Do I Need Salesforce CDP?

Why Use Salesforce CDP?

In the past, businesses had limited channels of direct communication with customers, resulting in fragmented data and inconsistent customer experiences handled by different departments. However, the advent of information and communications technology brought about a multitude of channels, devices, and touchpoints, leading to an explosion of data. Marketers realized the need to harness this vital information to gain in-depth knowledge about their customers, sparking a paradigm shift in marketing strategies.

While data collection and management technologies had been in place since the 1990s, the evolving business landscape demanded a solution that could collect data from multiple sources, organize it, and centralize it into a single customer profile. This marked the emergence of Customer Data Platforms (CDPs) in the early 2010’s, revolutionizing marketing practices by offering a comprehensive 360-degree view of the customer. By 2016, CDPs had solidified their position in the industry, transcending mere software to embody a new marketing mindset. Unified customer profiles enabled the transition from multichannel to omni-channel contact, allowing for hyper-personalized messaging tailored to individual customer behavior and preferences, resulting in a consistent and personalized customer experience.

Source: Raconteur

Looking ahead, data will continue to play an increasingly critical role. The World Economic Forum estimates that by 2025, a staggering 463 exabytes of data will be generated daily worldwide, dwarfing the cumulative information shared by humanity throughout its existence. Companies striving for survival must embrace data culture and enhance their competitive edge. CDPs have become an indispensable tool, and gaining a deeper understanding of their implementation is a crucial step forward.

What is a CDP?

CDP, short for Customer Data Platforms, has ushered in a new marketing paradigm centered around data and customer-centricity. Essentially, CDPs are packaged software solutions designed to gather and consolidate customer data from various sources, ultimately creating comprehensive and unified customer profiles.

But how exactly does a CDP operate? It’s relatively straightforward. Nowadays, CDPs often employ Artificial Intelligence techniques, particularly machine learning, predictive models, statistics, sentiment analysis, frequent patterns, graphs, and more. These advanced methodologies enable marketers to execute highly effective marketing actions by leveraging insights derived from customer behavior trends.

Salesforce CDP represents a suite of comprehensive software solutions specifically designed to aggregate and merge customer data from diverse sources, thereby generating unified and in-depth customer profiles. With Salesforce CDP, businesses can fully leverage the capabilities of the software alongside the potential of the customer relationship management platform, resulting in enhanced connectivity and intelligent data processing. This powerful tool not only empowers marketing efforts but also benefits sales, support, and even executive decision-making, culminating in a seamless single source of information that facilitates the creation and implementation of hyper-personalized marketing campaigns and strategies, ultimately driving customer loyalty.

Why Salesforce CDP is better than the competition?

Salesforce CDP stands out from its numerous competitors, offering significant advantages and differentiating itself in the market.

