The Salesforce Marketing Cloud has an artificial intelligence (AI) technology layer woven into its solution called ‘Einstein.’ It helps marketers analyze, automate, and optimize their marketing activities and design personalized marketing campaigns at scale. The core power of Einstein within campaign management includes its ability to discover insights, predict outcomes, recommend next-best actions, and automate routine tasks. If you want to start taking advantage of Einstein in your instance, here are 5 tips for setting it up and getting started:
1. Take advantage of building out your Catalog. Plan out how you are going to set up your Catalog, add in your Rules, and then be sure to bring the Recommendations out onto your website or communication channel.
2. When setting up SMC and Einstein affinities in your new ‘catalog’ be careful to:
Avoid temporary categorization views (e.g., 2023 Holiday Catalog)
Avoid ultra-narrow attributes (e.g., size 10, leather, blue, small heel, strappy, summer sandals)
Use multiple values wisely (large screen TVs, 4G, LCD, Samsung)
Go deep (e.g., category, category hierarchy, material, price)
Beware of common but different fields (e.g., the size for dresses is different than the size for shoes)
3. Once you have put all the information in the catalog, use it! Flaunt it! This can include:
Product reviews
Strike-thru price reductions
Badges, accolades
Special offers (e.g., buy one – get one free)
Warranties
User Generated Content (e.g., user-uploaded photos of product in use)
4. Keep it simple. Administer Rule Manager correctly. Too many rule recommendations have negative effects. Not enough or too many is bad. The rule of thumb is to have about 2 recommendations. The more rules you add, the more you are stepping on the AI recommendations that are based on the actual data. Other tips to optimize your rules include:
Know your Average Order Value (AOV) and be careful not to recommend items that are way below your AOV
Assist seasonal recommendations. If no one is browsing for Christmas décor, but the season is coming up, you may want to add a rule to push these to the forefront on your website ahead of time
Know when to use a rule versus a scenario
5. Enable Einstein Engagement Scoring and the dashboard to really understand what the sales data is telling you, and what it is predicted as the next best offer. Don’t ignore the propensity models.
Final Thoughts
Einstein can deliver useful insights and predictive recommendations that marketers can use to understand customers better, generate relevant content at scale, and deliver personalized experiences on any channel. If you would like additional information on how to take advantage of the power of Einstein in your Salesforce Marketing Cloud instance, feel free to reach out to Dan Spigarolo at daniel.spigarolo@celerity-is.com.