Your messages are doing their job, but are they working it?

If your campaigns are feeling a little too copy-paste, a little too “blah,” it might be time for a serious glow-up. You’ve got the data. You’ve got the content. Now it’s time to use the tools inside Marketing Cloud on Core (aka Growth and Advanced Edition) to turn that good-enough messaging into something that shines!

This blog will teach you how Dynamic Content and Expressions can transform your messages from basic to brilliant. You’ll learn what these new features are, how they work, and how to use them to make every send feel personal, polished, and powerful!

Let’s Start with the Basics

Before we dig into the tools, let’s talk about transformation. A glow-up for your marketing means:

• Less copy-paste, more customization
• Making use of the data you already have
• Messages that speak directly to the recipient, not the crowd

Marketing Cloud on Core gives you two powerful tools to make it happen. Ready to transform your messages? Let’s learn how to master Dynamic Content and Expressions.

Introducing Your Email’s Style Squad

Give your emails a fresh look without starting from scratch. Think of Dynamic Content like your email’s glam squad; each part makes your email stand out. Consider giving your email different “outfits” based on who’s opening it.

• Personalization Point: This is the part of your email where you give a mini makeover. It could be a subject line, preheat, hero image, or CTA – any element that could use extra sparkle.
• Personalization Decision: This is the brains behind the beauty. It figures out who should see what based on the rules you set.
• Targeting Rule: Your custom-fit formula. It defines “if this, then show that” logic. For example, “if account type = VIP, show gold banner.”

Pro Tip: Already built a variation you love? You can reuse it in other emails using recent Personalization Points.

How to Apply the Glow-Up: Creating Dynamic Content

Let’s walk through giving your content a dynamic makeover:

• Open your email in the editor and select the content block you want to glam up.
• Head to the Dynamic Content section and click Add Variation.
  • You can use the Variation dropdown to access NewVariations if you’ve already got some variations.

• When the Create or Reuse Personalization Settings window pops up, select New Variation.
  Heads up: Your message has to save first, so give it 10-20 seconds.
• Name your variation and create your Targeting Rule.
• Click Save, then customize your content within that variation, like updating a header image or swapping out messaging for a specific audience.
• Use the Variation dropdown to preview how your message looks for each version.

Pro Tip: Use dynamic blocks sparingly at first. Target high-impact spots like hero images or CTAs, and test frequently to ensure each variation shines.

The Finishing Touch for Personalized Flair

Once your content’s dressed to impress, it’s time to fine-tune the details, and that’s where Expressions come in. They’re like your behind-the-scenes styling tool that ensures every message feels personal, even when the data isn’t perfect. Here’s how Expressions keeps your messages looking polished:

• Saved Expression: Think of this as your go-to styling shortcut. It’s a reusable logic block you create once and drop into multiple campaigns; it’s less work with the same wow factor.
• Attribute Selection: This is where you tell the Expression what data to look at, such as PreferredName, LoyaltyStatus, or FavoriteProduct.
• Fallback Value: No data? No problem. Expressions let you set a backup so your message stays smooth. Instead of “Hi,” you get “Hi there!”

Expressions ensure every message feels intentional and on-brand like you planned that way (because you did). 

Adding the Ultimate Accessory: Creating Expressions

Here’s how to build your first Expression and set your messages up for consistent, reusable personalization:

1. Head to Content > Content Workspace in Marketing Cloud.
2. Click Add, then choose Content.
3. Select Expression, then click Create. (Yes, you’re about to create something fabulous.)
4. Give your Expression a name that clearly describes what it does (like “PreferredName Fallback” or “GoldMemberStatus”).
5. Use the Attribute field to choose the customer data you want to reference.
6. (Optional) Add a filter if you need to narrow down conditions, like only using this Expression when someone’s location is “US.”
7. Click Save.
8. Don’t forget to hit Publish to start using your Expression in your messages.

Pro tip: Once created, Expressions can be used repeatedly across campaigns, saving you time while keeping your personalization game strong.

Using Your Expression in a Message

Now that you’ve created your personalized shortcut, it’s time to drop it into your message for that final glow-up touch.

1. Open the email, SMS, or WhatsApp message where you want to use your Expression.
2. Select the content block where you want your personalization to appear.
3. Click the [] Add a merge field symbol.
4. Choose Saved Expressions from the dropdown menu.
5. Pick the Expression you created earlier.
6. Add a default value (like “there” or “friend”) in case your data field is empty.
7. Click Done and admire your work.

Pro Tip: This ensures your message always reads naturally, even if a customer’s name or info is missing the data.

Use Them Together for a Full-On Email Glow-Up

You’ve got the tools! Now it’s time to layer them like a pro stylist would. Dynamic Content and Expressions are great on their own, but when used together? That’s when the real transformation happens!

Think of Dynamic Content as your email’s wardrobe, changing outfits based on who’s reading. Then think of Expressions as the accessories, adding that personalized sparkle like someone’s name, product interest, or membership level.

Real-World Example

Let’s say you’re sending a promotional email:

• You use Dynamic Content to show one banner for loyalty members and another for new subscribers.
• Inside each banner block, you drop in an Expression to greet the user by name (with a fallback like “their” in case their name isn’t available).
• You also use Expression to highlight their preferred product category, so the CTA feels totally tailored.

The result? An email that looks like you custom-designed it for every person without cloning templates or managing a million logic paths.

Why This Combo Works

• You reduce manual work by creating fewer, smarter assets.
• You create hyper-relevant emails without sacrificing time or scalability.
• You build a customer experience that feels seamless, polished, and personal, even if you’re sending to thousands at once.

Using Dynamic Content and Expressions is the email marketing equivalent of putting on a fresh outfit, doing your hair, and finishing with the perfect accessory.

Ready to Give Your Emails a Glow-Up?

You don’t need a whole new wardrobe of emails, just the right tools to style them smarter. With Dynamic Content and Expressions in Marketing Cloud on Core, you can transform basic batch-and-blast messages into personalized, polished experiences that connect with your audience.

From targeting rules to fallback names, you have everything you need to bring out the best in your campaigns without doubling your workload. Whether you’re just dipping your toes into personalization or looking to scale with style, this glow-up is just the beginning.

Want help applying what you learned?

Book a consultation with Sercante’s Marketing Cloud experts to review your personalization strategy or sign up for one of our hands-on workshops. Let’s glow up your next campaign together!

Original article: Personalization with Marketing Cloud on Core: How to Use Dynamic Content & Expressions

©2025 The Spot. All Rights Reserved.

The post Personalization with Marketing Cloud on Core: How to Use Dynamic Content & Expressions appeared first on The Spot.

For the last seven years, I’ve been enamored by a marketing analytics tool (who among us hasn’t, I’m sure), Datorama, or Salesforce Marketing Cloud Intelligence. MCI, as we’ve come to call it, is the most seamless way my customers have found to join their data across multiple sources, built by marketers and for marketers. MCI allows users to join data together and easily create reports and dashboards using plain language from the pre-built data models. This allows for easy-to-populate smart lens dashboards, or deeply complex automated reporting triggered by specific events. 

