How to make your Marketing Cloud setup more usable

Salesforce Marketing Cloud has its reputation as a complex system: the user interface might feel complicated to some, the data model needs thinking during implementation, and making target groups can be a fun little SQL exercise for a technical consultant. Consequently, the marketing team cannot perform quick growth experiments since they rely on technical expertise like external consultants or developers.

But at the same time, Marketing Cloud is an excellent platform for building multichannel communications: you can easily send emails, SMS messages, and all kinds of mobile notifications like push notifications and in-app messages.

Typically organisations that use a tool like Marketing Cloud don't have only one data source: they might have a CRM system where they get master data, an ecommerce site, and probably some other systems as well. For the rest of the organisation, Marketing Cloud is another data source they must consider when considering the overall data architecture and business needs like reporting or analytics.

To help you get the most out of Salesforce, we gathered some practical tips that can make your Marketing Cloud much easier to use.

Seven steps to a more usable Marketing Cloud

1. Don't look back – Trust the Journey Builder

Even if an experienced consultant who helps you with the implementation knows the "old part" of the system, it doesn't mean it's best for your business. All communications should happen through the Journey Builder since it is modern and easy to use.

2. Know your customer

From an architectural point of view, your organisation should have one system that is master for all customer data. Typically this system is your CRM.

3. Think about the data model

Marketing Cloud has a concept called Contact Model, which ensures the customer is known and identified across all channels. The contact model is also challenging because you'll have to decide which is the correct key to use as ContactKey.

Tools like CDP (Customer Data Platform) can help identify customers across all channels and bring many benefits. Still, I recommend following common sense: what is the common denominator for all your customer data? Can you get the CRM ID to your mobile app or ecommerce site? Integrating all together might need some architectural work, but with modern cloud and integration tools, it is worth it.

4. Think data model one more time!

It might sound good to bring all data through Salesforce Service Cloud, but be clear: are customer service use cases the same as use cases for marketing? Probably not. Make sure that marketing can use data directly in Marketing Cloud, and that data is linked to Contact Model. If not, ask again or prepare yourself for SQL fun.

5. Don't use Marketing Cloud for data processing

One common pitfall of Marketing Cloud is using it for data processing. Even if there are tools that could do the job, performance is not good since it's designed to deliver messages, not to process data.

6. Work closely with the partner during the implementation

The world might look very different from the consultant's point of view compared to marketers, so close collaboration ensures that the consultant knows what you want to achieve. Try to send the first campaign as soon as possible.

7. Extend the platform

Once you know where are the pain points, you can extend the platform and automate or streamline the most challenging parts of your work.

To summarise, focus on the customer and the data

The key to making Marketing Cloud more usable is to focus on the customer and the data. Using the Journey Builder, integrating customer data from multiple sources, and creating a robust contact model, you can create a more streamlined and efficient system for your marketing team. Additionally, it's essential to work closely with your implementation partner to ensure that the platform meets your specific needs and extend it as needed to automate or streamline processes.

By implementing these strategies, companies can empower their marketing teams to be more agile and responsive to changing market conditions, allowing them to experiment with new campaigns and drive growth more effectively. In addition, with a user-friendly Marketing Cloud setup, companies can gain a competitive edge in today's fast-paced business environment.