Our organization has been utilizing HubSpot for managing leads and user registrations. After connecting HubSpot with Salesforce, we encountered problems with HubSpot’s deduplication feature. Our clients work in the hospitality industry and frequently change locations or work at multiple properties simultaneously. This creates numerous duplicate contacts across different accounts.
When existing customers fill out forms meant for new prospects, HubSpot attempts to merge the submission with existing contacts instead of creating fresh leads. This creates confusion for our sales department and increases their workload when processing submissions.
HubSpot doesn’t offer a form option that consistently generates new leads without checking for existing contacts.
We’re considering replacing HubSpot forms with external forms embedded in our HubSpot landing pages to ensure new leads are always created. The implementation is straightforward, but we lose valuable conversion tracking that HubSpot forms provide.
HubSpot support suggested using their API to send conversion notifications from the external form (Formstack for Salesforce) but only provided documentation and mentioned needing backend server development.
I have basic coding knowledge but limited web development experience. Is it possible to implement this using PHP on the HubSpot landing page? Can community-created APIs help with this integration?
Looking for guidance on the best approach to tackle this challenge.
I dealt with this exact issue across multiple CRM integrations. You’re spot on - embedding external forms kills native conversion tracking, but the API route isn’t as scary as it seems. Skip the complex backend stuff. A basic PHP script can push conversion events to HubSpot’s API after someone submits your external form. Here’s the trick: use HubSpot’s tracking code to grab the visitor’s session data before they hit submit, then send that with the conversion event. You’ll keep attribution intact and dodge the deduplication mess. Test this on staging first - you’ll need to nail the API authentication. HubSpot’s docs should have the endpoint structure covered.
Try HubSpot’s form pre-population with hidden fields to get around the deduplication. I ran into this same issue with a property management client - we just added a timestamp or unique ID in a hidden field, which tricks HubSpot into seeing each submission as different. The matching algorithm still runs, but that unique value stops the automatic merging. You’ll keep full conversion tracking and fix the duplicate problem. Another route is using HubSpot’s webhooks - your external form triggers a webhook that sends the data as a completely new contact. Needs basic PHP skills but keeps most tracking features without messy API work.
honestly, just use zapier or a similar automation tool to connect your external form to hubspot. way simpler than coding php apis yourself, and you can still track conversions by setting up the zap to fire hubspot events. i’ve done this with formstack → hubspot integration and it works perfectly - no deduplication issues since you control exactly what data gets sent over.
the deduplication mess in hubspot is brutal. instead of fighting it, why not change your form approach? build separate forms for existing customers vs new leads, then use conditional logic or utm parameters to route them correctly. much easier than building custom apis and you don’t lose any tracking. i’ve used this with hospitality clients - works great.
Try HubSpot’s workflow automation instead of skipping forms altogether. Set up a workflow that creates new contacts when specific conditions hit - like submissions from certain landing pages or UTM parameters. You’ll keep all the native tracking but dodge the deduplication headache. I did this for a client with the same recurring customer issue. The workflow looks for specific identifiers and forces new contact creation instead of merging. Takes maybe 30 minutes to set up, no coding needed. Also check your contact property settings - there’s a way to dial down how strict the deduplication matching is.