The world of Digital Marketing is challenging and always updating with new strategies. To stay on top of the competition, businesses need to leverage the latest technologies like Generative AI. Gen AI can pump up your digital marketing efforts by creating highly engaged SEO-friendly content and boost your brand on SERP (Search Engine Result Page). In this blog, we’ll get to know what Generative AI is, how it works, and steps for using it in your digital marketing strategies.

What is Generative AI, and How Does it Work?

Generative AI is artificial intelligence technology that autonomously uses algorithms to generate new content. This content can be customized according to specific requirements. AI models are trained and curated in various ways to enhance their accuracy in creating content.

It’s not only about text – Gen AI can generate images, audio, video, and much more. For illustration, it can create personalized images and videos based on given instructions.

Gen AI is crucial for personalizing tasks like NLP to understand both written and spoken language and Computer Vision for image and video footage. This will also make it easier for businesses to convey the right message to the right person at the right time.

Implementing Generative AI for Digital Marketing Strategies

Here is a quick overview of how we can integrate Gen AI models with our tools to generate content for SEO. A team of developers tried a content generation model to develop content based on the given prompts. Below are the steps they have taken to integrate the writer.com model with the AEM platform:

1. Select one model that can generate content based on prompts. We have selected writer.com, which can be easily integrated with most platforms.
2. Get the API code of writer.com. You can easily install the Writer AI SDK for JavaScript using npm.
3. Obtain your API key from Writer AI and configure it in your application. This key will be used for authentication when making API requests.
4. Now, you’re ready to generate content. The SDK can be used to create blog posts, product descriptions, emails, and more. Simply provide a prompt or context to the API, and it will return well-written text.

It can significantly enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of websites and marketing campaigns. You just need to focus on some key areas where you can apply Gen AI strategies:

Content Generation

• Webpage Content and Blog Posts: Use Gen AI to create engaging content and articles on trending topics with targeted keywords. Tools like Chat GPT-4 and writer.com can help draft content that can then be refined by human editors.
• Social Media Posts: You can automate the generation of post copy, ensuring consistency in brand voice and style. Gen AI can suggest optimal social media content posting times and types based on audience engagement data.
• Email Marketing: Gen AI can create personalized email content for each segment of your mailing list and tailor email copy to individual behavior and preferences.

Chatbots and Customer Support

• 24/7 Customer Support: To handle common customer support queries, you can deploy Gen AI chatbots to provide round-the-clock customer support.
• Lead Generation: A chatbot can help engage website and app visitors and qualify leads by asking relevant questions.
• Product Recommendations: Gen AI chatbots can also analyze customer preferences and suggest relevant products and services.

Advertising and Campaign Optimization

• Ad Copy Generation: Gen AI can create and test multiple ad copy variations, headlines, and CTAs and identify the most effective combinations.
• Budget Allocation: With Gen AI, you can ensure maximum ROI by dynamically allocating budget across different channels and campaigns based on performance metrics.

Data Analysis and Insights

• Market Research: Gen AI can also help analyze market trends and competitor activities and provide valuable insights for maintaining strategies.
• Customer Feedback Analysis: Gen AI can also help improve key areas by analyzing customer reviews, social media touchpoints, and survey responses.
• Performance Metrics: Gen AI can auto-generate metric reports based on your campaign performance and highlight key your improvement areas.

In conclusion, Generative AI is an invaluable asset for digital marketing success. It optimizes content with relevant keywords, analyzes campaign data, and tailors content based on user behavior. By integrating generative AI into digital marketing strategies, businesses gain visibility, generate better leads, and understand customer behavior, making it an integral part of successful digital marketing today.

In the realm of data management and analytics, the terms ETL (Extract, Transform, Load) and ELT (Extract, Load, Transform) have been commonplace for decades. They describe the processes involved in moving data from one system to another, transforming it as needed along the way. However, with the advent of technologies like Salesforce Data Cloud, a new concept is gaining traction: “noETL / noELT.” But what does this mean for you, especially if you’re not knee-deep in the technical jargon of data integration? Let’s explore.

Understanding ETL and ELT

First, a quick refresher on ETL and ELT:

• ETL (Extract, Transform, Load): This traditional approach involves extracting data from various sources, transforming it into a usable format, and then loading it into a target system, often a data warehouse or analytics platform.
• ELT (Extract, Load, Transform): ELT reverses the transformation step, loading raw data directly into the target system and then transforming it as needed within that system.

Both ETL and ELT have their pros and cons, but they can be complex and time-consuming processes, requiring specialized skills and infrastructure.

Enter noETL / noELT

Now, let’s talk about noETL / noELT, as championed by platforms like Salesforce Data Cloud. The “no” in noETL / noELT signifies a departure from the traditional data integration approaches. Here’s what it means for you:

1. Faster Time to Insights

• With noETL / noELT, data can be accessed and utilized more quickly. Instead of waiting for data to go through multiple transformation stages, you can start analyzing it almost immediately.

2. Real-Time or Near Real-Time Analytics

• By eliminating the upfront transformation step, noETL / noELT enables real-time or near real-time analytics. This means you can make decisions based on the most current data available.

3. Simplified Data Integration

• For end-users, noETL / noELT translates to simplified data integration. You don’t need to worry about intricate data pipelines or complex transformation logic. Data becomes more accessible and usable.

4. Scalability and Cost Efficiency

• Scalability is often improved with noETL / noELT, as it reduces the overhead associated with managing large-scale data integration processes. This can result in cost savings as well.

What it Means for You

If you’re a business user, analyst, or decision-maker leveraging Salesforce Data Cloud or similar technologies, here’s what noETL / noELT means for you:

• Ease of Use: You can focus more on extracting value from data rather than managing its integration.
• Quicker Insights: Rapid access to data means quicker insights, enabling faster and more informed decision-making.
• Adaptability: NoETL / noELT architectures are often more adaptable to changing data sources and analytical needs.

Where are we today?

As of April 2024 there are two platforms that are Generally Available (GA) that can be used like this with Salesforce Data Cloud.

1. Snowflake
2. Google BigQuery

There are two other platforms that are in Pilot mode as of April 2024.  We are excited to see those move from Pilot to GA.