With its dual capability as both an Insight and Engagement CDP, it eliminates unnecessary expenses by targeting customers who have already made the intended purchase, while enabling immediate delivery of personalized and flexible offers within the customer’s preferred price range. By adopting this approach, the probability of customer interaction with the offers increases by approximately fivefold. Additionally, Salesforce CDP enables efficient customer categorization, such as identifying “loyal high-spending customers” and “inactive customers,” allowing businesses to tailor their strategies accordingly.
Salesforce CDP seamlessly integrates and harmonizes the intricate online and offline behaviors of your customers, enabling the compilation of their activities and preferences into comprehensive profiles. This valuable data can be effortlessly analyzed and segmented based on real-time customer behavior, empowering targeted audience activation to enhance engagement among existing and prospective customers. Leveraging a set of customizable rules and the power of Einstein AI, Salesforce CDP unlocks the potential for personalized and impactful marketing initiatives.
By harnessing its robust capabilities, Salesforce CDP empowers your marketing team to isolate and analyze multidimensional KPIs derived from your data, providing invaluable insights of extraordinary value.
Salesforce CDP offers a robust segmentation capability that spans across four key areas:
- Geographical: Recognizing the influence of climate on consumption patterns, including clothing and food preferences. Factors like location (rural or urban) drive significant variations in consumption habits, product preferences, and purchase frequency.
- Demographic: Understanding the importance of personalizing offers based on age, gender, race, occupation, and other demographic attributes. This knowledge is essential for crafting targeted promotions, such as tailored offers for specific sports equipment based on the customer’s preferences and characteristics.
- Psychographic: Considering the beliefs, values, and cultural sensitivities of potential customers. Taking into account these factors prevents the delivery of inappropriate offers that may clash with customers’ religious or cultural practices, ensuring respectful and relevant interactions.
- Behavioral: Identifying the optimal timing and preferences for customer spending. Factors like holidays, tax benefits, and individual purchasing behaviors play a critical role in determining when and on which products customers are most likely to invest their money. This understanding enables businesses to tailor promotions and optimize marketing strategies accordingly.
Salesforce CDP ensures seamless compatibility with major systems and applications, including Salesforce Marketing Cloud, Service Cloud, Interaction Studio, Commerce Cloud, Datorama, and Loyalty Management. These integrations are fully accessible from within Salesforce CDP, enabling effortless data flow and functionality. For existing users of Salesforce products, native connectors facilitate seamless integration with Salesforce CDP without the need for extensive pre-coding. Furthermore, Salesforce CDP offers integration with the AWS cloud (Amazon Web Services) and grants access to AppExchange with a range of available applications. It guarantees a robust connection with external applications, including ERP systems. Moreover, Salesforce CDP continually expands its API, empowering developers to integrate more freely and in real-time with the CDP platform.
With Salesforce CDP, updating your information becomes effortless, saving you valuable time. The platform enables easy editing of its data model objects (DMO), allowing you to swiftly make changes to your data structure. Additionally, Salesforce CDP offers the convenience of copying and transferring complete segments, including their descriptions, information, and filters, to new segments. This eliminates the need to meticulously review and re-enter the acquired information, streamlining the process and reducing effort.
Salesforce CDP simplifies data collection and communication in the cloud, leveraging the cloud information model (CIM). It allows you to seamlessly integrate data from various sources, even if they have different structures and formats. By standardizing data interoperability between cloud applications, the CIM ensures smooth data integration. The model organizes content into domains or subject areas, representing essential business concepts.

In summary, Salesforce CDP has emerged as a powerful tool for marketers and organizations at large. Customer Data Platform offers a comprehensive 360-degree view of all customers within a single, easily manageable, and intelligently segmented space.

May 23, 2023 Marketing Cloud Account Engagement Artificial Intelligence, CDP, MarTech, Salesforce Comments Off

Creating a Cutting-Edge ABM Martech Stack in 2023: Essential Components and Best Practices

2023 ABM Martech Stack

Account-Based Marketing (ABM) has become a critical strategy for modern B2B marketers, allowing them to effectively target and engage high-value accounts. To achieve success with ABM, it’s crucial to have a well-optimized martech stack that supports your efforts. In this article, we’ll highlight the essential components and best practices for building a world-class ABM martech stack in 2023

Key Components of a World-Class ABM Martech Stack

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) System: A robust CRM system is the foundation of any successful ABM strategy. It provides a centralized repository for account and contact information, allowing you to track your interactions and progress with target accounts. We recommend checking out popular solutions like Salesforce CRM or Microsoft Dynamics 365.
Marketing Automation Platform (MAP): A MAP is a critical tool for executing ABM campaigns and automating routine tasks, such as email campaigns, lead scoring, and lead nurturing. Leading MAP options include Pardot, Marketo, and Eloqua.
Data Management Platform (DMP): A DMP allows you to centralize and manage your data, including customer information, analytics, and performance metrics. This data can then be used to inform ABM efforts and make data-driven decisions. Explore solutions such as Tealium or Segment.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML): AI and ML can be leveraged to personalize ABM campaigns, providing a more relevant and engaging experience for target accounts. Check out providers such as Salesforce Einstein and Marketo Engage.
Web Analytics Platform: A web analytics platform is essential for measuring the impact of ABM campaigns and tracking the behavior of target accounts on your website. Consider tools such as Google Analytics and Adobe Analytics.

