Creating a Customer Journey in (SFMC) Salesforce Journey Builder

How to create a customer journey in Marketing Cloud

Salesforce Journey Builder is probably the most popular Marketing Cloud app and a highly sophisticated consumer journey builder suitable for massive data projects. It offers advanced customer journey marketing. The feature enables marketers to develop personalized campaigns and experiences that will be meaningful for every customer. This sounds really promising, doesn’t it? However, to leverage all the benefits it offers, you must understand how to work with such a powerful tool. That’s why we came up with this in-depth guide on how to work with Salesforce Journey Builder. Read it and become an expert 🙂

What are the common uses of Journey Builder? Salesforce gives many customer journey examples, from various opt-in methods to Welcome Series, Abandoned Cart, Birthday, Browse Retargeting, Customer Anniversary, Loyalty, Newsletter, App Downloads, Post-Purchase, Promotional, Re-Engagement, and Win-Back journeys.

Entry sources for a journey

Understanding the audience and the journey goal is paramount. The first thing you consider before starting with Salesforce Journey Builder is the origin of your customer journey’s data. Various entry sources can be used for a journey.

Entry Sources example

Data extensions

You can use data extensions (DEs) as an entry source for your customer journey. Data extensions are tables that can contain a variety of data. You can learn more about them here.

You can also filter contacts you would prefer to restrict from the journey. You can filter their attributes by simply using drag-and-drop. However, this segmentation option is rather limited, and does not allow the use of advanced segmentation.

API events

One example of Journey Builder entry events is to choose an API event as an entry source for your customer journey. When contacts enter a journey via API, Salesforce Journey Builder populates a data extension with these contacts. You can set a filter using Marketing Cloud data attributes to ensure that only intended customers enter the journey.

This event type requires API configuration. To set up and use an API, you may have to speak to a technician if needed.

Considerations when working with an IT resource:

• Notice where opt-in and customer data is captured.
• Audit your current customer information. For example, web browsing, demographic, purchase data, and storage.
• Ascertain your customer data needs for personalized or targeted messages and interactions.
• Consider targeting and timing; and which customer behaviors you will act upon.

If you would like to know how to trigger Salesforce Journey Builder API entry events with AMPscript and server-side JavaScript, check out this thorough article.

Cloud Pages

You can use the CloudPages Form Submit Event to admit Marketing Cloud contacts into a journey.

Before using this entry source, create at least one Smart Capture form in CloudPages.

Audience entry

To admit a list of contacts into a journey, use an audience. Audience entry is used for mobile studio only. You can create or edit audiences by using Contact Builder. Select from the push, SMS, and Published Audience Builder audiences available in your account.

Any audiences created before the January 2018 release still function, but cannot be edited. To access functionality previously found in Salesforce Journey Builder Audiences, use the data extension entry source.

You can also schedule an audience to determine how often Salesforce Journey Builder admits contacts from an audience.

Salesforce data

Actions in Sales Cloud or Service Cloud are known as Salesforce data events. Creating or updating an object record places a contact into a journey. Salesforce Flows initiates a Journey Builder event whenever the primary object meets rule and reference object filtering criteria. Configuring Marketing Cloud Connect allows you to take advantage of this.

When you configure the event, define these items:

• Use the Sales Cloud or Service Cloud object as the source of the Journey Builder entry event.

• Who enters the journey (users, leads, or contacts).

• When a record is created or updated; the user, lead, or contact enters the journey.

• Select attributes from object data to filter who enters the journey.

• Select the entry object to use for journey data fields from related objects.

The user ID, lead, or contact entering the journey, their email address, and the email opt-out flag status are all included in each record.

Once you’ve configured the entry source, you cannot edit the object or who enters the journey. Delete and recreate the entry source to choose a different object. Before publishing, you can edit the entry criteria, filters, and event data for a configured entry source. Entry sources are reusable. You can also copy journeys containing Salesforce entry sources.

Note: If setting up the Connector to Salesforce within Marketing Cloud becomes problematic, and you cannot view Salesforce activities in the Journey Builder Canvas, then submit a support ticket. Marketing Cloud support will assist.

Google Analytics 360

Salesforce Journey Builder admits audiences from your Google Analytics 360 account. You can choose an audience from your account, then admit a batch of those audience contacts into a journey. Then you can choose which contacts enter the journey, or admit all contacts, by configuring a filter.

Note that you might have to request a support ticket to enable this feature.

Salesforce Journey Builder Google Analytics 360 use case

To encourage past purchaser reviews, a marketer uses data from his or her company’s GA360 account. The marketer creates a journey using the consumer journey builder.

Create a potential reviewer’s Salesforce Journey Builder journey

The marketer creates a journey that admits customers from the GA360 audience. They then create a segment called ‘Potential Reviewers’ — customers who made a purchase without leaving a review. The marketer admits members of the ‘Potential Reviewers’ audience via the GA360 entry source.

The marketer can simply drag the GA360 entry source tile into the Journey Builder journey. After configuration, the marketer clicks Select an Audience and chooses the Potential Reviewers audience.

To exclude anyone who left a review after being added to the audience, but before journey activation, the marketer creates a filter using an attribute called Reviews. The filter is configured for audience members to enter the journey when the attribute value is null.

Adding another line and dragging in the Reviews and ReviewDate attributes, the marketer configures the filter so Reviews is not null, and ReviewDate is less than today.

The entry source is configured. Upon journey activation, Potential Reviewers audience members meeting filter criteria are admitted to the journey.

Events

Contact events will not be supported in the next release. Events and journeys developed before this change will continue to run. You can, however, use Data Extension or Audiences to admit contacts.

Examples of how Journey Builder entry events place contacts into a journey:

• Events can be journey-specific or shared between journeys.
• You can configure journey-specific events for sole use in that journey.

• Using Entry Source Administration, you can create shared events for use in multiple journeys.

Date event journeys can be chosen instead.You can select them to run birthday campaigns or any other campaigns related to a certain time or date.

Inbound Chat Message

You can use the Inbound Chat entry source in Salesforce Journey Builder to admit contacts who send one of the keywords selected to your app channel. For instance if you want to integrate WhatsApp messages into your customer journey marketing.

If you want to use this entry source, create a chat integration business account through the chat messaging setup app.