1. Databricks
2. Amazon RedShift

And looking forward, as mentioned in this article at cio.com, Salesforce Data Cloud is looking towards leveraging these two abilities moving forward.

1. Allowing for data lakes that use Apache Iceberg to surface in Data Cloud with direct file access at the storage level.
2. Salesforce Data Cloud will also add zero-copy support to the Data Kits that ISVs use to distribute datasets and enrich customers’ data in Salesforce Data Cloud.

What we are so excited about at Perficient is that we can bring expertise to both sides of a project involving these technologies.  We have two different business units that focus on each side…

1. A Salesforce Business Unit with experts in Salesforce Data Cloud
2. A Data Solutions Business Unit to help with the Data Lake solutions like Snowflake, Google BigQuery, Databricks and Amazon Redshift.
   1. Here is a recent blog post from a colleague of mine in that Data Solutions business unit.

In conclusion, the rise of noETL / noELT represents a significant shift in how we approach data integration and analytics. It promises to democratize data access and streamline processes for users across organizations. As these technologies continue to evolve, staying informed about their implications will be crucial for maximizing their benefits. Embrace the simplicity and agility that noETL / noELT brings, and harness the power of data more effectively in your day-to-day operations.

From patient records to medical device telemetry, the volume and diversity of data generated for medical device companies can be staggering. However, harnessing this data to its full potential remains a significant challenge for many. Healthcare organizations, including medical device companies, grapple with dispersed data across various departments and technologies. This fragmentation impedes timely and effective utilization of data, hindering effects to deliver personalized experiences and deriving actionable insights.

Enterprises are turning to Salesforce Data Cloud to connect, unify and analyze the vast amounts of customer and device data in real-time. For medical device companies, leveraging such platforms holds the promise of overcoming data complexity and unlocking transformative business benefits.

Context and Trust Building

Every interaction with a customer presents an opportunity to foster trust, and real-time data plays a pivotal role in this endeavor. By harnessing data from medical devices and other sources, companies can personalize interactions, demonstrating a deep understanding of their user’s needs and preferences. For example, a patient using a continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) device is not only notified of their glucose levels via their cell phone but can also be reminded when devices are due to be replaced or supplies need to be ordered. This personalized approach builds trust, drives loyalty and offers continuity of care.

Segmentation Power

The ability to access up-to-the-minute data empowers marketing teams to refine their strategies with precision.  Utilizing insights enables optimization of communication efforts for timing, targeting, and maximizing opportunities for positive outcomes.  For example, patients utilizing a cardiac implantable electronic device (CIED) can be segmented based on type of arrhythmia, disease progression, and previous treatment history and be sent relevant articles and treatment considerations targeted to their specific needs. This segmentation power enables companies to tailor their outreach efforts, maximizing the effectiveness of their campaigns and communication, and empowering better health outcomes at the patient level.

Salesforce Data Cloud: Empowering Healthcare Transformation

Data Cloud emerges as a leading cloud-based platform that addresses the unique data management challenges faced by medical device companies. By seamlessly integrating data from various sources, including medical devices, CRM systems and marketing automation platforms, Data Cloud empowers business to create personalized experience and drive tangible outcomes.

Perficient + Salesforce 

As a leading Salesforce consulting partner, we are on a mission to harness the power of Salesforce to solve complex business problems. With specialized knowledge in Data Cloud, Einstein AI, Marketing Cloud, and Experience Cloud, our team is dedicated to crafting innovative digital experiences that drive client success.

We aren’t just experts; we’re storytellers who understand the unique needs and challenges in the manufacturing, automotive, healthcare and life sciences, and financial services industries. We team up with our industry and solution experts to build complex enterprise ecosystems for our clients, and through our commitment to building authentic relationships with clients and partners, we foster collaboration and trust that lead to sustainable growth.

At the heart of our mission is our belief in lifting up people and communities. By leveraging our global team’s skills and resources, we strive to solve complex business problems and leave a meaningful impact on society.

Join us in our journey to revolutionize the way businesses connect, engage, and thrive in the digital era. Get connected with our experts to learn more.

Whether you are attending in person or virtually, another exciting Adobe Summit is coming our way. As Adobe continues to expand its footprint across all of Marketing Technology, Garett Meznarich (Director of Digital Marketing) and I (Technical Architect, Marketing Automation Team) thought it would be helpful to give you a Marketing Operations perspective on what sessions we are excited about this year.

If you are sticking it out to the end, we’d love to see you at our two Thursday sessions:

• From Data to Dollars: Driving Abandoned Cart Revenue with Marketo Engage [S213] 

• • Thursday, Mar 28 @ 10:30am – 11:30am PT 

• Done in 60 Days: Driving B2B Personalization with Adobe Experience Platform [S920] 

• • Thursday, Mar 28 @ 9:00am – 10:00am PT 

Now, our top picks of Adobe Summit 2024 sessions for MOps people by MOps people:

1. From Data to Dollars: Driving Abandoned Cart Revenue with Marketo Engage [S213]

Sunbelt Rentals x Perficient

• Why: Selfishly – because I’m speaking with our client, Sunbelt Rentals, at this session! But also because it will be a great session to learn how to translate business goals into actionable and profitable projects. For hands-on MOps professionals, this case study will include technical inspiration – such as connecting Adobe Commerce to Marketo Engage using a custom connector, custom object, velocity scripting for dynamic content personalization, nurture orchestration, and reporting.

2. Done in 60 Days: Driving B2B Personalization with Adobe Experience Platform [S920]

Qualcomm x Perficient

• Why: Implementing integrations within a 60-day period is already impressive (way to go, Team Perficient!), but this session will discuss the especially impressive process of “bidirectional integration of Experience Platform Unified Profile, Marketo Engage, data collection, B2P Real-Time CDP, and Adobe Target to achieve personalized experiences” for another client of Perficient’s — Qualcomm.

3. Optimize RevOPs Using the Power of ChatGPT in Marketo Engage [S208]

Revenue Pulse x Telnyx LLC

• Why: Tyron Pretorius, one of the presenters at this session, is well-known in the MOps industry for putting together technical, hands-on, and real-world training for marketing operations professionals. I got a sneak peek at this presentation during a recent Marketo User Group meeting, and I was impressed by the how-to examples. If you’re looking for fresh use cases for AI that are not strictly generative content or graphics, this looks like a great session for you.

