Eloqua Multi-Step Campaigns:
From novice to ninja in no time
The Campaign Canvas is a user-friendly tool that simplifies the creation of sophisticated multi-channel marketing campaigns.
Overview
Like most software platforms, Eloqua has a range of functions you may not know about. This episode provides an introduction to multi-step campaigns & the campaign canvas.
Why this topic?
A process or journey sits at the heart of most marketing automation campaigns.
For many years, Eloqua has dominated the visual presentation of a multi-step campaign with the campaign canvas.
In my experience, most Eloqua users create multi-step campaigns for the vast majority of their campaigns.
It makes sense; you have more options and greater flexibility when compared to Simple Email Campaigns, and you probably purchased Eloqua because of the rich functionality it provides.
This episode targets newer users to the platform and uses newsletter campaigns as an example to showcase the campaign canvas.
It’s best to start with the basics, what you need to know that isn’t always made clear
Before you create an Eloqua multi-step campaign, the best advice I could give you is to make sure you have a campaign strategy defined. What is the core objective of your campaign?
Your objective will impact the choices you make about the decisions and the journey/experience you create.
The following three points are helpful to understand about multi-step campaigns:
- One entry, one exit: All Campaign Members will enter and then exit the campaign at some stage
- Never the same twice*: Eloqua will never send the same email to the same contact, twice
- A beginning & an end: All multi-step campaigns MUST have a Start & End date.
Don’t activate a partially completed campaign
Eloqua won’t let you activate a campaign until it is entirely configured. This is a good thing.
If your campaign has 15+ emails in a journey, but you haven’t completed emails 10 – 15 and it has to be activated today, some users like to create placeholder emails that they promise to themselves they will complete before they’re ready to be sent.
Stop.
This is a really bad idea, I’ve seen this turn into a disaster. You’re on sick leave or vacation and you forgot about your 5 blank emails that you’ve got sitting in an active campaign. #epicfailure
*PRO TIP
Never the same twice: Each email you create in Eloqua has a unique ID, which you’ll find in the URL when viewing the email in the editor.
If you have two emails on the campaign canvas with the same ID, only people who were NOT sent the first email will receive the second email.
This same logic applies across all campaigns.
For example, if you sent a contact an email in early 2024 and then used the same email (same email ID) in a campaign later that year, the second email will not be sent to the same contact.
What you need to know: Eloqua will never send the same email to the same person (email account) twice. As a side note, this is a good thing.
Campaign Canvas elements: Audience, Assets, Decisions & Actions
The best advice I ever received about multi-step campaigns was from a colleague who said,
“The campaign canvas is extremely logical, it will do exactly as you tell it to do, the trick is to understand what you’re asking it to do.“
In my 13+ years using Eloqua, the canvas has never made a mistake. I have, but Eloqua has done precisely what I’ve asked.
Where to start?
Hopefully, our blog can help you become more familiar with Eloqua and discover its power.
WARNING – Shameless plug to follow…
You can engage Marketing Cube to provide Eloqua coaching sessions. We facilitate these sessions with individual marketers or with teams. They can be in-person of via ZOOM to anywhere in the world.
We’ve hosted coaching via ZOOM in the US, Germany, UK, India, Hong Kong, Canada, New Zealand, Indonesia, Australia and beyond.
One of our most popular blog posts about multi-step campaigns is almost ten years old; it’s the ‘content’ that keeps on giving. There’s no webinar to access, but it keeps getting visitors almost daily. Click here to discover why.
Automate more, integrate easily & enhance your CX
Apps allow you to extend your campaign reach by connecting with third-party applications. These apps are usually designed to help you connect campaign logic with additional data stored in external systems – external to Eloqua. e.g. your Zoom webinar data is “external” to Eloqua.
Possibly the most common examples are webinar platforms, e.g. ZOOM, ON24, WebEx, etc. These platforms are the source of truth relating to a person’s attendance at a webinar, questions that may have asked during a webinar and more.
Apps can also be added to Eloqua Programs
The Program Canvas also allows you to add apps.
The most common apps I see used on the Program Canvas are the Contact Washing Machine and various integration apps.
i.e. The Salesforce (CRM) Integration app built by Oracle Labs delivers a wide range of functions. The Oracle CRM Integration app is also widely used.
