How to Export Contacts from HubSpot

Lee Stanton March 3, 2023

You might have plenty of reasons for wanting to export your contacts from your favorite CRM solution, HubSpot. Maybe you want to kickstart a new email campaign. Or perhaps, you just want a backup of your contact list on other platforms. Regardless, exporting your contacts doesn’t have to be a recipe for a headache.

In this article, you’ll learn how to export your contacts from HubSpot in various ways. Read on to find out.

How to Export Contacts

Exporting your contact list from your HubSpot account is a relatively straightforward process. Here’s how to go about it:

Navigate to “Contacts” on your HubSpot dashboard, and then “List.”
Hover over the contact list you’d like to export and click on “More.”
On the new modal that pops up, click on “Export.”
Select all the properties you’d like to have from your contact list by the box next to each property. Alternatively, you can check the “Select all properties” to export all the properties of your contact list.
If you don’t want a property on your contact list, you can click the “X” button next to each property on the widget on the right of the window.
Click “Next” to continue.
Choose the export format for your document from the “File format” menu. (CSV is preferred, and it’s the most popular one.)
Click “Export” to proceed. You should see a pop-up message at the top of the window with a download link to your file. Run a quick check through your notifications if you miss it.
You’ll also be notified of the delivery of your contact list through an email. In the email message, click “Download” to complete the process.

Alternatively, you might want to export all your contacts from your HubSpot CRM database. To do so, you can follow these steps:

On the navbar menu, click on “Contacts” and select “Contacts” from the dropdown menu.
Select all the contacts.
Go to “Take Actions.”
Select “Export view.”
Choose the contacts export file format from the modal that pops up.
Check other boxes as needed and click on “Export.”

Note: It’s important to download your file immediately after receiving a download link from HubSpot because it expires after 30 days.

If you miss the pop-up message that contains your download link, you can follow these steps to access your exported audit:

Click the gear icon at the top of the window.
Navigate to “Settings” and go to “Export and Import.”
A new window should show a list of all the exports and imports on your account. You can click on any item on the list from the same window to download the contacts files.

The audit can be beneficial if you’re trying to track who else is exporting contacts from your HubSpot account.

HubSpot API Export Contacts

The HubSpot Contacts API allows developers to manage and sync data between the HubSpot ecosystem and other applications. Here’s how to use the API to get all the contacts from an account:

Acquire the relevant keys through your developer’s account.
Using a programming language of your choice, make a GET request to the “/contacts/v1/lists/all/contacts/all” endpoint.
You should get a response in JSON format from all the accounts associated with a particular one.
Create a script to turn the received JSON format into a CSV format.

How to Export Contacts from HubSpot to Mailchimp

There are two methods of exporting your HubSpot contacts to Mailchimp, which are relatively straightforward.

Manually Exporting and Importing Contacts

If you want to go the manual way, first export your contacts from HubSpot using the steps mentioned above. Plus, ensure you download your file in a CSV format because that’s the format supported on the Mailchimp side.

If you’re all set, follow these steps to import your HubSpot contacts to Mailchimp:

Sign in to your Mailchimp account.
Navigate to “Audience” on the left sidebar and “Audience dashboard.”
Click on the “Manage Audience” dropdown menu in the new window and select “Import contacts.”
Select the widget that says, “Upload a file,” and click on “Continue.”
Drag and drop the CSV file you downloaded from HubSpot into the upload box.
Click on “Continue to Organize.”
Select the appropriate status for your contact list and click “Continue to Tag.”
Choose a relevant tag and click on “Continue to match.”
You should see a matched version of your file in the next window. Ensure that all the fields are correct and click on “Finalize Import.”
Review your import settings and click “Complete Import.”

You should see your newly imported HubSpot contacts merged into your Mailchimp audience.

Automatic Integration Using an Automation Tool

If you choose to go with an automated workflow, you might be compelled to use an automation tool. Luckily, there are a lot of automation tools on the market. However, the most popular one is Zapier. A significant upside of integrating HubSpot with Zapier is the ability to sync your contacts between the two apps automatically.

Here’s how to connect Mailchimp with HubSpot using Zapier:

Go to your Zapier dashboard and click on “Create Zap.”
Search for and select “HubSpot” from the results.
Under the “Trigger Event” dropdown menu, select “New Contact.”
Authenticate your HubSpot account if you haven’t already.
As an “Action,” search for and select “Mailchimp.”
Under “Action Event,” choose “Add/Update subscriber in Mailchimp.”
Authenticate your Mailchimp account with Zapier
Fill in all the required information regarding your Mailchimp account and click on “Continue.”
Confirm all the details regarding the integration and click on “Test & Continue.”
Select “Turn on Zap” to start syncing your contacts

From the above steps, your HubSpot contacts should now sync with your Mailchimp account automatically. Also, every time you create a new contact, it will automatically be added as a new subscriber to your Mailchimp audience.

How To Import Contacts in HubSpot

If you have contacts from another CRM, you might want to import them to HubSpot to manage them better. Luckily, importing contacts to your HubSpot is quite a straightforward process. However, it needs a little bit of work to get through it as you have to ensure that the contacts match the database you’ve set up in HubSpot.

Here’s is how to go about it:

On the navbar of your HubSpot dashboard, click on “Contacts.”
Select “Contacts” or “Company” from the menu, either of the two should land you on the same page.
Press the “Import” button at the top right side of the window.
Click on the widget that says, “Start an Import.”
HubSpot will ask you what you’d like to import. Select “File from computer,” and click “Next” to continue.
Select the “One file” widget, then click “Next.”
To keep the process simple, select “One object.” Click “Next” to proceed.
Select “Contacts” and click on “Next.”
Upload the file that contains your contacts from your local machine.
If you’re importing contacts for the first time, click on “Next.” Otherwise, checkmark the box under the upload box to avoid duplicate contacts.
HubSpot should automatically merge the contact columns for you. If there are any inconsistencies in the columns, fix those and click on “Next.”
Key in a suitable name for your contact list. Select the subsequent boxes, then click on “Finish Import.”

Before importing any contacts to your HubSpot CRM, ensure you have permission to contact them. If not, you risk hurting your reputation as a business and your overall domain health.

As a side note, having a convention for naming your imports will significantly help organize your contacts on the platform.

Additional FAQs

Is HubSpot a free CRM solution?

HubSpot offers free access to some of its tools, including the CRM. However, they have paid plans which you can subscribe to for even more robust features.

Start Exporting Your HubSpot Contacts Now

Exporting your contacts from HubSpot gives you a solid backup strategy and an additional security layer if system vulnerabilities and data loss on the platform. Although it’s implausible for such a massive platform to suffer such losses, the chances aren’t zero.

Have you ever tried to export your HubSpot contacts? Did you face any technical difficulties? How did you resolve them? Please share your thoughts in the comments section below.