Frequently Asked Questions

The first phase of this implementation will focus on communication efforts to alumni and donors. Implementation for other audiences and parts of campus will begin summer of 2024.

Once you have been granted access to the Salesforce Marketing Cloud pilot, go to smu.edu/marketingcloud. Click the Sign In button. If you are currently logged into another system using Single Sign-On,you will be passed on to the Marketing Cloud environment. If you are not logged in to a system using Single Sign-On, login with your SMU ID and your SMU Password. You will then be directed to Salesforce Marketing Cloud.

Currently, the session settings are set that a session will stay active for 2 hours.

As roles change, your supervisor will evaluate users and user access on a semi-annually basis and will determine if any changes should be made at that time.  One major criterion to maintaining access is usage (e.g. entering corporate relationship activity, running reports, etc.) on a regular basis.

Yes. A page on Email best practices has been compiled on the Email Marketing Project site.

Yes, Salesforce hosts a Marketing Cloud Engagement Glossary with all the important terms and concepts related to Marketing Cloud Engagement.

Your first stop should be the Documentation and Training section on the Marketing Cloud service page. Salesforce also offers many Trailheads and Trailmixes to help you learn and understand Salesforce Marketing Cloud (SFMC). 

As always, it is recommended that you contact the IT Help Desk first with your support question, and if needed, they will escalate the ticket to second-tier support. The Marketing Cloud Knowledge Base on Wiki.SMU is also good for 24/7 self-service support.

Currently the approval function is not enabled within the SFMC instance. It can be set so that before a send is schedule, approvers would have to review the email if so desired.

Email sent from Marketing Cloud must have a footer that contains the physical address as well as a link to the subscription center for an individual to be able to unsubscribe (see CAN-SPAM Act). Both of these reside in the SMU Footer content block which can be customized for the other units.

Also, alternative (alt) text attribute is required for all images. Please see Use Accessible Images for an overview of best practices for writing alternative text for images and graphics.

SFMC has a solution known as Content Detective that will look for certain words or phrases that may potentially trigger a SPAM alert. You would need to reach out to your Salesforce administrator to enable the solution. Litmus is also a good solution to be able to set to detect any phases that may trigger a response.

You would need to do a test send to your Litmus account in order to see how your email performs in the various email solutions.

Yes. Email Autosave has been enabled within the SMU SFMC instance and changes in the email editor are automatically saved.

You can quickly look in the Tracking folder of your email sends and select the email you'd like to review. You can also select and compare metrics across similar emails to understand how each performs. Within SFMC you can also view reports within the Analytics Builder to utilize standard reports or build your own reports in the Intelligence Reports section of SFMC.

Yes; As the images and links are hosted within Salesforce Marketing Cloud and SFMC link tracker. You can overwrite/replace an image in SFMC Content Builder for a quick instructional video, please see How to change Links and Images in an email after it's sent in Salesforce Marketing Cloud.

Yes, there are several ways to build an email template. You can import HTML from previously sent messages (Note: You will still need to edit the email in HTML) You can also build from Blank Templates, Basic Templates or Saved Templates from the Content Builder section.

Yes. Within Content Builder, you will see the dropdown tab for Desktop & Mobile within the Content tab of your email builder. You can easily toggle to see how your content and assets will perform within the solution and how the emails will render when sent. To review how your email will look with different email service provider (ESP), you will need to use your Litmus account to preview the emails is the best way to see how they will render in different ESPs.

Please Note: Each email service provider renders email differently, so you may notice subtle differences with email in Gmail versus Outlook, Yahoo or Apple Mail.

Dark mode requires the use of specific CSS in the code of your emails. This is not out of the box (OOTB) for Marketing Cloud, but is possible. As each email service provider (ESP) renders email every so slightly, dark mode renders differently in each ESP. Litmus has an excellent document on how to accomplish this in SFMC.

To take advantage of all the features of Marketing Cloud, the template will have to be built within the tool.

Enterprise wide sharing is currently not enabled by default, but can be via the sharing tab located in Content Builder. Currently, both content (assets, templates, code blocks, etc.) can be shared from one business unit (BU to another, or to multiple business units at one time.

Sitecore is currently not connected to Marketing Cloud. There is a way you can work in your Sitecore instance to provide personalization aspects to the website that is visited by an email subscriber.

The calendar is centrally managed, but users within the Alumni Relations business unit, with the proper permissions, can add in events or placeholders into the Calendar. Pending and Past email sends are also shown on the calendar.

Yes, the SMU SFMC Data Dictionary provides a description of the fields. A condensed searchable version is available in the Marketing Cloud Knowledge Base.

Certain users will have the ability to create sendable data extensions from filtering the Master Data Extension (currently named SMU Combined Datav2) and filter based on the data fields within the data extension.

Users would not be able to add in their own data entries or additional fields, but data elements can be combined with other data sets that are available in the solution.

The record data is added nightly. Since the data will always change, you must refresh any filtered lists before reusing them to obtain any newly updated records.

Email lists can be shared with the data team to be matched and integrated into BBEC so there can be a more complete record of the contact and the data can be cleansed before injecting into SFMC. If interested, please contact the IT Help Desk to get a request started.

If the subscriber contacts you, you can have them visit the unsubscribe link in the last email they received and resubscribe to the email categories they desire. You can also review their record within the All Subscribers list within SFMC and 'activate' their record which will remove their unsubscribe state.

Please Note: This should only be done with the direction and approval of the subscriber.

This can be used for Lyris or Exchange Groups, but you would be to bring the list in to Marketing Cloud and manage it from the data extensions section. List management becomes the obstacle to add or remove contacts that you are emailing to.

Journey Builder is a marketing automation tool that allows subscribers to receive messages via email or SMS based on criteria or previous engagements.

Imagine this tool as a better way to automate messages and reach target audiences at specific points in time or as a result of subscriber engagement.

Journey Builder is a user-friendly, drag-and-drop tool that allows marketers to create personalized, engagement-based journeys for their customers.

• Design and automate campaigns that guide customers through their journey with a brand.
• Execute simple or multi-step marketing and data management activities on an immediate, triggered or scheduled basis.

Email journeys in the Journey Builder tool provide personalized and captivating messages to your audience through automation.

These journeys can range from intricate sequences spanning a year with different decision points to straightforward single emails sent annually.

By prioritizing the individual experience of each recipient and tailoring emails based on specific triggers, you can ensure the delivery of pertinent and timely content that encourages interaction.

It is an integrated set of AI technologies integrated within the platform. You can learn more about Einstein online (FAQs).

You can also watch a Salesforce video about how it uses Generative AI: 5 Steps to Prepare Your Organization for Generative AI.

• A welcome message when someone subscribes or opts-in to receive communications.
• Welcoming new students to the Hilltop with a series of follow-up messages to help orient them to campus.
• Onboarding materials and support during the first 90 days for new SMU employees.

Journey Builder Prerequisites

Review these items before using Journey Builder in the Marketing Cloud whether you’re a marketer or administrator.

Journey Builder Activities

Canvas activities include messages, decisions, updates or a combination of these elements dragged onto the Journey Builder canvas. In a multi-step journey, the activities you configure affect each contact until they reach a goal or the end of the journey.

Journey Builder Reports

View a list and description of Journey Builder reports available in the Reports tool.

Salesforce Marketing Cloud Engagement: Journey Builder Demo

With Journey Builder in Marketing Cloud Engagement, send your customers on personalized, connected experiences to build lasting relationships with your brand.