How to Create High-Performing HubSpot Marketing Emails

Creating HubSpot marketing emails on a laptop.

Feeling overwhelmed by the sheer power (and complexity) of HubSpot? You’re not alone. HubSpot offers a robust suite of marketing tools, but mastering them can take time and effort. One of the most valuable features within HubSpot is its email marketing capabilities. This guide will break down everything you need to know about HubSpot marketing emails, providing a clear roadmap to creating, optimizing, and analyzing your email campaigns. From crafting killer subject lines to segmenting your audience and troubleshooting common technical issues, we'll cover it all. Get ready to unlock the full potential of HubSpot marketing emails and transform your email marketing strategy.

Key Takeaways

Maximize engagement with targeted HubSpot email campaigns: Craft compelling subject lines, personalize content, and optimize for mobile to resonate with your audience. HubSpot's automation and A/B testing tools empower you to refine your approach and boost results.
Data-driven insights are key to email marketing success: Track essential metrics like open rates, click-through rates, and conversions to understand campaign performance. Use this data to continuously improve your email content and targeting strategies.
Integrating HubSpot with your marketing ecosystem creates a powerful synergy: Connect with your CRM, social media, and landing pages for a unified brand experience. This integration streamlines your efforts and drives better engagement and conversions. For complex email operations, consider specialized support from providers like ScaledMail.

What are HubSpot Marketing Emails?

HubSpot marketing emails live under the marketing dropdown in your HubSpot portal. They’re designed for one-to-many communication, like newsletters or promotional blasts, where a single message goes out to numerous recipients. Think of them as your digital loudspeaker for announcements, offers, and keeping in touch with your audience. HubSpot even offers free email marketing tools to help you create professional-looking emails without needing a designer or tech whiz.

Definition and Purpose

HubSpot marketing emails are your go-to for building relationships with prospects and customers at scale. They’re perfect for lead nurturing campaigns, sharing valuable content, promoting new products or services, and driving traffic to your website. Essentially, they help you stay top-of-mind and guide your audience toward a purchase. You can use them to send targeted messages based on demographics, behavior, and lifecycle stage, ensuring the right message reaches the right person at the right time.

How HubSpot Marketing Emails Differ

It’s important to distinguish HubSpot marketing emails from sales emails. While both live within HubSpot, they serve distinct purposes. Marketing emails are for broad communication, often sent from a marketing email server and may include a “from a list” label. Sales emails, on the other hand, are for one-on-one communication, even when automated through sequences. They’re designed to feel more personal, coming from an individual's inbox, and are typically used for direct outreach and follow-up. Understanding this difference is key to using HubSpot effectively and maximizing your email marketing efforts.

Create Effective Marketing Emails in HubSpot

Creating effective marketing emails in HubSpot involves understanding the platform's tools and features and how to use them strategically. Let's break down the process:

Use the Drag-and-Drop Editor

HubSpot's drag-and-drop email editor simplifies creating marketing emails. This intuitive editor lets you easily add, remove, and rearrange elements like text, images, and calls to action. Available on most HubSpot subscriptions, the drag-and-drop functionality makes email creation accessible, regardless of your technical skills. You don't need coding experience to build professional-looking emails.

Customize Templates & Incorporate Branding

HubSpot offers a library of pre-designed email templates within the drag-and-drop editor. You can search or filter these templates to find one that aligns with your campaign goals. Customize your chosen template to reflect your brand. The "Styles" tab lets you adjust fonts, colors, and spacing for sections or individual elements, ensuring your emails maintain consistent branding.

Understand Email Size Limits

While crafting your email, keep in mind email size. Gmail may clip emails exceeding 102KB. This means recipients won't see your full message. By keeping your HubSpot marketing emails within the size limit, you ensure your content is fully visible. Consider optimizing image sizes and streamlining your content to stay within this limit.

Key Features to Enhance Email Campaigns

HubSpot offers several key features that can significantly improve your email marketing results. Let's explore some of the most impactful ones:

Automate Your Emails

Automation is a game-changer in email marketing. Think beyond simple welcome emails. With HubSpot, you can create sophisticated automated workflows, also known as drip campaigns. These campaigns deliver a series of targeted emails based on specific triggers or subscriber actions. For example, you could set up a nurture campaign that sends valuable content to leads over time, guiding them toward a purchase. You can also automate internal notifications so your sales team receives an alert when a lead engages with a specific email, allowing for timely follow-up. This personalized, automated approach can dramatically improve your lead nurturing and conversion rates. Learn more about HubSpot workflows.