To my delight, and to the happiness of marketers, Salesforce just announced on March 18, 2025, a new version of the tool, Marketing Intelligence (MI),  built on the Salesforce Platform. This new version takes the best features of existing MCI and layers them into the functionality of Data Cloud’s unified platform, while taking users to the future with agentic features that will provide down-to-earth insights with conversational agents. So without any further ado, let’s dive into this new tool, Marketing Intelligence! 

What is Marketing Intelligence? 

Marketing Intelligence (or MI) is a new application on the Salesforce platform designed to simplify marketing data management, deliver trustworthy, out-of-the-box insights that marketers can instantly act on, and deliver better return on investment for marketing spend. Being built on Data Cloud and connected to the Salesforce platform allows it to be fully extensible, with a toolbox for marketers at the ready- it’s everything you need to build robust, effective, and meaningful dashboards with minimal lift. 

Data Cloud for Marketers Made Easy 

One of the processes I have been spoiled by in Marketing Cloud Intelligence is data mapping that auto-populates based on past usage and logical guesses by the platform’s artificial intelligence. Additionally, certain APIs come with prebuilt models and mapping to build off of rather than user-defined settings. These features have helped get marketers streamlined into the world of data models and dashboarding with less lift than throwing them into a database or asking them to join various tables. 

All of that, to my delight, is back in full form with Marketing Intelligence. You have the option to upload a TotalConnect file (a non-standard API, flat file of your choosing), or to use an existing API connection, with some rolled out at launch and more coming in the year ahead. Choosing a connection like Google Ads allows you to seamlessly grab that data, formatted and ready for quick mapping, and load the data you need into a dashboard in just 3 clicks. 

Clean and Easy Dashboards 

The dashboards look sharp and load with ease. These dashboards come prebuilt, with options to customize, and also have a key new feature compared to the existing Marketing Cloud Intelligence: generative AI summaries of your campaigns, including what’s working and what might not be. This elevates, to me, the future of dashboarding—being able not only to look at quick and easy data points and trends but also being told in plain language for what to take away or dig into. This can help marketers ask questions and dive in further, and even ask their agent to take action on what recommendations surface.

The idea of clear and plain insights especially comes up in implementations of the current dashboard tools I work in. Users looking at a dashboard want to know different information, and for dozens of users looking at a single page, the questions they’re asking are going to be different depending on needs. The option to ask your agent to recommend optimizations, and then act on it will save marketers a lot of time and headache. With Marketing Intelligence,  you just need the data ready for an agent to help your end users get what they need from the data you’ve put in place. 

Tidied Data Across Channels 

Of course, the core goal of any marketer looking for a tool like Data Cloud, Marketing Cloud Intelligence, or this new version of Marketing Intelligence, is to tie data together across channels to tell meaningful stories they can act on. In addition to the standardized API mapping, MI creates value by uniformly harmonizing these fields across datasets and allows for a semantic model to be used on the backend to tie data together in ways that are common sense (campaign name ties across all of your channels, for instance), such as tying your campaign from paid media to your campaigns from your CRM or other tools, even when names are not exactly aligned (more on this in a moment). 

I’m an existing Datorama/MCI User: What’s Worthwhile Here? 

If you have been reading up to this point, you know what was probably on my mind when I first saw this tool: can I love a changed version of my favorite software of all time? (And yes, I have a favorite software of all time.) Put simply, I’m ready to love. Let’s dissect the butterflies in my stomach. (And if your heart skips a beat when you hear about normalization, semantic modeling, and ROI, there’s enough of this platform for us to share). 

One Word: Normalization 

When I lead implementations with clients on MCI, we talk about the ways in which their data joins. Sometimes it’s super straightforward, sometimes it’s messy. More often than not, we can devise ways to join the messy and the clean together, such as by breaking out parts of campaigns to equal full campaign names in other channels, or by using the numerous formulas Marketing Cloud Intelligence offers out of the box.

In MI, this is no longer necessary. One of my favorite surprises is seen below: you can classify and normalize data with Einstein AI, so instead of working to modify and standardize all of your data either in the platform of origin or in Intelligence, you can instead have Einstein help you set standardization of your data. This is a fantastic path forward in joining datasets together for synchronized cross-channel reporting.

Two Words: Semantic Modeling 

Though users will have an out-of-the-box paid media data model ready to go, users will have free range beyond the world of pre-defined data models in MCI. In MI, you can set up a semantic model that joins datasets together across multiple objects. While you may miss some of the standardization of having ads, conversion, and web analytics data models, among countless others in MCI, you will get seamless back-end loading of data together, along with seamless joins to standard Salesforce object data. This also means that you can add fields and relationships with full customization as your datasets evolve, or as you update back-end nomenclature to more cleanly join fields from one connection to another.

 Three Words: Return on Investment 

Speaking of Salesforce data, what elevates a good MCI implementation to a great one, in my books, is the joining of cost/engagement data to tangible ROI and meaningful dollar results. With the new integration to the semantic model and the ease of connecting standard objects from Sales Cloud, users can handily create and easily visualize ROI metrics in MI wherever data cleanly intersects, which is now made much easier with Einstein normalization and semantic modeling.

Additionally, attribution is a more straightforward possibility with MI than in current MCI, with the framework to capture website events within Data Cloud data model objects, providing marketers end-to-end visibility into touchpoints where ads have been seen by end users. This will include attribution models for first and last touch for users, and can further be a method to validate ROI and pinpoint specific interactions with customers.

I’ve Never Used MCI or Datorama-Why Should I Explore Marketing Intelligence? 

The Tool for Data Harmonization 

MCI has long been the gold standard for harmonizing marketing data. When clients come to me looking for data solutions, if the core users (front and back-end) are marketers, MCI is always what I recommend. Now with MI, you have the power of what current MCI can do to enable marketers to aggregate and act on data in the same platform as your CRM and marketing data, with the added benefits of generative and agentic AI, 3 click data setup, Data Cloud, and embedded Tableau Next visualizations.

The Tool for Visualization 

Current Marketing Cloud Intelligence has some great visualization options, but the two big enhancements I’ve always wanted and have tried to build guardrails for on my own are: 

1. Faster load optimization for dashboards 

2. Plain language recommendations for end users 

With MI, you get both of those with minimal lifting. Data is smoothly joined together using Data Cloud and back-end semantic modeling, with minimal loading for calculated fields and other computing intensive processes in current MCI. Additionally, with generative AI suggestions and an agent to help you pause underperforming ads, end-users are no longer limited to looking at charts and figuring out what it means,—because actions are ready and available to springboard from on the page.

The Tool for Marketing Customization 

Have you ever wanted to redefine your campaign names in reporting by extracting certain parts of your campaign names from across systems? Have you wanted to group different Google Analytics traffic sources and merge them against ad spending from the respective paid media platforms on an automated basis? What about renaming and grouping a set of campaigns based on criteria only you and your team know and then dynamically filtering for a handful of those campaigns? 