4. Expand Your Reach with Marketo Engage Through Custom Object Magic [S210]

AppFolio x McGraw Hill

• Why: Marketo Engage custom objects are very cool and can help you implement incredibly customized solutions, however they are an advanced Marketo Engage feature that can take some time to learn. If you’re still trying to wrap your mind around custom objects or what application they might have for your projects, this looks like a great presentation to attend to learn more.

5. Unified Customer Profiles: From Implementation to Insights and Engagement [L608]

Adobe

• Why: This exclusive hands-on lab offered live at Adobe Summit won’t be recorded. I will attend this session and look forward to learning “how to accelerate implementations of Adobe Real-Time CDP, Customer Journey Analytics, and Journey Optimizer through unified customer profiles.”

Hopefully, these recommendations will help give you some ideas to consider. If you’ll be attending in person, Garett and I would love to connect! You can find us in the Adobe Summit app (under ‘Networking’) or through the Perficient website here. Nothing makes us happier than nerding out about MOps, Marketing Automation, and data!

In December 2022, the Department of Health and Human Services released a bulletin announcing additional compliance requirements for healthcare marketers when it comes to third-party trackers. The guidance lays forth expectations for how healthcare organizations collect data on activities that take place on their website and mobile apps.  

So, what’s the problem? Per the bulletin, when a healthcare organization collects and shares email addresses and IP information with tracking vendors, like Google (through Google Analytics) and Facebook (via the Meta Pixel), they are at risk of violating HIPAA rules unless one of the below criteria is met:  

1. The organization has a Business Associate Agreement (BAA) in place with the vendor 
2. Consent has been provided by the healthcare consumer  
3. The PHI is properly deidentified  

Looking specifically at Google Analytics, this platform has been a long-standing and well-loved toolset of marketers for years, with full teams dedicated to learning how to master its capabilities to increase an organization’s marketing performance. Healthcare marketers are no exception, often relying on Google Analytics to track the patient journey on their website and identify where web visitors are coming from (for example, referring sites/ads and physical location of web traffic), how long they are sticking around, reasons they depart from their site, and which paths produce the highest conversion rate. The requirement to potentially depart from using Google Analytics is a major disrupter to how teams have been operating for years. However, full adherence to HHS guidance and HIPAA regulations is non-negotiable, so in light of recent guidance, change is completely warranted.  

While the process of offloading from Google Analytics may feel daunting, it represents an excellent opportunity for healthcare marketers to adopt a more secure web analytics strategy that also catapults their ability to act. With the Salesforce Marketing Cloud Personalization suite, marketers can keep up with evolving regulations and consumers’ growing demand for privacy, while building loyalty through personalization.  

Analytics are Just Numbers – Unless You Do Something with Them  

Web and mobile analytics are only as powerful as the utility behind them. What do we mean by that? Data tells us a story and is only beneficial to the organization and their consumers when it’s acted upon – ideally in real-time to provide a more personable end–user experience.  

With Marketing Cloud Personalization, marketers can deploy many of the key capabilities that Google Analytics provides while enabling their organization to harness those insights and respond on the fly based on a consumer’s behavior.  

Marketing Cloud Personalization is certainly not a one-to-one replacement for Google Analytics, but the ways in which it goes above and beyond Google Analytics will bring marketing operations and performance into the modern age. With more robust and dynamic capabilities, Marketing Cloud Personalization uses first-party data to deliver real-time personalization across multiple channels.  

Where performance and use cases become really powerful in healthcare is when the organization has a solution like Salesforce Data Cloud or Health Cloud with integration to the electronic medical record. Consider these exciting examples of how website content could be personalized based on an individual’s healthcare journey:   

• Insight: A UTM parameter identifies that a website visitor came from a Facebook campaign promoting the hospital’s pediatric offerings. The website visitor also has a child that has previously been seen by pediatrics.  

• • Action: Website banner can be dynamically displayed, showing a child engaging with a pediatrician. 

• Insight: A website visitor resides in Arlington, TX, and has never had an appointment with your health system. 

• • Action: Provide a pop-up message when they arrive on your website announcing a new clinic opened in Arlington and is accepting new patients.  

• Insight: A patient is overdue for their annual exam.  

• • Action: Dynamically render a message promoting preventive care appointments and display open appointment times at the last clinic they were seen at.  

These examples, and many more, highlight the power of Salesforce Marketing Cloud Personalization, but when combined with the solution’s security features it becomes a perfect response to the new guidance regarding potential HIPAA violations when using Google Analytics. With security controls for sensitive data, such as encrypting certain fields within data sources and using Security Health Check to identify potential vulnerabilities. Salesforce customers also have the option to create a BAA, though – just like any technology – – it is always the organization’s responsibility to ensure the use of Marketing Cloud Personalization meets HIPAA requirements.  

If you are interested in learning more about Marketing Cloud Personalization, please reach out! We have an amazing team of Marketing Cloud Personalization Accredited Professionals ready to help!  

Perficient + Salesforce 

As a leading Salesforce consulting partner, we are on a mission to harness the power of Salesforce to solve complex business problems. With specialized knowledge in Data Cloud, Einstein AI, Marketing Cloud, and Experience Cloud, our team is dedicated to crafting innovative digital experiences that drive client success. 

We aren’t just experts; we’re storytellers who understand the unique needs and challenges in the manufacturing, automotive, healthcare and life sciences, and financial services industries. We team up with our industry and solution experts to build complex enterprise ecosystems for our clients, and through our commitment to building authentic relationships with clients and partners, we foster collaboration and trust that lead to sustainable growth. 

At the heart of our mission is our belief in lifting up people and communities. By leveraging our global team’s skills and resources, we strive to solve complex business problems and leave a meaningful impact on society.  

Join us in our journey to revolutionize the way businesses connect, engage, and thrive in the digital era. 

Marketing Cloud is a powerful business tool to create, manage, and optimize marketing campaigns. However, getting hands-on experience with Marketing Cloud can be challenging, as it doesn’t provide demo environments or Trailhead hands-on challenges. But fear not, as Salesforce has introduced a Trailhead simulator for Marketing Cloud, allowing users to practice and enhance their skills in a simulated environment. In this tutorial, we’ll explore the basics of Marketing Cloud using the Trailhead simulator.

