Customizing HTML Output in CMC ASCE

MayaP

Has anyone customized the raw HTML output from the CMC Toolkit’s Audience Segmentation Content Engine for use in an email marketing platform like HubSpot, Marketo, or Mailchimp? I'm looking to restructure the code for better responsiveness, inline styles, and cross-client compatibility. If you’ve built modular templates or integrated dynamic content blocks, I’d love to hear about your approach.

CMC Community Manager

Hi @MayaP! Great question!

I’ve customized the raw HTML output from the CMC Toolkit’s Audience Segmentation Content Engine for use in both HubSpot and Mailchimp, and I can definitely share a few best practices.

🔧 What Worked Well:

1. Inline Styling:
   To maximize compatibility across email clients (especially Outlook), I manually converted most CSS to inline styles using a preprocessor like PutsMail or Premailer. This helped retain the design without relying on embedded or external CSS, which many clients strip out.
2. Responsive Layouts:
   I used a hybrid approach—fluid tables with percentage widths and media queries—to create layouts that adapt across devices. This is key if your segmentation engine outputs multiple columns or callouts.
3. Reusable Modules:
   I broke the HTML output into modular components (hero section, CTA, testimonial block, etc.) that can be dropped into our master templates. This way, marketers can mix and match toolkit-generated content without breaking the layout.
4. Dynamic Content Integration:
   In HubSpot, I embedded the toolkit content inside custom modules and used personalization tokens (e.g., {{ contact.firstname }}) to align with segmentation logic. In Marketo, I leveraged velocity scripting to adapt content blocks based on segmentation flags.

⚠️ Watch Out For:

• Overly nested divs from the raw toolkit export—they can bloat the file and break rendering in Outlook. Clean these up where possible.
• Background images—not always supported in email clients; fallback colors are your friend.
• Font stack consistency—use web-safe fonts unless your email builder supports hosted fonts.

🛠 Tools I Recommend:

• Litmus or Email on Acid for cross-client testing
• MJML if you're rebuilding a lot of templates—it’s responsive and email-friendly
• A simple CSS inliner (like Mailchimp’s) if your team prefers visual editors

If you'd like, I can share a base template I use that’s toolkit-compatible and works well across platforms.