Using Existing HubSpot Associations to Fill in Missing Relationships

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How to Create HubSpot Associations Using Relationships Instead of Fields

Your company talks about having a 360° customer view—knowing who is engaging, whether or not they are leads, what they are buying, what support issues they are having, etc. But if you don't have all the relationships in place, you may be missing some key parts of the picture. Since you have some pieces of the profile, you want to leverage the existing relationships to fill in the missing relationships.

With Insycle's Associate app, you can automatically detect relationships and use them to link contacts, companies, deals, custom objects, and other object types in bulk. You can create hierarchical associations such as child and parent relationships, and you can copy data between the linked records. This will maintain order in your HubSpot CRM and give your teams a complete picture of every account.

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Process Summary

  1. Set up the filter to focus only on a relevant segment of records.
  2. Configure rules that tell Insycle what relationships to use to create the associations.
  3. Optionally, copy a value between the associated records.
  4. Preview the changes and apply them to HubSpot.

Step-by-Step Instructions

Step 1: Filter Records Down to Those You Want to Associate

Navigate to RevOps Acceleration > Associate.

Select the database and the record type in the top menu. Then explore the templates for an existing solution that may be close to what you need.

Each row in Step 1 is for a field you want to look at to determine whether to include or exclude a record from this operation. With this filter, you're telling Insycle what records you would like to update. 

In the below example, deals that do have an Associated Contact ID, and do not have a Primary Associated Company ID, and were created in the last 24 hours will be included in this task.

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When you click Search, Insycle will list records in the Record Viewer at the bottom of the page. If you make changes to the filter, click the Search button again to refresh the viewer.

Step 2: Configure Rules That Will Create the Relationship

Next, you'll define the rules for filling in the missing associations on the source records by looking at the existing relationships. (The source is the record type selected in the top menu.) This example will associate deals to companies, but you can create a variety of relationships.

Under Step 2, click the Related tab and configure the rules:

  1. The Action tells Insycle what to do to the records surfaced in Step 1. You can AddRemove, or use the Replace action to remove existing associations and create new ones.
  2. The Association is the relationship you want to create, the one that is missing on the source record. In the below example, we want to create a relationship between deals and companies.
  3. On the Related From dropdown, select the association that already exists on the source records, and already has the same relationship you want to add to the source records. In this example, the deal records are already associated with contact records, and those contacts are already linked to companies. 
  4. On the Related To dropdown, select the relationship from the associated record to copy to the source record. In this example, we'll copy the contact's associated company to the deal.

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Select HubSpot Association Labels

Use the HubSpot association Labels to categorize the relationships or filter the related records. A Label option must be selected for each rule. If you don't want any labels applied, use the Unlabeled option.

  1. Use the Association Labels to categorize the relationship. You can add, remove, or replace one or more labels based on the Action you've selected. In the below example, the new relationship between a deal and company will be labeled as "Primary."
  2. The Related From Labels act as a filter where only the existing associated records with the matching labels will be used/looked at. In the example, only contact records with a "Decision Maker" label will be used.
  3. The Related To Labels act as a filter where only relationships with the selected label will be copied to the source record. In this example, only companies with "Primary," or "Branch" labels will be added to deals.

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Learn more about managing HubSpot labels with Insycle.

Step 3: Optionally, Copy Values between the Newly Associated Records

If there is valuable information in either of the records you are creating the relationships with, you can automatically copy values between them to avoid errors and save time.

Under Step 3, select the field from the source record type (in this example, deals), and the relevant field on the target records (companies). You can choose to copy values from the source record to the target, or target record to the source.

The Copy Rule gives you three options:

  • Only when [the record you're linking to] field is empty
  • Only when [the record you're linking from] field is not empty
  • Always copy

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The preview CSV will include these fields, and specify if the value was copied for each record.

Step 4: Preview then Apply Changes to HubSpot

Preview Changes in the CSV Report

Now with the filters and association actions in place, you can preview the changes to ensure the relationships will be created as expected when applied to your live HubSpot database.

