When exporting contacts and companies from Cognism to HubSpot, it's important to decide which system is responsible for creating Company records.
If both HubSpot and Cognism create Companies automatically, duplicate Company records may be created.
This article explains why duplicates occur and how to prevent them.
Why duplicate Companies can occur
HubSpot includes a setting called Create and associate companies with contacts.
When this setting is enabled, HubSpot automatically:
- Creates a Company based on the contact's email domain.
- Associates the Contact with that Company.
If Cognism is also configured to export Companies, both systems may attempt to create a Company for the same organisation.
If the domains used by HubSpot and Cognism differ, duplicate Company records can be created.
Example
A contact with the email address:
is exported to HubSpot.
HubSpot automatically creates:
acme.io
At the same time, Cognism exports the associated Company using:
acme.com
Because the domains do not match exactly, HubSpot treats them as separate companies and creates two Company records.
Recommended configuration
To avoid duplicate Companies, we recommend choosing a single system to manage Company creation.
Option 1 – Let Cognism create Companies (Recommended)
This option provides the richest Company data.
Configure your integration as follows:
- Disable Create and associate companies with contacts in HubSpot.
- Enable Company exports from Cognism.
This allows Cognism to create Company records containing additional firmographic and company intelligence, including:
- Industry
- Employee count
- Revenue
- Technologies
- Company location
- Website
- Additional company attributes
Option 2 – Let HubSpot create Companies
If you prefer HubSpot to manage Company creation:
- Leave Create and associate companies with contacts enabled.
- Disable Company exports from Cognism.
HubSpot will create Companies using the contact's email domain.
Which option should I choose?
Most customers benefit from allowing Cognism to create Company records because it provides significantly more company information than HubSpot's automatic company creation.
If your organisation already has established HubSpot automation and Company management processes, you may prefer to let HubSpot manage Company creation instead.