How to standardize state and region properties on contact records in HubSpot?

[Stacks42]

I get really confused between the State/Region Property and State/Region Code property in HubSpot. They are both text properties and it is messy. I have another property set up called "Select State", that I have populated with all 50 States and also an "Other" option which I figured could be a catch-all for when the contact is from a foreign country or a province, etc. I'm struggling to decide what to do regarding these fields.

I notice that State/Region code is often Enriched by HubSpot natively and sometimes by Zapier. I haven't really noticed the same thing with the main State/Region code. In the past, reps would edit this and type manually but I would really like to get some standardization with a DropDown select.

Anyone go through this problem? We have it set up really nicely where we now collect the state in a custom property from form fills where only a DropDown can be selected. But then we update the State/Region with this value when we can probably just skip this step.

I also think it is odd that the Stage/Region Code only has a 57% fill rate compared to a 79% fill rate for the State/Region.

[karstenkoehler · Accepted solution]

Hi @Stacks42,

The official definitions of these fields are as follows: https://knowledge.hubspot.com/properties/hubspots-default-contact-properties

• State/Region: the contact's state of residence.
• State/Region Code: the two letter state code where the contact is located (e.g., TX for Texas).

And yes, if you have enrichment turned on, HubSpot will try to populate them but it won't overwrite any (potentially incorrect) user input: https://knowledge.hubspot.com/records/enrich-your-contact-and-company-data#enrichment-properties

If you want everyone to use the dropdown select, then your best option is to rename the other fields with an appended "(Do not use)", for example, and making sure that it's not included in filtered views, reports, record layouts.

You would then bulk migrate the information from the free text fields to the dropdown field you created. This could be done via workflow but the easiest option, in my opinion, is to export your records, clean up the Excel file, then and re-import them while mapping the record ID and mapping the free text field to your dropdown upon import. HubSpot will flag any errors that might still remain and you can fix them during the import process.

The alternative would be a simple custom code action (requiring Operations Hub Professional or Enterprise) or a workflow with a lot of branches. Doable but not fun.

For an ongoing process, if you want to have the enriched information from the free text fields in your dropdown as well, there's no way around a workflow however (or third-party automation like Zapier) to copy from the free text into the dropdown.

Best regards!