 What Is Salesforce Marketing Cloud?

Before we dive into the hands-on tutorial, let’s briefly introduce Salesforce Marketing Cloud. It’s an all-in-one marketing platform that enables businesses to create, manage, and analyze customer journeys, emails, social media campaigns, and more. With Marketing Cloud, you can deliver the right message to the right audience at the right time.

The Benefits of Using Marketing Cloud

Why should you consider using Salesforce Marketing Cloud for your marketing efforts? Here are a few key benefits:

• Personalization: Create highly personalized and relevant content for your audience.
• Automation: Streamline your marketing processes with automation, saving time and reducing manual efforts.
• Data-Driven Insights: Access in-depth analytics to make informed marketing decisions.
• Multi-Channel Marketing: Reach your audience across email, social media, SMS, and other channels.
• Scalability: It can grow with your business, accommodating your evolving marketing needs

Start with the basics of Marketing Cloud using the Trailhead Simulator

1. Build a Reusable Email Template: To kickstart your Marketing Cloud journey, build a reusable email template. Templates are crucial in maintaining brand consistency and streamlining the email creation process. Follow the steps outlined in the Trailhead simulator here to create a compelling and reusable template.
2. Create a Welcome Email: Once you’ve mastered the art of crafting templates, it’s time to put your skills to use by creating a welcome email. A welcome email sets the tone for customer interactions and is a critical component of any marketing strategy. The Trailhead simulator provides a step-by-step guide here to help you create a compelling welcome email.
3. Preview, test, and Send Your Email: Before sending out your carefully crafted email, it’s essential to preview, test, and ensure its effectiveness. The Trailhead simulator walks you through previewing, testing, and sending your email with confidence. Access the tutorial here for a comprehensive guide.
4. Create and Send a Message in Journey Builder: Dive deeper into Marketing Cloud functionality by exploring Journey Builder. This tool allows you to create and send personalized messages to your audience based on their interactions with your brand. The Trailhead simulator provides a hands-on experience with exercises such as defining your audience, creating an email message, and sending the email message. Access the tutorial here for a detailed walkthrough.

• • Exercise 1: Define Your Audience Understand the importance of audience segmentation and define your target audience for a more personalized marketing approach.
  • Exercise 2: Create an Email Message. Learn the intricacies of crafting compelling email messages within Journey Builder.
  • Exercise 3: Send the Email Message Put your knowledge to the test by sending out your personalized email message to the defined audience.

Conclusion

By utilizing the Trailhead simulator for Marketing Cloud, you can gain practical experience and enhance your skills in a risk-free environment. The tutorials cover essential aspects of Marketing Cloud, from creating templates and emails to using advanced features like Journey Builder. Take advantage of this hands-on opportunity to master Marketing Cloud and elevate your marketing efforts to new heights. Happy learning!

In a rapidly evolving business landscape, industries across the board are constantly seeking innovative ways to stay competitive and relevant. The story of one equipment rental leader’s journey serves as a compelling example of how embracing technology and leveraging data can pave the way for transformative change.

Leveraging Technology to Create Opportunity

Our client in the equipment rental industry was growing rapidly, but its database and marketing solutions were not scalable. They were finding that their systems were inflexible and they weren’t able to adapt to meet digital transformation goals such as personalized and dynamic email marketing.

They needed a digital transformation. The company understood that data wasn’t merely a buzzword but a valuable asset that could guide decision-making, streamline operations, and enhance customer experiences.

They had invested in Adobe Commerce and Marketo Engage, but were using both products independently. They quickly realized an important business requirement wasn’t being met: the ability to understand, and remarket to, customers who abandoned their cart.

The company engaged Perficient, an Adobe Platinum Partner, to implement our custom Adobe Commerce-Marketo Engage Connector, which seamlessly passes data points from abandoned carts to Marketo Engage. The two connected platforms could collect and analyze data in real time, allowing the company to better understand the buyer’s behavior and nurture them through the buying journey.

Elevating Customer Experiences

In a customer-centric world, enhancing experiences is paramount. The company was able to improve their customer experience by creating personalized drip campaign emails and using abandoned cart data to personalize emails to customers with a reminder to reserve their equipment before it becomes unavailable.

Data is updated in real time so as the customer adds and removes items from their cart, the connector automatically analyzes the data and provides availability updates, ensuring that the latest product recommendations display in an email and link directly back to the cart to complete the reservation.

Prior to executing our Adobe Commerce-Marketo Engage Connector, the abandoned cart conversion rate was approximately 1.9%. Following our work, a very short time after our launch, conversion increased to 7.9%. The company expects this will translate to approximately $5.6M in revenue within one year of launch. And, with abandoned cart project enhancements on the roadmap, Perficient expects to help the client increase this abandoned cart conversion rate and further increase attributable revenue.

The work we completed even won an award – The Engager – at the Adobe Experience Maker Awards.

Want to find out more about this company’s success? Read the full story here.

Perficient partners with companies every day to create digital transformation with similar results. Contact us to learn more.

Have you ever been to a dealer to buy a car? Deciding on which features, trims, engines, or colors are right for you can be overwhelming. And selecting a marketing automation platform isn’t that different as there are a lot of things to consider as well.

For example, in a car you may want a lot of horsepower to propel your vehicle forward quickly. Comparatively, in marketing automation tools you might want higher throughput to pass large amounts of data or send high-volume emails quickly. In a car, you may need more seating, but in marketing automation tools you need a bigger database. In both instances, price is a big sticking point. Marketo will bill you on the number of records you have in the database, while HubSpot will only bill you for the records in the system which are marketable.

Therefore, when you are comparing marketing automation tools you can think of it like weighing the purchase of a car. It’s important to understand that each platform has its own bells and whistles, but any of them can get you from point A to point B. Consider what you want to do with your marketing automation platform – what are your business goals, and what near-term and future-state use cases you need to accommodate. That will help you decide on your product, and any add-on features you really need.

In this blog, I’ll walk through the primary features and functions of marketing automation platforms. Specifically, a comparison between Marketo and HubSpot, but there are many other platforms to explore before deciding.

