Hi, I'm looking for a little advice on what is the typical approach to putting Sales Cloud Leads into a Marketing Cloud Journey. I am extremely unsure of the proper way to do so, and I don't want to do it in a foolishly complicated or inefficient way when I may be missing something much easier!
I can see two apparent approaches:
1) Salesforce Data Event entry
I want to enter Leads that meet certain criteria and haven't been updated in x days, so not sure if this will work since it only fires on create/update. I am also wary of using up governor limits - we already have enough triggers, workflows, processes and flows etc without adding this too.
2) SQL Automation
We have the Lead object synced from Sales Cloud to MC, so I can create a SQL query to select the appropriate Leads from the synced DE and put them in a DE just for this purpose. This query can then run on an automation and be used as the entry source for a journey. This is typically how our existing Contact-based journeys are built, but I'm not sure if it is a good approach (I inherited it).
3) Other ways?
If I am missing something basic it wouldn't surprise me! Any pointers gratefully received :-)
Hi James,
I agree with
@Milton Muthuraj Thangapandithat SQL Automation is the most reliable way to segment your audience.
SQL queries functionality can give indeed a broader perspective for segmentation. However, you'll need to adjust the query for each marketing campaign or SFMC Journey.
One of the practices is to create a Master SQL query in the automation studio and then copy it as a template for new campaign-related queries. This approach requires SQL knowledge and frequent queries writing.
Another way is to segment the data from your Synchronized DE and SFMC DEs through DESelect - a solution for SFMC segmentation. Literally, it does the same as the SQL query, but has a graphic interface and can be done with zero SQL experience (Drag and Drop).
Last but not least is a way that I find surprising — using SFDC Reports. I do not recommend using it, however, some of the marketers find it as a solution.
The idea behind this is that some SFMC users upload their data to SF Cloud, and then create a new report using SFMC DEs as sources of data. The report (or SF Object) is then transferred back to SFMC and used for segmentation. The advantage of this method is the possibility to join up to 3 data extensions and using picklists to pick data from source DEs. Other than that, the result (the report) will still be limited as you cannot include fields from all source data extensions, and types of objects join are limited to Inner and Outer Joins only.
@James Thomson I hope this helps, and don't hesitate to reach me if you have any questions.