A/B Test Your Emails

Not sure which subject line will grab your audience's attention? Or whether a button or a text link will generate more clicks? A/B testing lets you experiment with different versions of your emails to see what resonates best with your specific audience. Test one element at a time, like your subject line, call to action, or email content, to pinpoint what drives the highest open and click-through rates. HubSpot makes A/B testing easy, providing clear data on which version performed better, so you can continuously optimize your campaigns. Start A/B testing your emails today.

Personalize Your Emails

Generic emails often end up in the trash. Personalization is key to capturing your audience's attention. HubSpot allows you to personalize your emails using customer data, such as their name, company, or past purchase history. This makes your emails feel more relevant and engaging. Instead of a generic "Dear Customer," address your subscribers by name and tailor the content to their specific interests or needs. This personal touch can significantly increase your open and click-through rates, as subscribers are more likely to engage with emails that feel specifically crafted for them. Explore HubSpot's personalization options.

Analyze and Report on Your Emails

Data is essential for understanding what's working and what's not in your email marketing efforts. HubSpot provides robust analytics and reporting tools that give you insights into key metrics like open rates, click-through rates, and conversions. By tracking these metrics, you can identify trends, spot areas for improvement, and measure the overall success of your email campaigns. Use this data to refine your email content, subject lines, and targeting strategies for future campaigns. Check out HubSpot's reporting tools.

Optimize HubSpot Marketing Emails for Engagement

Once you’ve built your email in HubSpot, it’s time to optimize it for engagement. After all, what good is a beautifully designed email if no one opens it? This section covers four key areas to focus on to create emails that resonate with your audience.

Write Compelling Subject Lines

Your subject line is the first impression, so make it count. Think concise and specific, clearly conveying the email's value. Instead of a generic "Monthly Newsletter," try something like "New Product Launch: The Widget You've Been Waiting For!" A/B testing your subject lines helps determine what resonates best with your audience. Start with a few variations and track which ones yield higher open rates. Then, incorporate those learnings into your future campaigns. This HubSpot article offers additional tips for writing catchy subject lines. Remember, a compelling subject line is the gateway to getting your email read.

Write Engaging Content

Keeping your content fresh and engaging is an ongoing challenge. Focus on providing value to your readers. Think about what problems they face and how your content can offer solutions. Use storytelling to connect with your audience on an emotional level. And don’t be afraid to experiment with different content formats, like videos or GIFs, to keep things interesting. For more tips on launching successful email marketing campaigns, check out this HubSpot guide.

Optimize for Mobile

With so many people checking email on their phones, optimizing for mobile is non-negotiable. A clean, focused design is essential. Avoid cluttered layouts that can be difficult to read on smaller screens. Make sure your call to action (CTA) is prominent and easily accessible. Test your emails on different devices to ensure they render correctly and provide a seamless user experience, regardless of screen size. For further best practices, take a look at this HubSpot Community post.

Time Your Emails Effectively

Timing is everything when it comes to email marketing. Sending your emails at the right time can significantly impact your open and click-through rates. Consider your audience's time zone and typical online behavior. Experiment with different send times to see what works best. HubSpot allows you to adjust send times based on recipient time zones, which can improve deliverability. This HubSpot Knowledge Base article explains how to adjust send times. Don't be afraid to tweak your strategy as you gather more data about your audience's engagement patterns.

Segment and Manage Your Email List

Smart email marketers know that managing their email list isn’t just about collecting addresses—it’s about understanding your audience. Segmenting helps you send the right message to the right person at the right time, which is key for better engagement and conversions.

Why Segment Your Audience?

Think about it: you wouldn’t send the same email to a brand-new subscriber as you would to a loyal customer. Segmenting your contact list allows you to tailor your messaging, making your emails more relevant and engaging. This targeted approach leads to higher open rates, click-through rates, and ultimately, better results from your campaigns. Generic blasts often end up in the spam folder, but personalized emails feel more like a 1:1 conversation. For example, a welcome email series for new subscribers could offer a discount code, while a targeted email to loyal customers might showcase new arrivals or exclusive offers.

How to Segment Your List

HubSpot offers a ton of ways to segment your audience. You can group contacts based on demographics (like location or industry), behavior (like past purchases or website activity), or engagement level (like email opens and clicks). For example, you could create a segment of customers who have purchased a specific product and send them targeted emails about related items or accessories. This personalized approach strengthens customer relationships and encourages repeat purchases. Or, you could segment by lead source and tailor your messaging based on how they initially interacted with your brand. A lead who downloaded a specific resource might receive a follow-up email with more relevant content, nurturing them further down the sales funnel.