So many apps…
While there are so many apps to choose from, I’ve found they’re of little value until you have a pressing business need. That’s when you start looking at options.
However, the Contact Washing Machine is one app I’d suggest you should be using for most campaigns and on selected programs. CLICK HERE to read a past blog post when we looked at some options for the Contact Washing Machine.
Multi-step campaign canvas examples
I was a little adventurous in my goal to showcase a newsletter and webinar campaign canvas example in a single 45-minute webinar.
We covered a newsletter campaign example and will touch on webinar examples next month. You may also find this 2021 webinar and blog post helpful, it’s all about newsletter campaigns.
Read further below to discover some tips to help you with your next newsletter campaigns.
If this is what your campaigns look like, keep reading
There may well be a good reason for this most basic of campaign canvas designs. However, you’re probably better off using Eloqua’s Simple Email Campaign instead of the multi-step one.
The key issue with this canvas design is that it does not take advantage of the extraordinary range of functionality you have available.
Keep reading below…
This canvas design is a good step in the right direction
A few things take place on this canvas that enhance your chances for campaign success and dramatically improve your CX.
Fundamentally, this canvas design sends all campaign members the first email and then, after a period of time, checks to see who opened it.
Those who did not open the first email will be sent a second email. The general objective is to get your content in front of many people as possible.
IMPORTANT: Eloqua will never send the same email to the same person twice. This means that email two in this example needs to be a save-as of the first email. The only real change to email two will be the subject line, perhaps the preview text and possibly the sender details. Remember, they’re getting email two because they didn’t open email one, so there’s no point adjusting the body copy of the second email
Access the webinar replay for more details and a third canvas design that determines what people have clicked on and automatically moves them to a more targeted campaign. It’s magic!
What’s news? What’s coming soon?
Release 24D brings additional enhancements and more Redwood updates. The other fundamental change this release makes is that Redwood is the default interface when you log in.
You can still go back to the classic interface for the time being. However, new features added to Eloqua will only be built in Redwood.
Eloqua Guided Campaigns
Release 24A sees the arrival of Eloqua Guided Campaigns. Eloqua clients with the Standard or Enterprise edition have a limited number of user licenses, including five for Standard and ten for Enterprise.
Oracle Eloqua Guided Campaigns empowers non-technical marketers and salespeople to launch precisely targeted campaigns effortlessly. With pre-built workflows and step-by-step guidance, it’s fast and easy to create brand-approved, personalised email campaigns to engage high-propensity buying groups, generate and deliver conversation-ready opportunities directly to salespeople, and ultimately accelerate revenue.
Release Highlights
- Redwood UX: Redwood is now the default UX upon logging into Eloqua, and loads of other great Redwood additions:
- End-to-end Redwood experience for Simple Campaigns and A/B Testing
- New launchpads for email, landing pages and dynamic content
- Signature Rules: Create
- Field Merges: Launchpad and Create
- Forms: External form integration wizard and Template chooser
- AI Add-on: Refreshed Subject Line Optimization (SLO) model enabled for all customers with Add-on SKU just after the 24D arrives
- APIs: Support for the Signature Rules Endpoint. For example, new CRM users can be automatically created in Eloqua for the purpose of Signature Rules.
- List Unsubscribe Header: Changed the list-unsubscribe header from global unsubscribe to group unsubscribe to allow for better unsubscribe experience.
- SFTP Imports/Exports: SSH cipher updates – updates to Host Key Algorithms, Key Exchange Ciphers, and Encryption Ciphers [Learn More]
- Salesforce App, CX Sales App, Partner App Updates and more!
Do you have an Eloqua question?
You don’t need to wait until you register for the next Eloqua User Group to submit a question. After all, you can simply go to www.myeloqua.com and submit your question today.
Marketing Automation Agency Services
Since 2007, Marketing Cube has been a trusted partner for marketing automation clients, specialising in Eloqua. In 2018, we expanded our expertise to include services for Salesforce Marketing Cloud clients. Our team excels at implementing your chosen platform and providing comprehensive agency services.
With a track record of assisting nearly 180 customers across diverse industries and geographies, we offer traditional application support and efficient help desk services.
If you’re seeking agency services, such as strategic guidance, end-user coaching, training, campaign support, and more for Oracle CX Marketing, Salesforce Marketing Cloud or HubSpot, reach out to us today to discuss how we can best assist you.
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