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.

HubSpot Updates
Delivered
May 19, 2022 02:20 PM

Hello All,

We are excited to announce that phone number formatting is now live to all users. 

 

How does it work?

Phone numbers can now be formatted automatically. Standard formatting and validation will be applied to phone numbers based on country code.

 

Value formatting:

For phone numbers values entered via CSV import or API use the following format: '+18779290687 ext123'

  • This functionality applies to the default Phone Number, and Mobile Phone number properties.
  • To use it, select a country code and enter the phone number in digits only. Formatting will be applied automatically.
  • Existing phone numbers in your CRM that have a country code and are valid will be formatted automatically.
  • If you prefer to not use automatic formatting, you can click "remove number formatting" below the field. This will remove all formatting and allow you to enter any characters. To apply formatting to an unformatted number, click "apply number formatting" underneath the field.

2665fc7e-e8bc-4505-8474-327902fd181c.gif

 

 

In Planning
June 16, 2021 06:14 PM

Hello HubSpot community! 

We understand how important it is to have phone numbers stored in valid formats in the CRM. Since my last update in March 2020, we have renewed our focus to improving our calling specific functionality. We do not have a concrete timeline or details that we're comfortable committing to yet. However, I am moving this idea to the "in planning" stage to better reflect our commitment to this improvement, as we currently are researching and prioritizing the work required to validate proper formatting for numbers stored in the CRM. 

We'll continue to monitor the use cases and needs submitted on this thread and will post updates as we have them. Your patience and continued feedback is very much appreciated as we work towards delivering a solution! 

Thank you as always for your continued feedback and support, it helps us build a better product.

Being Reviewed
March 30, 2020 08:26 AM

Hello HubSpot Community, 

Thank you as always for your continued feedback, it helps us build a great product.

We are constantly evaluating and re-evaluating our priorities and roadmap to deliver as much value to our customers as possible. The request to format and validate phone numbers is a good one, I can certainly see how this would deliver value in many different ways. Based on the comments and use cases you all have listed, we are reviewing this request and its feasibility among other priorities on our roadmap. At this time I don’t have any details around timing or delivery, but thanks to the comments and votes on this post we’re actively looking into a solution.

October 24, 2019 01:18 PM

Hi all! This idea is not marked as Delivered anymore. There was a misunderstanding a few months ago and I reopened it. We are definitely still working on a more holistic solution to this.

There is a bug with the timestamps of the pinned posts at the top of this thread that are making all my comments appear as if they just happened. Our community developers are aware of the issue. I apologize for any confusion this is causing! Please always reference the status at the top left of the main post for the most up to date info 🙂

Idea Submitted
July 09, 2019 03:38 PM

Thank you all for your feedback! The first time we rolled this out, the changes did not not carry through the entire CRM as detailed in your comments. The team is now working on this and so I am putting this idea back to In Planning.

Delivered
March 01, 2019 03:12 PM

I'm pleased to announce that we have implemented automatic formatting for how phone numbers appear across the CRM, as well as a new "Show country code dropdown" configration option for phone fields in Forms! Any continuing inconsistencies should be brought to the attention of our Support team, and any other phone number related requests should be filed as new ideas. Thanks for your feedback!

159 Replies
JeffR
Member

It would be helpful if HubSpot automatically formatted phone numbers entered into contact records so that they are displayed consistently. For example, always show numbers (U.S.) as 555-555-5555. This will make it easier to search for a contact based on phone number. Right now, if the number is entered as (555) 555-5555 or 5555555555 it won't be found unless the search is formatted identically.

kanioma
Participant

I agree with this and would love to have the Hubspot CRM allow my portal users to search for related contacts and not worry about the format that is utilized for the search. 

 

Case Scenario: Employee 1 enters phone number as XXX-XXX-XXXX. Employee 2 searches for phone number and types the format of (XXX)XXX-XXXX. The difference in format will cause the CRM to fail in results and will impact my client's relationship due to new entry to be created and creates a maintenance issue with my CRM data. 

amp
Participant

HubSpot should narrow down searched phone numbers by 123-432-3242 in search.  If a customer list their phone number as1-123-432-3242 HubSpot will not find the contact.  Same for +1-123-323-3223 or any combonation of the sort.  If you get a random call back from a customer w/a crazy name or tough accent this can make an inside sales rep look very lost.

Kimberly
Participant

Love this idea, auto formatting of phone numbers would help with consistency in data entry and more importantly in the search functionality of phone numbers.

yesimerez
Member

I was on the phone w our contact at Hubspot about exactly this issue.  In our company, sales front end processes are handled by the marketing team and I was called into 2 meetings on Friday where sales reps are complaning about the lead specialist assigning them to the wrong contact- This is because we could not find them in the database!

Customers think they will get better deals and therefore use multiple email addresses but their phone numbers are consistent and we cannot search by those.   Please help!

 

Shaynaj
Member

This is much needed there are so many people on our team working on inputting numbers and everyone has a way of doing it so it makes searching hard. 

kevmckay
Participant

Please look at adding this functionality to HubSpot soon.

DavidY
Participant

I really like this idea.  Please implement this and a standardized place for extensions.  

Chatterdale
Participant

Yes, please!  Auto-formatting of phone numbers so that all are uniform -- and, therefore, properly sortable and searchable -- is an absolutely crucial feature.

deepak23verma
Participant

Hello Hubspot. Is there any update on this request?

simonhurrell
Member

 I would definitely like to see this feature implemented as it would improve UX and the quality of data. 

NickyBennett
Member

I'd really support the introduction of this feature - it will improve customer experience and our data.

richieknight1
Member | Partner

We have clients that desperately need this functionality, as well. 

Anonymous
Not applicable

I agree we need the phone number formatting as shown below.

HubSpot uses this great feature throughout their own platform. Why not incorporate that feature into our forms? 🙂Screen Shot on 2018-07-23 at 18_13_54.png

Anonymous
Not applicable

I agree we need the phone number formatting as shown below. HubSpot uses this great feature throughout their own platform. Why not incorporate that feature into our forms? 🙂Screen Shot on 2018-07-23 at 18_13_54.png

dlane4
Participant

Great idea.

Need country code in forms and all entries to phone number contact property.

 

Elias_Rizk
Participant

Hello,

 

This is a very important feature to add to the forms. Great idea @Anonymous. 

 

There are solutions from IBM, Oracle, and others that help standardize phone numbers while also checking validity, type, and other metrics; you can test a free set with ebCard and evaluate if it makes sense to you. 

 

Cheers,

Elias R.

 

erikblues
Top Contributor

Yes please, we also need the same number formatting that hubspot uses in their forms.

 

pretty please? ❤️

Screen Shot on 2018-07-23 at 18_13_54.png

Wholesale-Solar
Top Contributor

Would be great to have this on internal hubspot app functionality as well - not just forms.

Contacts/Company/etc

Maybe a property type of "phone number"

 

erikblues
Top Contributor

That is true, it should be applied to everything so numbers are fixed!