6 Primary Marketing Automation Features and Functions

The main features and functions of marketing automation include the following.

1. Lead Generation: The process of attracting and capturing potential customer information, such as names and contact information.
2. Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Integration: This allows a business to connect both its sales and marketing efforts. Marketo has a native integration with Salesforce and Microsoft Dynamics. HubSpot has its own native CRM as a package add-on and the ability to connect to other CRMs through its App Marketplace.
3. Email Marketing: These are targeted emails to a specific audience. Marketo requires a coded HTML template before you can use its drag-and-drop editor, while HubSpot has an out-of-the-box powerful, and user-friendly editor. Both systems support full custom and responsive HTML emails.
4. Lead Scoring / Lead Journey: A method used to prioritize and rank records based on demographic and/or behavior data. A person’s score can help qualify people for sales follow-up, interest-based nurtures, and more.
5. Landing Pages & Forms: A standalone page designed to have a clear CTA (call to action) that will encourage visitors to convert and provide their information. This data can then go directly into a CRM if connected.
6. Analytics and Reporting: Enable the marketer to be able to measure the effectiveness of the different campaigns, develop personas for the audience, create segmentation, and help make data-driven decisions for upcoming campaigns. Marketing automation platforms have first-party cookies and can follow both known and anonymous users across external sites. This functionality combined with the behavioral data is what sets marketing automation tools apart from standard tracking tools.

Understanding Marketing Automation Terminology

There are different tools to accomplish the features and functions listed above, but as you start to look at each feature, notice the different level of sophistication each has, and the terminology used.

For example, both Marketo and HubSpot can fulfill the goal of marketing automation, but each tool has different levels of sophistication in each and even the names of these common features slightly differ.

Understanding the different terminology within each marketing automation platform is key to your success. You need to be able to communicate effectively and efficiently with other marketers or technical architects to ensure the campaigns are built as desired.

I am not going to say whether HubSpot or Marketo is better than the other marketing automation tools. Ultimately, it comes down to the different use cases a company has, and which platform will fit their model the best

Find the right platform in six weeks.

Learn More

The Driving Decision on Where to Invest

Remember, each marketing automation platform can get you from point A to point B just like a car, but the inside will work slightly differently depending on which brand you use. Overall, no matter which marketing automation platform you choose, understanding the full breadth of what marketing automation encompasses will guide your use cases and drive the decision on the tool sets to invest in.

In today’s rapidly evolving technological landscape, artificial intelligence (AI) has emerged as a game-changer for various industries. One such industry that will be forced to utilize AI solutions to gain a competitive advantage is the regional insurance carrier industry.

By harnessing the power of AI, regional insurance carriers can streamline their operations, enhance customer experience, and make more informed decisions. I hope I can successfully convey some of the opportunities that insurers should explore, yet my list below represents only a sliver of the total possibilities.

Regional insurance carriers, often operating in a highly competitive market, face numerous challenges in attracting and retaining customers, such as a lack of brand awareness and distribution breadth. To overcome these challenges, they are increasingly turning to AI technologies. AI enables these carriers to automate processes, improve risk assessment, personalize customer interactions, and optimize pricing strategies. By leveraging AI, regional insurance carriers can enhance their competitiveness and deliver superior services to their customers. I’m not sure they have a choice to do anything else.

What are Some of the Areas Where Regional Insurance Carriers can Leverage AI?

1. Process Automation

AI allows regional insurance carriers to automate various time-consuming and repetitive tasks, such as claims processing and underwriting. By automating these processes, carriers can significantly reduce operational costs and improve efficiency. For example, AI-powered chatbots can handle customer queries and provide instant responses, eliminating the need for manual intervention. This not only enhances customer satisfaction but also frees up staff to focus on more complex tasks.

2. Risk Assessment

Accurate risk assessment is crucial for insurance carriers to determine appropriate coverage and pricing. AI algorithms can analyze vast amounts of data, including historical claims, customer profiles, and external factors, to assess risk more accurately. This enables regional carriers to offer tailored policies and pricing based on individual risk profiles. For instance, AI can identify patterns in customer behavior and predict potential risks, allowing carriers to proactively mitigate them. This personalized approach enhances customer satisfaction and reduces the likelihood of fraudulent claims. The mix of different types of new data sources and AI will be a powerful combination that today is in its infancy.

3. Personalized Customer Interactions

AI-powered systems enable regional insurance carriers to deliver personalized customer experiences. By analyzing customer data, AI algorithms can identify individual preferences, anticipate needs, and offer tailored recommendations. For instance, AI can suggest additional coverage options based on a customer’s lifestyle or provide real-time updates on policy changes. This level of personalization not only enhances customer satisfaction but also fosters long-term loyalty.

4. Pricing Optimization

AI algorithms can analyze vast amounts of data, including market trends, competitor pricing, and customer behavior, to optimize pricing strategies. Regional insurance carriers can leverage AI to dynamically adjust premiums based on risk factors and market conditions. This enables them to offer competitive pricing while maintaining profitability. For example, AI can identify patterns in customer behavior and adjust premiums accordingly, incentivizing safer driving habits or healthier lifestyles. This flexibility in pricing helps regional carriers attract and retain customers in a highly competitive market.

Conclusion

In conclusion, regional insurance carriers are increasingly leveraging AI technologies to gain a competitive advantage. By automating processes, improving risk assessment, personalizing customer interactions, and optimizing pricing strategies, these carriers can enhance their competitiveness and deliver superior services. AI empowers regional insurers to streamline operations, reduce costs, and provide personalized experiences to their customers.

AI will undoubtedly play a pivotal role in shaping the future of regional insurance carriers and carriers today are learning about its vast possibilities that go far beyond content creation capabilities and focusing more on what firms like Salesforce can provide, such as true customer data platforms.  

The era of single-channel marketing is over. Marketing professionals now have access to several touchpoints via diverse mediums. In order to provide the best experience, customers also expect businesses to use all of them. By enabling you to communicate with customers—and potential customers—in real-time with pertinent and persuasive messages, SMS marketing can be a useful addition to other forms of marketing. 

