Personalisation is the key to marketing success. In fact, customers have come to expect the vendors they purchase from to streamline the buyer's journey according to their past interactions with the business. 

Organisations that leverage their customer relationship (CRM) system for smart automation are able to establish and build positive rapport with their prospects and customers through targeted content strategies and on-point lead nurture campaigns. 

If personalised marketing hasn't featured in your strategy before, now is the time to ensure that you take advantage of the tools available to you —— it's a key differentiator for businesses looking to thrive in 2023 and beyond. 

A 2022 global survey revealed that 62 per cent of participants would not be loyal to a brand if it did not deliver a personalised experience. 

The good news is, if you have HubSpot Marketing Professional or Enterprise, you already have one of the most powerful personalisation tools in your arsenal. You are ready to launch workflows that utilise smart CTAs, forms, emails, website pages and rich text modules on landing pages. In this article, we discuss what HubSpot smart content rules are and how you can use this tool to personalise your marketing. 

 

What is HubSpot Smart Content?

HubSpot Smart Content is an adaptive tool. It changes the website or ads depending on the past behaviour of the viewer or client, offering your client a more personalised experience than static content. The tool is called "smart" because the website's content is altered in real-time. Your lead or customer could be interacting with a particular content asset on your website or receiving an email; what they see and the message that's delivered to them will be dependent on previous actions and steps they've taken as they've explored your website or interacted with your business.

Smart modules are crucial in showing your clients the right services and goods and muting messages that are distracting or irrelevant to them. The modules use the visitor's details to alter the website. These details include language, location, device type, demographic, and referral source.

Quick start to the Smart Content feature in HubSpot:

  1. 1 - Log in to your HubSpot account.

  2. 2 - In the main navigation menu, click on "Marketing".

  3. 3 - Click on "Website Pages" or "Landing Pages".

  4. 4 - Select a page you would like to add smart content to and click "Edit".

  5. 5 - In the page editor, select an image or text module you'd like to variate according to a specific type of visitor.

  6. 6 - In the editor panel on the left-hand side, look for the "Smart rules" option and click "+ Add".

  7. 7 - Select a category from the drop-down menu.

Note: You must have access to the Marketing Hub Professional or Enterprise in order to use the Smart Content feature.

 

Understanding HubSpot Smart Rule Categories

HubSpot Smart Rules help you to truly personalise your website. Once you've decided which buyer persona or audience to target, you can customise the smart rules and segmentation criteria to ensure your website adapts effectively for these particular leads or customers.

The next step is to decide which elements need to be personalised and where they are positioned on your website. Not everything will need personalisation effects. Save yourself time and resources by structuring your content in ways that create space for interchangeable elements based on a visitor's behaviour. Also, consider how you will track and analyse performance. Below, we list the smart rule categories you can leverage for personalisation.

  •  - Lifecycle stage: Utilise your knowledge of the lead's lifecycle stage to target them with content that will drive a purchasing decision if they're in the decision stage.

  •  - Ad source: If you're running an ad campaign, you can show visitors different content based on whether they clicked an ad or came to your website via a different route.

  •  - Country and language: Use the visitor's IP address to show content based on geographic location.

  •  - List membership: If users in your HubSpot CRM visit your website, you can give them a tailored experience according to their list category.

  •  - Device type: Create a seamless user experience (UX) regardless of the type of device the customer/lead is using to access your website. You can segment your audience based on whether the visitor is viewing your pages from a mobile device, tablet or desktop.

  •  - Referral source: Depending on how the user got to your website ( ad campaign, backlink or search engine ), you can provide a personalised experience based on the path they took.

