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An API is built to empower you to create a functional application or integration instantly and effortlessly. APIs are what power the HubSpot application. In fact, the ecosystem of developers using integrations at the top of the APIs is active and diverse, varying from webinars to CRMs to social media. And Contacts API is one such API that makes managing your contact data much more straightforward.
Contacts are the essence of your marketing and sales strategies - they're the people who help you expand your business. And having a contact management strategy enables you to boost your business revenue and speed up productivity. This is where Contact APIs come into play.
Quick question: Do you use Contact APIs for easy management of your contacts? If not, this guide is for you. Continue reading to see how you can set up a Contact API in HubSpot. So, let's dive in!
What is the Contact API?
Contacts save data about people. From marketing automation to smart content, this lead-specific data found from contact records helps users make the most of HubSpot's functionality. The contact APIs enable you to deal with this information and sync it among HubSpot and other frameworks.
Say your team is using HubSpot and some other framework for their work.
Now, to manage the data of leads, potential customers, and contacts, they will need the right contact information in both systems. However, this is going to take a lot of time when done manually. So, what does one do in this situation? Enters, Contact API. Use the Contacts API to integrate the two frameworks and sync contact information. And voila, you just saved yourself plenty of time!
Now, you must be wondering how to set up this enchanting API. Don't worry. We are here to help. We will tell you how to get started with your Contacts API.
Getting Started with Contact API
Before we directly hop onto how to create and set up a contact API, let's get accustomed to a few terms associated with Contact API.
Batch endpoints
The batch endpoints allow you to make a GET or POST call that further returns or creates/updates multiple contacts at once, respectively.
Deduplication
The prime identifier for any contact in HubSpot is the email address, and the Contacts API de-duplicates email addresses in HubSpot automatically.
Contact properties
The details for a contact record are stored in contact properties. Further, HubSpot users can also store required custom data by creating custom contact properties.
Contact owners
The owner of a contact record is managed via the contact owner property, with the internal name of hubspot_owner_id. While using this property via the Contacts API, the internal ID of the owner is required. Owner details, ID, and email address can be obtained from the Owners API.
Lifecycle stage updates
Suppose you are trying to convert a contact into a customer (to reflect an updated deal stage) via the API. In that case, you have to set the value of the lifecyclestage property to “customer.”
Associations between contacts and other objects
A contact can be associated with deals, engagements, organizations, and tickets. To create and manage object associations, you can use HubSpot CRM Associations API.
Response details
Data returned by the Contacts will be read-only, except for the individual contact property values.
Source-type
The source type of a property version reveals how the property was modified, and it is different from the original source for a contact record. For instance,
- If the source type is API, it means the contact property is updated using the Contacts API.
- Similarly, if the source type is FORM, it implies that the value has been updated based on form submission.
Requirements for Creating an API
- OAuth Access Token: Also known as API key, this token or key is used to authenticate the request. It provides access to fetch and insert data in HubSpot via API.
- Contact Properties: You have to include at least one property for the new contact, or else you will get an error.
- URL: We need a URL for request and response.
- Data: Push JSON object to update or create the contacts.
- Method: GET, POST, PUT, DELETE, etc.
- Results: Get a response after using the API.
How to Create Contacts API?
Follow these steps to set up your HubSpot Contact API.
Step 1: Go to settings for access. You’ll need a HubSpot API Key for access to the API.
Step 2: Go to integration -> API Key.
Step 3: Copy the API key. This key will be used for creating and fetching data throughout.
Step 4: Create a new contact in HubSpot using the create a new contact endpoint. This new contact will be allocated a unique ID (vid), which you use to look it up later.
Step 5: Step 5: Hapikey is the "HubSpot API key." So, please use your HubSpot API key accordingly. This is how your API key will appear: https://api.hubapi.com/contacts/v1/contact?hapikey=demo.
Step 6: Send JSON format for creating and updating data of HubSpot contacts.
Step 7: Once you have updated the data, click on the POST method, and your contact is finally created.
Step 8: After this response, check the contacts of HubSpot. To do so, go to contacts and check the result of the API.
Step 9: After this response check contacts of HubSpot. To do so, go to contacts and check the result of the API.
As you can see, the new contact has been added to your contact list.
Watch this video to learn how you can create a contact using the Contacts API.
Wrapping Up
That's it, folks! That was all about setting up the Contacts API on HubSpot. Now, it's your turn to manage your contacts effectively without any extra effort. Get your contact management strategy up and running using the Contacts API.
HubSpot offers so many other APIs as well. If you are excited to find out more about HubSpot APIs, do let us know.
New to HubSpot and not sure how things work? Well, do get in touch with us now, and our HubSpot experts will take care of everything.
Editor: Richa Sharma