Under Step 4, click the Review button, then select Preview in the popup.

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On the Notify tab, add any additional recipients who should receive the CSV (and make sure to hit Enter after each address). You can also provide additional context in the message subject or body.

On the When tab, click Run Now and select which records to apply the change to (in most cases this will be All, but if you have a large number of records, you may just want to do a chunk for a test), then click the Run Now button.

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Open the CSV file from your email in a spreadsheet application and review the columns. Each row in the CSV includes:

  1. The Result of the action and a Message with details. The below example shows "Added" and "Succeeded," which means an association was made.
  2. Source record Type (in this example, deals), with the ID, Deal name, and deeplink to the HubSpot record.

  3. Related Type (contact records), with the ID, email, and deeplink.

  4. Associated Type of the records to be associated (companies), with the ID, company name, and deeplink.

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If you set a copy operation up in Step 3, the CSV will also include info about the copy results.

If the results don't look as you expected, go back to your filters in Step 1 or functions in Step 2, try making some adjustments, and then preview again.

Apply Changes to HubSpot

If everything in your CSV preview looks correct, return to Insycle and apply the changes to the live HubSpot data.

Under Step 4, click the Review button again, and this time select Update mode.

On the When tab, you should use Run Now the first time you apply these changes to the CRM.

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Save a Template and Set Up Automation
After you've seen the results in HubSpot and you are satisfied with how the operation runs, you can save all of the configurations as a template and set up automation so this association operation runs on a set schedule. Then, you can bundle templates into Insycle Recipes and integrate them into HubSpot Workflows.

Return to the Template menu at the top of the page and click Copy to save your configurations as a new version of whatever template you started with. Then click the pencil to edit your new template name.

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Under Step 4, click the Review button, and select Update mode.

On the Notify tab, select the send option appropriate for your automation: Always send, Send when errors, or Do not email.

Add any additional recipients who should receive the CSV (and make sure to hit Enter after each address). You can also provide additional context in the message subject or body.

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On the When tab, select Automate and configure the frequency you'd like the template to run. When finished, click Schedule.

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Create a template for each segment and association configuration, and then you can create a Recipe to automatically run them together. 

Create a Recipe and Integrate with HubSpot Workflows

When you have a solid set of templates that reliably associate your records, you can put them together into a longer, ordered sequence as a Recipe. Then, you can schedule that Recipe to run on a consistent, set schedule. Your templates will run one after another in the order that you set.

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To add your Recipe to a HubSpot Workflow, it must be automated and set to Execute as HubSpot Workflow Action.

Learn more about associating records in HubSpot Workflows, or learn Why Data Management Is So Time-Consuming and How Recipes Can Help.

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HubSpot Specific Considerations

Supported HubSpot Object Types and Associations

The following HubSpot CRM objects are supported in Insycle:

  • Contacts
  • Companies
  • Courses
  • Custom Objects
  • Deals
  • Line Items
  • Listings
  • Orders
  • Tickets

You can create associations between:

  • Standard or custom objects of different types (such as a product custom object with deals).
  • Contacts, companies, and deal objects of the same type (contacts-to-contacts).
  • One object and many objects (for example, one company to multiple deals). Learn more about making multiple associations.

Explore the Association dropdown on the Related tab under Step 2 for all the options for each object type.

Primary Associations

In HubSpot, you can designate an association as the "Primary" association. This is visible on the record's profile page. The "Primary" tag is a special label that will always appear at the top of association lists and be more visible within the HubSpot UI. 

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With Insycle, you can add or remove the "Primary" label based on matching rules you configure in Step 2.

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Learn more about using the HubSpot Primary label in Insycle.

Multiple Associations

You can use Insycle to add or remove multiple associations between any objects, including custom objects and objects of the same type (such as parent/child companies or contact-to-contact relationships). For example, you can associate multiple deals with the same company.

You can also set HubSpot Labels to differentiate relationships of the same object types. For example, if one company has two contact associations, one contact can be labeled as "C Suite" and the other as "Decision Maker." You can customize your association labels for each object type from HubSpot.

