HubSpot Ideas

Jason_K_Nash

Industry Classification - Industry property - Use a standard

I understand that the industrial property in Hubspot is used to buy industry insights but I am surprised at the mixture of different classification types there are.  

 

Why not NAICS Code Directory and map old classifications to the right group. Just as you guys have multiple levels lead source you could do the same for NAICS classifications up the hierarchy. Considering how important customer segmentation is to effective marketing. I'm really surprised and a little disappointed it such a mixture of things...  or use the Bloomberg classification - Sector, Industry, Sub Industry. But use a standard... or if it's your own then create a hierarchy and share it with everyone maybe showing how different standards map to your classifications. You could share in a spreadsheet or create an article on your blog about it 🙂

4 Replies
pmetzger
Member

Agree 100%. We use NAICS codes and have spent a great deal of time on consistency. 

RickWo
Member

Agree with Jason. NAICS, as pmetzger suggested is good for US companies, but I'm not sure how well it applies to non-US based companies, which are a big part of my business. I recommend checking out the UN-maintained International Standard Industrial Classification of All Economic Activities (ISIC) to see if that might give better coverage without straying too far from the NAICS.

dljubic
Member

Agreed. It makes it so much easier to have a standard classification.

JOpie
Top Contributor

In Europe, NACE rev 2 is used. While there are some superficial similarities, quite a few differences remain with NAICS. ISIC varies too much for both.

 

I am a member of the International Association of Income and Wealth(my background is industrial economics, the IAIW despite the name is actually largely the people who design and calculate GDP) and I know that convergence is planned to a certain degree over the next 20 years or so as the world's statistical reporting converges to a single standard. Until then, we have to live with divergence. 

 

And yes, please please please have this very precise. These levels are far too vague: if I want to reach out to shipping companies, I have to weed out all the non-shipping in Transportation, Trucking, Railroads. 😞