Contact syncing is the one-way automatic syncing of contact information from HubSpot to Sinch MessageMedia. Once you've connected the HubSpot integration, the Sinch MessageMedia Hub can then retrieve the names and phone numbers from your existing HubSpot contact database and they'll be saved in your Sinch MessageMedia contacts and identified with "HUBSPOT", differentiating them from your other contacts.
The synchronisation automatically triggers every 24 hours so any changes or updates made to your contacts/contact lists in the HubSpot portal, will be regularly updated and reflected in the Sinch MessageMedia Hub. Another handy feature of contact sync is that both inbound and outbound messages sent via the Sinch MessageMedia Hub will also automatically appear in the relevant contact's timeline in HubSpot, keeping everything consistent and easy to manage.
There are a few bits and pieces to look at when it comes to setting up contact sync:
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- How to configure contact sync when you first install and set-up the integration
- How to enable or modify contact sync for an existing HubSpot connection
- How to manually trigger contact sync
- Phone number country codes and the Sinch MessageMedia Hub
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Configuring contact sync when you first install the integration
It's super easy to set-up contact sync when you first install the Sinch MessageMedia SMS for HubSpot integration, you just need to:
- Check the box for Sync my contacts from HubSpot to Sinch MessageMedia.
- Select which number field you're using in HubSpot to store the mobile phone numbers of your contacts - whichever number field in HubSpot you use to store mobile phone numbers is your preference, just as long as the Sinch MessageMedia Hub knows where to look.
- Click on Connect.
To keep the automatic syncing process as efficient as possible, the Sinch MessageMedia Hub allows you to isolate which groups you'll be using for SMS campaigns. This is particularly beneficial in mitigating the need to consistently sync a high volume of data if you have a large contact database in HubSpot.
Select the checkbox next to which contact lists you'll be using for SMS campaigns, and sync just those lists across to the Sinch MessageMedia Hub by clicking on Sync contacts:
You'll get a notification alerting you when the connection is up and running, just click on Done, and you're good to go as soon as the contact sync is complete:
Enable or modify contact sync for an existing HubSpot connection
If you've already connected the HubSpot portal to the Sinch MessageMedia Hub, you may now want to enable contact sync, or modify your previously synced contact lists.
To do this, first go to Integrations in the Sinch MessageMedia Hub main menu, find the HubSpot tile, and click on View/Modify Integration:
Then click on the Contacts tab:
Now, to enable contact sync:
- Check the box for Sync my contacts from HubSpot to Sinch MessageMedia.
- Select which number field you're using in HubSpot to store the mobile phone numbers of your contacts - see below note*
- Select the checkbox next to which contact lists you'll be using for SMS campaigns. - see below note**
- Click on Sync contacts.
*Whichever number field in HubSpot you use to store mobile phone numbers is your preference, just as long as the Sinch MessageMedia Hub knows where to look.
**To keep the automatic syncing process as efficient as possible, the Sinch MessageMedia Hub allows you to isolate which groups you'll be using for SMS campaigns. This is particularly beneficial in mitigating the need to consistently sync a high volume of data if you have a large contact database in HubSpot.
Or, to modify your previously synced contact lists:
- Make sure you're in the Contacts tab.
- Change your checkbox selection next to your contact lists.
- Click on Update.
Triggering manual contact sync with HubSpot
Because automatic contact sync only occurs every 24 hours, on occasion you may need to manually trigger contact sync with HubSpot. This might be because you want to send an SMS campaign using contact information that was updated in HubSpot after the most recent sync with the Sinch MessageMedia Hub.
In the spirit of keeping things super simple, there are three different locations where you can see your sync status and trigger a manual sync;
1. In the Campaign builder:
2. In Contacts & groups:
Whenever you trigger a manual sync, you'll get an alert:
You can only trigger one manual sync at a time, so once you click on Okay, continue with Manual Syncing, it'll become unavailable until the manual sync has finished.
Phone number country code logic
When phone numbers are entered into HubSpot that don't include an international prefix (e.g. +61, +63, +44 etc), the Sinch MessageMedia Hub checks two locations based on priority to attempt to correctly assign a country code prior to any messages being sent to that number.
Priority 1 - Country/Region property of the HubSpot contact:
The country/region property needs to be populated using a 2 letter ISO format (e.g. "AU", "NZ", "US" etc) - you can see a full list of 2 letter ISO country codes here.
Priority 2 - Default sending country of your Sinch MessageMedia profile:
If the country/region field is empty in the HubSpot contact profile, we turn to the Default Sending Country that appears in your user profile in the Sinch MessageMedia Hub.
To avoid any unintentional errors when sending messages, make sure you either:
a) Include a country code in the phone number of every one of your contacts in HubSpot.
b) Select an appropriate country/region in each contact profile in HubSpot.
c) Make sure the default sending country in your Sinch MessageMedia profile is populated (Note - if you're sending to contacts across multiple regions/countries, then this is not sufficient as a standalone measure).