Exclude Unengaged Contacts

While growing your list is important, maintaining a healthy list is crucial. Over time, some subscribers will naturally become less engaged with your emails. Maybe they’ve moved on to a different role or their interests have changed. Sending emails to unengaged contacts can hurt your email deliverability and negatively impact your sender reputation. After you’ve sent a few campaigns, identify those inactive subscribers and exclude them from future sends. This keeps your list clean and ensures you’re focusing your efforts on those who are genuinely interested in what you have to offer. Regularly cleaning your list also improves your email metrics, providing a more accurate picture of your engaged audience.

Analyze and Improve Email Performance

After you’ve launched your email campaigns, the next step is to analyze performance. Consistent monitoring helps you understand what resonates with your audience and what needs tweaking. This data-driven approach is key to improving your results over time.

Track Key Metrics

Keep a close eye on these essential metrics to gauge the effectiveness of your HubSpot marketing emails:

Open rate: This measures how many people opened your email. A low open rate might indicate issues with your subject lines or sending times. Experiment with different subject line styles and test sending your emails at various times.
Click-through rate (CTR): CTR shows how many recipients clicked a link within your email. If your CTR is low, revise your call to action or the placement of links. Make sure your email copy clearly explains the value of clicking through.
Conversion rate: This metric tracks how many recipients completed a desired action, such as filling out a form or making a purchase. A low conversion rate could point to friction in your conversion process or a disconnect between your email content and the landing page experience.
Bounce rate: Your bounce rate tells you how many emails weren’t delivered. A high bounce rate can hurt your sender reputation and impact deliverability. Regularly clean your email list and verify email addresses to keep your bounce rate low. HubSpot’s marketing email settings allow you to track these metrics automatically.

Interpret Campaign Data

Once you’ve gathered data on your key metrics, analyze it and draw actionable insights. Look for patterns and trends. For example, do certain subject lines consistently lead to higher open rates? Do emails sent on specific days perform better? A/B testing is valuable for understanding what resonates with your audience. Experiment with different versions of your emails, testing elements like subject lines, calls to action, and email content. HubSpot allows you to choose the winning metric (open rate, click rate, or click-through rate) and set the test duration, making it easy to identify what works best. You can test different versions of your email content within the classic editor.

Refine Future Campaigns

Use your insights to refine your future email campaigns. If a particular subject line performed well in your A/B test, incorporate it into your upcoming campaigns. If a certain call to action resulted in higher click-through rates, use it more frequently. Continuously optimizing your emails based on data will lead to better engagement and improved results. Remember, email marketing is an iterative process. Testing and refinement are crucial for maximizing the effectiveness of your HubSpot marketing emails. Don’t be afraid to experiment. By analyzing your data and making adjustments, you can create highly effective email campaigns that drive results.

Email Marketing Compliance and Best Practices

Staying compliant and following best practices is essential for a strong sender reputation and ensuring your emails reach your audience. This section covers the key things you need to know.

Understand CAN-SPAM & GDPR

Navigating email regulations can feel overwhelming, but understanding the basics of CAN-SPAM (in the US) and GDPR (in Europe) is a great starting point. CAN-SPAM requires a clear unsubscribe method in every email and displaying your physical mailing address. GDPR focuses on data privacy and requires explicit consent from European subscribers before sending marketing emails. Make sure your signup forms clearly explain what subscribers are opting into. For example, instead of a generic "Sign up for updates," try "Sign up to receive weekly product updates and special offers."

Manage Subscriber Preferences

Giving subscribers control over their email preferences is a win-win. It keeps them happy and helps you maintain a more engaged list. HubSpot’s list segmentation tools let subscribers choose what they want to receive. For example, let them select specific product categories or choose their preferred email frequency. This control leads to higher engagement and fewer unsubscribes. Consider offering options like "Weekly Newsletter," "Monthly Product Updates," or "Special Offers Only."

Maintain a Healthy Email List

Regularly cleaning your email list keeps things healthy and thriving. Remove inactive subscribers who haven’t engaged with your emails in a while. Tracking your email campaign metrics in HubSpot helps you identify these unengaged contacts. While it might seem counterintuitive to remove subscribers, it improves your deliverability and sender reputation. Email providers are more likely to deliver your emails to the inbox when they see high engagement. A smaller, more active list is far more valuable than a large, inactive one. Think of it like spring cleaning for your email list—it makes room for new, engaged subscribers.

Common HubSpot Email Challenges and Solutions

Even with a powerful platform like HubSpot, email marketers run into common challenges. Let's explore some roadblocks and how to overcome them.

