From Setup to Scale: How WeSimplifi Helped an EV Startup Unlock the True Power

1. Case Study Driving Personalised Marketing for Electric Cars Using HubSpot’s Advanced Capabilities

2. Marketplace Context Online marketplaces are now central to how we buy, sell, and discover. From real estate and cars to niche products and services, they bring buyers and sellers together in one convenient place. Whether it's browsing properties, finding a second-hand vehicle, or comparing product listings, the goal is the same, to create a seamless digital experience that connects people with what they need. Although every marketplace is different, they all share a common challenge: how to understand visitor behaviour and turn that insight into meaningful engagement. This case study looks at an online marketplace for electric cars, but the same approach can be applied to any product or platform that relies on bringing people together in a digital environment.

3. Introduction The client, an online marketplace for electric cars, aimed to enhance user experience and drive higher conversion rates by building a personalised online marketplace. They wanted to leverage HubSpot’s capabilities to dynamically personalise customer content and increase conversion rates through tailored marketing efforts. The primary focus was to: Electric Car Marketplace Dynamic hyper-personalised content based on user behaviour and preferences. Use HubSpot to increase customer conversion rates of their online marketplace.

4. Challenges How to Create Scalable and Actionable Workflows? How to Segment Users Based on Specific Vehicle Preferences Effectively? How to Access Page View Data Through the API? The client needed to accumulate data over time to understand buyer preferences and trigger workflows based on those insights. However, with thousands of vehicles in the marketplace and new models being added each month, manually creating lists and workflows for every possible scenario would be unsustainable. The challenge was to develop a dynamic, automated system that could scale effortlessly while maintaining accuracy. How could they automate these processes effectively without creating a clutter of triggers and lists, rendering the system unmanageable as the marketplace expanded? While page view activity was visible on the contact page, there was no API endpoint to retrieve this data for further analysis. This limitation made it challenging to track cumulative user interactions and leverage them for informed marketing and sales decisions. How could the client overcome this barrier and extract meaningful insights to drive personalised engagement? Creating segmented audiences based on specific vehicle preferences was essential. However, with 20 data points per vehicle and thousands of vehicles in the marketplace, continuously growing with new models added each month, managing segmentation became a complex challenge. Building workflows or lists for every potential vehicle preference would result in an overwhelming number of lists and triggers, making it difficult to scale. How could they simplify segmentation while keeping it precise and relevant without overloading the system?

5. Challenges How to Implement Dynamic Content Personalisation? How to Build Accurate Buyer Personas Over Time? How could the client present cars within emails specific to a user’s interests, rather than merely recommending general car types? Achieving this level of hyper-personalisation was critical for improving engagement and conversion rates. Developing detailed buyer personas using collected data was essential for improving marketing relevance. However, with 20 data points per vehicle and multiple visits per user, capturing and utilising all these data points effectively posed a challenge. Relying solely on page view activity was insufficient for deep personalisation. How could they ensure these personas were accurate, continuously updated based on user interactions, and capable of driving meaningful engagement?

6. Solutions Implemented Integration with Marketplace Database Step 1 The first step involved integrating the client’s marketplace database with HubSpot to synchronise vehicle listings. This integration ensured real-time accuracy of vehicle data such as availability, pricing, and specifications. The synchronisation allowed HubSpot to pull the most up-to-date information from the database, ensuring customers always viewed accurate product details. Using Custom Events & Property Sync Custom Events Implementation: Step 2 Custom events were designed to capture precise user interactions and make them ac- cessible via the API. By leveraging JavaScript custom events alongside the HubSpot tracking code, each time a user visited a listing, a custom event was triggered. This event extracted the Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) from the page URL and au- tomatically enrolled the user into a workflow, allowing seamless data tracking and auto- mation.

7. Creating Custom Records: The workflow created a custom record (page view) associated with both the contact and the vehicle. For subsequent visits, the system either created a new record or incremented the view count of the existing record. Property Sync Mechanism: Property sync mechanisms were established to dynamically pull vehicle information onto the page view, ensuring real-time accuracy. If integration was unavailable, data could be pulled directly from the page via the custom event, ensuring flexibility and adaptability. Advanced Segmentation Step3 Custom-coded modules were developed to analyse every page view made by a customer, capturing 20 key data points per vehicle. Each time a user viewed a new listing, the system re-enrolled them in a workflow, updating their profile in real-time. This continuous learning process refined buyer personas dynamically, ensuring that personalised marketing efforts remained accurate and highly relevant.

8. Actionable Workflows Step 4 Workflows were strategically designed to create personalised customer journeys based on user behaviour and buyer personas: Repeat Views Diverse Interests Price Alerts If a user viewed the same vehicle multiple times (e.g., 5 times), an automated email was triggered, highlighting that specific car with additional details. If a user explored various vehicles, a personalised email was sent with recommendations for similar models. If the price of a previously viewed car dropped, an automated email showcased the price change, encouraging the user to reconsider the purchase.

9. Buyer Persona Development Step 5 Data gathered from custom events and segmentation was utilised to build accurate, dynamic buyer personas that evolved and became more defined with every user interactions, providing valuable insights for personalised marketing.

10. Marketing Emails with Dynamic HTML Content Step 6 Hyper-personalised marketing emails were crafted using dynamic HTML content stored in rich text properties on the contact to deliver highly relevant recommendations specific to the contact, increasing engagement and conversion rates. For example: If a user frequently viewed black cars, they would receive an email showcasing a curated list of black vehicles across different brands. If their favourite model was a Tesla, the email would highlight the latest Tesla listings matching their preferences. If their browsing history indicated a specific budget range, the email would dynamically display cars available within that budget. A combination of these insights allowed emails to provide tailored recommendations, such as a list of black Teslas under a specific price range, making the content more engaging and conversion-driven.

11. Operation Hub and Custom Modules Step 7 Operation Hub and custom modules were utilised to streamline processes, enhancing scalability and maintainability without the need for constant adjustments as the user base or product inventory grew.

12. Results Enhanced segmentation and hyper-personalised content delivery, resulting in more targeted marketing efforts. Achieved scalability and maintainability, ensuring seamless growth of the user base and product inventory without additional effort. Increased user engagement through tailored workflows and personalised marketing emails, leading to higher click-through rates, open rates, and conversion rates. Improved data handling and automation through the use of Operation Hub and custom modules, making the marketing process more efficient.

13. Conclusion The implementation of HubSpot’s advanced capabilities effectively transformed the client’s online marketplace into a highly personalised and scalable platform. By leveraging custom events, advanced segmentation, and tailored workflows, the solution addressed critical challenges such as data accessibility, audience segmentation, and dynamic content personalisation. Furthermore, the integration of the Operation Hub and custom modules ensured smooth scalability and maintainability, enabling the client to continually enhance their marketing efforts as their user base and product inventory expanded. We Shape Your Business Growth with Just like this approach transformed an automotive marketplace, imagine applying it to real estate. If you're in real estate, you could use a similar system to personalize property listings based on user preferences. For example, if a buyer repeatedly searches for homes with three bedrooms, within a specific budget, and with a garden, the platform could automatically recommend matching listings. This level of personalization not only enhances the user experience but also increases engagement and conversion rates across any marketplace.