That’s the sort of fun I love to explore with clients, and it’s back in full force in MI with processes like patterns to extract data points from various fields, calculated fields in the semantic layer, and the normalization processes Einstein brings to the table.

A New Era 

Marketing Intelligence launched on March 18th (with Data Cloud and MI licenses required). Talk to your account executive to explore this new product. Marketing Intelligence is going to be the gateway into a new world of dashboarding intelligently (no pun intended) and is sure to streamline data for marketers in ways that have only been hinted at by Marketing Cloud Intelligence previously. I know I’m excited to take this ride, and I hope you’ll join me!

Original article: Salesforce’s New Marketing Intelligence: As Seen by a Datorama Enthusiast

©2025 The Spot. All Rights Reserved.

The post Salesforce’s New Marketing Intelligence: As Seen by a Datorama Enthusiast appeared first on The Spot.

Managing consent records in Marketing Cloud on Core (aka Marketing Cloud Growth or Advanced Edition) has raised many questions. While most agree with the concept of consent, generating individual consent records each time a sales team member adds a new lead in Salesforce can be tedious. I’ve been asked many times if I could just create a flow to add consent when new leads are created. The answer is “Yes” and here’s how you can do it too. 

Disclaimer

I’ve been called a marketer, consultant, and Salesforce Admin over my career, but I’ve never been called a lawyer. Privacy policies and opt-in requirements vary from country-to-country and even state-to-state. Before implementing this solution, consult with your legal team to ensure that you are in compliance with your organization’s legal requirements.

Consent Fields

Before creating consent records, we first need to understand the requirements. When doing a consent import, the following fields are captured in the wizard and through the import template. This process is very simple and the magic happens behind the scenes.

• Channel – Communication delivery method (Email or SMS)
• Communication Subscription – The individual subscription name (ex. Newsletter)
• Consent Status – Indicates whether an individual has “Opted In” or “Opted Out” at the subscription level.
• Email – Email address of the individual captured on the consent record.
• Consent Date – The date/time that consent was captured.

When digging in a bit more, I found a field named Communication Subscription Consent Id. This field combines the email address and the Communication Subscription Channel Type Id with “#” between them to create a new field. This field is the key to creating a consent record.

Example

• mike.morris@sercante.com#0eBHs0000010zyOMAQ
  
  

Communication Subscription vs. Communication Subscription Chnl Type Id

It’s important to know the difference between these fields and where to find them. When creating your Communication Subscription Consent Id field in your flow, you’ll need to be sure to use the correct value.

The difference between these fields is that Communication Subscription Chnl Type Id references the email subscription and the channel. Communication Subscription is channel agnostic and only references the subscription.

Example

• Communication Subscription – 0XlHs00000111ZZKAY
  • Refers to the Newsletter subscription

• Communication Subscription Chnl Type Id – 0eBHs00000111n0MAA
  • Refers to the Newsletter subscription and email channel

You can find these values by creating a Salesforce report using the Communication Subscription Channel Type report type. You’ll see one record for each subscription and channel. In this example, I have four subscriptions on my preference page as I’m just using the email channel. If the SMS channel was in use, there would be 8 records.

Both of these values are going to be needed when creating your flow, so make a report in your org and be sure to save it. You can also view these values by accessing the records from the Communication Subscriptions and Communication Subscription Channel Types objects if you prefer.

Record-Triggered Flow Build

We’re finally to the fun part. But before we get started, consider a few questions.

• Which object should trigger the flow?
• When should the flow trigger?
• What entry conditions should be used?
• Are there any countries or states where double opt-in is required?

Start Element

I want my flow to only run when new leads are created. I also want to exclude leads that were created from a form submission. Marketing Cloud on Core forms require a consent element, so we don’t need to update these leads. Your start criteria will differ based on your needs.

Scheduled Path

Record-triggered flow can’t execute actions that make external callouts in a path that runs immediately. You can address this by adding a scheduled path with a slight delay. My path has a 1-minute delay from when the lead was created.

Decision Element

I did not exclude countries that require double opt-in from my start element intentionally. I decided to let them enter the flow and use a decision element to route them down a second path. The idea is that I can later add an action to send a transactional email to these leads encouraging them to update their subscription preferences.

Action Elements

Salesforce set us up for success by including the MessagingConsent.MessagingConsent action. All we need to do is configure it correctly and our consent records will be created. Like consent imports, you’ll need action for each of your subscriptions by channel.

When configuring actions, you’ll need to set values for the inputs below.

• CommunicationSubscriptionChannelType*
  • This is the id that relates to the communication subscription and channel.
• ConsentCapturedDateTime
  • Date/time that consent was captured.
• ConsentId
  • This is the concatenated field that we discussed earlier that includes the email address and the Communication Subscription Channel Type Id. 
• ConsentStatus
  • Set value to OPT_IN or OPT_OUT.
• ContactPointValue
  • The email address of the triggering record.
• Name*
  • The communication subscription (id) from the report that we created earlier. This is the id that relates to the subscription only (does not include the channel).
    

*Note: You can create content records without these values, but I prefer to include them to more closely resemble the records created from consent imports.

Formula Resources 

Next, we need to generate the consentid field that will be needed in the action elements. This can be done using a formula to generate the value using the email address (of the triggering record) and the Communication Subscription Chnl Type Id. You’ll need one resource per Communication Subscription Chnl Type Id.

Example Formula

• {!$Record.Email} & “#” & “0eBHs00000111n0MAA”

Configured Action Element

Here’s an example of an action element that has been fully configured.

Final Flow

Here’s a look at the final flow. 

Testing

After activating your flow, create a new lead in Salesforce. Upon creation, the consent values will be set to Opt Out. After a few minutes (allowing time for the scheduled path to run), verify the consent record was created by viewing the Communication Subscription Consent DMO in Data Explorer in Data Cloud.

Once the data from Data Cloud syncs back to the lead record, the consent values will be updated to Opt In in the Privacy Consent Status component.

Respect Consent & Be Responsible  

The best practice recommendation is to create consent records using the consent element on form-triggered flows or by completing consent imports. While these recommendations make sense, generating consent records for individual records created by users can present challenges.

Record-triggered flows offer a good solution for automating consent records, but organizations must ensure compliance with regional, state, and company legal requirements. When in doubt, err on the side of caution and prioritize transparency in consent management.

Original article: How to Create Marketing Cloud Consent Records with a Record-Triggered Flow

©2025 The Spot. All Rights Reserved.

The post How to Create Marketing Cloud Consent Records with a Record-Triggered Flow appeared first on The Spot.

Marketing Cloud on Core (also known as Marketing Cloud Growth or Advanced Edition) can now track how marketing efforts contribute to revenue! With the Spring ‘25 release, Salesforce introduced Opportunity Influence, helping businesses connect marketing engagement to pipeline and revenue. But how does it work, and what’s the difference between Opportunity Influence and Campaign Influence? Let’s dive in!

Opportunity Influence vs. Campaign Influence: What’s the Real Deal?