Best Practices for Building a World-Class ABM Martech Stack

Assess Your Current Stack: Take a thorough inventory of the tools and platforms you’re currently using and determine their effectiveness in supporting your ABM efforts.
Define Your ABM Goals: Clearly define your ABM goals and determine how each component of your martech stack can help you achieve them.
Evaluate New Technologies: Stay up-to-date with the latest ABM technologies and consider incorporating new tools and platforms into your stack to enhance your efforts.
Integrate Your Tools: Ensure seamless integration between your tools and platforms to streamline data management and improve the customer experience.
Continuously Optimize: Regularly review and optimize your ABM martech stack to ensure it’s meeting your goals and delivering the results you need.

February 10, 2023 Marketing Cloud Account Engagement ABM, Artificial Intelligence, MarTech Comments Off

Benefits of Pardot First-Party Tracking

The Ups and Downs of Third-Party Cookies and Benefits of Pardot First-Party Tracking

As we near 2023, many marketers are aware that Google’s Chrome browser will no longer support third-party cookies. This decision was made with the intention of protecting users’ privacy and preventing unauthorized tracking across the web. However, the loss of third-party cookies also presents a challenge, as they were previously instrumental in providing valuable insights into users’ journeys on the internet. This requires marketers and customers to adapt and find new ways to gather this information. To address this challenge, Marketing Cloud Account Engagement (Pardot) has created a first-party tracking solution, allowing customers to continue providing personal experiences based on users’ journeys and delivering relevant content at the right time.

What exactly is a “third-party cookie?”

The fundamental purpose of a web cookie is to store information within a user’s internet browser that can later be accessed by websites or web services during future visits. For instance, an e-commerce site may use a cookie to recognize a user and preserve their shopping cart between visits.

Third-party cookies, on the other hand, are set by a service provider that operates on a separate domain from the website. For example, consider the scenario where a video player service (videoexample.com) is embedded in a website (example.com) and stores the time watched, allowing the user to resume their viewing session on subsequent visits. In this case, the cookie set by the video service would be considered a third-party cookie since it does not share the same domain as the website.

Why are browsers killing third-party cookies?

Third-party cookies are commonly used to improve customer experiences, but they also bring significant privacy concerns. For example, they allow ads to follow you from website to website. Additionally, they can make users perform unwanted actions in web applications. In an effort to prioritize privacy, major web browsers are phasing out their support for third-party cookies. While Safari and Firefox have already discontinued use, the most significant change will occur when Chrome stops supporting them in 2023.

How will this effect tracking in Marketing Cloud Account Engagement (Pardot)?

In a post-cookie era, first-party tracking can help you gather the information you need directly from your customers, allowing you to maintain the level of personalized marketing they’ve come to expect. However, shifting from third-party tracking to first-party tracking will bring about several changes to how Marketing Cloud Account Engagement (Pardot) tracks engagement.

One major impact is that Marketing Cloud Account Engagement (Pardot) customers will no longer be able to follow their visitors anonymously across different domains. This will be the case for all users of first-party tracking, whether they’re using Marketing Cloud Account Engagement (Pardot) or a different platform. It means that:

When a customer visits firstbrand.com and then secondbrand.com, Marketing Cloud Account Engagement (Pardot) will create two separate visitors. The customer will have to fill out a form on both domains for their information to be linked. The second impact is that Pardot customers will need to align their domains for all their campaign assets in order to accurately track the customer’s journey. Domain alignment will be crucial in maximizing engagement data in a cookie-free world.

Align all engagement tracking with web domains

To accurately track the progress of a typical marketing campaign, all links and assets must be aligned with the same root domain as the tracking domain. For instance, if the campaign website is located at forcery.com, then the root of the tracking domain must also be forcery.com. This is crucial in ensuring that the complete journey of the campaign can be monitored and analyzed effectively. Any discrepancies in domain alignment could result in incomplete activity insights.

