Help with email subscriptions change and setup

[AnneKat]

Hi,

I need some help determining the best way to set up our email subscription types in HubSpot after some changes in our communication consent model.

Our current setup has two subscription types:

1. Marketing Email – Newsletter (email only)

2. Service Communication (product-related communication)

All users of our digital tool must now accept our updated Terms & Conditions, which makes service communication mandatory. We also expanded our marketing consent so that new users now opt into email marketing, SMS marketing, and push notifications under one unified consent.

Here is the challenge:

Service Communication

Since service communication is required and not optional, do we need to maintain a subscription type at all? Can we instead send these messages as transactional emails so the contacts do not need to be marketing contacts?

Marketing Consent

Previously, we only had an email newsletter subscription type. Now the new consent covers email + SMS + push.

New users who accept the broader consent also accept receiving newsletters.

However, I cannot merge the two subscription types because the old subscribers only consented to email. And when sending a newsletter, HubSpot only allows selecting one subscription type, and I want to be able to send just one newsletter/marketing email to all subscribers. 

How do I set this up in the best way? 

[GaroAroian · Accepted solution]

hi @AnneKat 

. Service Communication (Mandatory)

• If you have Transactional Email → send all service/product messages as transactional.
  → No subscription type needed, no marketing-contact cost.

• If you don’t have transactional → keep the Service Communication subscription type.

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2. Marketing Consent (Email + SMS + Push)
Create one email marketing subscription type in HubSpot:
“Marketing Communications”

Use it for all email marketing (newsletters, promos, onboarding drips).

• Old users (email-only consent) → stay opted into this one type

• New users (broader omni-channel consent) → also enrolled in this one type
  ➡ This lets you send a single newsletter to everyone.

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3. SMS & Push

• SMS must use separate SMS subscription types (HubSpot requirement).

• Push is handled outside HubSpot (no subscription type needed).

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Final Structure

• Marketing Communications → all marketing emails

• Service Communication → only if no transactional email

• SMS subscription(s) → separate

• Push → external platform

[AnneKat]

Thank you! This is super helpful.