HubSpot Email Engagement: Stop Losing Contacts (and Sales!)

HubSpot's email marketing tools are powerful, but sometimes you might feel like you're losing contacts due to low engagement filters. One user in the HubSpot Community raised a great question about this: how to prevent HubSpot from automatically excluding contacts with low engagement from email sends. Let's dive into the solutions and best practices shared by the community.

Understanding HubSpot's Low Engagement Filter

The original poster noticed that HubSpot seemed to be automatically filtering out contacts with low engagement, leading to a decrease in the total number of emails delivered. This is a built-in feature designed to protect your sender reputation and improve overall deliverability. Sending emails to unengaged contacts can negatively impact your sender score, causing your emails to land in spam folders.

Solutions from the HubSpot Community

Several helpful community members chimed in with advice on how to manage this feature. Here’s a breakdown of the key takeaways:

1. Disable the Low Engagement Filter (with Caution!)

One respondent pointed out that you can actually disable the low engagement filter directly within the email editor. Here’s how:

1. Open the email you're working on in HubSpot.
2. In the left sidebar, look for the "Settings" or "Recipients" section.
3. You should find a toggle or checkbox related to excluding contacts with low engagement.
4. Simply disable this toggle to send emails to all contacts, regardless of their engagement level.

Here's an image from the community showing where to find this setting:

Important Note: While this seems like the most straightforward solution, be very careful! Bombarding unengaged contacts can hurt your deliverability in the long run. It's generally better to focus on re-engagement strategies.

2. Focus on Re-engagement Campaigns

A more sustainable approach is to create targeted re-engagement campaigns. Instead of simply sending the same emails to everyone, segment your low-engagement contacts and send them something specifically designed to win them back. This might include:

• Special offers or discounts
• Surveys to gather feedback
• Personalized content based on their past interests
• An invitation to update their subscription preferences

By focusing on providing value and understanding why they disengaged, you're more likely to reactivate these contacts and improve your overall email marketing performance.

3. Clean Your Lists Regularly

Sometimes, contacts are unengaged simply because they're no longer valid or interested. Regularly cleaning your email lists is crucial. Remove contacts who have:

• Unsubscribed
• Hard bounced (invalid email address)
• Marked your emails as spam

HubSpot automatically handles unsubscribes and hard bounces, but you should also have a process for identifying and removing consistently unengaged contacts who haven't taken those actions.

ESHOPMAN Team Comment

We at ESHOPMAN believe that disabling the low engagement filter should be a last resort. While it's tempting to reach everyone, protecting your sender reputation is paramount for long-term success. Focus on creating valuable content and targeted re-engagement campaigns to win back lost contacts. Remember, a smaller, highly engaged list is far more valuable than a large, unresponsive one, especially when it comes to driving sales in your online store.

The Bottom Line

HubSpot's low engagement filter is a valuable tool for maintaining email deliverability. While you *can* disable it, it's generally better to work *with* the system by focusing on re-engagement and list hygiene. By implementing these strategies, you can improve your email marketing performance and drive more sales for your business. Keeping your email lists healthy is critical for any business using HubSpot as one of the best online websites for small business.