First party cookie implementation

In preparation for a transition to first-party tracking, careful planning can help ensure a smoother process. To get started, consider taking the following steps:

Conduct a thorough evaluation of your web assets to determine if any tracker domains are missing and need to be added.
Identify the websites you currently track and determine where you will need to update the Pardot tracking code.
Examine your content hosted by Pardot and make sure it is aligned with the appropriate domains. Once first-party tracking is activated, Pardot-hosted content will automatically use this method.

Configuring Marketing Cloud Account Engagement first party cookie

To switch to first-party tracking, simply navigate to the Marketing Cloud Account Engagement (Pardot) Settings page or Account Settings in classic Pardot. From there, activate the “Use First-Party Tracking” option. By default, the “Use Third-Party Cookies with First-Party Tracking” setting will also be enabled to ensure a smooth transition and to preserve existing visitor data. The “Use Third-Party Tracking” setting manages the previous tracking functionality, and it’s recommended to turn it off after fully transitioning to first-party tracking to eliminate any potential confusion.

The process of creating tracker domains remains largely unchanged, with just a couple of differences to be aware of. Firstly, you’ll need to set a default campaign, which acts as a primary campaign for your tracker domain and allows you to change the campaign without changing the tracking code.

To do this, go to the Domain Management page and click “Edit” for each tracker domain.

Secondly, the tracking code generator is now located on the Domain Management page, directly below the “Tracker Domains” configurations. Simply choose the tracker domain and the platform will automatically generate the appropriate tracker code for you to place on your website. It’s important to select a tracker domain that matches your website’s domain to ensure activity is properly tracked.

For more information on the changing nature of website browser privacy concerns, click here.

June 8, 2022 Marketing Cloud Account Engagement MarTech, Pardot, Privacy Comments Off

Marketing Cloud Account Engagement Pardot Einstein Send Time Optimization

Pardot Einstein Send Time Optimization

Sending emails to your target audience at the right time is crucial for achieving a high open and click-through rate. However, finding the optimal send time for each recipient can be challenging, especially when you have a large list. This is where Pardot AI Einstein comes in to help you optimize your send times and improve the success of your email campaigns.

Pardot AI Einstein is an artificial intelligence-powered tool that uses machine learning algorithms to analyze the behavior of your audience and determine the best time to send your emails. This optimization is based on several factors such as the recipient’s location, time zone, and previous engagement with your emails.

How to use Pardot Einstein Send Time Optimization

To use Marketing Cloud Account Engagement Pardot AI Einstein for send time optimization, you simply need to enable the feature in your Pardot account. Once enabled, the tool will automatically analyze your email data and determine the optimal send time for each recipient. You can also set a default send time for your emails, which the tool will use if it can’t determine a specific send time for a recipient.

In addition to optimizing send times, Marketing Cloud Account EngagementPardot AI Einstein also provides insights and recommendations to help you improve your email campaigns. For example, it can suggest subject lines and email content that are most likely to engage your audience, as well as the best days and times to send your emails.

By using Marketing Cloud Account Engagement Pardot Einstein AI, you can save time and effort while also improving the success of your email campaigns. The tool’s advanced algorithms and machine learning capabilities ensure that your emails are delivered at the right time to each recipient, maximizing your chances of getting a high open and click-through rate.

In conclusion, Pardot AI Einstein is a valuable tool for any marketer looking to optimize their email campaigns. Whether you’re just starting out or have been using email marketing for a while, Pardot AI Einstein can help you take your email campaigns to the next level and achieve better results.

May 23, 2022 Marketing Cloud Account Engagement Artificial Intelligence, Email Marketing, Marketing Automation, Pardot Comments Off

Innovative Ways to Utilize Marketing Cloud Account Engagement (Pardot) Automation Rules

Innovative Automation Rules in Marketing Cloud Account Engagement (Pardot)

Automation Rules are one of the most powerful tools in the Marketing Cloud Account Engagement (Pardot) marketing automation platform. They allow you to automate repetitive tasks and trigger specific actions based on pre-defined conditions. Here are five creative ways you can use Pardot Automation Rules to streamline your marketing processes and enhance the customer experience.

