If you’ve had your HubSpot CRM for a while now, it’s probably a little messy. That’s not a personal failing -it’s an inevitability. With multiple people importing contacts, automations updating properties, and evolving internal processes, it’s impossible to avoid a bit of duplication and mess. You don’t see it right away, but you start to notice it over time: numbers are a bit off, leadership questions reports, people who you expect to get an email never do… and frustrations start piling up.
A cluttered CRM makes it harder to trust your reporting, personalize marketing, automate follow-up, and help your sales team work efficiently. The challenge is that many marketing managers end up as the person "in charge of HubSpot," but aren't really trained to be a data admin. Knowing where to start can feel just as overwhelming as the mess itself. You don't want to accidentally break a workflow, change something the sales team relies on, or create even more problems.
This checklist focuses on practical clean-up tasks that most marketing teams can tackle on their own to make meaningful improvements while avoiding changes that could impact other teams.
Before You Start: Don't Try to Fix Everything Today
CRM clean-up isn't an afternoon project for most organizations. And it’s certainly not something one marketer can do on their own.
Instead of trying to tackle every issue at once, focus on one area at a time. Block dedicated time on your calendar. Create a plan for moving forward. Involve other team members who use the CRM every day.
Progress is much more valuable than perfection!
Your HubSpot CRM Clean-Up Checklist
□ Start in the Data Quality Overview Page
Start simple by using the existing data tools in HubSpot for a jumping-off point. The Data Quality Overview page should be accessible for most Hubs and tiers (if you can't see it, check your permissions settings!). To get there, navigate to: Data Management > Data Quality (or click on the link to go right there).
This page will give you a high-level overview of your current data red flags. I still recommend following the rest of the checklist below, but this will give you a quick-start option if you're short on time, as well as a general health check in your portal.
□ Standardize Formatting
Small formatting inconsistencies may not seem like a big deal, but they quickly create reporting issues, duplicate records, and messy segmentation.
Establish consistent formatting standards across your CRM so every record follows the same conventions.
Review items such as:
- Name capitalization
- Phone number formatting
- Email address formatting
- Spelling, wording, and spacing consistency
You can then use automation tools to fix some of these formatting issues. Note: Your access to certain workflows, automations, and data-clean up options may be limited by your subscriptions. I recommend starting with this tutorial from HubSpot: Use Breeze to manage data in workflows.
If you're on a free or starter version of HubSpot, you may need to do manual clean-up. Set aside an afternoon to clean up existing records, and then make sure your new naming conventions are shared with anyone at your organization who may be using HubSpot.
□ Analyze Your Existing Data
After you've done a high-level review of your data health and fixed common formatting issues, take inventory of what's currently in your CRM. Look for outdated information, inactive contacts, and data that no longer serves a purpose.
Start by asking yourself:
- Is this data still accurate?
- Does this information help our marketing or sales teams?
- Are we holding onto records we no longer need?
As you review your database:
- Make sure data is up to date and relevant.
- Identify what data is worth keeping and what can be removed.
- Remove hard-bounced or unsubscribed contacts.
Cleaning up unnecessary records first makes every step that follows much easier. For this step, you may want to reach out to other teams like sales and customer service to see what information is actually useful to them, and what’s just duplicate.
□ Consolidate and Standardize Properties
As HubSpot grows with your organization, it's common to accumulate dozens of properties that overlap or collect similar information.
Too many custom properties create confusion and make reporting less reliable. Review your existing properties and look for opportunities to simplify.
As you clean up:
- Standardize properties whenever possible.
- Limit the use of free-form text fields.
- Re-engage contacts when updated information is needed.
- Review and update properties as your database grows.
Something our internal HubSpot team does is export all current properties into a spreadsheet, and then share this with all teams. This should be done after you consolidate properties. This can provide a shared resource to check if an existing property exists and where before creating a new one. Our HS team shares this spreadsheet with our sales, marketing and customer service teams, so team members can more easily search for existing properties in our portal. I've found this easier to use than the search functions in HubSpot, because it's a much broader look at everything in the portal.
□ Merge Duplicate Contacts
Duplicate contacts create inaccurate reporting, fragmented communication histories, and frustration for both marketing and sales.
Spend time identifying duplicate records and determining which version should remain as the primary record.
While reviewing duplicates:
- Eliminate duplicate data fields.
- Remove poor-quality leads using criteria such as last website visit, recent email engagement, and subscription status.
- Review bounced emails and remove contacts that are no longer valid.
The fewer duplicate records you have, the easier it is to trust your CRM. Depending on your HubSpot subscriptions, you may be able to use automated tools to make this much easier. Start with this tutorial: Review and manage duplicate records.
□ Organize Contact Records
Now that you've done some major clean-up, we can start archiving contacts that aren't active. Take time to organize your records so every contact is associated with the correct company and active relationships are easy to identify. This is the most time-consuming step,
As part of this process:
- Review which contacts are still active.
- Create lists for bounced or irrelevant contacts so they can be reviewed or removed.
□ Fill in Missing Information
Missing data limits personalization, segmentation, and sales follow-up. Think carefully about the information your teams actually need instead of collecting data simply because you can.
Review whether:
- Your current properties are still relevant.
- You're collecting information that supports marketing personalization.
- Sales has the information needed to continue conversations.
- Important company or contact information is missing.
Collecting the right information is far more valuable than collecting the most information.
□ Create an Ongoing Maintenance Process
The best CRM clean-up strategy is one you don't have to repeat every year.
Create simple processes that help keep your data clean over time instead of waiting until your CRM becomes overwhelming again.
That might include:
- Scheduling regular CRM reviews.
- Reviewing bounced emails and inactive contacts.
- Having sales and marketing regularly verify contact information.
- Documenting standards for imports, property creation, and data management.
A few hours of maintenance each quarter can prevent weeks of clean-up later!
A Clean CRM Makes Everything Else Easier
Your HubSpot CRM sits at the center of your marketing and sales efforts. When it's disorganized, everything connected to it becomes harder, from reporting and segmentation to automation and lead management.
Cleaning up your CRM doesn't have to happen all at once. Start with one section of this checklist, build momentum, and create processes that keep your data healthy over time.
And if your HubSpot portal has reached the point where it feels easier to start over than clean it up, you're not out of options. At BizzyWeb, we help organizations reorganize their CRM, improve data quality, and build HubSpot environments that are easier for marketing teams to use every day.
BizzyWeb is a Minneapolis-based digital marketing and web design agency that helps companies get the high-quality leads they need to grow and thrive. Our tactics include inbound marketing, SEO, advertising, web design, content creation and sales automation. We are an accredited HubSpot Platinum Partner and we offer full-service HubSpot onboarding, enablement and strategy for new and current users.
