Overview

The MarketingSoda Refine™ free database health scan analyzes your HubSpot contacts across seven data quality dimensions and gives you an overall A-F grade. The scan is read-only, takes about 2-5 minutes, and requires no credit card.

This guide walks you through running your first scan and understanding the results.

Before You Begin

You will need:

A HubSpot account with contacts in it (any plan works -- Free, Starter, Professional, or Enterprise).
Admin or App Marketplace Access permissions in HubSpot.
A modern web browser (Chrome, Firefox, Safari, or Edge).
3-5 minutes of uninterrupted time.

Step 1: Connect Your HubSpot

Visit marketingsoda.ai/en/audit.
Click "Connect Your HubSpot".
You will be redirected to HubSpot's authorization screen.
Verify the portal name shown is the correct one.
Click "Grant access" to allow read-only contact access.

What permission is requested: crm.objects.contacts.read -- this gives MarketingSoda Refine read-only access to your contacts. We cannot modify, create, or delete any data.

Step 2: Watch the Scan Progress

After authorizing, you are redirected to the scanning page. The scan goes through four phases:

Phase	What Happens	Progress Range
Reading	MarketingSoda Refine fetches up to 500 contacts from your HubSpot portal.	0-30%
Scoring	Each contact is scored across seven quality dimensions.	30-85%
Building	Your results are aggregated into a report.	85-90%
Saving	Your report is saved and a unique link is generated.	90-100%

Tips during the scan:

Stay on the page -- do not close the tab or navigate away.
The scan typically takes 2-5 minutes.
If it takes longer than 5 minutes, you will see a "Try Again" option.

Step 3: Unlock Your Report

After the scan completes, you will see a preview of your results:

Your letter grade (A through F)
Your composite score (0-100)
A grade distribution chart showing how many of your contacts fall into each grade

To see the full detailed report, fill out the lead capture form:

Enter your first name and last name.
Enter your work email (personal email addresses like Gmail or Yahoo are not accepted).
Enter your company name.
Click "See My Full Report".

Your full report will load immediately.

Step 4: Read Your Results

Your report contains five sections:

Overall Health Score

A circular gauge showing your composite score (0-100) and letter grade (A-F). This is the single most important number -- it represents the overall health of your HubSpot database.

Grade Distribution

A bar chart showing how many of your contacts received each grade (A, B, C, D, F). This helps you understand whether your issues are concentrated in a few bad records or spread across the database.

Quality Dimensions

Seven horizontal progress bars, one for each quality dimension. Each bar shows the dimension name, a score from 0 to 100, and a color indicating the grade for that dimension.

Top Issues Found

Up to five cards highlighting the most significant data quality problems. Each card shows:

The issue name (e.g., "Low completeness score")
How many contacts are affected
The severity (High, Medium, or Low)
The average score for that dimension

Recommendations

An ordered list of what to fix first, prioritized by impact. Each recommendation includes:

A clear title (e.g., "Improve data completeness")
A description of what to do
The quality dimension it addresses
The expected impact level

What the Audit Checks

MarketingSoda Refine evaluates your contacts across seven data quality dimensions:

1. Completeness

What it measures: How many important fields are filled in for each contact.

Key fields checked: First name, last name, email, phone, job title, company, city, state, country, LinkedIn URL, seniority, department.

Why it matters: Incomplete contacts cannot be properly segmented, personalized, or routed. Marketing campaigns perform poorly when key fields like job title or company are missing.

2. Accuracy

What it measures: Whether the data in your contact records is correct and verifiable.

What it checks: Email format validity, cross-reference of company names, consistency between related fields.

Why it matters: Inaccurate data causes email bounces, wasted sales outreach, and incorrect reporting.

3. Freshness

What it measures: How recently each contact record has been updated.

What it checks: The lastmodifieddate field relative to today. Records not updated in over 6 months are flagged as stale.

Why it matters: B2B contact data decays at approximately 34% per year. Job titles change, people move companies, and phone numbers become disconnected.

4. Validity

What it measures: Whether field values conform to expected formats.

What it checks: Email address format, phone number format, and other structured fields.

Why it matters: Invalid data fails at the point of use -- malformed emails bounce, invalid phone numbers waste calling time.

5. Consistency

What it measures: Whether data follows standardized patterns across your database.

What it checks: State abbreviations vs. full names, country name formats, phone number formatting patterns.

Why it matters: Inconsistent data breaks segmentation and reporting. If some contacts have "CA" and others have "California," your reports and lists will be inaccurate.

6. Uniqueness

What it measures: How many duplicate contacts exist in your database.

What it checks: Duplicate email addresses across your contact list.

Why it matters: Duplicates waste enrichment credits, create confusing sales experiences, and inflate your contact counts.

7. Enrichment Coverage

What it measures: How many of your contacts have professional enrichment data filled in.

Key fields checked: LinkedIn URL, job title, company, seniority, department.

Why it matters: Enrichment data enables better segmentation, lead scoring, and personalization. Contacts without enrichment data are harder to target effectively.

How Scoring Works

Per-Contact Scoring

Each contact receives a composite score from 0 to 100 based on weighted averages of all applicable dimensions. Not every dimension applies to every contact -- for example, if a contact has no email, the validity dimension may not be scored for email format.

Letter Grade Scale

Grade	Score Range	Meaning
A	90-100	Excellent -- your data is in great shape
B	75-89	Good -- minor improvements possible
C	60-74	Fair -- noticeable issues that affect performance
D	40-59	Poor -- significant data quality problems
F	0-39	Failing -- major issues requiring immediate attention

Overall Score

Your overall composite score is the average of all individual contact scores. This gives you a single number representing the health of your entire database.

Top Issues and Recommendations

Any dimension with an average score below 80 is flagged as an issue. Issues are sorted from worst to best, and the top five are highlighted. Recommendations are generated for each issue, prioritized by impact:

High impact: Dimension score below 40
Medium impact: Dimension score between 40 and 59
Low impact: Dimension score between 60 and 79

Frequently Asked Questions

How many contacts are scanned?

The free audit scans up to 500 contacts from your HubSpot portal. This provides a statistically meaningful sample of your database health.

Can I scan more than 500 contacts?

The free audit is limited to 500 contacts. The full MarketingSoda Refine platform (coming soon) will support unlimited contact scoring.

Is my data safe?

Yes. MarketingSoda Refine uses read-only access and never stores individual contact data. Only aggregate scores and statistics are saved. See our security page for details.

How long does the scan take?

Typically 2-5 minutes, depending on the number of contacts in your portal.

Can I run the scan again?

Yes. You can run a new scan at any time by returning to the audit page and connecting your HubSpot again. Each scan generates a fresh report.

What if my HubSpot portal is empty?

If no contacts are found, you will see a message saying "No Contacts Found." Add contacts to your HubSpot portal and try again.

Do I need a paid HubSpot plan?

No. The free audit works with any HubSpot plan, including the free tier.

Getting Started: Your Free Database Health Scan