HubSpot Smart Content: Overview and Examples

Want to boost engagement and drive conversions by delivering personalized content? HubSpot Smart Content enables you to customize your website and email content based on visitor behavior and preferences.

What is HubSpot Smart Content ?

HubSpot Smart Content, also known as dynamic content, is designed to provide website visitors with a highly personalized experience by adapting based on their preferences or previous behavior.

Why Personalization Matters

Adopting this individualized strategy is crucial for effectively nurturing leads. It ensures that every visitor engagement adds value, offering relevant material that aligns with their interests, boosting interaction, and increasing conversion rates.

The Impact of Personalized Content

Incorporating personalization within content marketing is immensely powerful. It fosters connections with prospective customers and meets their expectations.

Research indicates that many consumers expect customized engagements from brands and feel disappointed when these are not provided.

Leveraging HubSpot’s smart content features helps marketers satisfy these consumer anticipations, delivering tailor-made experiences that encourage repeat visits.

Applications of HubSpot Smart Content

HubSpot Smart Content can be applied across various aspects of your website and page content, including text inputs, visuals, and form submissions.

Within your HubSpot account, this tool is available through Marketing Hub Professional and Enterprise tiers, as well as Content Management System Hub Professional and Enterprise versions.

It enables widespread personalization efficiently without excessive manual intervention, ensuring interactions remain highly relevant for every visitor of your website.

Goals of Smart Content

Whether your goal is to attract new prospects or deepen relationships with existing clients, utilizing smart content strategies is essential for any marketer’s toolkit.

By incorporating lifecycle stage considerations into these tactical approaches, you can significantly expand your reach and achieve your objectives more quickly.

Types of Smart Content in HubSpot

HubSpot’s smart content tools are specifically designed to enhance personalization and heighten user engagement. These innovative instruments include Smart Text, Smart CTAs (Calls-To-Action), and Smart Rules that facilitate the creation of customized content for each visitor.

Smart Text grants you the ability to:

• Dispatch tailored messages to various contacts based on specific criteria associated with them, like user's device type.
• Customize email materials to cater directly to particular likes or activities.
• Ensure every recipient gets a personalized message that truly speaks to their interests.

Smart CTAs adapt according to a user’s behavior and their position in the purchase journey. These versatile prompts are available in different forms like buttons, banners, or pop-up messages. They aim to draw new visitors while also encouraging conversions. Leveraging Smart CTAs means your call-to-action elements remain pertinent and engaging, refining visitor interaction with your website pages.

Efficient automation relies on smart rules. These essential smart content rules address diverse needs, from creatively using smart global modules to integrating various categories into your configuration strategy. Managed via the "Manage Smart Rules" option in system preferences, they offer clever variations for an automated framework.

HubSpot Smart Rule Categories

In HubSpot, Smart Rule Categories help determine what content is shown to viewers based on various criteria, such as the following categories:

• Ad Source: Display content content based on the ad clicked. UTM parameters in the page URL determine the ad source, personalizing the experience for each visitor.
• Country: Show content based on the visitor’s country, determined by their IP address. This ensures relevance to their geographic location.

• Device Type: Target visitors based on their device type, whether it's mobile, tablet, or desktop. The user agent in their browser reveals their device type for tailored content delivery.
• Referral Source: Personalize content based on how visitors found your site, whether through search engines, ad campaigns, or backlinks.
• Preferred Language: Customize content based on the language set in the visitor’s web browser, ensuring they receive information in their preferred language.
• List Membership: Show different content to members of specific HubSpot lists, allowing accurate targeting. To understand how to create and manage these lists effectively, check out my guide on HubSpot Active vs Static List: Differences Explained.

• Lifecycle Stage: Display content based on the visitor’s lifecycle stage property value, targeting messages to their position in the buyer’s journey.
• Query Parameter: Personalize content based on query parameters in the page URL. For example, show specific content to users with ‘HubSpot’ in their URL.

Benefits of Using Smart Content Tools

How to Set Up Smart Content in HubSpot

Implementing smart content in HubSpot is straightforward, utilizing various rule categories and modules to tailor your content effectively.

