HubSpot Lists: How to Filter Contacts by Deal Association Labels (and Exclude Others)

HubSpot's association labels are powerful. They let you connect contacts to deals (and other objects) with specific roles or relationships. But what happens when you need to get *really* specific with your contact lists? What if you want to include contacts with one label, but *exclude* those who also have another? It's a common challenge, and the HubSpot Community recently tackled just that.

The Challenge: Filtering Contacts by Association Labels

A community member needed to create a contact list based on deal association labels. The tricky part? Some contacts had multiple labels on the *same* deal. The goal was to:

1. Pull contacts associated with deals where they have Label A (e.g., "Asset Manager Contact").
2. Exclude contacts who also have Label B (e.g., "Former Deal Contact") on that same deal.

In other words, they were looking for contacts with only Label A, not contacts tagged with both Label A *and* Label B on a given deal.

The Solution: Leveraging Segments

One respondent offered a straightforward solution using two segments. Here's the breakdown:

1. Create Segment 1: Contacts with *Both* Label A and Label B. This segment identifies all contacts who have *both* association labels towards a deal. This is your "exclusion" group.
2. Create Segment 2: Contacts with Label A *Who Are Not* in Segment 1. This segment identifies contacts who have Label A but specifically excludes anyone who is a member of the first segment (the "both labels" group).

Essentially, you're creating a "negative filter" by identifying the contacts you *don't* want and then excluding them from your target list.

Step-by-Step Instructions:

1. Navigate to Contacts > Lists.
2. Create a new list. Choose either a static or active list depending on whether you want the list to update automatically.
3. Create Segment 1 (Label A AND Label B):
   • Set the filter criteria to "Deal association label" is "Label A".
   • Add another filter criteria: "Deal association label" is "Label B".
   • Make sure both filters are set to "AND" so that only contacts with both labels are included.
4. Create Segment 2 (Label A AND NOT Segment 1):
   • Create a new list (or, if using an active list, add another filter group).
   • Set the filter criteria to "Deal association label" is "Label A".
   • Add another filter criteria: "List membership" is *not* a member of "[Name of Segment 1]".
5. Save your list.

This two-segment approach is a clever way to work around the limitations of direct filtering when dealing with multiple association labels on the same object. It's a practical solution for anyone managing complex CRM data in HubSpot.

This method can also be useful when trying to implement a multi channel ecommerce inventory management strategy, ensuring that your contact lists accurately reflect customer interactions across different platforms and touchpoints. As a BigCommerce alternative, ESHOPMAN can provide the flexibility and integration needed to manage complex customer relationships within HubSpot.

ESHOPMAN Team Comment

We think this is a great, practical solution to a common HubSpot challenge. The two-segment approach is a smart way to use HubSpot's existing features to achieve a more complex filtering goal. It highlights the importance of understanding how different HubSpot tools can be combined to solve specific business needs. This method is also very helpful for managing contacts effectively when dealing with multi-channel e-commerce data integrated into HubSpot.

By using this method, it becomes much easier to target the right contacts with the right message, which is especially important when trying to convert deals into long-term customers.