SMS marketing (also known as text messaging marketing), one of the methods of marketing automation, involves an opt-in stage. The customer’s phone number is stored in a database whenever the customer responds to the initial message (eg opt-in). The software then generally sends a confirmation text. The number is then retrieved and used for the relevant marketing information. Clients have the right to opt out of further messages at any time. 

SMS Marketing and its Invaluable Purposes 

SMS Marketing can be used in several ways: 

• Providing Value: The messages need to display exclusive deals to your customers. The audience needs to be segmented to receive the most relevant messages so that when they receive the text from the business, they will be excited to open it. 
• Pay attention to timing: Track the times that users are most active on your mobile site to find the ideal times to send out promotions and other news. After the user opts in, the system should be prepared to send an immediate confirmation so that the opt-in customer does not lose interest. 
• Track results: If you expect your SMS mobile marketing plan to have any effect, you need to keep track of its effectiveness. It is important to track the opt-outs to determine which content generates the best response. 

Why Choose SMS Over Other Channels? 

These are just some of the reasons why text messaging can be preferred over other channels: 

• SMS is one of the most-believable marketing channels for the public.
• The open rate of the SMS text message is 98% which is better than the rest of the email marketing. 
• SMS marketing quickly allows you to engage with the customers since the average response time for text messages is 90 sec. (When compared to email marketing it will take more days or weeks to engage with the customer) 
• In today’s era people are likely to have their mobile phone with them at least 15+ hours per day, making SMS marketing more reliable and efficient to convey the marketing aspects to the customer. 

Advantages of SMS Marketing: 

• Alerts  
• Event Interaction  
• In-store promotions  
• Mobile marketing opt-ins  
• Personal interaction 

What is Salesforce’s Mobile Studio and How it Helps in SMS Marketing? 

The Salesforce Mobile Studio personalizes your mobile messaging with SMS marketing, push alerts, and group communications to help you reach customers on any device. 

For SMS marketing, mobile studio helps to send relevant messaging based on customer preferences and behaviors, driving engagement. 

Mobile Studio Uses: 

• Real-Time engagement:

Reach your customer on the device and channel they are using with meaningful, relevant content.  

• Location Based:

Engage with your customers in the right context based on their location.   

• Multiple Channels-One Device:

Unlock different mobile channels to deliver the right experience all in the palm of your hand.  

Engage via Every Mobile Channel: 

Single Platform across all mobile channels which creates a cohesive and connected experience for the customer.  

• SMS (Short Message Service) 
• Push notifications 
• LINE chat message 
• Mobile inbox messages 
• Custom activities  
• Mobile in-app messages  

Mobile Studio includes: 

• MobileConnect: text messages (SMS, MMS*)
• MobilePush: Push Notifications and location-based messages from mobile apps
• GroupConnect: LINE, WhatsApp, Facebook, Messenger chat, and app messaging. 

MobileConnect Uses: 

 MobileConnect which helps to use SMS for your high-touch customer interactions. 

• Deliver a positive experience: Automate transactional and promotional SMS with personalization to truly connect with customers.
• Talk to your customers: Create response messages with SMS and multimedia, making the conversation two-way and a means to get to know your customers better.
• Get Started Quickly: Prebuilt templates are available for any campaign to get started.
• Global reach: With the help of international codes the messages can reach globally. 

MobilePush Uses: 

 MobilePush which helps to keep users excited and engaged in the mobile app. 

• Customer communication for app users: Push notifications allow you to create specific messaging to build customer lifetime value.
• Customer Retention: Use push notifications and in-app communication to make app interaction a habit and influence behavior to retain customers.
• Location-based messaging: Use a geofence to target the customer bases on location. 

GroupConnect Uses: 

GroupConnect which helps to extend 1 to 1 customer journeys onto chat apps. 

• Personalization: Ask automated questions to your users, store and reuse responses for personalized details
• Increase Customer engagement: Create two-way communication by capturing keywords and sending automated responses.

• Improve Customer communication: Reach out to billions of users in WhatsApp with transactional messages.

(Note: GroupConnect chat messaging API to send shipping notifications, order confirmations, receipts, and other utility messages.)

Mobile Studio and Customer Journey 

We can use all capabilities of the Mobile Studio within Journey Builder. The Journey Builder helps to reach the right customer, at the right time and in the right medium. 

Easy Personalization:  

Use your customer data to personalize your content and journey experience with each of your subscribers. 

In the Journey builder use entry source data across email, SMS, push notifications, and inbox messages. 

Unified Content Storage:  

Journey Builder allows you to create message content for all mobile channels in the content builder for a more unified experience. 

Content builder houses email, SMS, push notifications, in-app and line messages. 

Einstein Send Time Optimization: 

Einstein Send Time Optimization tool uses the data to analyze and predict the optimal engagement time to maximize engagement. 

Connect with us to learn more about Salesforce capabilities. We can be your digital success partner! 

Marketing automation is the use of technology to automatically handle marketing operations and multifaceted campaigns across several channels. To boost income and maximize productivity, marketing and sales teams employ marketing automation to automate online marketing campaigns and sales activities. Employees are freed to work on higher-order issues when repetitive jobs are properly handled by automation and human error is decreased. Marketing automation allows marketers to offer real-time, targeted, data-driven campaigns along with enhanced efficiency and output. 

A few examples of marketing automation are:

• Onboarding emails
• Email blasts
• Lead scoring
• A/B testing email campaigns
• Meeting reminders
• Cold outreach
• Birthday & Anniversary greetings
• Abandoned cart marketing automation
• Re-engagement email marketing campaigns
• Transactional messages

Best Practices of Marketing Automation 

Marketing automation shouldn’t be seen as the solution to all your problems. But, when done right, it can certainly bring significant benefits to your strategy. These best practices below will give you actionable tips for how to make marketing automation work for you and your organization.  

• Visualizing Marketing Automation Strategy for Organized Working  

By using visual elements like charts, graphs, and maps, data visualization tools provide an accessible way to see and understand trends, outliers, and patterns in data which will in turn help in arriving at a Marketing Automation strategy.

Mind maps 

Mind maps are a great way to outline and organize the ideas and information in our minds that are easy to remember. They are structured to pattern the brain’s natural thinking pathway, and this similarity fosters creative thinking, leading to the formation of new ideas which form the basis of Marketing Automation.

