What Are Record Types in Salesforce? Your Ultimate Guide

As data grows, it can become as much of a burden as it can be a benefit.

While tools like Salesforce are excellent at managing data like Salesforce Opportunities to track revenue generation, you need to segment your data for different sales processes to avoid a headache and enable reporting.

One of the most common mistakes we uncover during a consultation is that teams struggle with data quality and completeness - keeping reporting and meaningful insights out of reach.

That’s where the utility of record types in Salesforce comes in. Segmenting user profiles for different business processes helps keep data properly organized and ensures that all marketing and sales processes are directed towards the right contacts. 

This guide will discuss the importance of Salesforce record types and how you can leverage them to improve your data management.

What Are Record Types in Salesforce?

Record types are an administrative function that allows users to configure different business processes, page layouts, and picklists for user profiles. 

Configuring record types allows users to customize their CRM to best reflect their business processes.

Suppose you have some users that are marketable leads and others that are used for professional services, such as affiliate partners. In that case, you can change their record type to reflect their role in your business. 

Some benefits of record types in Salesforce include:

• Configuring multiple page layouts for a single object
• Restricting field access for layouts and creation of records using profile assignments
• Creating different picklist values based on different business processes

For example, record types assigned to the sales process will have picklist values available to them from the Opportunity Stage. 

Generally, we can differentiate the experience using record types in three ways:

1. Page layouts: Page layouts comprise the physical layout of a page on your CRM, including the position of buttons, fields, or picklists. Page layouts can be set to view-only or editing modes based on the record type. 
2. Picklists: Picklists are custom drop-down menus that allow users to assign certain values to contact profiles. 
3. Business processes: Business processes are default sequences inside Salesforce that refer to any movement that needs to be tracked inside the CRM. Processes include Sales (Opportunity Field), Le22

Creating a new record type allows administrators full flexibility to configure how data is stored and processed inside their CRM. 

Benefits of Using Record Types in Salesforce

Record types offer tangible benefits to businesses in how they track data and UX benefits for users to keep record layouts easy to decipher.

• Segment different business values based on their properties (ex. Creating different Opportunity record types for revenue generated from one-time sales vs. subscriptions)
• Tailor picklist values and tasks based on different record types
• Simply processes and data management by customizing page layouts based on different record types
• Retain full access to a single source of data across your CRM but properly segmented by their defined properties

How to Create Record Types in Salesforce

Creating a record type in Salesforce is straightforward. 

Navigate to the following:

Setup > Click Object Manager > Select Account > Click Record Type > Click New > Customize Picklist Fields > Enter Record Type Label > Enter Record Type Name > Select a Business Process > Select Active > Make Available to users associated with the profile > Customize Page Layout > Save 

Once created, you’ll be able to customize picklist values for each record type. 

Additionally, if users are assigned to a single record type, they won’t have to select a record type each time they create a new record.

How Do Record Types in Salesforce Transfer into HubSpot?

If you've recently undergone a HubSpot Salesforce integration or use both platforms for different purposes, then you know how easily data flows between the two platforms.

To add a Salesforce record type to HubSpot, create a drop down select property in HubSpot with the values for the Salesforce record type. The Label and API values for the record type options are important here. The Label in HubSpot should match the Name in Salesforce and the Internal Value in HubSpot should match the Record Type ID in Salesforce for this picklist to sync properly.

Are Record Types Right for Me?

Creating and monitoring record types is a great way to ensure that teams only get the information they need while still having access to all the data housed inside your CRM.

However, Salesforce users sometimes overcomplicate their system simply because they can. Record types add complexity to your set up. They should only be used when there is a true business case for them. 

Record types should be used when it would almost make sense for there to be a different object for the two types of records. The records should need to be handled in entirely different ways.

An example? Opportunities that are large, multi-year contracts compared to opportunities that are 2-month add ons. These have different sales cycles and wildly different levels of data that needs to be collected. 

Not sure if record types are a good fit? Reach out to our team. We’re happy to help!