Does a non-marketing contact lose its history?
No. It stays in the CRM with all its activities, deals and tickets. It only stops counting toward the tier and stops receiving marketing emails, ad audiences and marketing actions from workflows.
Guide · Licenses and database order
How to avoid overpaying for marketing contacts in HubSpot?
Set contacts without engagement as non-marketing and separate sends by subscription type, so only the contacts that actually receive marketing count toward your tier. In HubSpot the status is changed from a list, with a workflow or from Account & Billing, and the change to non-marketing takes effect on the account's next update date.
- 6 minute read
- Marketing contact status
- Update date
- Chile and Latin America
From the full database to the tier you pay for
- Full portal database
Sales, service, imports, ERP and marketing contacts, all in the same CRM.
- Only those who receive marketing count
Marketing emails, ad audiences and marketing actions in workflows require marketing status.
- Out: no engagement or no subscription
Bounced, unsubscribed, no opens in months and operational-only contacts become non-marketing.
- Tier adjusted on the next update
The change to non-marketing takes effect on your account's update date.
Which contacts count on the HubSpot bill?
Only marketing contacts. The Marketing contact status property says whether a contact counts toward your tier in the current billing period. Non-marketing contacts stay in the CRM with their history and receive one-to-one sales emails, sequences, ticket emails, transactional emails and surveys.
What requires marketing status is marketing emails, ad audiences built from lists and marketing actions in workflows. Two properties help you audit: Marketing contact status source type and Marketing contact until next update.
When does the change take effect?
Upward it is immediate: a contact set as marketing counts from that moment. Downward it waits: the change to non-marketing takes effect on the account's update date, which for monthly subscriptions matches the renewal each month and for yearly subscriptions is the first day of each month.
If you exceed your tier, HubSpot moves the account to the next tier and charges it until renewal; there are no mid-term downgrades. That is why it pays to set a maximum number of marketing contacts under Account & Billing: once reached, imported or workflow-set contacts come in as non-marketing.
What creates marketing contacts without you noticing?
Forms: by default, whoever submits a HubSpot form becomes a marketing contact, even if they already existed as non-marketing. Imports have the Set these contacts as marketing contacts checkbox, and a workflow can set the status with the Set marketing contact status action.
Contacts created by chat and bots, single-object imports without the checkbox, integrations and the API, the mobile app, one-to-one emails, meetings and email extensions come in as non-marketing by default. In a company in Chile or Latin America that loads customers from the ERP, most of the database should be non-marketing.
Which contacts should become non-marketing?
The ones that do not and will not receive marketing: operational invoicing and dispatch contacts, internal users, bounced contacts, those unsubscribed from everything and those HubSpot considers unengaged, meaning no open or click in the last 11 emails if they never engaged, or in the last 16 if they engaged before.
- Bounced and unsubscribed from every subscription.
- Unengaged according to HubSpot: 11 or 16 sends without an open or a click.
- Operational ERP contacts: invoicing, dispatch, collections.
- Internal users and test contacts.
Step by step in HubSpot
How to lower the tier without losing contacts
Six steps from the account, lists and workflows. Nothing gets deleted.
- 01
See how many you have and when it updates
Under your account name > Account & Billing > Marketing Contacts you see current contacts, the update date and the tier cost. Note the date: every downward change takes effect that day.
- 02
Build the candidate list
An active list of contacts with marketing status and any of these criteria: bounced, unsubscribed from all subscriptions, a high Sends since last engagement, or no form submission in the last year.
- 03
Change them in bulk
In Contacts, select the records and use More > Set as non-marketing contacts. Or under Account & Billing > Marketing Contacts > Clean up contacts, pick the list and schedule the change.
- 04
Automate the rule
With Professional or Enterprise, a contact-based workflow with the same criteria and the Set marketing contact status > Set as non-marketing action, with re-enrollment on.
- 05
Separate sends by subscription type
Settings > Marketing > Email > Subscription Types. Each form subscribes only to its type and the Don't send to unengaged contacts option stays on in every email.
- 06
Set a maximum and review monthly
Under Account & Billing set a maximum number of marketing contacts. Turn off the marketing checkbox on operational forms and imports, and review the list a week before the update date.
What it looks like done right
What changes when the tier reflects real use
- You pay for the contacts that receive marketing, not for the whole ERP database.
- Contacts stay in the CRM with their history; nobody deletes anything.
- A workflow keeps the rule without someone remembering it every month.
- Renewal is negotiated with a real number, not with an import spike.
Common mistakes
What we see most often in portals across Chile and Latin America
Importing the whole ERP database with the marketing checkbox on "just in case".
Setting contacts to non-marketing the day after the update date and paying one more month.
Deleting contacts to lower the tier, losing sales and service history.
One subscription type for everything, so unsubscribing from a newsletter cancels all communication.
Want to know if this applies to your case?
Book a 30-minute diagnostic30 minutes with Roberto. No demo and no access to your CRM.
How we solve it at Revenue Hub Latam
Licenses and database order, with the account in your name
We review your contact tier and your hubs against real use, organize the database with rules that stay automated and documented, and tell you what not to buy at renewal. If the database needs more than a cleanup, the rescue organizes subscriptions, forms and imports.
HubSpot licenses
We recommend hubs, seats and contact tier based on real use, and negotiate as a Platinum partner. Free of charge.
See LicensesHubSpot Rescue
Subscriptions per brand, forms with the right status and automated cleanup rules, all documented.
See the serviceHubSpot Diagnostic
In 10 hours we review the database, subscriptions and usage, with the backlog of what to organize first.
See the Diagnostic
The guarantee that applies
- It’s yours.
Workflows, integrations, code and keys documented and in your name. If you change partners, you lose nothing.
We put them in writing because they are what we control.
Straight answers
Frequently asked questions
When does a contact I set as non-marketing stop being charged?
On the account's next update date: the renewal each month for monthly subscriptions or the first day of the month for yearly ones. The change to marketing, by contrast, is immediate.
What happens if I exceed my contact tier?
HubSpot moves the account to the next tier and charges it until renewal. There are no mid-term downgrades. Setting a maximum number of marketing contacts prevents the jump from an import.
Does a form turn contacts into marketing contacts?
Yes, by default. Whoever submits a HubSpot form becomes a marketing contact even if they were non-marketing before. On operational forms, turn off the option to set new contacts as marketing.
What does "unengaged" mean for HubSpot?
A contact who never engaged and did not open or click the last 11 emails, or who engaged before and did not in the last 16. It is measured by the Sends since last engagement property.
Can I automate the cleanup?
Yes, with a contact-based workflow in Professional or Enterprise and the Set marketing contact status action, or by scheduling changes under Clean up contacts. It is what we leave automated in portals across Chile and Latin America.
Who writesRoberto Guerra
Designs the CRM architecture, integrations and operation of each account. He writes these guides from what he sees every week in HubSpot portals of B2B companies across Chile and Latin America.
Meet the team30 minutes with Roberto.
We review one concrete problem, its impact and your starting point. No demo and no access to your CRM.