Microsoft Dynamics 365 allows for triggered reactions to make marketing efforts more impactful, efficient, and customer-focused.
Building a customized, targeted customer journey starts with data; yet, this approach is a double-edged sword. By the time marketers get a hold of data, it may already be outdated or irrelevant. With customers engaging with your platform through multiple channels and systems, marketers need their efforts to be timely and effective.
That’s where Microsoft Dynamics 365 Marketing comes in. This robust platform, powered by artificial intelligence, puts real-time marketing data directly into the hands of marketers. Dynamics 365 Marketing creates a marketing instance that enables users to create trigger-based journeys that effectively target customers across multiple touchpoints.
Other marketing platforms can provide teams with in-depth customer data, but what makes Dynamics 365 Marketing truly unique is the solution provides teams with real-time data that effectively targets the who, what, and when of business’ customers.
So what exactly does this mean? We’ll discuss each of these factors in more detail below and how marketing teams can enjoy powerful marketing analytics that further enhances the customer experience.
The Who
The first step to successful marketing: identify your audience––who is the communication for? Naming your audience isn’t always straightforward. Dynamics 365 Marketing simplifies this process via marketing segments. Segments are essentially a subset of your audience that meet specific criteria which enable marketers to more effectively communicate with them. For example, if you hosted events across several states, you can build a marketing segment that only targets individuals in certain states.
Dynamics 365 Marketing enables teams to customize marketing messages via customized fields, including fields, logic, tables, filters, and more. Users have easy access to this information, enabling them to see exactly who is being targeted and build appropriate messages for them.
The What
The ‘What’ we’re referring to is the meat of your message––the content and form of your message. In real-time marketing, these forms can include emails, text messages, surveys, and push notifications. It’s important to consider your target audience during this step and the communication form they’ll respond to the most. For example, busy professionals may engage more with a brief email over a lengthy survey.
Dynamics 365 Marketing is designed to be user-friendly, meaning teams can easily create various communication forms with just a few clicks. Below is a brief overview of how to create messages using push notifications and text messages.
Push notifications: To build a push notification, you’ll need to set up a mobile app configuration. Once completed, complete the following steps:
Go to ‘Advanced Settings’ > Security > Field Security > Profiles > Marketers - Mobile app secrets.
Next, add the corresponding user(s) or team(s) as members
Finally, save and close
Text messages: Dynamics 365 Marketing enables users to add text message recipients using Twilio and TeleSign. To send triggered text messages, follow the steps below:
First, you’ll need to have a phone number to use within the app.
Next, go to Settings > Customer Engagement > Azure SMS preview and select +New text message sender on the top ribbon
Finally, agree to ‘Voice and text message terms’ and select your country or region. You’ll then be provided with a toll-free United States phone number. This will be the number from which you’ll send your marketing messages.
Each communication can be customized to fit the specific needs of your audience and be scheduled to send at the appropriate time. Additionally, users can set messages to trigger new customer journeys.For example, customers who sign up for a specific account will automatically recieve a welcome text message or a push notification alerting them to additional great resources.
All this can be done with little to no coding, enabling all users, regardless of their technical skill, to create customer journeys and targeted messages.
The When
The ‘when’ of marketing can be as straightforward as a planned time in which you send your communication out, but with real-time marketing, it can also be an event that triggers the communication as part of a customer journey. Essentially, you can combine emails, push notifications, and text messages into specific customer journeys that can operate over either a segment of contacts at a planned time or that can respond to a trigger to reach customers in the moments that matter.
One of the best parts about Dynamics 365 Marketing is that you have a variety of options to reach your customers, including email, SMS, web, and more. This enables you to more effectively engage with your audience, win customers, and increase customer loyalty. Additionally, because Marketing is powered by AI, marketers are provided with additional data that further improve the way they reach out to customers.
Real-Time Analytics
Effective marketing requires ongoing effort. Marketing teams must constantly analyze the effectiveness of strategies, messages, platforms, and more to increase success. Dynamics 365 Marketing features powerful analytics that enable teams to drill deep into marketing data.
For example, users can review specific forms of communication and see if recipients are actually clicking on post notifications or calls to action. Or whether people are opening and reading text messages but not clicking on links. With this information, marketers can make adjustments as needed to increase the success of marketing methods/strategies.
How to Use Dynamics 365 Marketing
With access to real-time marketing data and powerful marketing tools, organizations can create relevant messages that effectively resonate with customers on the platforms that matter most. Regardless of how quickly data changes, Marketing ensures insights are always available.
To see the capabilities of the platform up close, watch a video demonstration hosted by JourneyTEAM developers or contact a JourneyTEAM representative to unlock the power of real-time marketing insights.