Before we break down how to customize and report on Opportunity Influence, let’s clarify how it differs from Marketing Cloud Account Engagement’s Customizable Campaign Influence. While both models aim to connect marketing efforts to revenue, they function in distinct ways and serve different use cases. 

Important Note for Account Engagement Users

You cannot use Opportunity Influence alongside Customizable Campaign Influence. If your team already relies on Account Engagement’s Campaign Influence Models, keep this in mind when deciding which model to use.

Additionally, Account Engagement users cannot activate Opportunity Influence as it does not currently integrate with Account Engagement’s Campaign Influence model. If your organization currently tracks marketing-driven revenue using Campaign Influence reports, you’ll need to continue using that model. However, if you’re considering a shift to Marketing Cloud on Core, Opportunity Influence could offer enhanced multi-touch attribution and engagement tracking.

Battle of Influences: Campaign vs. Opportunity – Which One Wins?

Let’s say you’re running a B2B software company and you’ve executed multiple marketing campaigns using a variety of platforms, including ads, email, an e-book, and a webinar, to engage your prospects.

• Campaign Influence: A prospect attends the webinar, clicks on an email, and downloads the e-book before being transitioned to sales as a marketing-qualified lead. These interactions are recorded under a Salesforce Campaign and can be manually associated with the Opportunity when created based on the Opportunity Contact Role and Campaign Member. You can assign influence weight based on your customized rules.
• Opportunity Influence: Marketing Cloud on Core automatically tracks all marketing engagement, including the ad view and click, webinar attendance, and e-book download. These touchpoints are automatically associated to attribute influence based on the predefined model and associated to the Opportunity upon creation.

If Campaign Influence were a fine-dining experience, it would be a chef-curated meal—meticulously crafted with manual customization to fit your exact taste. You decide which interactions get the most credit, but it requires hands-on effort. On the other hand, Opportunity Influence is like an all-you-can-eat buffet with an expert chef behind the scenes. It automatically dishes out credit across touchpoints, giving you a full spread of marketing influence with minimal effort. If you love precision and control, Campaign Influence is for you. But if you want a seamless, automated view of your entire marketing impact, Opportunity Influence takes the crown.

How to Set Up Opportunity Influence

Setting up Opportunity Influence requires configuration in Sales Cloud to ensure marketing engagement is properly attributed to revenue-generating activities. To fully connect marketing efforts with sales outcomes, ensure that contacts engaging with marketing campaigns are linked to Opportunities. This allows for accurate tracking of marketing interactions that influence deals.

Enabling Opportunity Influence

1. Navigate to Salesforce Setup > Opportunity Influence
2. Enable Opportunity Influence
3. Select an Attribution Model
   1. First-Touch: Gives full credit to the first marketing engagement that led to the opportunity. It’s ideal for understanding which top-of-funnel efforts drive initial interest.
   2. Last-Touch: Assigns full credit to the last marketing interaction before the opportunity was created. It helps measure the final push that converted a lead into an opportunity.
   3. Even-Distribution: Spreads credit evenly across all marketing interactions that occurred before opportunity creation, giving a balanced view of multi-touch engagement. This approach is ideal for businesses with long sales cycles and/or multiple high-value touchpoints.

Going Beyond Activation

Customization is key to maximizing Opportunity Influence. Marketers should align influence models with their sales cycle, ensuring critical marketing touchpoints, such as email engagements, paid ads, and automation journeys, are correctly captured. Because Opportunity Influence consumes Data Credits, it’s essential to be strategic when enabling multiple models to avoid unnecessary credit usage.

Making Sense of Your Data: Reporting on Opportunity Influence

Once Opportunity Influence is enabled and tracking data, you can start reporting on marketing’s impact. The key to unlocking valuable insights is leveraging Salesforce’s Reports & Dashboards to tell a clear story about how marketing drives revenue.

Your Treasure Map to Salesforce Reports & Dashboards

• Head over to Salesforce Reports and search for Opportunity Influence Reports. This is your go-to hub for seeing which marketing touchpoints are helping close deals.
• Get specific with your insights! Use filters to refine reports by timeframe, campaign, or opportunity. Want to know which emails led to the most revenue? Adjust your filters to see the impact.
• Create Salesforce Dashboards to visualize Opportunity Influence. Need a quick snapshot for your leadership team? Build an easy-to-read chart that shows exactly how marketing is fueling revenue.

The Ultimate Guide to Opportunity Influence Report Types

Salesforce provides several built-in report types to help you analyze how marketing efforts contribute to revenue. Here are the key report types you can use:

• Opportunity Influence Summary Report – This high-level report shows how marketing engagements are influencing revenue across all opportunities. Use it to track overall marketing impact.
• Opportunity Influence Detail Report – A more granular report that breaks down individual touchpoints per opportunity, allowing you to analyze which specific marketing interactions played a role in closing deals.
• Influence Attribution Model Comparison Chart – Compare first-touch, last-touch, and even-distribution models side by side to see which one provides the best insights for your marketing strategy.
• Marketing Touchpoint Analysis Report – Identifies which marketing channels (email, ads, website visits, etc.) are contributing the most to opportunity creation and pipeline growth.

By setting up and analyzing Opportunity Influence reports, marketing teams can gain deeper insights into which touchpoints matter most, optimize their strategies accordingly, and confidently demonstrate their return on investment.

Why Opportunity Influence is a Game-Changer

Opportunity Influence is a must-have tool for any marketing team looking to measure true revenue impact. No more guessing which emails, ads, or landing pages are driving pipeline – Opportunity Influence connects the dots, giving you a clear picture of how marketing fuels business growth. With built-in attribution models, you can customize insights based on what matters most to your strategy.

Whether you’re aiming to prove marketing ROI, optimize your campaigns, or align better with sales, Opportunity Influence provides automated, data-driven attribution that simplifies reporting and enhances decision-making. If you want better visibility into marketing’s role in revenue generation, this feature is your new best friend!

Next Steps:

1. Check your org to see if the new update is available.
2. Test Opportunity Influence tracking before rolling it out company-wide.
3. Monitor data service credit usage if you’re using multiple attribution models.

Want to learn more? Check out the full Spring ‘25 release highlights or dive into the official release notes.

What are your thoughts on Opportunity Influence? Drop a comment below, and let’s discuss!

Original article: Cracking the Code: How Opportunity Influence Connects Marketing to Revenue

©2025 The Spot. All Rights Reserved.

The post Cracking the Code: How Opportunity Influence Connects Marketing to Revenue appeared first on The Spot.

I  must confess that I have built my fair share of boring unremarkable dashboards.  It haunts me to think of all those past reports that are now collecting dust like a Betamax tape in a world of streaming services.  If you are reading this, I bet I am not alone. We can put so much effort into a dashboard and have the reports hold so much potential but they so often get left on the cutting room floor. But why? Why do our dashboards seem to fall flat when there is clearly a need?

Because effective dashboards require more than just data. They need a clear purpose, a targeted audience, and a design that compels engagement. There are four key questions you can ask yourself to align and truly transform your next dashboard from a snoozefest to a success story.

