Make sure you get the most out of your Salesforce Marketing Cloud investment

/ Home / Marketing Cloud

6 focus areas for a well-functioning Marketing Cloud

Not sure how to get started with Salesforce Marketing Cloud? We at Salient have years of experience helping customers get started with their Marketing Cloud implementation. We do this through a partnership that takes you from implementation to ongoing support. We help you identify your challenges and needs by training, supporting and creating strategies to optimize the platform’s potential.

If you don’t know where to start, a first step could be to read through our guide which focuses on 6 different areas with decisive factors such as how you work with customer journeys, content and analysis. Den fokuserar på 6 olika områden med avgörande faktorer såsom hur ni arbetar med kundresor, content och analys.

Choose your subdomain carefully

  • The subdomain that is created and linked to your Marketing Cloud account should be chosen carefully because all mailings are then made from it. The subdomain is created to have a good “email reputation” so that you don’t get blacklisted or categorized as spam.
  • Since the company name is part of the subdomain and appears in the recipient’s URL, there is also a link to your brand. It contributes to recognition, which creates credibility with the recipient.
  • Having a customized subdomain can also contribute to increased engagement on the part of the recipient and a higher delivery rate in general.

Data quality & well-thought-out segmentation in Contact Builder

  • Use the “Contact Builder” to get a 360 degree view of a contact. You do this through the “Unified Customer Profile”, which acts as a centralized hub for all customer data.
  • “Contact Builder” then syncs data from Salesforce CRM, including standard objects such as contacts and leads, as well as other customized objects set up in CRM You choose which objects you want to sync and it then happens automatically every 15 minutes.
  • Synchronization between Marketing Cloud and Salesforce CRM ensures that you use real-time data and can segment on it to optimize the customer relationship based on several data points.

Email templates & content blocks in “Email Studio” & “Content Builder”

  • Use customized email templates and content blocks to create a uniform visual impression in all mailings. Use the drag & drop functionality to quickly adapt ready-made email templates.
  • Ready-made email templates and content blocks provide many advantages, for example:
    • It saves time and effort – short time from email creation to email sending
    • Since it is pre-formatted, no advanced code changes are required
    • New employees can get started faster – the drag & drop function requires very little prior technical knowledge
    • Improved customer satisfaction – the message is consistent in its design, both in design, formatting and content
    • Make personalization easier – show different types of content based on individual preferences or other collected data.

Automate activities in “Journey builder”

  • Use “Journey Builder” to automate various marketing activities, for example. Once set up, minimal maintenance is required Remember to stay updated on how your journeys are performing.
  • Trigger data from Salesforce CRM in the “Journey Builder” and make it activate in real time. Can, for example, be used in various types of confirmation mailings.
  • Use a “Data Extension” to, for example, collect data from several different Salesforce objects or if journeys are not time-sensitive. Can, for example, be used in an onboarding trip.

Utilise all channels: Email, SMS, Whatsapp, Push….

  • Use the different types of channels available to reach the right segment. Use multiple communication paths based on what the segment’s preferences look like.
  • In order to use mobile functions, MobileConnect needs to be configured. Get help from your IT to set up a SDK (Software Development Kit).

Work continuously with follow up & optimisation

  • Create “Intelligence Reports” to generate detailed views and dashboards so you can analyze the outcome of your marketing communications. ou can track the results of your campaigns, for example in the form of opening rate, click rate, conversions and other relevant KPIs. Use the insights as a basis for future trade-offs.
  • Test different variations of mailing to see what gives the best results. This can be done, for example, by using different subject lines or content text to see which gives the highest opening frequency.
  • Work continuously with evaluation of your marketing efforts in Marketing Cloud, base your decisions on data and optimize your customer journeys accordingly.

If you want help with the above or to identify your current situation and develop a strategy for how you can optimize your Salesforce Marketing Cloud setup, you are most welcome to contact us.

Optimize your Marketing Cloud setup with a free Health Check

Want to find out how your Marketing Cloud setup is doing today? Then it is possible to book a free Health Check with us. This means that for 2 weeks we perform an analysis of your Marketing Cloud setup and identify areas for improvement. One result of the review is a clear action list so you can be sure to capture all opportunities.

How is a Health Check done?

Workshop with relevant people

Workshop with relevant people

We do this together

Review of your MC & CRM, creation of Health Check

Review of your MC & CRM, creation of Health Check

Salient does this

Presentation of Health Check report

Presentation of Health Check report

We do this together

Feedback & adjustments

Salient does this

Delivery of Health Check report

Salient does this

How can a Health Check look?