Lead Nurturing: Automatically send targeted and personalized email campaigns to leads based on their behavior and interests. For example, you can send an email to leads who have visited a specific page on your website or opened a previous email.
Lead Scoring: Assign scores to leads based on their engagement with your brand. You can use Automation Rules to adjust lead scores based on various criteria such as email opens, form submissions, and page visits. This information can then be used to prioritize leads and determine which ones are ready for sales outreach.
Data Management: Use Automation Rules to keep your Pardot data clean and organized. For example, you can use a rule to automatically update lead information or move leads to a different list based on certain criteria.
Segmentation: Segment your database based on specific criteria such as location, job title, and engagement level. You can then use Automation Rules to trigger targeted campaigns to these segments.
Sales Alerts: Integrate Pardot with your CRM and use Automation Rules to trigger sales alerts when leads are ready for follow-up. For example, you can use a rule to notify the sales team when a lead’s score reaches a certain threshold or when a lead submits a form.

By using Marketing Cloud Account Engagement (Pardot) Automation Rules in these creative ways, you can streamline your marketing processes, personalize the customer experience, and ultimately drive more conversions. If you’re not using Automation Rules yet, now is the time to start!

March 13, 2022 Marketing Cloud Account Engagement Marketing Automation, Pardot, Salesforce Comments Off

Advance Your Marketing Career With Salesforce Certifications

Salesforce Certification and your career

Businesses are relying on Salesforce to enhance their customer journeys and experiences, and they’re looking for individuals with expertise in the Salesforce Marketing Cloud and Pardot. Elevate your career and set yourself up for success by earning a Salesforce Marketing Certification.

Why Get Certified?

The marketing landscape is rapidly evolving, driven by innovation, strategy, data, and talented marketers like yourself. The Salesforce State of Marketing Report provides insights into this new era of marketing transformation. In partnership with our customers and partners, Salesforce is creating millions of job opportunities around the world. According to the IDC, the Salesforce Economy will generate 4.2 million new jobs and impact the global GDP by over $1.2 trillion by 2024. By gaining certification, you’ll stay competitive and stand out in the Salesforce ecosystem.

Where to Begin?

Getting started with learning Marketing Cloud and Pardot has never been easier, thanks to Trailhead. Trailhead offers free, self-paced learning modules, projects, and trailmixes customized by role and skill level. With Trailhead GO, the exclusive iOS app, you can learn at your own pace, wherever and whenever you want. If you need additional guidance, check out Trailhead LIVE, where you can watch live and on-demand videos from experts on the latest in-demand skills.

You can use Trailhead to explore a career in Salesforce marketing and the endless potential it offers. Start with the “Build Your Marketing Career on Salesforce” trailmix if you’re new to marketing with Salesforce. For a deeper understanding of Salesforce marketing solutions, take a look at Trailhead Academy, which provides in-person and virtual training globally.

Ready to Get Certified!

The resources you need to get certified are available on Trailhead. Learn about the various marketing certifications offered by Salesforce, review exam guides, and register for your exam on Trailhead. This video can answer all your certification questions.

Join the Trailblazer Community to connect with other marketers and get help and inspiration. Attend events and join local Community Groups to prepare for your exam, find a study buddy, and support others in the community.

What’s Next?

After getting certified, continue your learning journey with Trailhead. New marketing content is added regularly, and you can use Trailhead Connect to network and find a mentor. Showcase your newly acquired skills on Trailblazer.me, a unified profile that displays your Salesforce skills and credentials.

The possibilities are endless. Get started today!