Target Audience | “Who is this dashboard for”

Imagine building a cockpit for a pilot instead of a dashboard for a car. A pilot wouldn’t be helped by a speedometer and radio – they need critical flight information displayed clearly and concisely. The same goes for dashboards. The first question to ask is: who’s the key decision-maker this is designed for? Are they executives seeking a high-level financial health pulse, or analysts needing to dive deep into specific metrics?  Understanding your audience gives you the lens to curate the right information. Too often we want to cram all the information into one dashboard and end up overwhelming viewers with a data buffet, thus a dashboard becomes unused. By pinpointing who will use the dashboard, you can tailor the data to speak directly to their needs and drive actionable insights. 

Goal Setting | “What are the top 3 goals of this dashboard”

Okay, we’ve identified the audience, but what exactly do we want them to achieve with this dashboard? Just throwing data at viewers isn’t enough. We need to set clear goals for what this dashboard should help them accomplish.  Is it to monitor key performance indicators (KPIs) for a quick health check for the marketing manager? Or maybe it’s a unified dashboard for sales and marketing on lead generation ? Defining the top goals keeps the focus tight and ensures the data presented directly addresses those objectives. This also doesn’t have to be overly complicated either. Start with 3 main goals and then you can build upon them!

Actioning  | “Where will this dashboard be used”

Here’s the thing: dashboards need a clear path to “aha moments” and real-world application or they are going to be forgotten like the bagged salad in the back of your fridge. We can break down the lack of action into two key areas.

First, is the information on the dashboard actually driving insights? Are users gleaning valuable trends, identifying potential issues, or getting the data they need to make informed decisions?  The second area is the “where” question.  Will this dashboard be a daily touchpoint for a specific team, a strategic tool for presentations, or something else entirely?  Building a dashboard “just because” is a recipe for neglect.  By understanding how the dashboard will be used and what kind of action it should inspire, you can transform it from a static report into a dynamic driver of results. This is your sign to build in a retrospective process with reporting if you haven’t done so already! 

Goal Setting | “What do you love and hate abour your current process”

Before diving headfirst into building your new masterpiece, take a moment to reflect on your organization’s current dashboards or reporting tools. What reports are being used religiously? Conduct a post-mortem on these existing dashboards – both the good, the bad, and the downright ugly.  

By understanding what resonates with your audience and what falls flat, you can identify successful elements to carry over and steer clear of pitfalls that led to neglected reports.  We don’t always have to reinvent the wheel! Is a specific visualization particularly clear and engaging? Note that down! Conversely, are there any charts or metrics that consistently go unnoticed? Those might be prime candidates for removal.  

Remember, your current dashboards are a treasure trove of insights waiting to be unearthed. Utilize this intel to make informed decisions about the data, design, and functionality of your new dashboard, ensuring it becomes a go-to resource.

Honorable Mentions

Truthfully I can go on and on about questions you should ask before preparing your dashboard, but I did want to also throw a few honorable mention questions that help focus the data quality. Which let’s behonest, is always a hurdle!

1. “Is the data reliable and up-to-date? “  Ensure the data feeding your dashboard is accurate and reflects the current state of affairs.  Inaccurate data will lead to misleading conclusions. How often will the data be updated to ensure it reflects the current state of affairs?  Stale data is like watching yesterday’s news – interesting, perhaps, but ultimately not very actionable.”
2. “How can I use the data to tell a compelling story?” Effective dashboards don’t just present facts and figures; they weave a narrative that resonates with the audience. This question encourages the creator to consider the flow of information, highlight trends and patterns, and use visuals to make the data come alive. By crafting a data story, the dashboard becomes more engaging and memorable, ultimately driving a deeper understanding and fostering action.

Design with Purpose, Deliver with Impact

By asking the right questions upfront, you can design dashboards that are anything but boring. Remember to target the right audience, set clear goals, and prioritize actionable insights.  By following these steps, you can create dashboards that become central hubs for informed decision-making and drive real results. So, what are you waiting for? Grab your data and get started crafting your next dashboard masterpiece!

Original article: 4 Must-Ask Questions Before Building a Data Dashboard That Drives Results

©2025 The Spot. All Rights Reserved.

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A common segmentation need with Marketing Cloud Growth or Advanced Edition and Data Cloud is creating a segment based on a Contact’s Record Type within the CRM. While this is possible by adding the Record Type field to the Contact Data Stream and mapping the field to the individual Data Lake Object (DLO), this is not very user-friendly or intuitive. Record types are stored as IDs, and who wants to build a segment based on a Salesforce ID? No worries, I’ve got a better solution!

So What’s the Problem?

Before we get into the solution, let’s first define the problem we’re addressing.

When working with record types in Salesforce, you’ll see labels displayed. These familiar values, such as “Contact,” are easy to understand. However, behind the scenes, Salesforce stores these values as IDs.

The actual values for these record types are 18-digit IDs that can be found in each record type’s URL.

Segments can be created using the field values (18-digit IDs), but this method is just asking for trouble. The IDs are very similar and could be easily confused. It takes a keen eye to spot the differences between the field values when compared side-by-side. Imagine trying to segment or personalize based on these values!

Now that we know the problem, let’s fix it!

Solution Summary

To simplify segmentation and personalization, we will create a formula field on the contact data stream to convert the 18-digit ID into text values. We will then map the formula field to a custom field on the individual DMO and add to the data graph. Lastly, we’ll verify that all data has been successfully updated.

Step 1: Create the Formula Field

Formula fields in Data Cloud are a powerful way to transform data into formats that are easier to understand and utilize. In this case, we’ll create a transformation formula in the contact data stream to generate text values for the record type IDs.

You might be wondering if it’s possible to create a formula field on the contact object in Salesforce and ingest it directly into the data stream. While this sounds like a viable option, it can’t be done due to the fact that formula fields in Salesforce are dynamically calculated and don’t have a corresponding value stored in the database.

Creating the Transformation Formula

• Navigate to the Contact data stream in Data Cloud.
  • Data Cloud > Data Streams > Contact_Home
• Select the data stream and then click the “New Formula Field Button”.

• Enter the requested values and formula text.
  • The formula for this example is below.
    • IF(sourceField[‘RecordTypeId’] ==”012Hs000001p5dvIAA”,”Contact”,IF(sourceField[‘RecordTypeId’]==”012Hs000001p5duIAA”,
      “Partner”,”None”))
    • Remember: Your record type IDs can be found in the URL of the record type page.

• Test the formula for each Record Type ID.
  • Confirm the formula is returning the correct output for each Record Type ID and save.

Step 2: Map to the Individual DMO

Next, we need to map the new formula field to the unified individual DMO. This mapping creates a direct attribute for each unified individual, allowing us to use the text value in Data Cloud segments. For example, this will allow us to create a segment of all unified individuals where Contract Record Type Name is equal to “Contact”.

Mapping Contact Fields

1. Select the “Review” button in the Data Mapping section of the contact data stream.

2. Create a new field in the Individual DMO using the “Add New Field” option.
3. Map the Contact Record Type Name field from the contact DLO to the custom field created in the individual DMO. Save & Close.

