Complete Hubspot audit

HubSpot needs occasional maintenance to ensure it runs well.

Many users leave sequences and workflows on autopilot to gather data and deliver emails. However, users run the risk of mismanaging their data.

Conducting a HubSpot audit at least once a year is essential to ensure your data remains clean and organized.

We have compiled a 20-point HubSpot checklist of every item you need to complete a thorough audit.

FYI, we can do this for you. 😉

How often should I conduct a HubSpot audit?

The frequency of your HubSpot audits depends on the number of contacts you collect and the size of your website.

Your business could survive on a quarterly audit if you have two HubSpot campaigns with around 50 to 60 monthly contacts.

If you manage thousands of contacts monthly across different channels, best practices dictate that you should refresh and audit campaigns every one to two months.

Regular auditing keeps your data clean and ensures campaigns meet standards.

Best practices of a HubSpot portal audit

Follow these best practices to ensure your audit focuses on specific goals:

• Establish campaign goals for data collection.
• Use KPIs to track performance.
• Clean up cluttered or unused data.
• Regularize naming conventions and formats.
• Consult workflows and integrations to streamline processes.
• Execute strategies to improve internal data collection.

The 20 point HubSpot audit checklist

1. Basic settings:

‍Go to the account and billing tab to review your plan.

Check how much you are paying based on your total amount of contacts.

This ensures you are not overpaying for your plan.

2. Organize teams:

‍HubSpot teams allow large organizations to manage users in different groups.

Under settings, click on users and teams to organize users by function.

Remove old users who have left your company to keep your teams up to date.

You can also use parent and child hierarchies to differentiate roles.

3. Syncing contacts and companies:

‍Under the data management tab, click companies.

Enable settings to ensure each new contact is associated with a company name.

To find contacts without a lifecycle stage, go to contacts and filter for lifecycle stage is unknown.

Assign them to a custom stage by viewing all properties in the contact record.

4. Lead scoring:

‍Score contacts using the HubSpot score to ensure they are associated with proper lifecycle stages.

Navigate to settings and properties, then search for HubSpot score.

You can add criteria that score leads based on their engagement with your website.

This helps automate lead qualification.

We have a super comprehensive playbook on lead scoring with HubSpot & Salesforce if you're interested.

5. Identifying duplicate properties:

‍Look through contact properties under the properties tab and type in keywords to find duplicates.

To merge them, create a workflow to copy a property value from the duplicate to the master property.

Once the data is moved, you can delete the old property in the properties settings section.

6. Merging duplicates:

‍Use the data quality command center under reporting for an overview of duplicate records.

You can also click "contacts," then "actions," then "manage duplicates."

Review the list and choose to merge or dismiss them. Only dismiss contacts if they are not actually duplicates.

7. Deleting bounced contacts:

‍Bounced contacts hurt email conversion rates and increase costs.

Identify hard bounces by navigating to marketing and email, then clicking the more dropdown to select analyze.

You can also use the bounced filter in your contact lists to find and delete these records.

8. Delete or archive old lists:

‍The lists tool allows you to compile contacts for workflows and ad targeting.

Review old lists during an audit and delete them if they are no longer necessary.

Deleting a list does not delete the contacts, so there is no harm in removing the clutter.

9. Tracking code:

‍Embed the HubSpot tracking code on every website page not hosted on HubSpot.

To get accurate traffic numbers, exclude your company IP addresses.

Go to settings, tracking and analytics, and then tracking code.

Use the advanced tracking tab to add addresses to the IP address exclusion field.

10. Managing data security:

‍Implement third-party data security tools to ensure customer data is protected.

You should also enable specific safety measures on your website.

Check your settings for two-factor authentication and cookie notices for GDPR.

Ensure you have a legal basis for data collection.

11. Creating campaign goals:

‍Navigate to marketing and then campaigns to create specific marketing tasks.

Populate the fields with names, target dates, budgets, and KPIs.

You can add assets like URLs and marketing channels.

Integrate a workflow to trigger tasks in Trello, Asana, or Google Calendar.

12. Website SEO performance:

‍Navigate to content and then SEO to analyze your URLs.

Enter your homepage URL under "Scan New URL" to see recommendations.

View strategies related to crawling, indexing, and mobile experience.

You can also integrate Google Search Console to view KPIs in your portal.

13. Landing page optimization:

‍Go to content and then landing pages to view individual SEO performance.

Check the optimization tab to see KPIs for specific pages.

Choose winners for old A/B tests to remove unwanted pages.

Click on the URL and check test results to confirm which page performed best.

14. Email performance:

‍Navigate to marketing and then emails.

Click the analyze tab to view KPIs related to click-through rates, deliverability, and open rates.

Remove unused email formats and implement standard naming conventions.

Update your subscription types to filter traffic and exclude unsubscribes.

15. Content performance:

‍Audit your content page by page using software like Screaming Frog, Semrush, or Google Analytics.

HubSpot SEO tools also run off of Semrush data.

Create content goals that align with marketing campaigns.

Analyze traffic across all blog pages and implement 301 redirects on underperforming pages.

16. Social media performance:

‍Check the status of your social media accounts in the social tab under marketing.

Reauthorize any expired accounts, as they expire automatically after a period.

Set up email notifications to respond to interactions.

Consult KPIs to determine the best publishing times for your users.

17. Optimizing calls to action (CTA):

‍Navigate to marketing, lead capture, and then CTAs.

You can manage legacy CTAs or use the new CTA builder under the content tab.

Implement naming conventions and attribute CTAs to relevant campaigns.

Delete any CTAs that have zero clicks or conversions.

18. Reviewing forms:

‍Navigate to lead capture and then forms to view KPIs.

Organize your forms into specific folders for easy access.

Add the lifecycle stage property on all forms as a hidden property.

This automatically sets a stage for every new contact.

19. Organizing website files:

‍Navigate to the library and then files to organize your website architecture.

Create custom folders for images, videos, and branding material.

Consolidate unused files into a dedicated folder and delete them.

This prevents old assets from populating your website.

20. Optimizing workflows:

‍The final step is to audit your automations under the workflows tab.

Consolidate similar workflows and delete any that are no longer used.

Add comments to explain changes to other team members.

Ensure all workflows are associated with specific campaigns.

FAQs: HubSpot audit

Does HubSpot have an audit log?

‍Yes. You can access it by navigating to settings, tracking and analytics, and then audit log. This helps you track changes made by different team members.

What is the benefit of a HubSpot audit?

‍An audit ensures data accuracy and cleanliness. This improves decision-making and strengthens security measures by updating user permissions.

How do I audit HubSpot properties?

‍First, navigate to settings and then properties. Review contact, company, and deal properties to see if they align with your needs.

Make sure properties are organized into logical groups.

If properties are used in workflows, double-check that changes will not disrupt those processes.