AMPscript preference centres and segmentation in SFMC using DESelect

This video provides an in-depth exploration of two critical aspects of Salesforce Marketing Cloud (SFMC): simplifying data segmentation for marketers and building highly customized preference centers. The content is presented through two distinct segments from a Salesforce Marketer Group meetup. The first segment, led by Gregory from DESelect, introduces a drag-and-drop solution for audience segmentation, aiming to reduce reliance on complex SQL queries. The second segment, presented by Kayode Adeniji, a Solution Architect, delves into the creation of custom preference centers using AMPscript, highlighting the benefits of enhanced branding, personalization, and compliance over SFMC's standard offerings.

The first presentation focuses on DESelect, an AppExchange solution designed to empower marketers to perform complex data segmentation within SFMC without needing technical SQL expertise. Gregory explains that data challenges in marketing cloud, such as disparate data sources, varying data types, and duplicates, often lead marketers to use cumbersome methods like Excel or require specialized SQL knowledge. DESelect aims to resolve this by providing an intuitive, integrated platform where data remains within SFMC, ensuring security and compliance. The demo showcases a three-step process: defining selection criteria (source data extensions, relationships, filters), creating a target data extension (defining fields, send relationships), and previewing results before execution. This approach significantly reduces the time spent on data management, freeing marketers to focus on campaign strategy and content.

The second presentation by Kayode Adeniji addresses the limitations of SFMC's out-of-the-box preference center and demonstrates how to build a fully branded and personalized custom preference center using AMPscript and Cloud Pages. Kayode emphasizes that while the standard preference center fulfills basic compliance needs, it lacks the flexibility for advanced branding, custom fields, and dynamic content. His use case involves a preference center that dynamically displays content in English or French based on subscriber language preference, alongside profile updates. The demo illustrates the interplay between an email link, a preference data extension, a language label data extension, and multiple Cloud Pages (main preference, profile update confirmation, full unsubscribe confirmation). AMPscript is shown to be central to pre-populating fields, updating subscriber data in data extensions, and managing the "All Subscribers" list status (active/unsubscribed), ensuring both personalization and regulatory compliance.

Key Takeaways:

• Simplifying SFMC Segmentation: Traditional segmentation in Salesforce Marketing Cloud often requires technical skills like SQL, which can be a significant barrier for marketers. Solutions like DESelect offer a drag-and-drop interface, making complex segmentation accessible to non-technical users.
• Benefits of No-Code Segmentation: DESelect's approach saves up to 50% of time spent on data management, allowing marketers to launch more campaigns and improve marketing ROI. It also minimizes errors associated with manual data handling or complex SQL queries.
• Data Security and Integration: DESelect processes data directly within Salesforce Marketing Cloud, ensuring that sensitive information does not leave the platform, which is crucial for organizations with strict data security and regulatory compliance requirements.
• Limitations of Standard Preference Centers: Salesforce Marketing Cloud's default preference center lacks branding flexibility, customization options for layout and font, and advanced personalization capabilities, leading to a less engaging subscriber experience.
• Advantages of Custom Preference Centers: Building a custom preference center allows for a full branded experience, creation of custom profile fields, advanced personalization (e.g., dynamic language display), and direct synchronization of preference changes with other CRM instances like Sales Cloud.
• Core Components for Custom Preference Centers: Essential elements include a preference center link in emails, a dedicated data extension to store subscriber preferences and profile attributes, a separate data extension for multi-language labels, and multiple Cloud Pages for the main preference form and various confirmation messages.
• AMPscript for Dynamic Functionality: AMPscript is the proprietary scripting language used in SFMC to power custom preference centers. It handles pre-population of fields, dynamic content rendering (e.g., language-specific labels), capturing user input, updating data extensions, and managing subscriber status in the "All Subscribers" list.
• Dynamic Language Labels: Utilizing a data extension to store labels for different languages (e.g., English, French) allows the preference center to dynamically display content in the subscriber's preferred language without hardcoding, making the code cleaner and easier to update for additional languages.
• Managing Subscriber Status and Compliance: Custom preference centers must effectively manage subscriber opt-in/opt-out status. AMPscript can update specific preference fields in data extensions and crucially, update the "All Subscribers" list status (active/unsubscribed) to ensure compliance with regulations like CAN-SPAM.
• Automation for Segmentation: While custom preference centers collect detailed preferences, marketers often need to create automation studio queries or segments based on these updated preferences to ensure targeted email delivery, rather than relying solely on publication lists.

Tools/Resources Mentioned:

• DESelect: A drag-and-drop segmentation solution for Salesforce Marketing Cloud.
• Salesforce Marketing Cloud (SFMC): The primary platform discussed for email marketing, segmentation, and preference management.
• AMPscript: Salesforce Marketing Cloud's proprietary scripting language used for dynamic content and data manipulation.
• Cloud Pages: A module within SFMC for building micro-sites and landing pages, used to host the custom preference center.
• Content Builder: SFMC tool for creating and managing email content, including preference center links.
• Email Studio: SFMC module for managing email campaigns.
• Automation Studio: SFMC tool for automating marketing tasks, including segmentation based on preferences.
• Sublime: A text editor mentioned for reviewing AMPscript code.
• AppExchange: Salesforce's marketplace for applications, where DESelect is available.

Key Concepts:

• Data Extensions: Tables within Salesforce Marketing Cloud used to store subscriber data, preferences, and other relevant information.
• All Subscribers List: The master list in SFMC that contains all marketable contacts for the email channel and their subscription status (active, unsubscribed).
• Publication Lists: Optional lists in SFMC used to manage subscriber preferences for different types of communications.
• SQL Queries: Structured Query Language used for managing and querying data in relational databases, often used for advanced segmentation in SFMC.
• Inner Join/Outer Join/Exclusions: SQL concepts used to combine or filter data from multiple data extensions based on specified relationships.
• Deduplication Logic: Rules defined to handle duplicate records in data extensions, ensuring data accuracy.
• Sendable/Testable Data Extensions: Data extensions configured to be used for sending emails or testing campaigns.
• RequestParameter Function (AMPscript): An AMPscript function used to retrieve values passed via URL parameters or form submissions.
• Lookup Function (AMPscript): An AMPscript function used to retrieve data from a data extension based on specified criteria.
• UpdateData Function (AMPscript): An AMPscript function used to update records in a data extension.
• UpdateSubscriber API (AMPscript): An AMPscript function used to update a subscriber's status and attributes in the "All Subscribers" list.

Examples/Case Studies:

• Cambridge University Press: A DESelect success story where the organization reduced the time taken for data segmentation from several days to less than five minutes, significantly improving efficiency.
• Practicing Institute: Another DESelect client that chose to invest in DESelect rather than in costly and time-consuming SQL training for their marketing team, enabling marketers to segment data without technical knowledge.
• Custom Preference Center Demo: A detailed walkthrough of a custom preference center built with AMPscript, demonstrating dynamic language switching (English/French), profile information updates (first name, last name, email), and preference management for different communication types (news, promotions, SFMC tips). The demo also illustrated the update of subscriber status in the "All Subscribers" list for both profile updates and full unsubscribes.