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HubSpot Personalization Strategy Using Programmable Emails

Learn how to scale personalization in HubSpot using programmable emails, HubDB, and custom objects. A flexible strategy built for AI-powered lead scoring.

Erin Wiggers
Erin Wiggers

Jun 06, 2023

HubSpot email personalization with exclusion filters

The power of programmable emails in today's business landscape

As we’ve discussed in a previous blog, programmable email tools allow you to create dynamic emails that change based on customer behavior and other triggers. This makes your emails much more personal, relevant, and ready to support AI-powered lead scoring strategies.

Unlocking your competitive advantage: the importance of personalization

In today’s fiercely competitive business landscape, personalizing your communications with customers has become more crucial than ever. With customers inundated with an overwhelming amount of generic marketing messages, personalized interactions can make a significant impact.

By tailoring your communication efforts to cater to individual preferences, interests, and needs, you can establish stronger connections, foster trust, and enhance customer loyalty. That’s the foundation of any scalable HubSpot personalization strategy.

 

Maximizing results: the imperative of optimizing your programmable email process

Just as personalized messaging has emerged as a necessity rather than a mere luxury, so has the optimization of this process.

Enter: HubDB, custom objects, and user variables.

When it comes to programmable emails, utilizing these tools offers a superior solution compared to relying solely on smart content.

Unlike smart content, which may have limitations in terms of flexibility and scalability, utilizing HubDB, custom objects, and user variables allows you to access a broader range of personalization options. These features provide a structured and dynamic framework for managing and storing data relevant to your email campaigns—and can even fuel more targeted workflows using AI-powered lead scoring logic.



Building Programmable Emails: A Guide to Utilizing HubDB, Custom Objects, and User Variables

A client was looking to scale their programmable email process. Our team at Aptitude 8 developed this proof-of-concept shared below, showing how to build programmable emails using HubDB, Custom Objects, and User Variables.

Please note: HubDB and Custom Objects were used here because we wanted them to see both options, not necessarily because it was the best-fit use case.

01 Build your HubDB table

To begin, create a HubDB table specifically for your email campaigns. In this example, let’s consider campaigns for Summer, Fall, and Loyalty Promotions. Include relevant content for each email and a list ID (or multiple IDs) that correspond to the target recipients.

HubSpot programmable email campaign builder

02 Utilize custom objects for featured tours

Next, establish a group of custom objects dedicated to the featured tours that will be showcased or included in your various email campaigns. Custom objects offer a way to define and store specific data points related to your tours.

Want more ideas for advanced object usage? Explore our blog on HubSpot custom events to drive event-based personalization.

User variable applied to HubSpot email preview

03 Associate objects to the campaigns in the programmable email module

Within the programmable email module, associate the custom objects to their respective campaigns using simple dropdown menus. This functionality allows for unlimited flexibility in connecting objects to specific email campaigns.

Dynamic content pulled from HubDB in a live email

04 Customize email output based on list membership

As a result of the previous steps, the email output will dynamically display the appropriate content based on the recipient’s list membership. Each recipient will see the content relevant to their specific list or lists.

Custom objects linked to email modules in HubSpot

05 Exclude already purchased tours

To enhance the email experience further, implement a feature that excludes any tours associated with a user as “Attendee.” This ensures that recipients are not promoted tours they have already purchased, providing a more personalized and relevant experience.

Expanding horizons: what else can you build with these tools?

The tools open a world of endless possibilities in the level of personalization you can provide for your end users. Let’s look at another step you can take:

Implement a dynamic language switcher for emails

You can take this solution one step further by incorporating a dynamic language switcher for your emails. This feature allows you to customize the email content based on the recipient’s preferred language, ensuring an even more personalized and localized communication.

This type of strategy aligns perfectly with today’s HubSpot personalization strategy expectations—especially for global or multilingual teams.

Ready to get started?

This solution is highly versatile and can be expanded to accommodate various use cases—from regional campaigns to AI-powered lead scoring and persona-based messaging.

Want to build a personalization engine that supports content ops, campaigns, and scoring? Visit our Marketing Operations Services to learn how we do it.

Contact our team at Aptitude 8 and let’s see how we can use these highly flexible and adaptable tools to find a solution that meets your unique needs.

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