Stop automatic contact creation from email sending
Hi guys
I'm using the Gmail integration and love all the features EXCEPT the one that automatically creates a new contact within HubSpot CRM everytime I send an email to anyone not yet in the CRM from my Gmail account.
Is there a way to switch off just this one feature without losing any of the other integrations. All I have tried so far is unticking the 'Log In CRM' check box in the email compser window.
Hi, @MayPascaud I have the same complaint as many others here.
I want the system to log my emails with contacts i already have in Hubspot but I don't want it to automatically add contacts as I email many people I don't want in my Hubspot CRM.
Just adding this issue to "bad software developped by bad developers" list (in mild terms, anyway). This is another critical bit of functionality that is broken for us in Hubspot, and Hubspot does not seem to be in any way interested in addressing this. Really tired of "this is expected bahaviour" responses from HS.
Why not just add "Create new contacts from emails" check box under the email settings page and let us control the bahaviour and save everyone a lot oh headache? This would literally be a few lines of code.
Would love to see Hubspot make this happen. We need to cc many additional contacts in our emails when sending out warranty reminders becuase of high turnover rates/retirements/job changes in the audience's industry. I don't want to have to manage who gets added to the CRM manually with each send. I'd like to be able to turn off the logging whenever a cc is used.
I'm having the same problem using Outlook on my desktop. (have Office 365 but don't use web version).
Really do not want Hubspot to create a new contact for every email address it doesn't recognise...for many reasons.
Some of the emails are for suppliers...do not want them on Hubspot
Some of the emails are from people trying to sell me marketing email lists......definitely do not want them on Hubspot.
Right now HubSpot is slowly adding every single contact I have in Outlook, whether they are a Prospect, Lead, Customer. Figure this will eventually impact on my subscription fee as Marketing Hub charges by number of contacts?
Suggested fix.
When I send an email in Outlook, on the right hand banner, please can we have "Hi, we don't recognise this email. Do you want to add this person as a Contact in Hubspot or would you prefer us to ignore this email?" and then two buttons Add or Ignore.
If I click Add, then the Contact is created and because of GDPR, Hubspot automatically send them my Marketing Email that asks them for permission to contact them via email and process their info via Subscriptions settings.
If I click Ignore, Hubspot remembers this email address but does not create a contact etc.
Nigeldb... you make a really good point that I have not thought about in my initial concerns and disdain for this "feature." This is a concern for privacy and for GDPR regulations. If I'm sending out emails and they are automatically added to my HubSpot platform when I add tracking or logging, then those are emails/contacts that are polluting an otherwise clean list.
This whole mess creates extra cleaning work for our company and now offers additional risk in lowering our email deliverability scores because our system markets to these contacts without discernment.
Any additional suggestions that we can actually DO NOW would be helpful. A suggestion or addressing of this issue by HubSpot would be the MOST HELPFUL.
I have been monitoring a number of issues that are critical for our operations - nothing ever gets fixed (or even aknowledged by HS), which is rather frustrating concidering the amount of money we pay for our subscription.
Besides, what is the incentive for them todo anything abotu this - that would reduce the number of contacts they can bill us for...
Not being cynical, but that is our experience so far with hubspot.
DEAR HUBSPOT, by creating a Contact from my outgoing emails, especially the ones I don't want, is the system making me breach privacy and GDPR as I don't have their opted in permission to track their emails or personal info,like their email address. Creating a Contact from an email has to be a positive action.
We use the HubSpot plug-in with Outlook at our organization. This is vital for us and a major GDPR compliance issue. We cannot be creating new profiles for leads in HubSpot when they haven't opted-in to receive our marketing content. This is a very high urgency issue that needs to be addressed quickly to ensure GDPR compliance and continuing to maintain the value of the sales tool.
Ideally, the Outlook plug-in would not create a new profile if the email that is being logged and tracked doesn't exist in it's portal. It would just track the message so the user could track the interaction and performance of the email sent.
Let's back up one second then. Can we even track emails and not also be in violation of GDPR?
Should it be that only emails are tracked IF they are in Hubspot and they should not be added automatically to our contact lists IF they are not in HubSpot.
Does opting in to the GDPR Hubspot features take care of this as part of that additinal system?
Wouldn't it be nice to get some answers from HubSpot!!!
Thank you for your feedback and convesation. I am here and I hear you.
I am monitoring this thread actively.
