Why are some time between calculated properties in HubSpot inaccurate?

Time between properties in HubSpot are incredibly convenient to understand the time between two dates. By default when you create a Date property from settings within HubSpot it is simply a date with no element of time. So when you calculate between dates it will generally return a whole number.

But if the calculation you’re running is for a short timeframe where hours matter - think lead assignment speed, time to first sales engagement, time to first email open, etc - you need to do things a little bit different and utilize a DateTime property.

There are also situations where you calculate between a DateTime property like Create Date and then a custom Date property and it does weird rounding since there is the missing time element which results in a completely wrong number.

But the solution to all of this is easy - just create your own DateTime properties and use those instead of standard Date pickers. The annoying part is that for some reason these are only available via the API.

Here’s the step-by-step guide to configure a HubSpot DateTime Property as a non-technical person:

1. Go to the API docs, Choose Endpoints, and Create a New Property from the dropdown.

2. Fill in the required fields, this will build the API call for you.

3. Setup a new Private App in your portal with permissions for: crm.schemas.contacts.write

4. Copy & Paste the Access Token from the private app into the test call you just built on the API doc page.

5. Hit Submit

6. Confirm in your HubSpot properties the new DateTime property is now available.

7. Repeat for additional properties (simply need to change the fields with a new Name/Label) or Delete the Private App as you don’t need it anymore.

Here’s a quick video walking through the full process live - only takes 2 minutes:

Hope this helps! Let us know if you have any questions or need assistance improving your HubSpot setup.