Victor Nazarenko. Solutions Architect

Personalization Methods and Their Application in Marketing Cloud

%%FirstName%% %%LastName%%, today I want to talk about the personalization tools in Marketing Cloud in a very practical way, without marketing bs about Integrated User Experience and visionary concepts.
As you might have already guessed, one of these tools is right in the first lines of this article: in Marketing Cloud, it is enough to insert %%attribute name%% to include any personalization data in your email. But this is just the tip of the iceberg.

Faith in the almighty artificial intelligence is indestructible, so let me clarify from the start that we won’t be addressing the orthodox believers who think AI will create high-quality content and boost sales on its own. Instead, we will talk to those who are a bit more grounded in reality.

First, let’s consider what personalization in marketing actually is and the types it can take. Personalization is an attempt to guess a customer’s interests based on available data and to make the most suitable offer to that customer at the right moment and in the right place (including the offer not to join the lead queue). Obviously, this is not a one-time effort but an iterative process of finding unique features in thousands of records that look as similar as trees in a forest.

It follows several directions:

• Narrowing down the segment
• Collecting customer data
• Collecting data on customer behavior
• Preparing personalized content
• Determining the dependency of the next communication on the results of previous ones
• Responding to indirect customer requests
• Choosing appropriate delivery channels
• Choosing the frequency of communications
• Selecting the optimal time to send messages

Let’s briefly go through each direction and see how these approaches can be applied in Marketing Cloud. {Although each direction deserves its own article}

Segment Narrowing

Filters and SQL

To define precise customer segments, there are several key tools available.

• At the data preparation level:
  • Data Filters: These allow you to create new tables by simply dragging and dropping filters based on attributes.
  • Automation Studio SQL Activity: Here, you can build complex segments using full SELECT queries across multiple necessary database tables.
• At the entry point into the email journey:
  • When selecting a data source for an email journey in Journey Builder, there’s a similar filtering mechanism akin to Data Filters.
• Within the configured email journey:
  • Utilize tools for flow control based on customer data. For instance, Decision Split

Collecting Customer Data

Cloud Pages, Smart Capture

Using forms (Smart Capture) on landing pages (Cloud Pages), you can gather any data from customers that they are willing to provide. You can also conduct simple surveys and integrate other functionality based on standard JavaScript and connected libraries. This includes embedding iframes from other sites you own.

Collecting Customer Behavior Data

Connecting Additional Data Sources

In Marketing Cloud, you can upload and utilize any data related to your customers. For example, purchases and product views, geolocation from mobile app users, logins to the portal, search queries on the website, and wish lists from an e-commerce site.

Moreover, after proper integration, you can enrich Google Analytics 360 statistics. Following integration directly into Marketing Cloud, you can view user behavior statistics after they click on a link from an email.

Content Preparation

Dynamic Content, Einstein Content, AMPScript

The realm of content preparation that speaks directly to the customer and addresses them by name is vast. I’ll try to condense it into a few paragraphs, focusing solely on personalization.

In Marketing Cloud, there’s a plethora of tools for content personalization. Let’s list them all and then see how each can be applied across different channels.

• AMPScript – This powerful tool enables text personalization by inserting contact attributes like %%ContactAttributes%% and building complex programming constructs with conditions and loops. Basic programming skills in any modern language are sufficient for full AMPScript functionality.
• Parameterized Links – These allow for creating landing pages dedicated to specific customers within a campaign.
• Dynamic Content – Establishes strict rules for selecting content blocks based on customer attributes.
• Einstein Content Selection – Uses AI to select relevant images with links based on recipient behavior, applying both strict and flexible rules similar to dynamic content. It’s like a continuous A/B test for content blocks on steroids.
• Einstein Recommendation – Similar to the previous tool but more tailored for extensive content or product catalogs typically found in retail.
• SSJS (Server-Side JavaScript) – Used for landing pages integrated via API with other services or Marketing Cloud processes.

