Easy Tech TutsHow to Manually Set Existing Contacts as Marketing Contacts in HubSpot Easily 2026
By Impran M NLast checked against official docs
In HubSpot, only marketing contacts can receive marketing email or join ad audiences, and those are the contacts you pay for. Sales one-to-one and transactional email still reach non-marketing contacts.
If a group is already sitting in your CRM as non-marketing, you have to switch them over before you can email them. The switch takes a minute: filter, tick, More, confirm.
Reversing it is slower. Once a contact counts as marketing, it keeps counting until your account's next update date, and a tier upgrade it triggers stays until your subscription renews. So the real work in this guide is picking the right contacts before you click.
Before you start
- A Marketing Hub Starter, Professional or Enterprise subscription with marketing contacts
- Marketing contact access permissions on your HubSpot user
01Open CRM from the left navigation
After signing in you land on the home dashboard, with today's meetings, your tasks and an activity feed. The left rail holds Home, CRM, Marketing, Content, Sales, Commerce, Service, Data Management, Automation and Reporting.
Contacts lives under CRM. People often look for it under Sales or Marketing first.
02Choose Contacts, or a segment you've already built
Hover CRM and a flyout opens with Contacts, Companies, Deals, Tickets and Orders at the top, then Segments (Lists), Inbox, Calls, Meetings, Tasks, Playbooks, Message Templates and Snippets. Pick Contacts to work from the full table.
If the group you want is already a contact-based segment (say, a past event import), open Segments (Lists) and click that segment's name instead. The bulk action is the same on both screens.
03Filter the table and tick the contacts
Tabs across the top of the Contacts table hold saved views such as All contacts, Newsletter subscribers, Unsubscribed and All customers. Above the table sit quick filters for Contact owner, Create date, Last activity date and Lead status, plus Advanced filters for anything more specific.
The sample account here has only two test contacts, but the controls are the same at two thousand. Narrow the view until it holds only the people you mean to email.
Then tick the checkbox beside each one, or the header checkbox to take everything visible. Every contact you tick will be billed, so a loose filter is the expensive mistake here.
04Set as marketing contacts and type the count
With contacts ticked, click the More dropdown at the top of the table and select Set as marketing contacts. The dialog asks you to type the number of contacts you're changing.
That number is the confirmation. If it doesn't match what you expected, cancel and recheck your filter.
Enter the number and click Set [x] contacts. The change is immediate, and those contacts now count toward your tier.
05Check the count in Account & Billing
Click your account name in the top right, go to Account & Billing, and open Marketing Contacts in the left sidebar. It shows your current marketing contact count against your tier limit and your next update date.
Look at this right away after a large batch. If you went over the tier, the upgrade has already happened.
When it doesn't work
Set as marketing contacts is missing from the More menu
Why: Your user lacks marketing contact access permissions, or the account isn't on a Marketing Hub Starter, Professional or Enterprise subscription.
Fix: Ask a super admin to grant the permission, or confirm the subscription includes marketing contacts.
Some ticked contacts are still non-marketing afterwards
Why: Your account has a maximum number of marketing contacts set. Once that cap is reached, the rest are set as non-marketing.
Fix: Raise the maximum (accepting the tier cost), or free up room by setting unengaged contacts to non-marketing, which applies at the next update date.
You marked the wrong contacts and switching them back didn't lower the count
Why: Setting a contact as non-marketing only takes effect after your next update date. Until then the contact shows Marketing contact until next update as Yes.
Fix: Set them as non-marketing now so the change is queued. Note that a tier upgrade already triggered won't reverse until your subscription renews.
Frequently asked questions
Does setting contacts as marketing cost extra?
It can. They count toward your contact tier straight away, and going over the tier by one contact auto-upgrades you until renewal. Set a maximum marketing contacts limit if you want a hard stop.
Can I undo it?
Yes, by setting them as non-marketing, but not instantly. The change applies on your next update date: the same day each month on a monthly subscription, or the first of the month on a yearly one.
Why does the dialog ask me to type a number?
It's a check on batch size. You type how many contacts you're changing, which catches a filter that swept in more people than you meant.
Are there ways to set marketing status other than by hand?
Yes. Contacts who submit a marketing form are set as marketing by default. An import has a Set these contacts as marketing contacts option. On Marketing Hub Professional or Enterprise, a workflow can use the Set marketing contact status action.
Where do I see how many marketing contacts I have?
Account name (top right) > Account & Billing > Marketing Contacts. It shows your count, your tier limit and your next update date.
Sources and last check
Navigation and the Contacts screens come from the original screen recording. The bulk action, the confirmation dialog, subscription and permission requirements, tier billing and the non-marketing update-date rule were re-checked against HubSpot's Knowledge Base in September 2026. That check corrected two claims: the dialog asks for the number of contacts (not a keyword), and switching contacts back to non-marketing is not immediate.
About the author
Impran M N
I've been hooked on technology for as long as I can remember — especially the new tools and AI apps that seem to land every other week. Easy Tech Tuts is where I write up whatever I've just worked out: I do the task in the real product, record the screen, and turn it into the guide I wish I'd found first.