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  • Use cases for HubSpot Smart Content

The HubSpot Smart Content feature has multiple uses and applications in the personalisation of websites. With effective segmentation, you can use your lead or customer's behaviour, actions and attributes to show them customised content that speeds up conversion and offers convenience on a whole new level. We've highlighted some use cases that may be valuable for your business: 

  •  - Call-to-action (CTA): Nudge customers along the buyer's journey by showing them the next relevant CTA that will bring them closer to taking a desired action. For example, if your lead has viewed an awareness piece of content and they return to a particular page, you want the next CTA they see to move them into the consideration stage. For example, if that customer has yet to purchase from you, you can show them a CTA that invites them to view a demo. If they've already made a purchase, you can use a CTA that prompts them for a review or a testimonial.

  •  - Tailored landing pages: Change your landing page's headline or text body according to the information you know about the visitor. If they've had a tracking cookie placed on their browser, they should be able to view a landing page with a message that targets their industry, for example, or even a known pain point. 

  •  - Mobile CTAs and forms: If your visitor is viewing your website from a mobile device, it may be more effective to create simple, readable CTAs that fit the mobile experience. The same applies to forms. If the visitor is on a mobile device and you'd like to sign up for something, make it as easy as possible by only displaying minimalist forms that suit their device type.

  •  - Unique chatbot conversations: Customise your chatbot conversations according to a visitor's responses. You can also switch up your chatbots based on how a visitor has engaged with your website in the past. If they've downloaded an ebook before, the chatbot can recommend the next suitable content offer.

  •  - Country-specific content: If your website's visitors come from different countries where you have to display pricing in the currency they use, smart content rules can help you ensure that the price the customer sees is applicable to them.

  •  - Automate email personalisation: HubSpot rules-based smart content can be targeted to specific contact lists where everything from the subject line to the content and images in the email are adapted to speak to the recipient's buyer's history, job title, lifecycle stage and more. This is a great time saver, and a fantastic way to keep your campaigns and nurture workflows organised and simplified.

  •  - Superior workflows: In the past, you may have had to build multiple complex workflows to cater to different personas. Now, you can simply add smart content rules to the copy or subject line of your emails and deliver personalised messages all from the same workflow.

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  • Use cases for HubSpot Smart Content

    • 1 - Be specific: Create targeted rules to show the right content to the right audience. Avoid generic or broad rules that show the same content to everyone.

    • 2 - Keep it simple: Stick to a small number of rules, and don't make them overly complicated. This will help you avoid confusion and errors.

    • 3 - Test your rules: Regularly test your rules to ensure that they're working as intended and that the right content is being shown to the right people.

    • 4 - Use clear and descriptive labels: Label your rules with descriptive and meaningful names, so you can quickly understand what each rule does.

    • 5 - Use a logical order: Order your rules in a logical manner so that the most specific rule is evaluated first.

    • 6 - Be mindful of cookies: Be mindful of how your rules are using cookies and how they might affect the user experience.

    • 7 - Regularly review and optimise: Regularly review and optimise your rules to ensure that they continue to perform well and deliver the desired results.

    • 8 - Collaborate with others: Collaborate with others in your team, especially if you have multiple people creating and managing rules. This will help ensure consistency and prevent errors.

    Conclusion

    HubSpot Smart Content is a mighty tool for your marketing website when leveraged correctly. Its tools dynamically change your website's user experience, delighting old and new customers. Most customers and clients want satisfying and exceptional brand experiences, and HubSpot ensures this is possible.

    Marketers can show the right content to the right people at the right time, based on factors such as location, device, and behaviour. This leads to increased engagement and conversions and can result in a higher return on investment for their marketing efforts.

    And let's not forget that a huge benefit of HubSpot is its ability to help you attribute results to your efforts. You can track and measure the performance of your marketing campaigns and demonstrate how personalisation has helped to enhance your targeting and conversion.

    If you already have HubSpot or are on your way to implementing this world-class solution for your business, our exclusive HubSpot onboarding and tailored consultation services can help to educate you and your team on the best ways to implement smart content rules, along with many of the other exciting features you'll find in your HubSpot CRM. Have a quick chat with us today to determine where we may be helpful to you and your team. 

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