One of the most important features of Salesforce Marketing Cloud is Journey Builder. With the help of Journey Builder, marketers can direct their customers to 1:1 automated journeys across channels.

Let us discuss some best practices before we start working with Journey Builder.

Answer three fundamental questions

The first question is whether the journey is serving any purpose or not. If the answer is yes, we should proceed with it, and if we are getting multiple goals for the trip, we have to split the journey.

The second question we should consider is whether the customers will have benefit from this journey. If we get a negative answer, there is no need to create a journey.

We should have a clear picture of the customer’s actions once the journey is active. So the third question is regarding this, how will the customers act upon the journey. The answers for this will clarify send times and channels to be used.

Split the journey into sections and modules

Simple is always better than Complex, so breaking the journey into different modules will help get a good understanding and make it easy to update and test. Another advantage of dividing the journey into modules is that these modules can be saved and reused. It is easy to present in small modules, other than representing a buyer’s journey as a lengthy and complex one.

Use of wait activities

We use wait activities to hold a contact for a specific time according to attributes or events. When the connection is waiting, it will be saved in the database. This will lead to additional processing for the journey. So we have to use the wait activities only if it is needed. We should always remember that wait activities should not be included at the start of the journey.

Segmenting the data

It is a good practice to segment data before they enter into the journey. If filter criteria are added to a journey, then the processing speed of the journey will be affected depending on the complexity of the filter criteria added. Therefore, it is always recommended to use journey data when filters are used other than contact data.

Separate the unwanted data

In journeys, to filter out the unwanted data, domain exclusion and exclusion scripts are used, which will need a very high processing speed. In turn, this reduces the journey’s processing based on the number of contacts. Therefore, it is always a best practice to use automation to filter out the contacts unwanted before their entry into the journey.

Quality of the content

Based on the quality of content will help in giving a clear way to make the engagement and decision also in deriving instant conversations. So there should be a keen observation of the engagements and determine what kind of content it happened to. This will help in the growth of the business to understand what type of content brings the desired results.

Validating and testing the journey

The two essential features of the journey builder are Validate and test. Validating helps to find out the mistakes which might have unnoticed. This feature will ensure that the components of the journey are on track, and the journey will provide the results expected. Testing will give us a clear picture of the paths in the journey which the customers will follow. The testing feature uses real contacts to test the journey. So we can be more sure of what content the contacts will receive or the content is received by all contacts before the launching of the data.

Are you looking for a registered Salesforce Consulting Partner for a successful Salesforce implementation? Please feel free to schedule a consultation call with CloudVandana to get started.

Atul Gupta

Atul Gupta is CloudVandana’s founder and an 8X Salesforce Certified Professional who works with globally situated businesses to create Custom Salesforce Solutions.

Atul Gupta, a dynamic leader, directs CloudVandana’s Implementation Team, Analytics, and IT functions, ensuring seamless operations and innovative solutions.