March 10, 2022 Marketing Cloud Account Engagement Salesforce Comments Off

All About the Marketing Cloud Account Engagement (Pardot) Lightning Email Builder

Marketing Cloud Account Engagement (Pardot) Lightning Email Builder

The Marketing Cloud Account Engagement (Pardot) Lightning Email Builder is an innovative tool designed to simplify the email creation process for Marketing Cloud Account Engagement (Pardot) users. This feature is a major upgrade from the classic email builder and offers a variety of benefits. In this article, we’ll provide you with all the information you need to understand and utilize the Marketing Cloud Account Engagement (Pardot) Lightning Email Builder.

Forcery and the New Pardot Email Builder Experience

click to expand

Key Features of the Marketing Cloud Account Engagement (Pardot) Lightning Email Builder

Intuitive Drag-and-Drop Interface: The Lightning Email Builder offers a user-friendly drag-and-drop interface that makes it easy for users to design professional-looking emails with no coding skills required.
Customizable Templates: Choose from a variety of customizable templates to save time and effort in the email creation process. The templates are designed to meet the needs of different industries, so you can find the perfect fit for your business.
Responsive Design: The Lightning Email Builder is built with responsive design in mind, meaning that your emails will look great on any device, whether it’s a desktop, tablet, or smartphone.
Advanced Email Analytics: Track your email performance with advanced analytics to get insights into how your email campaigns are performing. This information can help you improve your email strategies and achieve better results.

How to Get Started with the Marketing Cloud Account Engagement (Pardot) Lightning Email Builder

Access the Builder: To access the Marketing Cloud Account Engagement (Pardot) Lightning Email Builder, log in to your Marketing Cloud Account Engagement (Pardot) account and navigate to the “Emails” section. From there, you can create a new email and select the Lightning Email Builder.
Choose a Template: Once you have accessed the builder, you can choose a template to use as the starting point for your email. You can then customize the template to meet your specific needs.
Customize and Preview: Use the drag-and-drop interface to add, remove, or modify elements within your email. You can also preview your email to see how it will look on different devices.
Send and Track: Once you’re satisfied with your email, you can send it out to your desired audience and track its performance using the advanced analytics.
In conclusion, the Marketing Cloud Account Engagement (Pardot) Lightning Email Builder is an incredibly useful tool for businesses looking to streamline their email creation process. With its intuitive drag-and-drop interface, customizable templates, responsive design, and advanced analytics, this feature provides everything you need to create and send effective email campaigns.

March 10, 2022 Marketing Cloud Account Engagement Pardot Comments Off

Maximizing Your Martech Stack: Why Small Businesses Need to Streamline Marketing Technology

Optimizing Marketing Technology (MarTech)

Small businesses face unique challenges in marketing, including limited resources and the need to compete with larger companies. To stay ahead of the competition, it’s crucial for small businesses to optimize their marketing technology (martech) stack. In this article, we’ll highlight why small business optimization of their martech stack is important and provide tips on how to achieve it effectively.

Why Martech Optimization is Critical for Small Businesses

Increased Efficiency: A streamlined martech stack enables small businesses to automate routine tasks, saving time and allowing them to focus on high-impact activities.
Better Data Management: Optimizing the martech stack allows small businesses to manage their data effectively, including customer information, analytics, and marketing performance metrics. This leads to informed decision making and improved outcomes.
Enhanced Customer Experience: By providing personalized, relevant content and interactions, small businesses can improve the customer experience through an optimized martech stack. This helps to build trust and loyalty with customers, critical to long-term success.
Competitive Advantage: Optimizing their martech stack allows small businesses to level the playing field with larger companies and gain a competitive advantage. This includes reaching new customers, improving online presence, and enhancing overall marketing efforts.

Tips for Streamlining Your Martech Stack

Current Stack Assessment: Take stock of the tools and platforms you currently use and evaluate their performance. Identify duplicates, under-utilized tools, and areas where you need further support.
Goal Definition: Clearly define your marketing goals and determine how each tool in your stack can help achieve them.
New Tool Evaluation: Consider incorporating new tools into your stack that will support your goals and improve marketing performance.
Tool Integration: Integrate tools to create a seamless experience for customers and improve data management.
Continuous Optimization: Continuously review and optimize your martech stack to make sure it’s meeting your goals and delivering results.