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Learn more about managing HubSpot labels with Insycle.

Insycle Run ID Property in HubSpot

When working with HubSpot, for every Insycle operation that updates or creates a record, the Run ID will be updated in the custom property, Insycle Run ID

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If the Insycle Run ID doesn't already exist in your HubSpot database, add it as a custom property with the label "Insycle Run ID" to each object type as needed. 

This object label is the only requirement for the integration to work properly. It's not dependent on the internal name or underlying API field name.

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When using an Insycle Recipe that includes templates for more than one object type, such as companies and contacts, the same Run ID will appear in both HubSpot records.

Advanced How-Tos

Using Existing Relationships to Fill In Additional Associations Use Case

Let's say you are a SaaS company, and someone has signed up as a user for a trial, which creates a contact and a deal that are already associated. HubSpot automatically creates an association between the contact and company using the domain, but you also want to create a relationship with the company the deal is for.

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In the Associate app, you select the Deals object type since this is part of the association you want to create. On the Related tab of Step 2, you tell Insycle to look at the contacts associated with each deal, then take the company from each contact and add it to the deal record.

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Insycle then reviews all of the deals in your segment and associates deals with companies based on what's in the related contact records.

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Removing Associations in Bulk Using the Existing Tab

Insycle makes it easy to remove associations in bulk.

Under Step 2 on the Existing tab, use Filter Labels to control which records will be updated, then select the labels to remove under Action Labels. To completely remove an association, all the existing labels must be selected, as well as “Unlabeled.”

For instance, if you want to remove all associations that have the "3rd association" label, you need to select both the "3rd association" and "Unlabeled" options under Action Labels. If an association has the "3rd association" label along with other labels, only the "3rd association" label will be removed.

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In HubSpot, you can see that the associations that only had the "3rd association" label were removed from this record, while associations with "3rd association" and additional labels just had the label removed.

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Learn about more options for removing associations and labels from records.

Troubleshooting

There's a "Failed. Not related to [Companies] through [Contacts] association" Result in the CSV

When using existing relationships to make associations, a "Failed" Result with the Message, "Not related to [record type] through [record type] association," indicates the record associated with your selected source record type does not have the association you are looking for.

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For example, if you are setting up the process to associate deals with companies by looking at the contact records if a contact doesn’t have a company associated with it, there is nothing to copy to the deals.

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I get an "Association Validation Error" when I click the Review button

If you click the Review button under Step 4 and are met with an "Association Validation Error" message, it's most likely that you forgot to set the Labeling for one or more of your association rules.

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Under Step 2, each part of the association rule must have one or more Label options selected. If you don't want any labels applied, use the Unlabeled option.

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Remember, the Association Labels categorize the relationship, the Related From Labels act as a filter on the related record, and the Related To Labels act as a filter on the relationships to be copied to the source record. For more detail, see the Step 2: Configure Rules That Will Create the Relationship section above.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why is the number of results different in the Record Viewer, Result popup, and CSV?

When using existing associations to fill in missing relationships, you may notice one number of results in the Record Viewer and the When tab of the Review settings...

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...and another number on the Result popup and CSV.

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In the above example, both the Record Viewer and the Review settings showed 11 records, which is how many records meet the filter criteria in Step 1. But after the operation was run, the Result popup and CSV showed 73 because when you associate records using the Related tab, additional records are affected.

For example, let's say you are associating deals and companies based on the existing relationships between deals and contacts, and contacts and companies. In this scenario, say the filter in Step 1 yields only one deal, so the Review settings show "All=1." When the operation runs, though, Insycle finds that there are two contacts related to the deal. Contact A is related to three companies, and Contact B is related to two. So there are five companies in total, which in this case are all associated with one deal, and a row for each of the five will appear in the CSV indicating the association was added. 

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Can Insycle associate activities with a company or other record?

Currently, it is not possible to access, update, or associate HubSpot activities in Insycle.

Additional Resources

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