Understanding Active vs. Static HubSpot Lists

Lists are a critical component to ensuring your contacts get the right message at the right time in the right format. They give you a way to understand and organize your contact data in an easily digestible way. And once you have them set up, they will be an essential part of all of your marketing efforts.

So in what ways can you use HubSpot lists?

Your lists in HubSpot can be used for a variety of things such as:

• understanding who your contacts are
• the recipients of a marketing email
• creating a report
• workflow enrollment criteria or "if/then" branch criteria
• and so much more!

That's why it's so important to understand the two different types of lists in HubSpot: Active Lists and Static Lists. Let's break them down:

What is an Active List?

An active list is a list of contacts that automatically updates with contact records who meet the list criteria. You can create active lists with up to 250 list criteria, or what HubSpot calls filters, although I doubt you'll ever get close to that!

When new or additional contacts meet the list criteria you've chosen, they are automatically added to the list. And when a contact no longer meets the criteria, they are automatically removed from the list. It may take a couple minutes for processing, so be patient if it's not instant.

For one list criteria, or what HubSpot calls a Group, you can add multiple criteria with AND or OR functions depending on what you're trying to create a list for.

And within a list, you can have multiple Groups. So once you've built the criteria for Group 1, you can build Group 2. HubSpot will then add people who meet either Group 1 OR Group 2 criteria, but they don't need to meet both. They only need to meet all criteria of one Group to be included in the list.

When do you use an active list?

You want to use an active list when you want the most current, up-to-date list of contacts. Or when the HubSpot tool you're using needs the data to continuously update. More often than not, you'll likely use active lists instead of static lists, but don't count them out just yet.

What are some examples?

• Contacts in each specific lifecycle stage
• Contacts who have opened a particular marketing email — this will continue to populate as more people open that email
• Contacts whose last marketing email open date is more than one month ago — this will work on a rolling basis
• Contacts whose recent sales email open date is less than one week ago — this will work on a rolling basis
• Contacts who have clicked a specific CTA
• Contacts who have bounced or unsubscribed

What is a Static List?

A static list is a list of contacts who meet the list criteria when the list is saved. It does NOT continuously update as new or additional contacts meet the criteria or as contacts no longer meet the criteria.

You can, however, manually add or delete contacts from your static list.

When do you use a static list?

You want to use a static list when you want to view a list of contacts based on a specific point in time that doesn't change.

What are some examples?

• Contacts who attended a specific event or trade show
• Contacts who have opened a particular marketing email — at a specific point in time using the marketing email tool
• Any list import from a CSV file

Understanding which type of list to use and when doesn’t have to rack your brain. You just need to know what exactly you need the list to pull and how and when you will use it.

If you need help creating lists to segment and better understand your contacts, set up your free discovery call today.