Marketing & Automation Blog

Recently, I encountered an automation that repeatedly failed during a Query activity, with the dreaded error message: “Automation failed due to system error.” Despite my best efforts to modify the query and explore other avenues, I couldn’t resolve the issue. Naturally, I turned to Google for answers. The majority of responses pointed to common culprits:  Primary Key Violation : If your query generates duplicate rows that violate the primary key constraints, it can lead to failure.  Inserting Null Values : Attempting to insert null values into non-nullable fields can trigger errors. Data Truncation : Inserting values longer than the field allows (resulting in truncation) can cause issues. Timeouts : If your query exceeds the 30-minute timeout window, it will fail.  Despite checking my query against these possibilities, none seemed to fit my case.  Desperate for a solution, I contacted Salesforce support. Their investigation uncovered a critical detail: an ‘Invalid length parameter pass

Recently I worked on a project where the requirement was to extract UTM parameters used in triggered emails for some audit purposes. These are the tracking parameters that are appended to the URLs when the links are clicked in the emails and they are used to understand and attribute the web traffic generated from the CRM emails. For example, some common parameters will be the source, content block name, campaign name, email name etc. Source will always be email, campaign name will be the name of the campaign (Black Friday, Summer Sale, Boxing Day etc.), email name to understand which email generated the higher traffic and revenue and content block names to understand how different sections within the email performed.  The approach that I took was to: First, identify all the triggered sends in the account using WSproxy. This provided a list of all active triggered emails in the account along with important details like name, customer key, JobId, BatchId, Subscriberkey etc. Second, downl

Recently Salesforce announced changes to its data retention policy for Marketing Cloud Engagement. Starting January 15, 2025, subscriber and journey engagement data will be retained and accessible for 180 days. This policy applies to data you retrieve using the Email Studio Reports in Analytics Builder, the tracking reports in Email Studio, Tracking Extracts in Automation Studio, or requests to SOAP API.  When this policy takes effect, subscriber and journey engagement data over 180 days old will no longer be accessible using these reports.  Here is the announcement Most of the Marketing Cloud instances I have worked on in the past, typically have automation that extracts previous days' tracking data, imports it in a data extension and also transfers it to external reporting or data storage service. The most common and important tracking extract data are - Sent, Not Sent, Open, Clicks, Unsubscribes, Subscribers, Send Jobs and Bounces. In case you do not have this historical trackin

There are going to be situations where you may want to invoke another automation from one automation. Or you may want to run a series of automations one after another without worrying about setting up a schedule.  You can use the below mentioned JS code in a script activity in an Automation in Marketing Cloud to invoke another automation. Simply copy / paste this code in a script activity and just make one small change - add the customer key of automation which you want to run/invoke from the current automation.  When you run this script activity, it will initiate the other automation to run. You can use this activity as last activity in two automations that will invoke each other and can run in an infinite look until you manually pause them. This could be useful in a case where you may want to run an automation earlier than allowed interval of 1 hour. The earliest an automation can run is every 1 hour. You can use this method to trigger an automation earlier than this time and as soo

When we create triggered send messages in Marketing Cloud, there is an option to set the message's priority. This is a drop-down which is always set to medium by default. The other two options allow you to set the priority to either high or low.  Only a couple of months ago, I had no idea what this option meant and I never paid attention to it or tried changing it. I do know from experience that in many of the projects I worked it was set to high and for a small number of accounts, I noticed it to be set to medium.  Recently I was tasked to look into an issue where the account creation emails were taking more than 5 minutes to reach the customers' inbox. These were transactional emails that were created either at the point of sale or by customers themselves when they created their accounts online. This resulted in a bad customer experience. When I searched for that email in SFMC, I noticed that it was a triggered send, the send classification was Transactional and priority was

 Recently, I worked on a project to set up Distributed Marketing feature for a Bank's contact centre. The feature allowed contact centre agents working for a Bank to send Marketing approved emails to customers from within the service console in Salesforce. The feature was greatly liked by agents and we saw good adoption rates after some training and persuasion. Use Case:  Work with your service team to get an understanding of what kind of content your customers are looking for when they are calling and speaking with the service centre agents. Or try to understand the frequently asked questions when customers reach out for help through email, social web or phone. This will help you in creating Distributed Marketing Content to provide to your service centre staff. You can then create the Distributed Marketing journeys' in Marketing Cloud with the relevant content and add those as a quick send feature in the Service Cloud console that contact centre agents use. Now when your suppo

Today I want to share my personal insights into using Airbnb, a service that has often been my go-to for finding the perfect place to stay during my travels. Having recently booked a family trip to Florida, I've gathered some valuable lessons and tips that I believe can help you make the most out of your Airbnb experience. Why I Choose Airbnb My preference for Airbnb stems from the convenience and homeliness it offers. Especially when traveling with family, having access to a kitchen is a game-changer. It allows us to whip up quick meals for the kids, and adhere to our dietary preferences without the constant need to dine out. The extra space compared to a typical hotel room is also a major plus, providing us room to spread out and relax. The ability to connect with our hosts is another reason I lean towards Airbnb. These interactions often lead to discovering the locale through the eyes of someone who lives there. Our hosts have guided us to hidden gems, the best local cuisines, a

Separate Business Units units in Salesforce marketing Cloud are pivotal for achieving targeted communication strategies, branding objectives and maintaining organizational order. Below, I’ve compiled a checklist that you can use when you have to create new business units for a client that use SFMC as their email marketing platform. These tips and suggestions blend client requirements with best practices to ensure successful implementation. 1. Defining Objectives and Use Cases Before setting up new BUs, it’s crucial to understand their purpose within your marketing framework. Are these BUs being created for better audience segmentation, distinct branding needs, or to provide specialized functionalities? Clear objectives will guide the configuration and ensure that the setup aligns with your strategic goals. 2. Understanding Target Audience Differentiation Each BU should cater to a specific segment of your audience. It’s essential to define how these segments differ from those of existin

 In the dynamic world of digital marketing, Salesforce Marketing Cloud (SFMC) professionals constantly seek tools that enhance their efficiency and streamline their workflow. Here’s a compilation of essential tools every SFMC user should consider incorporating into their toolkit, alongside brief descriptions of what they offer: Ampscript.io : This tool is invaluable for those using AMPscript in their SFMC campaigns. Ampscript.io provides a user-friendly environment to write, test, and debug AMPscript code directly in the browser, without needing to first test it in SFMC. This speeds up the development process and helps avoid common pitfalls in campaign setups. URL: www.Ampscript.io   Dataviews.io : Dataviews.io offers visual diagrams and detailed descriptions of SFMC Data Views, making it easier for users to understand the complex data relationships within SFMC. This tool is especially useful for those looking to enhance their SQL querying capabilities within SFMC, providing actionable

  In the ever-evolving world of digital marketing and customer relationship management, merging two Salesforce instances can be as challenging as it is critical. My journey as a Marketing Cloud consultant for an insurance company undertaking such a project revealed complexities that went beyond initial expectations. This article aims to share insights from this experience, providing a roadmap for professionals facing similar challenges. Project Background The project started with a straightforward objective: merge two Salesforce orgs into one. While the Salesforce core team tackled the brunt of the development and migration work, our role in the Marketing Cloud team was more focused, yet pivotal in ensuring the seamless integration of marketing processes post-merge. The Role of the Marketing Cloud Team Contrary to what one might expect, our work did not involve creating new journeys or automation in Salesforce Marketing Cloud (SFMC). Instead, our primary task was to update the busine