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Crafting Dynamic Email Hero Images in HubSpot: A Developer's Guide

Crafting Dynamic Email Hero Images in HubSpot: A Developer's Guide

Creating engaging email templates that display perfectly on any device is a constant challenge for marketers. In the world of HubSpot, where seamless integration between your CRM, Sales Hub, and marketing efforts is key, ensuring your emails are visually appealing and responsive is crucial. One common issue is implementing dynamic hero images that adapt to different screen sizes, especially within HubSpot's email templates. Let's dive into a recent HubSpot Community discussion about this very topic and explore some solutions, providing a comprehensive guide for HubSpot users and store operators.

As more businesses look to enhance their online presence, the need for robust e-commerce solutions is growing. Whether you're using HubSpot's built-in storefront capabilities or integrating with platforms like Magento, having visually appealing and responsive emails is essential for driving sales and engaging customers. This post will help you build effective email templates that work across all devices.

The Challenge: Dynamic Hero Images in HubSpot Emails

The original poster in the HubSpot Community thread wanted to create a custom email template in HubSpot with a dynamic hero image. The goal was to have the image, background size, padding, and other properties adjust based on whether the email was viewed on a mobile device or a desktop computer. They were using a custom module to control these settings but were struggling to get the mobile field values to export to the larger template. This is a common challenge when trying to create truly responsive emails within HubSpot's ecosystem.

Specifically, the poster was running into issues accessing the mobile field values outside of the custom module, despite attempting to use export_to_template_context true and content.widgets as outlined in the HubSpot documentation. They were looking for a way to make the mobile overrides customizable within the HubSpot UI, ensuring that marketers could easily adjust the hero image for different devices.

Solutions from the HubSpot Community

Several community members chimed in with helpful suggestions, offering different approaches to tackle this problem.

Suggestion 1: Accessing Module Data with widget_data

One respondent suggested ensuring that the module data was being declared before attempting to access it in the head tag. They recommended using widget_data when accessing data from modules declared in the code on the page. This approach allows you to inspect the data available from the module and understand how to access the specific fields you need.

{{ widget_data.module_17708247515436|pprint }}

The pprint filter is particularly useful for debugging, as it allows you to print out the entire data structure of the module, making it easier to identify the correct path to the desired values. This is especially helpful when working with complex custom modules.

Suggestion 2: Embedding CSS Directly within the Module

Another community member provided a code snippet demonstrating how to embed the CSS directly within the custom module using {% require_css %} tags. This approach allows you to define different styles for mobile and desktop within the module itself, keeping the responsive styling encapsulated within the module.

{% require_css %}
   
{% end_require_css %}

This method leverages media queries within the CSS to apply different styles based on the screen size. By defining the mobile and desktop styles within the same module, you can ensure that the hero image adapts seamlessly to different devices.

However, it's important to note that the {% require_css %} tag might not work directly within drag-and-drop email templates. In such cases, you might need to create a separate module containing just the CSS and include it in the tag of your email template. Alternatively, you could add the plain CSS to the head and work with widget_data, but using a custom module is often easier for both developers and content editors.

Best Practices for Dynamic Hero Images in HubSpot Emails

Based on the community discussion and our experience with online shop creator tools and platforms like squarespace ecommerce website builder, here are some best practices for implementing dynamic hero images in HubSpot emails:

  • Plan your responsive design: Before you start coding, sketch out how you want your hero image to look on different devices. Consider the image size, padding, and other properties that might need to adjust.
  • Use custom modules: Custom modules provide the flexibility you need to create truly dynamic email templates. They allow you to encapsulate the logic and styling for your hero image in a reusable component.
  • Leverage media queries: Use media queries within your CSS to apply different styles based on the screen size. This is the key to creating responsive email designs.
  • Test your emails: Always test your emails on different devices and email clients to ensure that the hero image displays correctly. HubSpot provides tools for previewing your emails on different devices.
  • Optimize images: Optimize your hero images for the web to ensure that they load quickly and don't slow down your emails. Use tools like TinyPNG to compress your images without sacrificing quality.

Conclusion

Creating dynamic hero images in HubSpot emails can be a challenging but rewarding task. By leveraging custom modules, media queries, and the insights from the HubSpot Community, you can create engaging and responsive email templates that drive results. Remember to plan your responsive design, test your emails thoroughly, and optimize your images for the web. By following these best practices, you can ensure that your emails look great on any device and help you achieve your marketing goals. As you refine your HubSpot strategy, consider how a robust CRM, like one integrated with CRM Magento, can further enhance your customer engagement and sales processes.

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