Flow charts 

Flow charts are one of the greatest tools for visualization. They help not only in determining the strategy but also in formulating the process flow to achieve the desired results. 

• Finding the Right Frequency to Nurture Your Leads  

Understand the behavior of your customers at different touch points to send them more personalized content to grab their attention. Formulate different Marketing Automation strategies to acquire leads at various touch points. Consider the various possible responses from the leads to your marketing efforts and formulate the strategy accordingly.   

• Hyper-Personalization for Improved User Retention

Marketing leaders must recognize that providing a superior customer experience is not only expected but a competitive advantage. Experience is critical to capture new customers and retain existing ones in today’s crowded digital landscape, while also maintaining or increasing the share of the wallet. Focus on Subscription forms to collect user data to gather demographic information. Use this data to hyper-personalize campaigns to increase the engagement rate.  

•  Categorize Lead Types for Targeted Messaging 

Segment your leads to roll out personalized messages. This allows you to send different messages to different groups of people. This is done in order to improve the targeting and marketing of products and services to specific segments. 

• Keep the Contact Database Clean 

The success of your marketing and sales campaigns relies heavily on your contact database. Any errors or inconsistencies in your contact data could lead to undelivered emails, unanswered phone calls, or missed social media connections. Manage your contacts by checking if they are in the right segments and for any duplication of records to decrease the subscription-cancellation rate. Keep the contact database updated to ensure that the right customer is receiving the right message to keep him engaged with your brand.  

•  Drive Multi-Channel campaigns for Consistent User Experience

Consider omnichannel experience to engage with customers on the platform that they prefer. Multi-channel marketing mixes many distribution and promotional channels into a single, unified strategy to attract customers. This approach efficiently and effectively communicates a product or service’s value using the unique strengths of specific marketing channels. These channels include but are not limited to, email, direct mail, websites, social media, display adverts, and/or a retail storefront. Marketers may use several distribution channels so customers can procure products in their preferred way 

•  Use Drip Campaigns to Nurture Leads

Drip campaigns are highly customizable. You can choose the exact cadence they’re sent with. The content of the emails can also vary based on actions the person has performed. Send pre-drafted emails at specific time intervals to nurture leads present at different stages of the sales funnel.  

• Build Workflows Based on the Buyer’s Journey:  

For people to build a sense of trust towards a brand or business, 90% of the time they follow this pattern of awareness, consideration, and decision-making before purchasing a product. Build workflows based on these journeys to send personalized messages and get better customer engagement at different customer touchpoints.  

•  Reduce Spam Rate by Focusing on Domain Reputation and Deliverability Rate

For this, determine the exact volume at which emails stop landing in the inbox. Perform an in-depth analysis of end-to-end email programs including domain name, infrastructure, customer segmentation, etc. 

•  Keep Your Forms Short to Capture Potential Leads 

If you want to drive potential customers to your business and increase conversions, you should include a lead capture form on your website. Lead capture forms can help generate high-quality leads and move potential customers through the sales funnel. Create easy-to-fill forms, provide your lead with an avenue to contact, and provide only one call to action.   

•  Evaluate Your Marketing Automation Performance

First and foremost, you will want to check whether your automation software is being used, and, hopefully, being used right, otherwise, you can’t expect any meaningful ROI.  Moreover, you need to have enough activity to ensure that your sample sizes are large enough to obtain statistically valid measurements. Then formulate the KPIs to measure your performance if it is in accordance with your objective.  

Here are a few things you should check for, that could clearly tint your measurements: 

• Poor segmentation* 
• Your current win rate and if it is acceptable – i.e. is the sales team doing its job?
• The level and scope of your content arsenal. 
• Sales and marketing alignment  
• The reliability of your marketing automation software and the data it generates 

Do you know of any other enlightening marketing automation tip that can benefit the other readers? Feel free to comment! 

This article is the third post on creating a Submit Action to save Contacts into the List Manager in Sitecore. In the previous post, we developed the SPEAK editor layout for the custom Submit Action in the Core database for Submit Action to have Field mapping ability. In this part, we will construct a class to save contact list details in List Manager (Sitecore). We will also create a Submit action item in the master database and associate it with the SPEAK editor item we created in the previous article.

The series includes the following parts:

1. Submit Action to Save Contacts in List Manager – Basic Implementation
2. Submit Action to Save Contacts in List Manager with Fields Mapping Part 1: Create SPEAK Editor
3. Submit Action to Save Contacts in List Manager with Fields Mapping Part 2: Create Submit Action

Create Submit Action Class and Submit Action Item

Step 1: Create Submit Action Class to Save Contacts in the Contact List:

Create a new model ContactListParameter.cs for the parameter data as given below.

using System;

namespace Feature.FormsExtensions.Models
{
    public class ContactListParameters
    {
        public Guid FirstNameFieldId { get; set; }
        public Guid LastNameFieldId { get; set; }
        public Guid EmailFieldId { get; set; }
        public Guid ContactListId { get; set; }
    }
}

Now we will create a new class and override Execute method. Add a new class file named SaveToContactList.cs in the SubmitActions folder. The GitHub repository contains the entire solution.

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using Sitecore.Diagnostics;
using Sitecore.ExperienceForms.Models;
using Sitecore.ExperienceForms.Processing;
using Sitecore.ExperienceForms.Processing.Actions;
using Sitecore.XConnect;
using Sitecore.XConnect.Client;
using Sitecore.XConnect.Client.Configuration;
using Sitecore.XConnect.Collection.Model;
using Feature.FormsExtensions.Models;

namespace Feature.FormsExtensions.SubmitActions
{
    public class SaveToContactList : SubmitActionBase<ContactListParameters>
    {
        public SaveToContactList(ISubmitActionData submitActionData) : base(submitActionData)
        {
        }

        protected override bool Execute(ContactListParameters data, FormSubmitContext formSubmitContext)
        {
            Assert.ArgumentNotNull(data, nameof(data));
            Assert.ArgumentNotNull(formSubmitContext, nameof(formSubmitContext));

            var firstNameField = GetFieldById(data.FirstNameFieldId, formSubmitContext.Fields);
            var lastNameField = GetFieldById(data.LastNameFieldId, formSubmitContext.Fields);
            var emailField = GetFieldById(data.EmailFieldId, formSubmitContext.Fields);

