Can the original source be changed?
Yes, on the record, in bulk or with a workflow, but editing it clears the drill-downs and the first referring site. You lose the real data; for the commercial origin use a property of your own.
Guide · Reports and attribution
Original source or latest source in HubSpot?
The original source says how someone first arrived and the latest source says what brought them back: you use both. In HubSpot they are different contact properties, each with its own drill-downs, and they answer different questions for a management team in Chile and Latin America.
- 6 minute read
- Native HubSpot properties
- No external tools
- Chile and Latin America
Two properties, two questions
Set onceOriginal source
- How the contact arrived the first time.
- Does not change with new visits.
- Answers: which channel brings new clients?
UpdatesLatest source
- What brought them back on the last visit.
- Changes with every new session.
- Answers: which campaign revived the interest?
To measure investment you read both: one explains the origin, the other the last push.
What does each property store in HubSpot?
HubSpot records the origin of every contact in two property families. Original Traffic Source (internal name hs_analytics_source) and its drill-downs 1 and 2 are filled when the contact is created and describe the first known session.
Latest Traffic Source, with its own drill-downs and the Latest Traffic Source Date, only updates when HubSpot records a new session. Both use the same list of values: organic search, paid search, email marketing, social, referrals, AI referrals, other campaigns, direct traffic and offline sources. Companies and deals associated with a contact mirror these properties.
Why do marketing and sales read different numbers?
A typical scenario in a B2B company in Chile: a contact arrived eight months ago through organic search, asked for a quote, went cold and came back last week through a LinkedIn ad. Marketing says the ad brought the deal; sales says it came from Google. Both are right, because they look at different properties.
The problem is that the report does not say which one it uses. A dashboard by original source and another by latest source will never match. The fix is to write, next to each number, which property feeds it and which date range it uses.
When to use the original and when the latest?
The original source answers acquisition questions: which channel brings new contacts and what each one costs. Because it does not change, it lets you compare months and years. The latest source answers reactivation questions: which campaign brought back people you already knew and what pushed the meeting.
- New contacts by channel: original source, by create date.
- Campaigns that reactivate: latest source, by latest source date.
- Deals won by channel: the original source of the deal, which mirrors the associated contact with the earliest activity.
- Investment by channel: both reports side by side, never added together.
What about contacts that enter through imports, the API or an integration?
Without a tracked visit, HubSpot marks them as offline sources. That is not an error: HubSpot attributes with cookies and the tracking code, and an imported or synced contact does not get page views associated until they submit a HubSpot form or click through a tracked marketing email.
To know how the record was created, HubSpot recommends the Record Source property, which distinguishes import, integration, form or workflow. If you need the commercial origin of a trade show or a distributor, create your own property and require it when the record is created. Do not edit the original source to force it.
Step by step in HubSpot
How to put both sources in order in your portal
Five steps with the real HubSpot names. No external tools needed.
- 01
Check both properties on a contact
Open a contact, go to the About this contact card and use View all properties. Search for "source" and compare Original Traffic Source with Latest Traffic Source and their drill-downs.
- 02
Look at drill-down 1 and 2
The drill-down says which campaign, network or term the visit came from. If both drill-downs are empty on many contacts, the tracking code is not on every page or the links carry no UTM parameters.
- 03
Build two reports, not one
In Reporting > Reports > Create report, build a contacts report by Original Traffic Source with create date as the range, and another by Latest Traffic Source with the latest source date.
- 04
Write the definition of each number
Next to each report, note the property, the filter and the range. One example: "New contacts by channel = original source, created this month, excluding internal employees".
- 05
Take attribution to deals
With Marketing Hub Professional or Enterprise use the contact create attribution reports; deal revenue attribution requires Marketing Hub Enterprise. If you do not have them, group deals by their Original Traffic Source property in a custom report.
What it looks like done right
What changes when both sources are in order
- Marketing and sales look at the same dashboard and every number says which property feeds it.
- You know which channel brings new contacts and which campaign brings back the ones you already knew.
- Ad spend is discussed with two reports, not two opinions.
- Contacts loaded from the ERP have their commercial origin in a property of their own.
Common mistakes
What we see most often in portals across Chile and Latin America
Comparing a report by original source with one by latest source as if they measured the same thing.
Editing the original source by hand to "fix" attribution: the real data is lost and nobody gets it back.
Paid landing pages without the tracking code: everything comes in as direct traffic or offline sources.
Importing trade show or distributor lists without a commercial origin property.
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
Reports that reconcile: attribution with the native properties
We define with you the 3 to 5 numbers your management uses, organize attribution with original source and latest source, and leave a dashboard where every number has a definition and a source. Reconciliation continues every month in the operations plan.
Reports that reconcile
We find why two dashboards show different numbers and build the dashboard by brand or business unit.
See the serviceHubSpot Diagnostic
In 10 hours we inventory reports, properties and integrations, and tell you what to fix first.
See the DiagnosticReconciliation every month
In Managed and Dedicated HubSpot we check the key numbers against the records, with definition and source.
See operations plans
The guarantee that applies
- Reconciles.
We check the numbers your management uses against the records, with definitions and sources documented.
We put them in writing because they are what we control.
Straight answers
Frequently asked questions
Why do so many contacts show up as offline sources?
Because they were created from an import, the API or an integration without a tracked visit. It is correct. To tell how each record was created, HubSpot recommends the Record Source property.
Do deals have an original source?
Yes. Deals and companies associated with contacts mirror these properties: for the original, that of the contact with the earliest activity. Revenue attribution models require Marketing Hub Enterprise.
Which of the two measures paid media?
Both. The original source measures how many new contacts each channel brought; the latest, which campaigns brought back contacts that already existed in the portal.
What happens if the site does not have the tracking code?
HubSpot cannot attribute the visit: contacts from external forms or landing pages without the code end up as direct traffic or offline sources, and the latest source does not update.
How do I stop marketing and sales from arguing about the origin?
With a written definition per number: property, filter and date range. That is what we do in Reports that reconcile and what we maintain every month in the operations plans 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.