How to Clean a HubSpot Contact List

HubSpot keeps track of hard bounces, but by the time a contact bounces, the damage to your sender reputation is done. Verifying contacts before you send marketing email catches bad addresses in advance. It also helps you avoid paying for marketing contacts that can never receive your mail. This guide shows how to clean a HubSpot contact list with NoBounch.

HubSpot updates its interface regularly; for example, lists are called segments in newer versions. The steps below describe the general flow. If a menu has moved, HubSpot's knowledge base on exporting and importing contacts has the current details.

Before you start

• Only verify contacts who gave you permission to email them, such as customers, trial users and newsletter subscribers. See the acceptable use policy.
• Make sure you can export and import contacts in your HubSpot account; this depends on your permissions.
• Plan to store the result in a contact property, so you can filter on it later.

Step 1: Create a property for the result

In HubSpot's property settings, create a contact property such as "Email verification result" (a single-line text or dropdown property). Adding a second property for "Role address" is optional but useful. Creating the property first makes the import in step 4 simple.

Step 2: Export the contacts

Open your contacts, choose the view, list or segment you want to clean, and use the export option. Choose CSV or Excel. Include at least the Record ID and Email columns, so the results can be matched back to the right contacts.

A good first target is contacts you have not emailed for a while, or contacts added from older forms and imports.

Step 3: Verify the file with NoBounch

1. Sign in to NoBounch and open the bulk verification page.
2. Upload the exported file. NoBounch accepts CSV and Excel (.xlsx), finds the email column for you, and keeps every other column.
3. Start the check. When it finishes, you get an email.
4. Download the full report. It contains your original columns plus nb_result, nb_reason, nb_free_provider, nb_role_address and nb_did_you_mean.

See the bulk email verification page for file limits and how credits work.

Step 4: Import the results back into HubSpot

1. Start an import of a file of existing contacts.
2. Map Record ID (or Email) so HubSpot updates existing contacts instead of creating new ones.
3. Map nb_result to your "Email verification result" property, and nb_role_address to the role property if you created one.
4. Leave the other columns unmapped, or tell HubSpot not to import them, so you do not overwrite good data.

Step 5: Act on each result

Create a list or segment filtered on the new property, and decide what to do with each group:

Marking contacts as non-marketing keeps their records, notes and history, while removing them from your marketing email and, depending on your plan, from your marketing contact count. Deleting is permanent, so use it only for records you are sure you do not need.

If nb_did_you_mean suggests a corrected address, such as a fix for gmial.com, consider asking the customer to confirm their address rather than changing it yourself.

Common questions

What about contacts HubSpot already marked as bounced? HubSpot stops sending marketing email to contacts that hard bounced, so you do not need to verify them again. Focus on contacts that have not been emailed recently.

Can I match on email instead of Record ID? Yes. HubSpot can use the email address to match existing contacts. Record ID is safer if some contacts share or have changed addresses.

Will the import overwrite my data? Only the properties you map are updated. Map just the result columns and leave everything else unmapped.

What about addresses with a typo suggestion? Treat them as a prompt to ask the contact, not as an automatic fix. A suggestion is a likely correction, not a confirmed one.

Step 6: Keep HubSpot clean

• Check new contacts as they arrive. Validate addresses on your own forms with the email verification API. See how to validate email addresses at signup.
• Re-verify on a schedule. Contacts decay as people change jobs. Read email list decay.
• Watch your bounces. The email bounce codes reference explains each type.
• Treat role addresses with care. Read role-based email addresses.

Want to check a single contact quickly first? Use the free email checker. Cleaning a Mailchimp audience too? Follow how to clean a Mailchimp list.