            if (firstNameField == null && lastNameField == null && emailField == null)
            {
                return false;
            }

            try
            {
                using (var client = CreateClient())
                {
                    return SaveContactInListManager(client, firstNameField, lastNameField, emailField, data.ContactListId);
                }
            }
            catch (XdbExecutionException exception)
            {
                Logger.LogError(exception.Message, exception);
                return false;
            }
        }

        private bool SaveContactInListManager(IXdbContext client, IViewModel firstNameField, IViewModel lastNameField, IViewModel emailField, Guid contactListId)
        {
            try
            {
                var reference = new IdentifiedContactReference("ListManager", GetValue(emailField));

                var expandOptions = new ContactExpandOptions(
                        CollectionModel.FacetKeys.PersonalInformation,
                        CollectionModel.FacetKeys.EmailAddressList,
                        CollectionModel.FacetKeys.ListSubscriptions);

                var executionOptions = new ContactExecutionOptions(expandOptions);

                Contact contact = client.Get<Contact>(reference, executionOptions);

                if (contact == null)
                {
                    contact = new Sitecore.XConnect.Contact();
                    client.AddContact(contact);
                }

                SetPersonalInformation(GetValue(firstNameField), GetValue(lastNameField), contact, client);
                SetEmail(GetValue(emailField), contact, client);
                SetSubscriptionList(client, contact, contactListId);

                var contactIdentifier = new ContactIdentifier("ListManager", GetValue(emailField), ContactIdentifierType.Known);
                if (!contact.Identifiers.Contains(contactIdentifier))
                {
                    client.AddContactIdentifier(contact, contactIdentifier);
                }

                client.Submit();
                return true;
            }
            catch (XdbExecutionException exception)
            {
                Logger.LogError(exception.Message, exception);
                return false;
            }
        }

        private static void SetPersonalInformation(string firstName, string lastName, Contact contact, IXdbContext client)
        {
            if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(firstName) && string.IsNullOrEmpty(lastName))
            {
                return;
            }

            PersonalInformation personalInfoFacet = contact.Personal() ?? new PersonalInformation();
            if (personalInfoFacet.FirstName == firstName && personalInfoFacet.LastName == lastName)
            {
                return;
            }

            personalInfoFacet.FirstName = firstName;
            personalInfoFacet.LastName = lastName;

            client.SetPersonal(contact, personalInfoFacet);
        }

        private static void SetEmail(string email, Contact contact, IXdbContext client)
        {
            if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(email))
            {
                return;
            }

            EmailAddressList emailFacet = contact.Emails();
            if (emailFacet == null)
            {
                emailFacet = new EmailAddressList(new EmailAddress(email, false), "Preferred");
            }
            else
            {
                if (emailFacet.PreferredEmail?.SmtpAddress == email)
                {
                    return;
                }

                emailFacet.  PreferredEmail = new EmailAddress(email, false);
            }

            client.SetEmails(contact, emailFacet);
        }

        private void SetSubscriptionList(IXdbContext client, Contact contact, Guid contactListId)
        {
            var subscriptions = contact.ListSubscriptions();
            
            var listSubscription = subscriptions?.Subscriptions.FirstOrDefault(sub => sub.ListDefinitionId == contactListId && sub.IsActive == true);

            if (listSubscription != null)
            {
                return;
            }

            if (subscriptions == null)
            {
                subscriptions = new ListSubscriptions();
            }

            var listId = contactListId;
            var isActive = true;
            var added = DateTime.UtcNow;

            ContactListSubscription subscription = new ContactListSubscription(added, isActive, listId);

            subscriptions.Subscriptions.Add(subscription);
            client.SetListSubscriptions(contact, subscriptions);
        }

        protected virtual IXdbContext CreateClient()
        {
            return SitecoreXConnectClientConfiguration.GetClient();
        }

        private static string GetValue(object field)
        {
            return field?.GetType().GetProperty("Value")?.GetValue(field, null)?.ToString() ?? string.Empty;
        }

        private static IViewModel GetFieldById(Guid id, IList<IViewModel> fields)
        {
            return fields.FirstOrDefault(field => Guid.Parse(field.ItemId) == id);
        }
    }
}

Now build and deploy the solution.

Step 2: Create Submit Action Item in Master Database:

Switch to the master database and navigate to the following location.

Master: /sitecore/system/Settings/Forms/Submit Actions

1. Right-click on the Submit Actions item.
2. Click on Insert, and then select Insert from template.
3. Select the /System/Forms/Submit Action template, and add an item with the name Save To Contact List.
4. Update the value of the Model Type field with our custom model type name.
5. Update the value of the Error Message field. Example: “Failed to save contact details”.
6. Select the “Save To Contact List” option for the Editor field.
7. Change the icon from the Appearance section.

Save To Contact List Submit Action Item

Now the Save To Contact List custom submit action is ready. You will get this above created submit action item as a Sitecore package at Master-SaveToContactList-SubmitAction.

Adding the Submit Action and Testing its Functionality

1. Create an empty contact list called “Customer Contact List” in Launchpad > List Manager > Create > Empty Contact List.
   

   Create Empty Contact List

2. Make a Sitecore form with the fields First Name, Last Name, and Email.
3. Add a Submit button and link it to the “Save To Contact List” submit action.
4. Map the form fields for first name, last name and email.
5. Save the form after selecting the newly created Contact list.
   

   Form Submit Action – Save To Contact List – With Field Mapping

6. Add Sitecore Form Wrapper rendering to a page and set the data source to the previously created form.
7. Browse the web page and fill out the form’s required information.
8. Check the data that has been provided (Launchpad > List Manager > Contact List > “Customer Contact List” > Scroll below to the Contacts section)
   

   Form Submission And Result Verification

Conclusion

The blogs provided a comprehensive guide to implementing the submit action for saving contacts in List Manager.

In the first blog, we explored the basic implementation process, which only allows us to save contacts to a specific Contact List.

In the second blog, we focused on creating a SPEAK editor to support field mapping, offering insights into customizing the user interface. Finally, in this third blog, we covered the creation of a submit action item and its backend logic that supports field mapping ability.

We hope you have found these blogs helpful. Happy Learning !!