Understanding HubSpot Subscription Types (and How to Use Them Effectively)

1. What Are Subscription Types in HubSpot?

Subscription types in HubSpot define the kinds of communication a contact has opted in to receive. Instead of a simple global “unsubscribe” flag, HubSpot allows you to organize emails into categories such as newsletters, sales outreach, or support updates, giving contacts more control over what they receive.

This approach helps you:

Stay compliant with privacy regulations like GDPR.
Build trust by respecting communication preferences.
Improve engagement by sending relevant messages to the right audience.

It’s important to distinguish:

Subscription types = the categories of communication (e.g., “Marketing Information”).
Email preferences = what specific subscription types a contact has opted into or out of.

2. Default Subscription Types in HubSpot

HubSpot includes three default subscription types:

Marketing Information

Use this for: newsletters, product updates, promotional offers, campaign emails.
Typical audience: marketing-qualified leads, prospects, existing customers.
Example: "Monthly Growth Tips" newsletter.

One-to-One Email

Used for: direct personal communication from a sales or service rep.
Typical audience: anyone in the sales or service process.
Example: A rep follows up on a discovery call with a personalized email.

Customer Service Communication

Used for: transactional emails related to customer support or tickets.
Typical audience: tickets in the help desk workspace
Example: Email confirming a support ticket has been received.

These default types cannot be deleted, and they cover the core lifecycle communications most businesses use.

3. Where Subscription Types Show Up

Subscription types appear in several key areas of HubSpot:

Email editor: You must select which subscription type an email belongs to.
Contact record: Shows which types the contact is subscribed to or unsubscribed from.
Email preference center: Contacts see this page when they click “manage preferences.”
Subscription type settings: The place where you can configure the available subscription types, found under Settings → marketing →Email.
Forms and workflows: You can set subscription types and legal bases on form submissions and via automation.

Proper use of subscription types is foundational to email marketing and compliance inside HubSpot.

4. GDPR and Privacy Settings: What to Know Before You Enable Them

HubSpot offers built-in privacy and consent tools to help you stay compliant with GDPR and similar regulations. When you enable these privacy settings under Settings → Privacy & Consent., HubSpot requires explicit consent for each subscription type before sending communication.

This enforcement helps ensure legal compliance, but it also introduces operational friction, especially during rollout.

What Changes When Privacy Settings Are Enabled?

HubSpot will only send emails to contacts who are explicitly subscribed to that communication type (e.g., marketing, one-to-one sales).
You must also log a valid legal basis (e.g. consent, legitimate interest) for communicating with the contact.

Practical Implication: Friction for Sales and Service Teams

When privacy settings are enabled, sales or service representatives sending emails from HubSpot must ensure that the contact is subscribed to the "One-to-One Sales Email" and that a legal basis is assigned.

This additional step can seem burdensome, leading sales and service personnel to potentially revert to using their personal inboxes for communication, which may negatively impact their adoption of HubSpot.

If you plan to enable privacy settings:

Train your team on how to handle subscriptions and legal bases in HubSpot.
Consider defaulting “One-to-one Sales Email” to subscribed using workflows with a legal basis of legitimate interest for CRM-enriched leads. This can often be justified if the lead fills out a demo request, for example.
Build automation (e.g., in workflows) to set default legal bases where appropriate, but always document your legal rationale.

⚠️ Disclaimer: This section is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Always consult with a qualified legal professional before making decisions related to privacy laws, consent management, or data processing practices.

5. Common Pitfalls (and How to Avoid Them)

Implementing subscription types in HubSpot isn't difficult, but it’s easy to make decisions early on that limit your flexibility or compromise compliance later. Below are some common mistakes we see during implementations and how to avoid them.

Pitfall 1: Using Only One Marketing Subscription Type

What goes wrong: All marketing emails, newsletters, product updates, promotional offers, event invites, are lumped under one default subscription type like “Marketing Information.”

Why it’s a problem:

Contacts who unsubscribe will miss all communication, even if they only wanted to opt out of one category.
It’s harder to explain the value of staying subscribed when preferences aren’t clearly separated.

How to avoid it:

Create separate subscription types for major content categories (e.g. “Product Updates”, “Event Invitations”, “Monthly Newsletter”).
Use descriptive names and show these options clearly in the email preference center.
Align each type with your content strategy so your team knows which type to use when building emails.

Pitfall 2: Not Assigning a Legal Basis (When Privacy Settings Are Enabled)

What goes wrong: Emails are blocked from sending because no legal basis is set, even if the contact opted in.

Why it’s a problem:

Breaks email workflows and slows down teams.
Leads to confusion or workarounds that reduce CRM adoption.

How to avoid it:

Use workflows to assign default legal bases for known conversion paths (e.g. demo requests = legitimate interest).
Train team members on how to add or adjust legal bases in contact records.

Pitfall 3: Overly generic subscription type names with unattractive descriptions.

What goes wrong: Contacts click “manage preferences” and see unclear or overly generic subscription type names.

Why it’s a problem:

Contacts unsubscribe from everything just to be safe.
Your opt-out rates increase unnecessarily.

How to avoid it:

Use plain language for each subscription type name and description (e.g. “Growth Tips Newsletter – sent once a month with marketing insights”).
Preview your subscription page as a contact would experience it.

6. Summary and Action Checklist

A successful HubSpot CRM setup includes properly managing subscription types. Here’s what to check:

Are your emails tagged with the correct subscription type?
Are your forms setting legal bases and opt-ins?
Is your team trained on how privacy settings impact their workflows?
Have you created the necessary custom subscription types for your use cases?
Is your subscription page clear and user-friendly?

For more detailed technical setup, you can always refer to HubSpot’s official documentation on subscription types and privacy settings.

