How can I create a HubSpot list that does NOT sync with Salesforce (opposite to Inclusion List)

[James-Nichols]

Hi there,

I want to create a list that does not sync with our Salesforce CRM.  I understand there are Inclusion Lists, which are lists that limit which contacts sync with Salesforce, but I am looking for the opposite to that.

[bradmin]

Hi, @James-Nichols. The specific functionality you're asking about doesn't exist; you'd have to build an inclusion list designed to exclude all unwanted contacts, allowing everyone else to sync.

Can you say more about your use case? How would it be easier to build a list of exclusions, than inclusions? 

[James-Nichols]

Hi there,

Thanks for the response!  My use case for this is that I am using HubSpot to automate a big part of our customer training program.  I don't want these contacts syncing with Salesforce because our Client Services Team (who the emails are supposed to come from) do not have Salesforce accounts and we do not want to purchase additional accounts just for this.

The HubSpot owners change to whoever the Salesforce default owner is when the sync occurs.  

I have found a temporary and imperfect solution to this issue for the time being.  I have set the Contact's Lifecycle Stage to "Subscriber", but I can forsee this causing issues if any contacts in the training program interact with any of our other content and their Lifecycle Stage changes.

[bradmin]

If you have a small number of users on your client services team, you could build an inclusion list of HubSpot Owner not equal to [those client services team members]. That's not a terribly scalable solution, and would only work up to a point. 

Is there some common data point or activity, common to every contact owned by that team? Would they all have filled out the same form, or was part of the same list? It may be easier to build based on those criteria, as long as it's consistent and doesn't apply to any records syncing to Salesforce. 

[James-Nichols]

Hi again,

Thanks for all your help with this!  Yes, these contacts would all be in the same list.  Does that mean I can create an inclusion list that is everyone that is not in the Client Services list?

That seems like a good solution.  Also, I liked your solution of an inclusion list of everyone that is not owner by those specific Client Services team members.  Luckily we are a fairly small organization at the moment, so that wouldn't be too hard to do for now.

[bradmin · Accepted solution]

You can absolutely create an inclusion list which includes/excludes contacts belonging to a specific list. If you already have a list of all contacts owned by the Client Services Team, then your inclusion list can simply be any contact who's not on that list (plus or minus any extra qualifiers you may have). 

One last bit, which may not apply: If you're also enabling the auto-add feature, where newly-created Salesforce leads or contacts create new HubSpot contacts, there is a default list called "Auto-added from Salesforce" in your portal, including all contacts created that way. [And if you do have this, never delete that list - it can't be recreated if you do, regardless whether you have the functionality enabled.]

As a best practice, if you have auto-add enabled, is to account for it in your inclusion list. Otherwise, there's the possibility Salesforce could add a new contact to HubSpot, and for whatever reason, stop syncing from HubSpot to Salesforce if it gets kicked off the inclusion list. To account for this, build an OR condition onto the end of your inclusion list, accounting for membership in the Auto-added from Salesforce list. This way, HubSpot contacts originally created by Salesforce continue to sync to HubSpot. 

[James-Nichols]

Hi again,

OK good to know.  We are not currently using that feature, so I don't think I will need to do that.

Thanks for all of your help!