Fix Deliverability Problems

Common challenges, like spam filters and a competitive inbox, can prevent your emails from reaching your target audience. A primary culprit is often a poor sender reputation. Think of it like a credit score for your email—a lower score means email providers are less likely to trust you, affecting your email deliverability. Maintaining a clean email list is crucial. Regularly remove inactive subscribers and those who consistently mark your emails as spam. Authenticating your domain through methods like SPF and DKIM helps verify your identity to email providers, increasing the likelihood of your emails landing in the inbox. Services like ScaledMail offer dedicated email infrastructure to improve deliverability for high-volume senders. Finally, consistently monitoring your sender reputation through tools and feedback loops allows you to address potential issues proactively.

Improve Low Open & Click-Through Rates

Creating fresh, engaging content for your email campaigns can be tough. Repetitive or uninteresting emails lead to audience fatigue and low engagement. Segmenting your audience allows you to tailor content to specific interests and needs, making your emails more relevant. HubSpot offers robust list segmentation tools to help with this. Personalizing your emails beyond simply including the recipient's name can significantly boost engagement. Consider incorporating personalized product recommendations, relevant content based on past behavior, or tailored offers. A/B testing subject lines and email content helps you understand what resonates best with your audience. For advanced email marketing strategies, explore ScaledMail's blog for insights on optimizing your campaigns.

Resolve Technical Glitches

HubSpot's extensive features, while powerful, can sometimes lead to confusion and technical issues, especially for larger teams or complex workflows. Regularly training your team on HubSpot's best practices and new features can prevent common mistakes. Take advantage of HubSpot's support resources, including their knowledge base, community forums, and direct support channels, to troubleshoot problems quickly. For high-volume or complex email operations, consider partnering with email infrastructure providers like ScaledMail for specialized support and custom solutions. Book a consultation to discuss optimizing your HubSpot email setup and address technical challenges.

Integrate HubSpot Marketing Emails with Other Tools

HubSpot isn’t a standalone tool. It’s designed to bring your marketing efforts together. Connecting your HubSpot marketing emails with your CRM, social media, and landing pages creates a unified and effective strategy.

Integrate with CRM

Your customer relationship management (CRM) system is a goldmine of customer data. Integrating HubSpot with your CRM lets you personalize email campaigns based on past interactions, purchase history, and other valuable insights. This targeted approach ensures your messages resonate with each recipient, leading to higher engagement and conversion rates. HubSpot’s own CRM is a popular choice, offering seamless integration with its marketing tools.

Connect to Social Media

Extend the reach of your email campaigns by connecting them to your social media platforms. Sharing your emails on social media can attract a wider audience and drive traffic back to your website. This cross-promotion creates a consistent brand experience and reinforces your marketing messages. HubSpot offers tools and features to streamline this process, making it easy to share your email content across multiple channels. For more information about social media and HubSpot, check out this blog post by Amura Tech.

Sync with Landing Pages

Creating dedicated landing pages for your email campaigns is crucial for converting leads into customers. Ensure a seamless user experience by syncing your HubSpot emails with relevant landing pages. When recipients click through from your email, they should land on a page that directly addresses the message's content. This focused approach minimizes distractions and encourages conversions. If you’re looking for more information about using HubSpot, including landing page creation, take a look at this helpful article by Blue Sparq Marketing.

Frequently Asked Questions

What's the main difference between HubSpot marketing emails and sales emails?

HubSpot marketing emails are for broader communication, like newsletters or promotions, sent to many recipients at once. They're your tool for announcements and keeping in touch with your audience. Sales emails, however, are for direct, one-on-one communication with prospects and customers, focusing on individual conversations and follow-ups.

How can I make my HubSpot marketing emails stand out in a crowded inbox?

Focus on personalization and relevance. Segment your audience to send targeted messages based on their interests and behavior. Craft compelling subject lines that grab attention and clearly communicate the email's value. And don't forget to optimize for mobile to ensure your emails look great on any device.

What are some easy ways to improve my email open and click-through rates?

A/B test different subject lines to see what resonates best with your audience. Experiment with sending times to optimize for maximum engagement. Make sure your email content is valuable and engaging, addressing your audience's needs and pain points. And always include a clear and compelling call to action.

What's the best way to manage my HubSpot email list for optimal performance?

Regularly segment your list based on demographics, behavior, and engagement level. This allows you to send more targeted and relevant emails. Just as important, clean your list by removing inactive subscribers. This improves your sender reputation and deliverability, ensuring your emails reach the inboxes of those who want to hear from you.

How can I ensure my HubSpot marketing emails are compliant with regulations like CAN-SPAM and GDPR?

Always include a clear and easy-to-find unsubscribe link in every email. Obtain explicit consent from European subscribers before sending marketing emails. Be transparent about how you collect and use subscriber data. And display your physical mailing address in your emails to comply with CAN-SPAM requirements.