Marketing Cloud Email Specialist Certification – Part 5 (Marketing Automation)

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This post is a part of the Marketing Cloud Email Specialist Certification Tutorial Series 

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Automation Tools

1. Playbooks – step-by-step guides for executing digital marketing through the customer lifecycle. 3 are available: Welcome series, Birthday email, and Customer Anniversary NOTE: Playbooks will no longer be supported from January 2019. They are featured in Journey Builder for quick starts
   
2. Triggered Emails – Message sent to an individual executed from an event that happens outside the Marketing Cloud (e.g. sign up, form fill-out etc.). Triggered emails include Welcome emails, Purchase Confirmation, Abandon Shopping Cart, or Shipping Notices
   
3. Journey Builder – 1:1 marketing engine that allows you to build real-time messages in customer journeys across online and offline channels based on customer behavior. Used for customer lifecycle programs. Includes Journey Builder templates such as Abandon Cart, Anniversary Send, Onboarding/Welcome
   
4. API – For technical resources. The API source code allows applications to communicate with one another
5. Automation Studio – Drag and Drop interface to define a workflow that automates various activities. E.g. import data, refresh segments, export data, or send emails.

Automation Studio

Build an automation:

1. Select the Type of Automation:
   • Scheduled – Based on a schedule you define the date and time to start the automation, how often the automation is to execute, and when the automation is to stop
   • Triggered (NOTE this has been renamed to ‘File Drop’) – Automation will start as soon as a file is placed on your designated enhanced FTP.
     
2. Build your automation workflow with Steps and Activities
   • Workflow – Your Automation canvas where you define and create your Automation
   • Steps – The order in which activities are to be executed
   • Activities – A task to be executed in Automation Studio

Key Activity Definitions

Data Extract – Gives you the ability to extract tracking information or data from a data extension. This allows you to transform an XML file into a comma delimited, tab delimited, or pipe delimited format for you to import into Email

Import – Will import the file from an FTP site to a list or data extension.

Transfer File – Allows you to de-encrypt or unzip a file or to take a file that has been extracted and place it on the FTP location.

Filter Activity – Applies the data filter to a list or a data extension and places the results in a filtered list or filtered data extensions. The filter only works on 1 Data Extension

Refresh Group – Used with lists only. Takes the criteria for the group and applies it to the list to refresh the segment.

SQL Query – Takes the SQL statement and applies it to the specified data extension. The records meeting the criteria are placed in a resulting data extension. SQL can run on multiple data extensions.

Send Email – Allows you to choose a User-Initiated Email definition to execute or allows you to define the parameters for the Send.

NOTE – You must define the activities in their respective application prior to setting up automation. E.g. define File Import, or configure Email/ SMS send

An automation can have multiple steps. Each step can have multiple activities. All activities within a step execute concurrently, and all activities in the step must execute successfully before moving to the next step.

1. Define your Automation Schedule (if Scheduled)
2. Configure who to send the Notification Email to.

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Check the other parts of the tutorial series – Marketing Cloud Email Specialist Certification Tutorial Series 

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Tutorial Series

• Part 1: Email Marketing Best Practices
• Part 2: Email Content Creation
• Part 3: Email Delivery
• Part 4: Email Message Design
• Part 5: Marketing Automation
• Part 6: Data Management
• Part 7: Subscribers Management
• Part 8: Data Segmentation
• Part 9: Tracking & Reporting
• Part 10: FTP Guide