How to Use Email Personalization Tokens in Hubspot

Personalizing your marketing emails in Hubspot is one of the most effective ways to increase engagement, improve click-through rates, and build stronger relationships with your contacts. By using personalization tokens correctly, you can dynamically insert data from contact, company, deal, ticket, and custom objects directly into your email content.

What Are Personalization Tokens in Hubspot?

In Hubspot, personalization tokens are dynamic placeholders that pull specific property values from your CRM records and display them in your email when it is sent. Instead of sending the same generic message to everyone, you can tailor each email based on data you already store in your database.

For example, you can address recipients by their first name, reference their company, or mention a deal stage without manually editing each email.

• Dynamic content: Tokens are replaced with real data at send time.
• Data sources: Contact, company, deal, ticket, subscription preferences, and custom objects.
• Use cases: Greetings, subject lines, body content, CTAs, and signatures.

Where You Can Use Personalization Tokens in Hubspot

You can insert personalization tokens in several parts of a marketing email in Hubspot, as long as those areas support rich text or subject line editing.

• Subject line and preview text
• Email body text blocks
• Rich text elements inside templates
• Simple text emails

Tokens are not supported in every email module type, so always confirm that a given module allows personalization before you rely on it in a key message.

How to Insert Personalization Tokens in the Hubspot Email Editor

Adding tokens in the drag-and-drop or classic editor in Hubspot follows a similar pattern. Below is a step-by-step overview based on the standard editor workflow.

Step 1: Open or Create a Marketing Email in Hubspot

1. Navigate to your Marketing → Email tool.
2. Create a new marketing email or edit an existing one.
3. Select the email type (regular, automated, or blog/RSS if applicable to your account).

Step 2: Choose the Email Area for Personalization

You can personalize both the subject line and the body content in Hubspot.

• Subject line: Use tokens to capture attention, such as including a first name.
• Body content: Add tokens within paragraphs, bullet lists, or CTAs.

Step 3: Insert a Token in the Subject Line

1. In the email editor, locate the subject line field.
2. Click the personalization icon (often represented by a person or token symbol).
3. Choose the object type, such as Contact or Company.
4. Select the property you want to insert, for example First name.
5. Optionally, set a default value in case the property is blank.
6. Apply changes and review the subject line for clarity and tone.

Step 4: Insert a Token in the Email Body

1. Click into a rich text module within your email template.
2. Place your cursor where the token should appear.
3. Click the Personalize or token icon.
4. Choose the CRM object and property (for example, Contact > First name or Company > Name).
5. Define a default value if necessary.
6. Insert the token and adjust surrounding text for natural flow.

Supported Personalization Sources in Hubspot

Hubspot enables personalization from a wide range of data sources. When you open the personalization menu, you will typically see the following categories:

• Contact properties: Names, email addresses, lifecycle stage, location, and custom contact fields.
• Company properties: Company name, domain, industry, size, and additional company-level properties.
• Deal properties: Deal name, amount, stage, and other deal-specific data. These are often used in sales or renewal emails.
• Ticket properties: Ticket status, ID, and other support-related fields for service communications.
• Subscription preferences: Properties related to subscription status and email preferences.
• Custom object properties: If your Hubspot account uses custom objects, you can reference those properties in eligible emails.

The availability of some sources may depend on your subscription level, configuration, and which email tool you are using inside Hubspot.

Using Default Values with Personalization in Hubspot

One of the most important best practices for personalization in Hubspot is setting default values for your tokens. If a contact or company does not have a value for a given property, Hubspot will fall back to the default so your email still makes sense.

How to Set a Default Value

1. When inserting a token, look for the default value field in the dialog box.
2. Enter a generic but friendly backup value, such as there for first names or your company for company names.
3. Confirm the default before saving the token.

Some property types also support global default values in Hubspot settings, which can be applied across different tools. You should review these settings if you rely heavily on personalization.

Examples of Smart Default Values

• Contact first name: Default to there or friend.
• Company name: Default to your business or your organization.
• Deal name: Default to your current deal or your project.

By defining thoughtful defaults, you avoid awkward gaps in your Hubspot emails such as “Hi ,” or “We appreciate working with .”

Previewing and Testing Personalization in Hubspot

Before you send a personalized email to your full list, always test it with real CRM records. Hubspot provides preview and test tools that let you see how tokens render for individual contacts.

Preview with Specific Contacts

1. In the email editor, click Preview.
2. Select the option to preview as a specific contact.
3. Search for and choose a contact from your database.
4. Review the subject line, header, and body to confirm tokens display correctly.

Send Test Emails

1. Use the Send test email feature within Hubspot.
2. Select one or more internal addresses for review.
3. Optionally, preview as a specific contact when sending the test.
4. Check all tokens in your inbox, including desktop and mobile views.

Testing helps you catch missing values, formatting issues, or incorrect properties before a large-scale send.

Best Practices for Email Personalization in Hubspot

Proper personalization in Hubspot should feel natural and respectful, not forced or overly intrusive. Follow these guidelines when building your campaigns.

• Use only reliable data: Choose properties that are consistently populated and accurate.
• Avoid over-personalization: Limit the number of tokens per email so your message doesn’t feel robotic.
• Keep tone conversational: Surround tokens with natural language that fits your brand voice.
• Monitor performance: Compare open and click rates between personalized and non-personalized emails.
• Respect consent: Ensure your personalization aligns with your contacts’ preferences and applicable regulations.

Learn More About Hubspot Email Personalization

For deeper technical details, examples, and up-to-date interface changes, review the official documentation on the Hubspot Knowledge Base: How to use email personalization tokens.

If you need strategic help designing conversion-focused email campaigns or broader CRM workflows, you can also explore expert consulting services at Consultevo, which specializes in advanced marketing operations and CRM optimization.

By combining accurate CRM data, thoughtful defaults, and rigorous testing, you can turn personalization tokens in Hubspot into a powerful tool for building more relevant and effective email campaigns.

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