We are really happy to introduce our new and a very happy customer, Merlin Entertainment.
Our CTO Jonathan spoke with Melanie Becker, Senior CRM Manager for Europe, about Merlin’s adoption of DESelect.
Moving to SFMC - Merlin story
Having been with Merlin for almost seven years, Melanie is responsible for overseeing all CRM activity for Merlin’s continental European attractions. She has counterparts carrying out the same role all around the globe. Merlin is Europe’s number one (and the world’s second-largest) visitor attraction operator, managing 130 attractions, 20 hotels, and six-holiday villages, across 25 countries and four continents. As you might imagine, data-wise, we’re talking about some serious numbers.
Melanie explained how they first came across DESelect:
“We moved away from another CRM platform, adopting Salesforce Marketing Cloud, in early 2020. The previous platform had a drag-and-drop filter building tool, and we sorely missed having that functionality. So very early on, we chose to adopt DESelect.
Our portfolio really is quite diverse, and with 67 million annual visitors, our segmentation needs are complex. Having played around with Salesforce, it became clear that our needs were a lot more complex than Salesforce products could offer to us, without us basically being true ‘SQL wizards’. We were having to put a lot of SQL work through IT, which is not an ideal long-term scenario due to the sheer volume of queries we have coming through.”
Bridging the SQL gap
Melanie went on to discuss the complications surrounding SQL queries:
“DESelect’s really bridged the gap between us CRM experts on one side, and Salesforce with its need for so many queries on the other. I’m sure that a lot of companies struggle with this as well. DESelect makes a real difference for us, as we are not SQL experts.”
Onboarding with DESelect
As with all new clients, we were keen to hear about Merlin’s onboarding experience with us.
Melanie had this to say about adopting DESelect:
“It was quite stress-free for us! We actually worked with a third party agency to help us with the process. Once everything was done, it was ready to use from day one. We had some training from the DESelect team, followed by additional training from our agency, who really understand how DESelect works with our data model. This definitely helped.
We currently have six CRM managers using the tool around the globe. It was really very easy for us to start using it. The interface is very clear; it guides you step-by-step, and it’s clear what you have to do at each step of the way. It was so simple to use, we really didn’t have a whole lot of questions after the training.”
One thing we love to see is customers really getting into the groove with DESelect. In Merlin’s case, our analytics show they’ve added almost 600 selections in just over seven months. Go, Merlin!
Number of selections done by Merlin since they acquired DESelect.
Finding the right tool
Jonathan asked Melanie about how Merlin first heard about DESelect. Here, Melanie explained what they were looking for in a segmentation tool:
“We had a very long wish-list of requirements from a segmentation tool. It needed to be quick to implement; to accommodate the many data sources and tables we have; to allow us to play around with the many highly customizable data extensions we need. Additionally, we required a data preview function. We also wanted to create campaign-ready data sets. All of that needed to be easy to use so we could be ready to hit the ground running with it.
According to all our research and the research of our agency, DESelect was the only solution that really ticked all those boxes. So we didn’t have to think about it all that long before we reached out to request a demo. I’ve spoken to my global CRM colleagues and we’re all very likely to recommend DESelect. It ties in so seamlessly; it’s so simple, yet so universal. On the one hand, you can use it as a quick drag-and-drop tool for set-ups even for people who haven’t had a lot of training, just because it’s so straightforward. On the other hand, it allows us CRM experts to build really complex segment structures, pairing and matching multiple data tables, including and excluding data extensions, and so on.
It really allows you to work with your data with ease and without you needing to be an SQL expert, which I think was the key point. For us, DESelect was the puzzle piece that was really missing within Salesforce Marketing Cloud. I feel like a lot of companies out there will experience the same thing, so I would definitely recommend they check out DESelect. It’s super-easy to use and we love the product!”
Always learning
As many people know, we’re constantly striving to improve the DESelect product, so we were super-happy to hear this final comment from Melanie:
“Another thing we love is all the development work you put into these monthly updates. One of the things we really love about the product is that it’s not just a static thing. It’s ready to use, but still, you keep adding to — and reinventing it as well. It’s a really great product, there’s no doubt about it.”
Huge thanks to Melanie for taking the time to share her experience, and to Merlin Entertainments for adopting DESelect with open arms.
If you’d like to learn how DESelect can help your organization, check out this quick tour, or schedule a demo today.