Test the Connection

Learning Objectives

After completing this unit, you’ll be able to:

Create field mappings to enable data synchronization.
Build a simple report as a source for an email send.
Send a Marketing Cloud Engagement email from within Salesforce CRM.

Follow Along with Trail Together

Now that configuration is complete, follow along with Trailhead Academy instructor Brian Richardson to hear about the final steps to test your connection.

Create Field Mapping

One of the coolest features of Marketing Cloud Connect is its automatic synchronization of data between Marketing Cloud Engagement and Salesforce CRM. To make this work, we need to configure some basic field mapping. We specify the relationships between subscribers in Marketing Cloud Engagement and the corresponding fields in the Lead and Contact objects in Salesforce CRM.

Log in to Marketing Cloud Engagement with your Marketing Cloud Connect API credentials.
In Marketing Cloud Engagement, hover over Email Studio and click Email.
Hover over Subscribers and select Profile Management.
Click Create.
On the General tab, type First Name in the top text box.
Click the Salesforce tab.
Select First Name in the Map to Salesforce Lead Field picklist.
Scroll down in the Map to Salesforce Contact/Account Field picklist to the Contact General section and select First Name. Select both checkboxes to display on Salesforce Profile Center.
Click OK.
Repeat steps 3–9 to create a second attribute, using Last Name instead of First Name.

Congratulations—you did it! Marketing Cloud Connect setup is now complete.

6: Test

Progress chart with Step 6: Test highlighted.

Now that you’ve successfully set up Marketing Cloud Connect, let’s do a quick test to ensure everything is working properly. First, we build a basic email template in Marketing Cloud Engagement and then send an email to leads inside Salesforce CRM.

Create an Email in Marketing Cloud Engagement

Get started by creating a basic email template in Marketing Cloud Engagement Content Builder.

In Content Builder click Create.
Select Email Message from the dropdown list.
Below Define Properties, select Text Only from the dropdown list.
In the Name field type MC Connect Test and then click Next.
In the Subject field, type Marketing Cloud Connect Test Email.
Paste the following code into the body and then click Save and Exit.

Dear %%First Name%% %%Last Name%%,
System attributes (%%jobid%%, %%memberid%%)
Forward to a Friend: %%ftaf_url%%
Update Your Profile: %%profile_center_url%%
This email was sent by:
%%Member_Busname%%
%%Member_Addr%%
%%Member_City%%, %%Member_State%%,%%Member_PostalCode%%, %%Member_Country%%

Create a Test Lead in Salesforce CRM

Now that we have an email created in Marketing Cloud Engagement, we need to create recipients in the CRM environment to send our test message.

Log out of Marketing Cloud Engagement and log in to your Salesforce CRM account.
Select Leads in the navigation bar.
Click New.
Fill out First Name, Last Name, Company, and Email address with something memorable—you can use your name and company, for example. Ensure the email address you use is one that you have access to so you can view the test email.
Click Save.

Create Test Lead Report

Navigate to Reports from the All Tabs page.
Click New Report.
In the Select Report Type section, click Leads, then click Create.
Enter id in the Quick Find text box.
Double-click Lead ID to add it as a column in the report.
In the Show picklist, select All leads.
Next to Filters, click Add. A new filter appears below the Date Field.
Click the down arrow and scroll down the picklist to select Email.
Leave the operator as equals, and then enter the email address you specified when you created the test lead.
Click OK.
Click Run Report. You should see a single result: the test lead that you created.
If the report looks as expected, click Save As.
Name the report MC Connect Leads Test and save it in the Marketing Cloud Engagement Admin report folder.
Click Save.

Send a Test Email from Salesforce CRM

Now it’s time for the real test. Here’s how to send that Marketing Cloud Engagement–generated email from within the Salesforce CRM org.

This is a real email you’re sending. So make sure you’re only sending it to yourself! Double-check the report results just prior to sending to ensure that only you receive the test message.

In Salesforce CRM, click the plus icon to navigate to the All Tabs screen.
Click Marketing Cloud Engagement.
Click Find.
Click Content Builder and select the MC Connect Test email template you created.

Selecting MC Connect Test in the Email Send configuration screen

Clickin the Recipients section of the form.
Select the Marketing Cloud Engagement Admin report folder.
Select MC Connect Leads Test.
In the From section of the form, select the desired value. Since this is a test email, any option is fine.
Select the checkbox next to I certify all of these people have opted in (required).
Click Send.

Voilà! The email is now queued to send. Even though the default setting is an immediate send, it can take up to an hour to see the email in your inbox. Marketing Cloud Engagement is designed for sending email to millions of subscribers at once, so there are a number of asynchronous processes and queues involved in this simple test. In other words, don’t worry if the email doesn’t show up right away.

When it does, if everything is set up properly, the test email arrives in your inbox with the first name and last name populated, along with other details from the email send.

Need some help? Check out the help page, Troubleshoot Installation and Configuration.

Marketing Cloud Connect Is Connected!

Cue the confetti—you have successfully set up Marketing Cloud Connect for your account.

When you are ready to deploy Marketing Cloud Connect to your users, be sure to:

In CRM: repeat steps to assign proper page layouts and permission sets to users who plan to use Marketing Cloud Connect.
In Marketing Cloud Engagement: Integrate all users needing access to both systems.

With that, you can get back to work or... go celebrate. We approve of either. You did some incredible work in this badge!

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