Regarding the concerns about customization of logging emails, this funcionality has been released since this thread started through the never log settings. Click here for more information on this setting and how to enable it. Additionally, if you would like to see more customization around this setting, I would recommend voting for this idea in the ideas forum. If you have any questions about how to use the setting, please start a new thread here.
In regards to the GDPR inquiries, I am investigating these matters internally and will reach out once I have more information.
Thanks for your attention Jenny! I know in our organization, the Never Log function is not what we are looking for. My comment above has the details of what we are looking for if that helps.
The context of the email may be an upgrade notification. I want to log it so we have it recorded in the CRM. "theirdomain.com" can't be blocklisted, "gmail.com" can't be blocklisted, "someitcompany.com" could be blocklisted.
We probably have 300 of these type emails go out every day throughout the organization.
Regardless, using that no log feature you pointed us to would mean I would have to add those individual emails and possible the itcompany domain for this email. I would have to train (or receive requests) from my whole team of 15 people when this happened to them.
Do we have to go in and add to the log blocklist before we send the email?
Do we have to pay attention to doing that without it interfering with our work time?
Do you have a best practices document for this?
Ultimately, this is a big UX issue for your customers... why not just fix it? Do you have anyone objecting to it?
The solution you are offering does not present a viable option for larger small-business customers. I've participated in the other thread as well. I don't see much difference in what this thread desires and what the other does, except one is in a different forum.
1. Automatically creating the contact: Provide some choice about whether to create a Contact, for example, we don't want Contacts created from emails sent to suppliers etc.
2. and then once a contact is created... Fine tuning the Logging and tracking of emails for Contacts that are in HubSpot... especially when CC and BCC used.
This thread is just about the first part, automatically creating new contacts
DEAR HUBSPOT, by creating a Contact from my outgoing emails, especially the ones I don't want, is the system making me breach privacy and GDPR as I don't have their opted in permission to track their emails or personal info,like their email address. Creating a Contact from an email has to be a positive action.
Here is a suggested fix
When we send an email in Outlook, please can HubSpot check all email addresses and for any that it doesn't recognise (could be more than 1), we get a pop up that says "Hi, we don't recognise some of these emails. Would you like us to add this person (or "these people" if more than 1) as a Contact in Hubspot, or would you prefer us to ignore this email address forever?" and then have two check boxes to the right of each email address: AddorIgnore and then two buttons Save and Cancel.
If I click Save
...for every Ignore, Hubspot remembers the email address but does not create a Contact. Maybe in the Hubspot Outlook Sales plugin settings, we need another box like Never log but instead called Not Contacts.
...foe every Add, HubSpot creates a Contact. This may require a popup for each contact so we can fill in the details. Now here is where it gets a bit tricky....How best to deal with GDPR and Privacy for new Contacts created via email.
Maybe in the plugin, there should be an option to "Automatically send link to form asking for New Contact to opt in to Data Privacy, Consent to process data and Subscriptions" If the option is turned on, the System should then automatically send them a link to a from they can fill in.
Would being able to Ignore email addresses solve the issue where there is a need to exclude some emails addresses from tracking and logging? So for jveler's comment above, bob@someitcompamy.com would be set to Ignore and no emails to Bob would be tracked or logged. Simple.
Hi MFJLabs, unfortunately this doesn't fix the problem.
This simply stops emails from being logged to a Contact in HubSpot. This discussion is all about a step before that. How to prevent a Contact being added toHubspot in the first place.
Every time I'm in Outlook and send an email to a supplier, the HubSpot Sales box on the right keeps asking me to "Add to CRM" What we need is
- a second button that says "Never add to CRM"
- and even a third that says "Never add emails to this Domain"
>>"This simply stops emails from being logged to a Contact in HubSpot. This discussion is all about a step before that. How to prevent a Contact being added toHubspot in the first place."
Hi MFJ Labs, thanks for pointing that out. Unfortunately it doesn't fix the problem.
This is an opt-out approach. As per the first note in this thread, "....is the system making me breach privacy and GDPR......Creating a Contact from an email has to be a positive action.", i.e opt-in.
For example, I have just sent an email to a person who I do not want in HubSpot. Their email is not in the Never Log and I did not click "Add to CRM" before sending the email.
The trouble is that Hubspot has automatically created a Contact with this email address and attached the email. I now have their personal information in Hubspot. I did not want this to happen, and because of Privacy and GDPR, I now have to go into contacts and delete them.
Not very user friendly and is it in contravention of GDPR etc?
The good news is that the Never Log (Ignore?) functionality is there. HubSpot just need to make Creating a contact from email and opt-in rather than opt-out.