 
Step 3: Edit the Data Graph

Data Graphs are required for personalization and dynamic content in Marketing Cloud Growth and Advanced editions. To effectively personalize your emails, ensure your data graph includes all fields required by marketing (including the new formula field that we created). When updating your data graph, it’s also a good idea to review it to confirm it meets all requirements for sending emails as detailed in the second resource below.

Data Graph Resources

• Edit a Data Graph
• Marketing Cloud Growth – Data Graph shape and field selection

Step 4: Refresh the Data

Adding and mapping the new formula field will not trigger a full refresh of the data stream. You must trigger a Total Replace of the data stream and also run the identity resolution ruleset to fully refresh the data and populate the values of the formula field in the unified individual record.

Replacing Data Stream & Running Identity Resolution Ruleset

1. Add any existing field from the contact object to the data stream.
   • You can do this by clicking “Add Source Fields” within the data stream settings and selecting any available field. This action forces a complete refresh of the data stream, ensuring all data is updated correctly.
2. Run the identity resolution ruleset.
   • After the data stream refresh completes, manually run the identity resolution ruleset. This ensures that your unified individual records are also updated with the new information. You can find this in Data Cloud by going to Identity Resolutions > Run Ruleset. 

Step 5: Verify the Data

Once your data stream has refreshed and the identity resolution ruleset has run, it’s important to check that your formula field has populated correctly. You can do this by running a Salesforce report using the Unified Individual report type.

Confirm all unified individuals with a value in the “Record Type ID” field also have a value in the “Contract Record Type Name” field by comparing the number of records with values in each field. If the numbers don’t match,  some of your data may not have been updated yet.

Keep in mind that data streams and identity resolution rulesets run on schedules. You might occasionally see differences in the numbers due to these refresh cycles. If you encounter a mismatch, wait for the next refresh cycle and check the report again.

Segmentation Simplified

While both segments below produce the same result, there’s a clear winner in terms of usability. Enabling users to create segments using easily understood, text-based values will improve accuracy and speed of creation. Additionally, these same text values can be used to enhance personalization through merge fields and dynamic content.

Personalization & Dynamic Content

Since our newly created Contact Record Type Name field is related to the individual object, it can be used as a merge field and dynamic content.

Merge Field

Adding the “Contact Record Type Name” field as a merge field in your email will dynamically insert the contact’s record type (Customer or Partner) into the email copy. To prevent blank spaces if a contact doesn’t have a record type assigned, fallback text can be defined. This ensures a smooth and personalized experience for all recipients, even if some data is missing.

Dynamic Content

This is a great way to vary content within an email. For example, a single newsletter could be sent to customers and partners, but display different information based on the Contact Record Type Name field. Customers might see upcoming events, while partners receive a list of partner training resources.

Summary

Segmentation and personalization based on ID fields doesn’t need to be complicated. By investing time upfront in creating and mapping formula fields, marketers can significantly enhance their efficiency and accuracy. This solution minimizes the risk of errors, saves time on backend processes, and enables marketers to confidently create targeted segments and deliver personalized communications.

Big thanks to my friend and colleague Adam Babcock for his collaboration in developing this solution.

Original article: Easy Segmentation & Personalization Using ID Fields in Marketing Cloud

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Autonomous AI is transforming the way organizations operate, and Salesforce’s Agentforce is at the forefront of this revolution. The product was made generally available by Salesforce in October 2024. Whether you want to streamline case management, enhance lead nurturing, or delight customers, Agentforce empowers businesses to accomplish more with fewer resources. In this post, we’ll share five practical tips to help you successfully implement and use Agentforce. 

Feeling anxious about diving all in with Agentforce? Contact the Sercante team for an Agentforce readiness assessment. That way, you can be sure you’re getting set up for success before you implement Agentforce in your org.

Understanding Agentforce

Before diving into the tips, let’s take a closer look at what Agentforce is.

Agentforce enables autonomous AI agents to perform tasks without human intervention, acting as digital workers within Salesforce or external customer channels. These agents enhance productivity by automating routine tasks and assisting with complex ones. With tools like Agent Builder, you can customize agents using pre-built topics and actions or create entirely new ones tailored to your organization’s needs.

Agentforce integrates seamlessly across the Salesforce platform, leveraging Data Cloud for reasoning and learning. Out-of-the-box agents include Service Agents for case deflection, with more capabilities to be released in December 2024, such as SDR and sales coaching agents.

Unleashing the Power of Agentforce: Five Steps to Get Started

Follow these five steps to get started on the right foot when you dive into Agentforce.

Tip 1: Identify Use Cases

Start by identifying where Agentforce can deliver the most value in your organization. Ask yourself:

• How are you using your CRM today?
• What are the current pain points in your processes?
• Are there routine tasks that could be automated to free up team capacity?
• Are there new processes you’ve avoided due to resource constraints?

Examples of use cases include automating FAQ responses for service teams, generating campaign briefs for marketing, or assisting sales reps with lead prioritization and moving deals faster.

Then for each use case, think about what would be needed to transition to an agent:

• What job should they do?
• What actions will they need to take?
• What actions should they NOT take?  (This is just as if not more important to make sure you have defined the lane where an agent should operate within that use case)

Your responses to those questions are going to help you to understand the level of effort involved in use case. This in turn is going to help you to prioritize based on the level of effort and potential value

Tip 2: Define Success Metrics

To gauge the success of your Agentforce implementation, establish clear goals and KPIs. 

Questions you can ask:

• What does success mean? How will we know we have addressed our problem? 
• What metrics are we tracking today that we want to see improvement on?
• Are there additional metrics that will let us know we are seeing success?

For example:

• Reducing average case handling time by 20%
• Improving lead response times
• Increasing campaign ROI by automating content creation

Ensure you have baseline data for comparison and that the necessary measurement tools are in place to help you track success.

Tip 3: Assess Your Data

Your AI agents are only as good as the data they access. For the use cases identified, evaluate your data readiness:

• What data do need? 
• Where is it located? Is it in your CRM, Data Cloud, or other external systems?
• Is it accessible from your CRM? If it’s stored in an external system, do you have APIs in place to get that information?
• Is the data clean, accurate, and up-to-date?
  • Follow this blog post for tips on how to keep your imported Pardot prospect data clean.
• Do you have a single view of the customer across systems?
  • Get tips for creating that single source of truth in this blog post that covers marketing asset reporting, and this blog post that covers customer data platform reporting.
• Lastly, are knowledge bases and metadata structured for easy access? 
  • Agents need knowledge to inform how they will operate and answer questions. This is all of the background configurations your agents actions will rely on — flows, prompts, and Apex for example — they need to also be clearly identifiable and accessible. 
  • When you add actions to your topics, it uses the descriptions to help fuel the instructions. The naming conventions of your resources will also make it easier to determine what the inputs and outputs need to be.

Data and metadata are the backbone of AI performance, so this is an important area to pay attention to.