These tools empower marketers to deliver personalized content across various channels, ensuring messages resonate with individual customers based on their preferences, behaviors, and interaction histories.

Now, per each channel.

Email

Here, we’ll need AMPScript to address the recipient directly in the email subject line and to pull related contact data into the template. For example, a list of purchases or service usage statistics. Additionally, we can apply AI content here – a banner with a link from a relevant category or a list of recommended products. Or dynamic content, for instance, to display different contact details based on the customer’s city. With AMPScript, we can also show or hide content blocks or parts of text (even in the email subject line!), and generate parameters for links leading to personalized landing pages.

SMS

Since SMS communication exclusively involves text, AMPScript is applied here as well. Again, parameterized links to Cloud Pages or any other landing pages can be generated without limitations. Just remember that SMS messages are not as flexible and are significantly more costly than email communications.

Landing Pages

On landing pages, using parameterized links allows us to display any data related to the contact. Personalized offers, service usage statistics, upcoming events, links to webinar registrations, or just standard offers addressing the person by name.

Push Notifications

Everything here depends on the specific mobile application. Using Marketing Cloud pushes, you can do everything similar to any other pushes in mobile applications: simply notify with messages resembling SMS, update data in the app, transmit real-time data, and more. AMPScript is used here as well for generating personalized messages.

Trigger activities based on the past engagement:

1. Journey Builder
   The simplest tool to tie subsequent communications to the outcomes of previous ones is the Engagement Split in Journey Builder. This feature divides the flow of contacts based on actions like email opens or link clicks. For instance, for critical campaigns, you can send SMS messages to those who did not open your email or send an additional email after a click in the previous one.
   
2. Einstein Split
   For automatic segmentation based on past interactions, you can use Einstein Split within Journey Builder. This allows you to segment your audience based on engagement levels and send targeted communications. For example, you can send surveys like “We’ve noticed you’ve been visiting less frequently. Can you share what challenges you’re facing with our platform?”
   
3. SQL Activity
   The most powerful tool for building interconnected communications is SQL Activity. This tool allows you to create segments of any complexity by leveraging any contact data and the history of any communications sent. For example, you could create a segment of contacts who have opened more than 40% of emails on topic X but have not performed action Y on the portal in the last six months.

These tools enable marketers to create sophisticated communication flows that respond dynamically to the behavior and engagement of contacts, thereby improving the relevance and effectiveness of marketing campaigns in Salesforce Marketing Cloud.

Choosing the appropriate delivery channels

Journey Builder, SQL, Advertising Studio

In Marketing Cloud, there isn’t a separate tool that automatically selects the best delivery channel for each specific customer. However, it is possible to set up such workflows: If a user does not open an email, include them in a Google Ads remarketing audience or send an SMS or Push notification. Furthermore, by analyzing overall interaction statistics across different channels, you can build segments with personalized preference indicators using SQL queries.

Choosing the frequency of communications

Einstein Engagement Frequency

No matter how good your content is, it’s essential to gauge the desire to share it. To determine this, regularly monitor the number of emails sent to each person over a period and segregate those who are receiving too many communications into separate groups temporarily. You can use familiar tools like SQL or Einstein Engagement Frequency, which provides a graphical interface to view email statistics on graphs and identify segments of under-engaged and over-engaged subscribers.

Choosing the optimal time to send messages

Einstein Send Time Optimization

Few people will be thrilled to receive a discount email from a pet store in the middle of the night. Moreover, if your email arrives significantly earlier or later than your competitors’, it may simply get buried in the inbox under a heap of other engaging content. Without determining the best time to send emails to each individual on a personalized level, this challenge cannot be overcome. Einstein Send Time Optimization Split in Journey Builder can help here—it analyzes each subscriber’s email open times and identifies the suitable window for sending emails to them.

Conclusion (sort of)

Like a repair that can’t be finished, the conversation about personalization can only be paused. Personalization is a powerful tool for capturing subscriber attention, but retaining that attention requires high-quality content. However, this topic is even more extensive; let’s look at it another time.