In conclusion, optimizing the martech stack is crucial for small businesses to compete in the marketing arena. By streamlining their tools and platforms, small businesses can increase efficiency, better manage data, enhance the customer experience, and gain a competitive edge.

February 27, 2022 Marketing Cloud Account Engagement MarTech Comments Off

The Evolving Browser Privacy Landscape for Marketers

Browser Privacy Concerns

The competition to be known as the most privacy-focused browser is heating up among Safari, Firefox, and Google Chrome. With third-party cookies, which are essential for website analytics, becoming a key topic in privacy discussions, the browsers are taking a closer look at their role.

Third-party cookies have been utilized to provide users with a seamless cross-site experience and to personalize advertisements based on their online behavior. They can also remember items in a virtual shopping cart when a user leaves a website. However, they also pose a significant threat to privacy as they can track users across the internet and allow unauthorized access to a web system through cross-site forgery attacks. This puts any user’s browsing data at risk of being compromised.

Given the privacy concerns surrounding third-party cookies, the leading browsers have agreed to phase them out. Chrome has even announced that it will stop supporting third-party cookies within the next two years, setting a timeline for competitors with a 65% market share to follow.

While increased privacy protection is critical, especially in regards to personal browsing data, the new privacy guidelines will require marketers to adapt as third-party cookies become obsolete and cross-domain data sharing becomes more restricted.

Browsers are taking privacy more and more seriously…

In a digital landscape where privacy is becoming increasingly important to consumers, browsers are working to provide the most secure and private experience. A recent study showed that 81% of consumers feel they have no control over the data collected by companies. In response, browsers have implemented various updates to enhance their privacy stance.

Safari:

Safari With the release of version 11 in 2017, Safari introduced Intelligent Tracking Prevention. This feature strengthened privacy by eliminating support for third-party cookies and implementing a Storage Access API, which requires user consent to share data across sites.

Firefox:

Firefox Following suit, Firefox rolled out Enhanced Tracking Prevention in version 69 in 2019. This update blocked third-party services connected to sites classified as known trackers. These domains collect, share, retain or use data for tracking purposes. Firefox also gives users the option to switch to stricter privacy settings that block all third-party cookies.

Google Chrome:

Google Chrome Chrome made its own move towards privacy with the release of version 80 in 2020, which introduced default SameSite settings for third-party cookies. The SameSite attribute identifies whether or not a cookie can be accessed and, with specific parameters, allows for first-party cookies to be sent while restricting third-party cookies. After implementing these settings, Chrome announced plans to phase out support for third-party cookies entirely by 2022.

As browsers continue to prioritize privacy, marketers will need to adapt and find new ways to reach and engage their audiences.

Differences between first and third party tracking cookies

It’s crucial for marketers to understand the distinction between first-party and third-party context as browsers enforce stricter privacy policies. Understanding this concept will become increasingly important as the privacy landscape evolves.

First-Party Context First-party context refers to data that is stored within first-party cookies, and the services used by a website share the same domain, represented by the Top-Level-Domain+1 (TLD+1), such as website.com. These cookies create a personalized experience for users while they are on the site and are not shared with third-party websites that have different domains.

Third-Party Context Third-party context means that data is stored within third-party cookies, or services that do not share the same TLD+1. For instance, let’s consider a video on website www.websiteblog.com hosted on www.websitetube.com. In this scenario, the video service is considered a third-party service.

Imagine the service provides an option for the viewer to resume their incomplete viewing the next time they visit the site. The service must store the time the viewer stopped watching somewhere in their browser, and it may choose to store this information in a cookie for www.websitetube.com, which would be a third-party cookie.