Start by accessing the content editor in your HubSpot account. From there, you can choose to integrate smart rules into marketing emails, blog posts, landing pages, or website pages.

Adding Smart Content to a Landing Page

Here is your step-by-step guide to create new rules for your landing pages:

• In your HubSpot account go to Marketing > Landing Pages > Select any landing page > Edit.
• From the edit page menu on the left, under Content, select the module you want to display smartly.

• The module settings will open. The first option will be Smart Rules. For instance, edit the title content module to create smart content for it.

• Click Add. A "manage smart rules" window will open on the right-hand side. Select a srcategory from the dropdown menu to show dynamic content on the title. For example, choose Device Type.

• When you choose a category, you can create smart variations and add rules for different cases. Under Device Type, add variations of smart content based on Mobile, Desktop, and Tablet.

• Click Save after adding your smart rules. Now, on the sidebar on your left, you can edit smart content for the number of rules you have created. Edit each category as needed.

Good to know : To edit or add additional rules, click Manage Smart Rules on the sidebar editor.

• After saving changes, click Preview. When you choose a smart variation, the page editor shows the version of the page that those visitors will see.

Good to know : All smart modules that follow the same rule will show content from that smart variation.

You can also use anchor links to help your users find the right content in one click, you can follow my tutorial below to understand how to insert anchor links in HubSpot:

Smart Content Example

Customize Web Pages with Smart Content

Smart content enhances web pages by offering tailored experiences to various visitor segments, thus elevating engagement and the overall user experience.

Watch this step-by-step tutorial explaining how to custom website pages with smart content rules:

By leveraging cookies that are stored in a visitor’s browser, HubSpot is capable of recognizing users and presenting them with personalized content based on the user's query parameters.

Using these smart rules, you can customize your web pages to match each visitor's preferences, creating more engaging and relevant interactions.

Personalizing Calls-to-Action with Smart CTAs

Smart CTAs within HubSpot can improve user experience and drive targeted behaviors.

They adapt to user behavior and purchase journey stage, taking forms like buttons, banners, or pop-ups. CTA customization in HubSpot can be based on the following categories :

• Button Interactions
• Page Scrolling
• Exit Intent
• Time on Page
• Inactivity Periods

Smart CTAs ensure relevant and engaging interactions, boosting campaign results and engagement.

Implementing Smart Content in Forms

Smart content in forms enhances information gathering and lead nurturing by tailoring questions to visitor details.

Steps to Create Smart Forms:

• Go to your website or landing page editor.
• Set smart rules based on chosen criteria.
• Adjust forms or options per rule by adding smart content.
• Deploy your smart form.

Watch this video for a step-by-step guide to setting up your first smart form with smart variations :

Using smart content for forms ensures personalized inquiries based on pre-existing user data, enhancing user experience and data relevance.

Personalize Emails with Smart Content

Smart content in marketing emails customizes email messages based on specific contact data and behaviors. This personalized approach increases engagement and conversion rates by tailoring content to each recipient's preferences and interactions.

Personalizing Email Subject Lines :

• Go to Marketing > Email.
• Go to the Settings tab.

• Click "Add Smart Rule" in the subject line section.

• Select a rule type based on the smart categories

From the dropdown menu, add smart rule to marketing emails to personalize your emails subject line based on rule type - click create

• Create Variants: Design different subject lines for each segment.

Good to know : You can delete a previously saved smart rule by clicking the Trash icon next to the rule.

Watch this tutorial explaining how to use smart content in your marketing emails :

Benefits of Smart Content in Emails

• Increased Engagement: Personalized content captures attention.
• Higher Conversion Rates: Tailored messages improve conversion likelihood.
• Better Customer Experience: Relevant content enhances user satisfaction.
• Efficient Marketing: Automates personalization, ensuring consistent messaging.

Automating Personalized Emails with Workflows

Once you have crafted your personalized email with smart content, you can include it in a HubSpot workflow. This allows you to automate the sending process based on specific triggers, such as user actions or lifecycle stages. Automating this process ensures timely delivery and consistent engagement with your audience.

Here are 10 examples of workflows for your sales teams in HubSpot.