7. Common Email Subscription Categories

ompanies typically segment their email communications into a handful of common categories. These let users subscribe à la carte to the content they value and opt out of the rest. The exact categories vary by business and industry (and whether it’s B2B or B2C), but there are recurring themes. Below is a table of typical email subscription categories and what they entail:

Subscription Category	Description & Purpose
Newsletter / Digest	General updates with valuable content on a regular cadence (e.g. weekly or monthly newsletters). May include company news, industry insights, or curated blog posts. Both B2B and B2C brands use newsletters to keep in touch with subscribers outside of purely promotional contexts.
Product Updates & Announcements	Updates on new product features, product launches, or improvements. Subscribers interested in the product or service itself can get release notes, feature announcements, or roadmap news. Common in B2B (software feature updates) and B2C (new product launch announcements).
Promotions & Special Offers	Sales notifications, discount offers, coupons, and exclusive deals. Particularly prevalent in B2C (retail or e-commerce) where timely promotions drive conversions, but also used in B2B for things like limited-time service discounts. This category covers any marketing email aimed at driving an immediate purchase with an offer.
Events & Webinars	Invitations and information about upcoming events: webinars, conferences, workshops, live demos, or in-store events. B2B marketers often invite contacts to educational webinars or trade events, while B2C companies might promote store openings, community events, or live online events.
Blog or Content Updates	Alerts when new content is published (blog posts, articles, videos, podcasts). Helps content marketing efforts by notifying subscribers of educational or engaging content. Often used by B2B companies to share thought leadership (and by media/news organizations for article digests).
Case Studies / Whitepapers	In-depth content updates like case studies, research reports, or whitepapers. Typically a B2B-focused category targeting prospects interested in detailed insights and success stories. This overlaps with content marketing, but merits its own opt-in for those seeking deep-dive materials.
Training & Educational	Offers for training courses, tutorials, or how-to guides. Common for B2B software or services that provide onboarding series, user training, certification courses, or tips and tricks. Subscribers here expect educational value (e.g. “learning series” emails or webinar follow-ups).
Service Notifications	Operational notices about an account or service – e.g. maintenance announcements, policy updates, or critical alerts. (These are often transactional emails sent regardless of marketing preferences, but some preference centers list them for transparency.) Users generally cannot opt out of truly critical service emails, but they may manage non-critical notifications.
Surveys & Feedback	Requests for customer feedback, such as surveys or review invitations. Some companies let users opt in or out of feedback-related emails separately, so only those willing to provide input receive these.
Partner or Third-Party Offers (if applicable)	Emails featuring partner content or offers from third parties associated with the company. Because of stricter consent needed for third-party messaging (especially under EU laws), this is usually an optional category that subscribers must explicitly opt into.

Each organization will tailor its categories to its offerings. For example, a software firm with multiple product lines might have separate update lists for each product, whereas a retailer might offer interest-based categories (menswear vs. womenswear, or electronics vs. furniture). The key is that categories remain broad enough to avoid overwhelming the user. Experts recommend using at most a modest number of subscription types (often under ~5–8) covering the main content streams without drilling down into excessive detail. This keeps the choice manageable and aligns with user expectations (too many checkboxes can confuse rather than empower).

Note: Transactional emails sent using the transactional email add-on (such as order receipts, shipping confirmations, password resets, etc.) are usually not part of subscription preferences. Those are considered necessary communications in the context of a transaction or account relationship and are generally sent regardless of marketing opt-ins. Preference centers typically clarify that distinction (e.g. a note saying “You will still receive essential account emails”). This ensures compliance with regulations that differentiate commercial vs. transactional messages, while giving users control over marketing communications.

8. Real-World Examples of Preference Centers

To understand what a great email preference center looks like, it helps to see how real companies across industries implement them. Below are three examples that illustrate how to balance user control with business impact.

Publishing Example: Harvard Business Review

Media brands like Harvard Business Review (HBR) offer multiple content streams. On HBR’s preference page, readers can opt into specific newsletters like:

Management Tip of the Day
The Daily Alert
Weekly Insider

Each has a clear description and frequency label (e.g., daily, weekly). This allows busy professionals to tailor their subscriptions to content and cadence.

Key takeaway: When you offer multiple content streams, make it easy for users to opt in selectively and opt out completely.

Retail Example: Rogan’s Shoes

Rogan’s Shoes, a footwear retailer, uses its preference center to gather both interests and frequency preferences:

Users can select gender and shoe categories (running, hiking, kids, etc.).
They can choose content types like “New Releases” or “Promotions & Sales.”
A frequency option (e.g. once or twice per week) prevents email fatigue.
At the bottom, a single checkbox unsubscribes from all communications.

Key takeaway: Letting subscribers self-select what they want, and how often, increases relevance and reduces opt-outs. For e-commerce, it also yields valuable first-party data.

SaaS Example: Google & TurboTax

SaaS companies often face the challenge of having too many product lines or communication types. Google handles this by offering product-specific preference centers. For example:

Pixel users see two simple toggles:
- “Product updates and offers”
- “Feedback surveys”
A link lets users manage other Google communications separately.

TurboTax takes a different angle. Its preference center distinguishes between:

Service-critical reminders (e.g., tax deadline alerts)
Promotional emails or newsletters

Users can stay subscribed to essential alerts without receiving marketing messages.

Key takeaway: For complex products, simplicity wins. Break options into logical groups and avoid overwhelming users with dozens of checkboxes. Always distinguish between must-have vs. nice-to-have communications.

These companies prove that giving users control doesn’t hurt marketing, it sharpens it. More relevant emails = more engagement, fewer unsubscribes, and better long-term results.