Why Manual Data Entry Is Holding You Back
Setting up a new HubSpot CRM is one of the most important steps you can take to improve your marketing, sales, and client operations. But the value of your CRM depends on one thing: the quality of your data.
Whether you're importing your first client list or replacing a patchwork spreadsheet system, HubSpot’s 2025 Data Hub updates - including Data Studio, advanced syncing, and expanded enrichment - offer more ways than ever to bring clean, consistent, and enriched data into your portal.
In this guide, we’ll walk through how to import your contacts and companies correctly, what to watch out for, and how the new Data Studio tools can streamline your setup and long-term data management.
The New Data Hub: Why It Matters Now
At INBOUND 2025, HubSpot retired Operations Hub and introduced Data Hub, a more comprehensive suite of tools purpose-built for CRM data quality.
The standout update: Data Studio, which brings data modeling, transformation, syncing, and diagnostics into one unified interface.
Why this matters:
• Cleaner imports: Data Studio gives clearer guidance, inline documentation, and immediate visibility into use cases.
• More reliable syncing: You can now connect external sources like Google Sheets and keep them automatically synced.
• Stronger enrichment: HubSpot’s built-in enrichment is easier to activate and more powerful, especially when paired with AI summarization.
• Better long-term structure: Data Sets and transformations help you maintain standardized properties as your CRM grows.
Importing Contacts and Companies the Right Way
Most organizations start with a simple CSV import. But to avoid headaches later, you need to map your fields correctly and use HubSpot's unique identifiers:
Contacts → Email
Companies → Domain
If HubSpot finds an existing record with the same identifier, it will update the record instead of creating a duplicate. This is critical when you're refreshing or cleaning data.
Solving Industry and Property Mapping Errors
One of the most common import issues is mismatched dropdown values. In the video’s example, “Industry” existed as both an open-text field and a restricted picklist.
HubSpot will warn you when certain values won’t match. Your options:
• Normalize the values before import.
• Adjust the property options.
• Or create new acceptable values on the fly.
This is exactly the kind of foundational work that improves your long-term data integrity.
Data Studio: More Ways to Bring Data In
Beyond basic imports, Data Studio gives you three scalable options for future data management:
1. App Integrations
Connect tools like Aircall, Square, or Pipedrive from the HubSpot Marketplace and sync data automatically.
2. Direct Sync from Google Sheets
Maintain a living spreadsheet while HubSpot updates itself based on your changes.
3. Full Data Transformations
Use data sets, modeling, and transformations to prepare data before pushing it into your CRM.
These tools don’t just help you get data into HubSpot - they help you keep your data healthy over time.
Why This All Matters
A CRM doesn’t grow your business.
A clean, well-managed CRM does.
Data Studio isn’t magic, but it makes good data work dramatically easier. Clean imports, enriched records, and consistent property structures set the stage for better:
- Marketing automation
- Sales sequences
- Reporting and forecasting
- Customer service visibility
- Business intelligence
If you’re serious about using HubSpot as a growth system, your data strategy comes first.
Pro Tip: Export your CRM before importing anything new
HubSpot assigns every record a unique Record ID. If you export records first, you can use that ID to guarantee updates - even for contacts or companies that don’t have consistent emails or domains.
Need Help Setting Up or Cleaning Your CRM?
At The Gist Inbound, we implement, migrate, and optimize HubSpot CRMs - with a special focus on data architecture and automations. If your team needs help importing, enriching, mapping, or cleaning your CRM, we’d love to talk.
Ready to Put HubSpot to Work for You?
At The Gist Inbound, we help businesses set up HubSpot the right way, from automation like this to complete CRM builds and inbound marketing strategies. If you want to scale your growth without adding more to your plate, let’s talk.
Work with us.
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