If you’re like me and went to both the ExactTarget Connections in Indianapolis as well as Dreamforce in San Francisco back to back, you’re probably nursing a serious case of conference hangover. But hangover or not, you’ve got to hear about the new features in the Marketing Cloud!
The highlight of both Connections and the Marketing Cloud at Dreamforce was Journey Builder. This feature is new to the ExactTarget Marketing Cloud and allows you to create unique interactions with your customers.
Journeys start with a trigger event based upon a set of data. It is then followed up by subsequent interactions depending on parameters. Here’s an example journey I built in the Dev Zone:
- The trigger event in this example is an abandoned shopping cart.
- Immediately, an email is sent to the customer reminding them that they abandoned their cart and that they should come back and finish their transaction.
- The system then checks to see the number of reward points in their account.
- If the customer had crossed a particular threshold of points, Journey Builder will send them a coupon to incentivize them to return.
- If the customer’s points are below the threshold, Journey Builder will send them an email once a day for the next three days reminding them of their abandoned cart.
- If a purchase is made by the customer at any time, the preset goal is reached and the journey is complete.
There are a couple of huge things to love about Journey Builder. First, it’s crazy easy to use. Similar in layout to Lightning Process Builder, Journey Builder is as simple as a drag and drop. Also, there are so many different interactions. Want to send text messages to your customers? Done. How about a geo-fence with a push notification? Sure. Straight up email? They’ve got that too. With so many channels to choose from, being able to streamline all your interactions into one journey will allow the marketing team to share the journey with the entire team and build engagement. Of course, you can’t forget about awesome metrics and Salesforce integration, too.
So, what does this mean for nonprofits? Just like your nonprofit uses Salesforce to get the best customer relationship management experience with their donors, constituents, or volunteers, nonprofits can use the Marketing Cloud to reach out to their supporters. For example, you can send videos to donors’ phones showing them the impact of their donations, set geo-fencing to provide facts about your cause during a charity walk, or email volunteers when their volunteer assignment is coming up.
Check out how DonorsChoose.org uses the Marketing Cloud to quickly fundraise in times of need:
Just like Salesforce, the Marketing Cloud is discounted for nonprofits. Check with your Salesforce Account Executive for more info in getting the Marketing Cloud in your organization.
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