Tip 4: Start Small

After completing the previous steps, you may have more than one great use case to start with. Here’s where you ask yourself: What are the quick wins that we can get started on that can move the needle and that we can expand on as we mature?

It’s really easy to get caught up on how this can solve ALL the things. There are many challenges to starting a complex process all at once. If a lot of effort is required to get the data in place or to get the actions set up, it will be more difficult to roll out, not to mention making it potentially disruptive and prone to issues 

Avoid the temptation to tackle complex processes right away. Instead, focus on a simple, high-impact use case to pilot Agentforce. There are many out-of-the-box topics and actions that make getting started easier. For example, automating a single FAQ response or generating summaries for sales reps.

Starting small helps build confidence, momentum, and organizational buy-in, and it also reduces the risk of missteps.

Tip 5: Nail Down Clear Instructions

When designing agents, clarity is key. Use the Agent Builder to create and test well-defined topics and actions:

• Topics – Include precise instructions for classifying user requests, setting guardrails, and outlining scope.
• Actions – Clearly define what the agent should do, including required inputs and expected outputs.

Salesforce Agentforce Topic Instruction Best Practices

Instructions are the foundation for grounding how agents perform. They set the guardrails for how the agent should behave and give the agent the context it needs to do its job. 

Here are a few best practices for writing Agentforce topic instructions:

• Start simple
  • Start with the main use case first to ensure the agent is performing as expected. Then, add in more detail to address edge cases. Be sure to test existing instructions for any conflict. You don’t want to confuse the agent! 
• Use plain language
  • Use concise natural language to describe what your action does. Keep it to 1-3 sentences, and it can include the goal of the action, any use cases, and the objects or records it uses or modifies. 
  • In general, the more relevant detail you include in your instructions, the easier it is for the agent to differentiate between actions. Also, be sure to vary the words you use. For example, use a mix of “Get,” “Find,” “Retrieve,” or “Identify” for actions that will query records.
• Avoid industry or company jargon
  • Write like you are instructing someone who doesn’t know your business. Even terms like ‘qualified lead’ could mean something different from one organization to another. Give context where necessary, and reference clear criteria using the data it will have access to. 
  • For example, instead of vague terms like “qualify lead,” specify conditions such as “lead status equals MQL.” 
  • The agent isn’t not going to know your business processes either, so be explicit about the sequence of instructions or any conditions a conversation must meet for an agent to apply an action.
• Think of all the paths
  • You want to go through every possible permutation to determine the actions required. For example: a customer reaches out because they didn’t receive their order. 
  • First think about the order status ( Order Shipped, Delayed, Not Found, Processing). If the status is Shipped then there could be different tracking statuses (In Transit or Delivered for example). If the order is showing as Delivered, was it delivered to the customer’s correct address? Was it stolen? …and so on.
• Remember the Guardrails
  • Keep the Agent in its lane by providing clear instructions on what the agent should not do to prevent unwanted responses. In cases where the agent is customer-facing, be sure to also give clear direction on when an interaction should be routed to a human.

Test these instructions thoroughly in the Agent Builder’s testing environment to ensure your agents behave as expected.

Ready to Explore Agentforce?

Agentforce offers an exciting opportunity to enhance productivity and streamline operations. By identifying the right use cases, preparing your data, and starting with manageable projects, you can set your organization up for success.

Want to learn more? Check out Salesforce’s Agentforce Trailhead and virtual workshops to get hands-on experience. Need expert guidance? Contact the Sercante team for an Agentforce readiness assessment.

Original article: Five Tips for Getting Started with Salesforce Agentforce

©2025 The Spot. All Rights Reserved.

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One of my all time favorite hacks is using flow to generate consistent campaign names in Salesforce. With the release of Marketing Cloud Growth Edition and the move to a more campaign-centric model, I wondered if this old trick would still work. Like any good consultant, I created a demo org and did some testing. Stick around to find out what I learned.

Campaign-Centric Approach

If you have not played with Marketing Cloud Growth yet, let’s set the stage. Marketing Cloud Growth has a very campaign focused workflow for creating new marketing initiatives. I really like this structure as all components are visible and accessible in a single location. This includes the content (emails/SMS messages/landing pages), segment, and the flow (this is a big change too – flows are used to send messages).

Campaign Anatomy

Marketing Cloud Growth uses the standard Salesforce campaign object, but the look is different when accessed from the Marketing app. The campaign is divided into sections containing the flow, start trigger, and content. This makes it easy to access everything in one place.

When campaigns are created, content and flow names are derived from the campaign name. This is another great out-of-the-box feature designed to make reporting easier by relating linked assets. It’s this feature that inspired my test.

Campaign Types

Before we get too deep into testing, let’s consider the types of campaigns that we’ll be creating. Most of us are accustomed to using the default or customized version of the campaign type picklist on the campaign page layout.

Marketing Cloud Growth campaigns are used for emails and nurtures, but they are also used for forms. Based on this, you might want to consider adding some more values to your type picklist to mirror the templates.

Example Type Additions

• Single Email
• Message Series
• Form
• Single SMS Message

Let’s Get Testing!

Now that the baseline is set, let’s get testing. The goal of this test is to do the following:

• Determine if flow can be used to update the campaign name in Marketing Cloud Growth based on a standardized naming convention.
• Confirm that the standardized naming convention will also be applied to the campaign components (flows and content).

1 ) Determine Campaign Naming Convention

I’m keeping my convention pretty simple, but you can use whatever structure best suits the needs of your organization. My structure is as follows:

2) Update the Campaign Object

There are a few updates that need to be made to the campaign object. We’ll take them one by one.

1. Customize Type picklist values and update API names to 3-digit codes (these are what will be included in our campaign names)

2. Update page layouts to make needed fields required

3. Create a formula field on the campaign object to calculate the standardized campaign name

• Field Name: Campaign Name – Calculated
• Formula: Text(Year(StartDate))&”-“&LPAD(Text(Month(StartDate)),2,”0″)&” “&Text(Type)&” “&(Name)

3) Create the Flow

This a straightforward record-triggered flow based on the campaign object that updates the name field on the campaign with the value from the Campaign Name – Calculated field.

Start Element

Flow Canvas

Update Records Element

4) Activate and Test

Test 1: Signup Form

The campaign, landing page, form, and flow were all generated using the correct naming convention.

Test 2: Message Series

The campaign, emails, and flow were all generated using the correct naming convention.

Takeaways

Linking campaign names and components makes consistent naming conventions more important than ever. I’m excited that my favorite hack still works and will be even more valuable going forward.

Like all good things, there is one “gotcha” to watch out for. Whether using this solution or the default functionality, the names of campaign components are generated at creation and are not updated if the campaign name is later changed. My advice is to ensure you have the correct campaign name before choosing your campaign template (from the “Let’s build your campaign.” screen).

If you have any questions about Marketing Cloud Growth or this solution, feel free to reach out!

Original article: Automating Campaign Names in Marketing Cloud Growth Edition

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For fundraising-focused nonprofits, the challenge of tracking campaigns, engaging donors, and optimizing strategy can be overwhelming. Many nonprofits don’t realize that Salesforce Campaigns—often associated with marketing — are also one of the most powerful tools for fundraising.

