Elevate Your Online Sales Website: Advanced Personalization with HubSpot App Objects & Events

Hey there, ESHOPMAN readers! As your friendly HubSpot and e-commerce experts, we're constantly diving into the HubSpot Community to see what challenges our fellow users are tackling. It's a goldmine of real-world scenarios, and today, we're unpacking a really insightful discussion about leveraging HubSpot App Objects and App Event data in emails.

This is a topic that hits home for anyone running an online store or managing customer interactions within HubSpot, especially when you're trying to deliver highly personalized experiences. Let's dig into what one community member brought up.

The Dilemma: App Object Data in Emails

The original poster in the HubSpot Community had a great question that many of you might relate to. They were exploring the use of App Objects and App Events – a powerful way to extend HubSpot's CRM with custom data relevant to your specific business, like detailed order information from a store builder online or unique customer interactions within a custom portal. Their HubSpot App Partner representative had suggested that specific field values from an associated App Object or App Event could be used directly in workflows and as personalization tokens in emails.

Sounds fantastic, right? Imagine sending an email to a customer with highly specific details about a product they viewed, a service they inquired about, or a custom status update from your integrated fulfillment app. This level of personalization is crucial for modern e-commerce and building strong customer relationships.

However, as they started developing, they hit a snag. It appeared that this functionality was indeed possible, but only via custom email tokens, which is a feature exclusive to HubSpot Marketing Enterprise. This led to their core question: Is this truly a limitation? And if so, what are the workarounds for those not on the Enterprise tier?

Understanding the Core Limitation: Custom Email Tokens

The community discussion quickly highlighted the reality: direct access to App Object and App Event properties as standard personalization tokens within HubSpot emails is indeed a feature primarily available to Marketing Enterprise users through custom email tokens. These tokens allow developers to pull data from virtually any connected object or external source, process it, and display it dynamically in an email.

For businesses looking to create online sales website experiences that are truly bespoke, this can seem like a significant hurdle. If your e-commerce platform integrates with HubSpot via App Objects to store detailed order data, product preferences, or loyalty points, being able to directly reference these in your marketing and transactional emails is a game-changer for personalization. Without it, you might feel limited to generic "Hello [First Name]" messages rather than "Your recent order for [Product Name] is now [Order Status]."

But don't despair! While the direct path might be exclusive, there are robust strategies and workarounds that even non-Enterprise users can employ to achieve a high level of personalization.

Strategic Workarounds for Enhanced Personalization

Even if you're not on HubSpot Marketing Enterprise, you can still leverage your App Object and App Event data to power highly personalized email campaigns. The key lies in strategic data flow and workflow automation.

1. Syncing App Object Data to Contact Properties

This is arguably the most common and effective workaround. HubSpot's standard personalization tokens primarily draw from Contact, Company, Deal, and Ticket properties. If you can get the crucial data from your App Objects or App Events onto a Contact record, you can use it in any email.

• How it works: When an App Object is created or updated (e.g., a new order is placed, a product is viewed), use a HubSpot workflow (triggered by the App Event or App Object update) to copy specific property values from that App Object onto corresponding custom properties on the associated Contact record.
• Example:
  • Your ESHOPMAN storefront creates an "Order" App Object with properties like order_total, last_product_purchased, and order_status.
  • Set up a HubSpot workflow that triggers when a new "Order" App Object is associated with a Contact.
  • In the workflow, use the "Copy property value" action to copy order_total to a custom Contact property called "Last Order Total," last_product_purchased to "Last Purchased Product," and order_status to "Recent Order Status."
  • Now, in your emails, you can use standard personalization tokens like {{ contact.last_order_total }}, {{ contact.last_purchased_product }}, and {{ contact.recent_order_status }}.
• Considerations: This requires careful planning of custom Contact properties and ensuring your workflows are robust enough to handle data updates in a timely manner. It also means some data duplication, but the benefit of personalization often outweighs this.

2. Leveraging Workflows for Conditional Email Content

While you might not be able to pull every single App Object property directly into a token, you can use App Object and App Event data to segment your audience and deliver highly specific emails through workflow branching.

• How it works: Design workflows that use "If/Then" branches based on App Object or App Event property values. Each branch can lead to a different email template or a different version of an email module.
• Example:
  • A customer abandons a cart (triggered by an App Event).
  • In your workflow, check the "Cart Value" property from the associated App Object.
  • If "Cart Value" is > $100, send an email with a 15% discount code.
  • If "Cart Value" is < $100, send an email with a 10% discount code.
  • This allows for dynamic content without direct tokens, ensuring relevant offers based on specific App Object data.
• Considerations: This can lead to more complex workflows and a larger number of email templates or modules, but it offers immense flexibility for targeted messaging.

3. Utilizing Custom Modules in HubSpot Pages and Knowledge Base Articles

While not directly for emails, if your goal is to display App Object data to customers, consider using custom modules on HubSpot-hosted pages or within knowledge base articles. These modules can be built by developers to fetch and display App Object data dynamically for the logged-in user.

• How it works: A custom module can use the HubSpot APIs to query App Object data associated with the current visitor (if they are a known contact). This data can then be rendered on the page.
• Example: A customer logs into a portal on your "build your own website with shopping cart" solution. A custom module displays their "Order History" by querying associated "Order" App Objects.
• Considerations: This requires development resources and is best for displaying data on web pages rather than directly in emails.

Hello {{ contact.firstname }},
We noticed your recent order for {{ contact.last_purchased_product }} had a total of {{ contact.last_order_total }}.
The current status of your order is: {{ contact.recent_order_status }}.

The ESHOPMAN Advantage: Simplifying E-commerce Integrations

At ESHOPMAN, we understand the critical role that seamless data flow plays in modern e-commerce. Our platform is designed to help you create online sales website experiences that are deeply integrated with HubSpot, making it easier to manage your App Objects and App Events. We streamline the process of syncing crucial e-commerce data into HubSpot, enabling you to leverage these workarounds with less manual effort or custom coding.

Whether you're looking to automate abandoned cart sequences, send personalized order updates, or segment your customers based on their purchase history, ESHOPMAN empowers you to connect your storefront data directly with HubSpot's powerful marketing and sales tools. This means you can focus on growing your business, rather than wrestling with complex data synchronization challenges.

Conclusion: Personalization is Within Reach

The original poster's question in the HubSpot Community highlighted a common challenge for businesses striving for advanced personalization. While custom email tokens for direct App Object property access are a Marketing Enterprise feature, the good news is that powerful workarounds exist for all HubSpot tiers.

By strategically syncing App Object data to Contact properties via workflows, or by using App Event data to drive conditional content, you can still achieve a high level of personalization in your emails. This ensures that every message you send is relevant, timely, and impactful, helping you build stronger customer relationships and drive more sales for your online store.

Keep exploring, keep integrating, and remember that ESHOPMAN is here to help you maximize your HubSpot and e-commerce potential!