View example of Executive Summary
View example of Scorecard
View example of Email Studio

“Customer quote missing.”

Anders Andresson, maskinuthyrningsföretag

Common questions / FAQ

Common concepts in Marketing Cloud

Data:

  • Data Extension:
    Tables that store customer data, e.g. contact information, behavior and preferences.
  • Contacts (Subscribers):
    The individuals who are in your data extensions. Contacts are everyone who is in the marketing cloud, while Subscribers are those who explicitly subscribe to receive communications. You can import data from a synchronized data extension to a Subscriber data extension via Marketing Cloud Connect.
  • Attribute groups:
    Organizes data into logical categories within a data extension.
  • Relationship models:
    Determine how data extensions relate to each other. SQL is used to manage data in databases, which gives you more control over your data, streamlines and makes data more scalable so you can adapt it to your specific needs.

Email Marketing:

  • Journey Builder:
    Visual tool for creating automated email flows. You can also use them for other channels such as push and sms, where you can send automated messages to all contacts in the database, segments of contacts or contacts who perform a specific action. Note the difference between transactional messages and commercial messages. Transactional messages are sent in response to a customer action and often contain information about the transaction. Commercial messages are sent for marketing purposes. With Journey Builder in Marketing Cloud, you can create visual flows that illustrate your customer communications. The flows are based on triggers and events, such as email clicks. You can also set specific goals for each customer journey, e.g. to increase conversion rates or improve customer satisfaction.
  • Decision Splits:
    Conditional branches in automated flows in Journey Builder.
  • Email Studio:
    Tool for creating and sending email campaigns.
  • Content Builder:
    Is an editor for creating beautiful and engaging emails. With Content Builder, you can create emails with dynamic content that adapts automatically to each recipient. This includes AI-based features that can help you choose the right content for each recipient.
  • AMPscript:
    Scripting language for adding dynamic content and functionality to emails.

Tracking and Analysis:

  • Marketing Cloud Intelligence:
    Built-in analytics tools to track campaign performance.
  • Web & Mobile Analytics:
    Tracks website and app behavior.
  • Social Studio:
    Tracks social media engagement.

Automation:

  • Marketing Cloud Automation Studio:
    Platform for creating automated campaigns and processes.
  • Data Entry Events:
    This is a powerful feature that allows you to create automated flows based on changes in your data.

Integrations:

  • Salesforce CRM:
    Salesforce CRM is a powerful platform for managing customer relationships, collecting and analyzing data. Together with the Marketing Cloud, these tools create a sleepless process to streamline and automate the desired customer journey.
  • AppExchange:
    Marketplace for apps and integrations with Salesforce. These apps help you extend the functionality of Salesforce. Up to 40% of all apps are free.

Other important concepts:

  • Lead nurturing:
    The process of attracting and converting leads into customers.
  • Marketing Cloud Connect:
    Connects Marketing Cloud to other Salesforce products.
  • Einstein Analytics:
    Einstein Analytics is an advanced analytics platform that is part of the Marketing Cloud. It gives you powerful tools to analyze customer data and gain deeper insights into their behavior and preferences.
How can Einstein help me?

Einstein for Marketing Cloud is Salesforce’s AI tool that gives you powerful insights and automation to improve your marketing activities. Einstein helps you to:

Understand your target audience better – Get detailed information about your target audience’s behavior, preferences and demographics. Identify the most relevant segments for your campaigns.

Optimize your sending times – Find the best times to send emails to maximize open and click rates. Automate email scheduling based on individual customer preferences.

Find the right level of engagement – Balance the frequency of your mailings to avoid spam and optimize the customer experience. Get recommendations on how to adapt your communications for different segments.

Create content that resonates – Gain insights into what content performs best and why. Recommendations for optimizing your content for different audiences and channels.

How does Marketing Cloud relate to CRM?

CRM is the platform that acts as a container for all the customer data a business has. MC is a communication platform that, in synchronization with a CRM, can be used for all types of communication to these customers. You can use all data from CRM as long as you integrate with Marketing Cloud Connect.

Melinda

Melinda

Specialist consultant MC

Johan

Johan

Specialist consultant MC

Mari

Mari

Specialist consultant MC

“Our internal academy distinguishes our professional development. We continuously certify ourselves in tools and processes, with a special focus on Salesforce.”

Optimize your entire customer journey!

We offer free advice in the form of a digital meeting where we match your conditions and goals with the platform’s potential. Take the first step towards making the most of your Salesforce investment today!

Contact us