In this post, we’ll explore how leveraging Salesforce Campaigns and a strategic Campaign Hierarchy can streamline your fundraising, improve constituent engagement, and enable data-driven decisions to maximize impact.

What are Salesforce campaigns, and why are they valuable for nonprofits?

Salesforce Campaigns are a versatile feature within the Salesforce Data Model, allowing organizations to track fundraising initiatives with the same level of detail that many associate with marketing. Campaigns are particularly useful for nonprofits because they allow organizations to organize, monitor, and analyze fundraising efforts.

Using Account Engagement? Read about the advantages of using Salesforce and Pardot connected campaigns in this blog post from Nick Loeser.

Benefits of Using Salesforce Campaigns for Fundraising

Here’s how Salesforce campaigns can help with fundraising efforts for nonprofits.

Track Funds Raised Across Campaigns

By using Salesforce Campaigns, nonprofits can directly associate dollars raised with specific appeals, campaigns, or events.

Gain Insights into Donor Engagement

Salesforce Campaigns enable organizations to see which constituents engage with various fundraising efforts.

Make Data-Driven Decisions

With clear data on the effectiveness of each campaign, nonprofits can focus on the strategies that drive the best results.

Building a Campaign Hierarchy for Fundraising Success

A Campaign Hierarchy is like an organizational chart for your fundraising efforts. Each level represents different campaigns or appeals, structured in a way that allows you to aggregate or drill down into specific data based on need. This structure provides a “big picture” view and the flexibility to analyze campaign performance at granular levels.

Key Steps to Design Your Campaign Hierarchy

To create a Campaign Hierarchy that aligns with your fundraising goals, start by asking yourself these critical questions:

1. What Are Your Organization’s Recurring Fundraising Efforts? Identify consistent, repeating campaigns, like quarterly appeals or specific annual events. These will form the foundational tiers in your hierarchy.
2. What Is the Timing and Frequency of Each Effort? Consider how often each campaign or appeal occurs. For example, an annual fund may include multiple campaigns, such as end-of-year and quarterly appeals.
3. Do Certain Periods Include Multiple Campaigns? Some fundraising periods may include various appeals, each targeting different audiences or using different methods (e.g., direct mail, online ads). Structuring these as child campaigns under a “parent” campaign (like “Year-End Giving”) allows you to track each specific effort while also reviewing total results.
4. Who Are the Campaigns Targeting? Determine whether campaigns are reaching general audiences or specific segments, such as major donors. For general campaigns, you may skip campaign members, but for targeted campaigns, tracking engagement with specific constituent segments can provide valuable data on who responds to what.

Tips for Designing Your Campaign Hierarchy

• Visualize your structure. Use tools like Lucidchart, a whiteboard, or even pen and paper to sketch your hierarchy before building it in Salesforce. Read Jenna Molby’s blog post on organizing Salesforce campaigns here.
• Cross-check with stakeholders. Ensure your Campaign Hierarchy aligns with other departments’ needs for data reporting and access.

Steps to Set Up Your Campaign Hierarchy in Salesforce

Once you’ve mapped out a Campaign Hierarchy, it’s time to implement it in Salesforce. Here’s a step-by-step guide:

1. Start with the top-level campaign. Begin with a broad, overarching campaign, such as a year-based or major donor-focused campaign, and then add more specific levels.
2. Add sub-campaigns for specific appeals. For instance, if you’re A/B testing different mailers, create individual campaigns for each version. Include Campaign Members to track the results for each segment.
3. Review and reassess annually. Your initial hierarchy may need adjustments as campaigns evolve. Plan to review your structure annually to ensure it still aligns with your fundraising goals and strategies.

Maintain and Optimize Your Campaign Hierarchy

To get the most out of your Campaign Hierarchy, schedule regular maintenance. After a year of active campaigns, sit down with your stakeholders to evaluate the performance and structure.

Are there campaigns to add or remove? Have certain appeals gained traction while others have not?

Use this time to update your hierarchy so it stays relevant and effective.

TIP: Check out this Salesforce Campaign Hierarchy Report blog post from Theron Troxel on how to create a Salesforce report to show the impact of related campaigns within a campaign hierarchy.

Get strategic with your fundraising campaigns

Salesforce Campaigns offer nonprofits an organized, data-driven way to approach fundraising. With a well-thought-out Campaign Hierarchy, your organization can see which campaigns resonate with donors, track funds raised, and make decisions based on real-time data.

Ready to create a streamlined, impactful fundraising strategy? Reach out to us at Sercante to discuss how we can help you set up or optimize your Salesforce Campaign Hierarchy!

Original article: So, You’re an Organization that Fundraises? Here’s What Salesforce Campaigns Can Do for You.

©2025 The Spot. All Rights Reserved.

The post So, You’re an Organization that Fundraises? Here’s What Salesforce Campaigns Can Do for You. appeared first on The Spot.

During the Marketing & Commerce Keynote at Dreamforce 2024, Salesforce announced the latest edition of Marketing Cloud built on Data Cloud  — Marketing Cloud Advanced Edition! Expected to be released in November 2024, this new edition expands the features and functionalities of Marketing Cloud Growth Edition, released in February of this year. 

What Comes with Advanced Edition?

Let’s dive into what Marketing Cloud Advanced Edition brings to the table. 

Path Experiment

Path Experiment allows Marketers to maximize engagement with your audience through testing. This new feature allows marketers to test variations within marketing content, such as different subject lines, variations in channels, such as sending an SMS instead of an email, and even variations in cadence, such as sending an email in 3 days versus 1. Path experiment allows marketers to test up to 10 paths within a single experiment, customize the distribution percentage across the paths, and automatically randomize individuals between the paths to help ensure fair, unbiased results. There is no limit to the number of Path Experiments that can be included in one Flow. 

Einstein Engagement Frequency 

Einstein’s capabilities will also be expanded in Marketing Cloud Advanced Edition. First, we have Einstein Engagement Frequency which assists Marketers in sending the right number of messages to their audience. Einstein Engagement Frequency provides insights into the distribution of email sends and subscriber engagement, suggesting the optimal frequency to maximize engagement. This data can then be used to create segments, allowing marketers to suppress or target subscribers who are over or under-saturated. 

Einstein Engagement Scoring

Next, we have Einstein Engagement Scoring, which helps predict how likely each subscriber is to open, click, and stay subscribed to an email communication. Einstein Engagement Scoring’s data can be used to create segments, send subscribers down different Flow paths, or even help personalize content more effectively. 

Unified Conversations with SMS

With the new Digital Engagement add-on, Marketing Cloud Advanced Edition enables marketers to transform one-way promotions into a conversation with their audience. Marketers can respond to messages in real time using the unified customer data within Data Cloud and automate interactions with connected chatbots. 

Looking Toward the Future

What other features and functionality would you like to see Salesforce bring to Marketing Cloud Growth or Advanced Edition? Let us know in the comments!

Original article: Announcing Marketing Cloud Advanced Edition

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