Email Marketing | Updated July 27, 2026
HubSpot Email Properties are custom fields you can add to marketing emails to tag them by campaign type, audience, product line, or any category that matters to your business. They work the same way Contact, Company, and Deal properties do, except they live on the marketing email object. Once set up, they let you filter, segment, and report on your email campaigns without exporting a single spreadsheet.
If you've been sending emails in HubSpot for a while, you already know the problem this solves: dozens or hundreds of emails sent, no consistent way to group them, and no easy way to answer "which of our emails actually worked." Email Properties, rolled out at INBOUND 2025, close that gap.
Here's what they are, how to set them up, and a real example of how I've used them with a client.
What Are HubSpot Email Properties?
HubSpot has always organized data through properties. Contact Properties store lead details. Company Properties store account information. Deal Properties track pipeline data. Email Properties apply that same structure to marketing emails.
In practice, that means you can create custom fields like:
- Campaign type
- Audience segment
- Product or service line
- Language
- Content theme
...and apply them to every email you send. Once tagged, those emails become filterable and reportable, the same way your contact list is.
For the full technical rundown from HubSpot, their knowledge base article on custom email properties covers the feature in detail.
Why Email Properties Matter
For most small and mid-sized businesses, email is the workhorse of marketing. It nurtures leads, announces launches, and keeps existing customers engaged. But without structure, your email list becomes a pile of one-off sends with no way to see the bigger picture.
Before this update, the only way to segment and analyze emails in HubSpot was manual: folders, spreadsheets, or memory. None of those hold up once a team grows or a send volume increases.
Email Properties give you:
- A consistent structure your whole team can use, so reporting doesn't depend on one person remembering what a campaign was called
- Filterable data so you can pull every email tied to a specific audience, product, or campaign type in seconds
- A foundation for better reporting, so you can answer questions like "which content themes get the most engagement" instead of guessing
This is the same principle behind everything I build for clients. A tool is only as useful as the structure behind it. Properties without a plan just become more unused fields in your portal.
How to Set Up Email Properties in HubSpot
- In your HubSpot account, go to Marketing > Email.
- Open a draft email, or create a new one.
- In the Setup tab, find the option to create or select Email Properties.
- Click Create property, and confirm the object is set to Marketing email.
- Choose a Group (an existing one, or create something like "Email Classification").
- Add a clear Label (what your team will see, like "Campaign Type") and a short Description explaining exactly how and when to use it.
- Choose your field type:
- Dropdown select for a controlled list, like "Newsletter," "Promotion," or "Product Update"
- Single checkbox for a yes/no flag, like "Include in Quarterly Review"
- Multiple checkboxes when an email could belong to more than one category
- Save the property, then apply it to your draft. You can also bulk-edit past emails to apply properties retroactively.
- From your Email dashboard, use Advanced Filters to sort and report by these new fields.
My advice: don't try to tag everything at once. Start with two or three properties tied directly to what you actually want to report on. You can always add more once the first ones prove useful.
A Real Example: How I Used This With a Client
With my client Expatsi, we sent a high volume of marketing emails covering everything from general information about moving abroad, to relocation services in specific countries, to promotion for our annual conference. To make sense of all of it, I set up a few key email properties:
- Country – to label which country a given email was focused on
- Conference Segment – to tag emails by which attendee persona they were built for
- Moving Abroad Timing – to label emails by how soon the recipient intended to move, since Dreamers, Planners, and Movers respond to very different content
That structure let us see, at a glance, exactly what we were sending and to whom, instead of relying on memory or a campaign-naming convention that only made sense to one person.
If you're setting this up for your own business, a good starting framework is usually some mix of:
- Audience segment (who the email is for)
- Product or service interest (what it's about)
- Buyer stage or timing (where they are in the decision process)
You won't need all three from day one. Pick what maps to the reporting questions you actually want answered.
Common Questions About HubSpot Email Properties
Do I need a specific HubSpot subscription to use Email Properties?
Availability depends on your Marketing Hub tier. Check HubSpot's current subscription requirements before building out your property structure, since tier requirements can change.
Can I apply properties to emails I've already sent?
Yes. Once a property is created, you can bulk-edit past emails to apply it retroactively.
How many email properties should I create?
Start with two or three tied to specific reporting goals. Adding too many too soon usually leads to inconsistent tagging and properties nobody maintains.
How is this different from Campaigns in HubSpot?
Campaigns group related marketing assets (emails, landing pages, social posts) around a single initiative. Email Properties tag individual emails with attributes like audience or theme, so you can filter and report across campaigns, not just within one.
Where This Fits Into Your Bigger Email Strategy
Email Properties are a tool, not a strategy on their own. The businesses that get the most out of this feature are the ones who set it up around a clear picture of their audience and goals first, not the ones who create ten properties and hope patterns emerge later.
If you're using HubSpot and want help setting up a property structure that actually supports your reporting and growth goals, or if your email marketing feels scattered and you're not sure where to start, I'd be glad to help you build a system that works together instead of against itself.
