HubSpot Introduces Smart Content Reporting Page Performance Tools

In my previous role as an Account Executive at IMPACT, one of the most common questions clients had when going over website redesign mockups was “Can we make that section smart?”

For those that don’t know, this refers to HubSpot’s ability to add Smart Content into a website, meaning you can make “rules” for a particular section that will change based on the data the system has on who’s viewing the page. 

HubSpot explains the value of Smart Content as: 

“As visitors' experience with your company grows, their needs and interests change. Smart content enables you to nurture your leads by providing additional value every time they return to your site. With smart content, you can ensure your visitors are always seeing relevant offers (especially if you're working with different personas), rather than just static resources that aren't applicable to their goals.”

In other words, Smart Content ensures that your website is catered to each visitor's needs as they move through the buying cycle. For example, you can set it up so they won’t see the same offer twice, making each page is a new opportunity to expose them to new content or offers that move them to the next logical step in their journey. 

While the value is clear in theory — there was previously no easy way to monitor if enabling Smart Content was actually helping move visitors down the funnel. 

Sure, you could check overall page performance and monitor conversion rates before and after, but it was difficult to say for sure if a boost was due to Smart Content or other factors. 

Now, HubSpot has added in a report specifically designed to monitor just this. 

Its new Smart Content reporting feature enables marketers to evaluate page performance from the perspective of its Smart sections. 

These insights help marketers gain a clearer view of how Smart sections are impacting performance, if they should be changed, or if other website pages like it could benefit from Smart Content. 

How Does Smart Content Reporting Work? 

If you navigate to any page that has smart content enabled, you’ll see an additional tab labeled “Smart Content” in HubSpot’s backend. 

This report will show performance for both the default version of the page and the smart version. 

Just like other HubSpot reports, users can access data across a variety of timeframes and different page metrics (visits, click-throughs, submissions) to clearly see the impact the Smart Content is having. 

These metrics can show how many of your viewers actually fit the criteria for the Smart Content, and if the customized content is able to convert the visitor better than the static page content. 

Eventually, I’d like to see HubSpot expand this feature to show not only the difference between default and static, but also to allow you to dig deeper into the different variations of Smart Content for pages that have several rules in place.  

For now, this is still a huge update for marketers to truly see the payoff behind using Smart Content, and to provide the insights they need to determine if the current rules are working. 

Analytics Matter! 

In the digital marketing world, your strategy is only as strong as the analytics you have access to.

Even with the best tools at your fingertips, nothing should be approached with a “set it and forget it” mindset. 

In order to consistently improve, it's vital to monitor performance and use the data to make changes. 

Updates like this are so important for marketers to take a deep dive into site elements. There is so much going on on any given website page, so the ability to segment out specific items like this significantly improves insights you can use to inform your future strategies. 

Now that this feature is out, make sure you’re actively using it on any current or future Smart Content pages to determine if your efforts have the anticipated ROI.