How does a deal inherit the original source from a contact?

[leighlanbrooke]

Hi there,

Thanks for any responses in advance! 

My company is using the "original source" property to identify deal source revenue by original source channel. I understand that this is inherited from the contact associated with the company/deal. Can anyone provide some guidance on how Hubspot selects the "contact" that will influence the company/deal original source? 

Many of our deals have multiple contacts associated with them. I was curious whether one of the following is the answer:
1. Inherits the contact properties from the "oldest contact" (i.e. a contact created in 2018 vs 2019)
2. Which contact is associated with the deal first

Thank you! 

[kaburke · Accepted solution]

This is a really interesting question I hadn't considered before.  I have run a few tests and the deal original source is inherited from the oldest contact's original source.   Let me know if you are seeing any examples of something else and I am happy to take a look!

[kaburke · Accepted solution]

This is a really interesting question I hadn't considered before.  I have run a few tests and the deal original source is inherited from the oldest contact's original source.   Let me know if you are seeing any examples of something else and I am happy to take a look!

[Phil_Vallender · Accepted solution]

Hi @leighlanbrooke @kaburke 

Just to add to this, this is now confirmed by the documentation on default deal properties:

"Original source: the original source for the associated contact, or associated company if there is no contact, with the oldest value for the Time first seen property."

[SSGiles]

Thanks for clarifying this Phil. Do you know if this works the same for future contacts added (not related to deals)? For example, if Contact A's original source is Email Marketing and then Contact B (from the same company) is created when they're cc'd on an email by Contact A, would they get Offline Sources set as their original source by default or would they inherit Email Marketing (where the original company lead came from) because it was the oldest? We're trying to use this when it comes to commission etc. Let me know if this doesn't make sense! 

[darynsmith]

Interesting question, I don't have the answer - but adding a note here so that I get notified when someone does answer!