HubSpot Ideas

IgniteMarketing

Stop contacts being added automatically after sending Gmail email

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.

 

Any other ideas?

 

Thanks in advance!

74 Replies
BookMarker
Member

Getting the same thing out of Outlook 365 - did you figure out a solution?

Thanks,

Will

moeg
Member

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. 

 

Thanks!

nickgoloborodko
Contributor

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.

DMurphy1
Contributor

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. 

Nigeldb
Contributor

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. 

jveler_ecrs
Contributor

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.

 

nickgoloborodko
Contributor

Don't hold your breath for anythign to happen.

 

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. 

Nigeldb
Contributor

Jveler, you also make an excellent point.

 

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.

 

 

jennhh
Participant

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. 

 

jveler_ecrs
Contributor

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!!!

jennysowyrda
Community Manager

Hi all, 

 

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. 

 

Thank you for your patience. 

 

Jenny

jennhh
Participant

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.

jveler_ecrs
Contributor

Hi Jenny,

 

I looked over that page and it still requires that we know the email address beforehand, or that we know the domain.

 

So, let's say I send a support alert to:

FROM: me@mydomain.com

TO: customer@theirdomain.com

CC: customer_it@theirdomain.com, 3rdparty@gmail.com, tom@mydomain.com, bob@someitcompany.com

 

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.

Nigeldb
Contributor

Hello all, 

 

If you don't mind, I'd like to split this discussion in two.

Part 1 - Provide an option to choose which new Contacts to create from an Outlook email.

Part 2 - Once the new Contact has been created, or set to Ignore, how to fine tune the tracking and logging for that Contact.

 

To help (I hope) I've created a thread  Stop Contacts being added automatically from Outlook email over here over in the Outlook section with a suggested fix!!

 

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. 

jennysowyrda
Community Manager

Hi all, 

 

Thank you for your patience while I have partnered with the product team regarding these inquiries. 

 

When you have GDPR enabled in your portal and try to track and email, it will associate with an anonymous notification. For more information on this setting, please refer to this documentation. Additionally, this screenshot will populate in the sidebar. Screen Shot 2018-09-05 at 10.41.14 AM.png

 

In regards to configuring your extension settings in general to ensure it meets your requirements, GDPR and otherwise, please refer to this documentation.

 

 

 

In regards to discussions about future product features, the Ideas Forum will be the best place for that conversation, as that is the area monitored by the Product team, and where they look for ideas that customers would like to see included in the future. To ensure that your idea is found by the proper teams, given the appropriate attention, and able to have a roadmap towards creation, this discussion needs to occur in the ideas forum. 

 

I will continue to share any updates as they become available, and I would encourage you to utilize the ideas forum as that will the be best outlet for these discussions.

 

Thank you,
Jenny

 

Nigeldb
Contributor

Dear all, please take a look at 

Outlook Plug-in - Ignore email address so that a CONTACT is not created in the Ideas Forum at

https://community.hubspot.com/t5/HubSpot-Ideas/Outlook-Plug-in-Ignore-email-address-so-that-a-CONTAC...

 

and vote for it

valj
Participant

Same! It's messing up our reports for our sales team!

valj
Participant

Right. We would like to not have them added as a new contact. However, if they are a contact...we want to log and track the emails. We get tons of spam in our inbox and it is creating a mess for us to clean up. Not to mention that we are being charged for contacts that are not even qualified to be in our Hubspot. I believe this is what everyone's frustration may be with the Conversations tool.

berwynhoyt
Participant

Yes! This is the obvious solution. Why hasn't it been implemented:

 

>  It would be great if it could LOG emails with people who are already in Hubspot, but NOT log emails with people who are not.

 

berwynhoyt
Participant

There are no less than 4 "Ideas" pages all asking (in different ways) for this same feature!.  Please go and upvote all of them. Here are the links:

 

Please go an upvote all of them.