Marketers must plan NOW for privacy

Marketers must start examining the customer experience across their brand’s digital presence, especially if they have multiple websites. In the past, third-party cookies have been the primary means of providing a seamless experience for users, but due to the recent privacy changes implemented by browsers, marketers will have to pivot to first-party context. To adapt, they can take the following steps:

Combine Microsites under One Domain: Minimize the number of TLD+1 domains used for offerings and combine multiple microsites under one TLD+1 domain for a more seamless experience. This gives users the assurance that all activity is within the same company and their data is not being shared with potentially harmful third parties.
Assess Third-Party Cookie Dependencies: Work with the IT team to identify which marketing services and sites have third-party cookie dependencies. With the eventual loss of third-party cookies, marketers must have a risk mitigation plan in place to address the impact on their marketing tactics and user engagement.
Give Users Control over their Data: Consider offering users more control over their data in a clear manner. As user consent becomes increasingly critical in the next decade, companies that want to be trusted with user data must prioritize giving users control.

By taking these steps, marketers can continue to provide personalized experiences that drive engagement and loyalty, even as privacy restrictions become stricter.

For more information, check out Salesforce’s help documentation on privacy and browser cookie tracking.

February 13, 2021 Marketing Cloud Account Engagement Pardot, Privacy Comments Off

Pardot’s Permission Based Marketing Policy

Permission Based Marketing Policy

Pardot, now called Marketing Cloud Account Engagement, requires permission-based email marketing. Our customers certify that they will use our services only to send email to customers and prospects that have expressly consented (opted-in) to receive them. Our customers are forbidden to transmit spam via our system and/or the Pardot Services.

“Spam” is unsolicited commercial email, junk email, or bulk email that has not been requested by a recipient.

Pardot Customers: Prohibition Against Spam

Our customers may not use the Pardot Services or the products or services provided through or in connection with the Pardot Services to send spam. Our customers agree not to send emails via our system unless the recipient has explicitly opted-in to receive email directly from the customer. For any opt-in list of email addresses used in Pardot’s system, customers agree to provide us with the source of the addresses, the method used for recipient opt-in, details surrounding the process used, and whatever other information relates to the transaction or sign-up process. This includes, but isn’t limited to, date and time of sign up, IP address of signup, website signed up from, disclosures provided in connection with the signup, manner of obtaining agreement, and whatever other information the customer asked of the recipient at point of sign up.

Our customers certify that they will not use rented, traded, or purchased lists, email append lists, or any list that contains email addresses captured in any method other than express, customer-specific opt-in when using our system to send emails. The use of opt-out lists for such communications is prohibited in our system. Pardot retains the right to review customer accounts and emails to verify that customers are abiding by the privacy and permission policies set forth herein. Our customers are required to comply with our policies and all applicable laws. Buying lists of email addresses from third parties and sending bulk emails to the addresses on that list is expressly prohibited and may result in the suspension and eventual termination of the customer’s account.

Customers agree that an unsubscribe or opt-out option will be automatically appended to every email sent via Pardot. If an email is sent with an unsubscribe option removed in any way outside of an appropriate transactional email send, it will be considered a violation of this policy and may result in termination of a customer’s account.

In the event that a customer violates any one of our usage rules, Pardot reserves the right to suspend or terminate, without notice, access to the customer’s account and all related data.

Email Recipients: Reporting and Addressing Complaints

Unsubscribe from the email with the opt-out option of your choice and send us a message to notify us of spam. Alternatively, or in addition, feel free to report the message to a spam reporting entity. For example, Spamcop at www.spamcop.net provides an easy way to report unwanted mail as spam. You can also use your email provider’s (Gmail, Hotmail, Oath) “report as spam” mechanism to notify the ISP that the message is spam. ISPs use this information to determine good senders from bad senders, and we regularly work with ISPs to take action based on that data.

We receive, investigate, catalog, and take appropriate action based on complaints we receive.

Our customer will be notified of the complaint and may be required to provide account access for an independent review of the complaint received. During this review, the email address will be unsubscribed from all future mailing. Additionally, our customer will need to provide information regarding the source and opt-in method of selected email addresses in their overall database or of the specific complaint.

If our customer is unable or unwilling to provide explicit opt-in information, the customer’s account privileges may be suspended and eventually terminated at Pardot’s discretion.

February 13, 2021 Marketing Cloud Account Engagement Pardot Comments Off