggled off, so that the field returns to single line text by default, instead of having to disable number formatting each time a contact is added. 
Appreciate you guys!

LY
Contributor

I love what I'm seeing now with the formatting and extension field and the option to turn off formatting if wanted! 

TBucciarelli
Participant

Nice work HubSpot product team! Great to see this done. I have to agree that a simple way to change a large group of contacts at one time would be fantastic!

M4tr1xN30
Contributor

I'm guessing that this is still in the 'testing and roll out' phase, as we are still not able to format telephone numbers

BPorter5
Member

So far this is step in the right direction but is not very useful. All existing numbers remain strings (which I understand) but to have to spend so much time on each number to format it is not practical.  When I enter a phone number it should just be formatted. We should be able to set 1 global setting for a preferred format and all entries should follow it. If some reason crazy reason we need a different format for a number then we can manually change it. For existing numbers I should be able to apply a format with 1 or 2 mouse clicks at the most. I should not have to search for my desired format EVERYTIME for EVERY phone number. Also there is no formatting applied to phone numbers that are added to existing customers only when creating new customers. AND there is no formatting applied to phone numbers received from web form submissions.

M4tr1xN30
Contributor

Agreed that this is a step in the right direction. And we're now seeing the new formatting options. Hurrah!

MHarris90_0-1650354289906.png

 

However, the auto formatting breaks our 3CX integration. 

 

As 3CX uses E.164 formatting, without spaces, any number stored in HubSpot in this new format, is being ignored because of the spaces.


The number presented by the SIP trunk and the number stored in HubSpot must match exactly for the integration to work as expected.

 

It would be super useful if the ability to set the formatting, was available as a global configuration option in admin. Additional options, such as 'remove spaces' would also be useful.

 

Credit to HubSpot for getting it this far, but I think a few more tweaks are needed.

 

michaeljay201
Contributor

I can understand and appreciate the need for this feature, but as @BPorter5 and @M4tr1xN30 have noted, this is a step in the right direction. 

 

Even though this Idea is still active and new comments are being added, I created a new Idea to call out specific tweaks and enhancements. You can find that Idea here. I included a few of the suggestions already made by others above. 

 

There are a few other Ideas and posts floating around about this feature, as well. They can be found here, here, here, and here.