In this blog post, our HubSpot experts guide you through the process of uploading your emails to your HubSpot account.

There are three methods of doing it. We’ll kick off in the following order:

• Method 1: HubSpot Basic
  
• Method 2: HubSpot Advanced
  
• Method 3: HubSpot COS

Method 1: HubSpot Basic 

In this method, you only need to add the live HTML file to the template and then create the email. In addition, do NOT change any text, images, or other design elements. Here are the steps to upload your email to HubSpot:

• If coded according to the design, then all local images must be made live, and the HTML file will also go live. Go to the Library > Files > Create a folder > Drag all the local images into the folder > Get the live paths of the images and insert them into the HTML file.

• Once the HTML is live, you need to create the email. Go to the Content > Design Manager > Create a New File > Select: HTML + HubL > Template > Template Type : Email > Name your email template.

• After creating the template, add the live HTML into the blank space and publish the template.

• After publishing, right-click on the email name and create the email as shown in the screenshot below.

Note: The <tr> must be added in the footer; otherwise, the template will not be published.

<tr>
 <td valign="top" align="center" style="font-size:13px; font-family:Arial, sans-serif; color:#303030; line-height:16px;"> {{site_settings.company_name}}, {{site_settings.company_street_address_1}}, {{site_settings.company_city }}, {{site_settings.company_state}},{{ unsubscribe_link }}</td>
 </tr>

Method 2: HubSpot Advanced (HubL)

In HubSpot email marketing, HubL is a templating language that allows you to create customized, dynamic emails. 

In HubL, you need to edit text, images, and other elements. You may also need to repeat or delete sections. 

Sections cannot be dragged and dropped to the top or bottom. Follow these steps to upload your email to HubSpot using the HubL method: 

• Code as you do. <table><table>. Add id=”hs-inline-css” in the main style, and note that no special characters will be supported in HubSpot files. If the coding is done according to the design, then all local images must be made live, and the HTML file will also go live.
  
• Go to the Library > Files > Create a folder > Drag all the images into the folder > Get the live paths of the images and insert them into the HTML file
  
• For image integration, add the following code:

{% linked_image "header_logo [ Given Unique Name ]" label='header_logo [ Given Unique Name ]', link="#", open_in_new_tab=True, alt='As per the image Alt', src='https://dummyimage.com/160x40/808080/ffffff?noresize', width='160', style='border-width:0px;border:0px; width:160px; max-width:160px; display: block; font-size:20px; line-height:24px; color:#000000; font-family:Arial, sans-serif; text-decoration:none;' %}

• For text integration, add the following code:

{% rich_text "text_02 [ Given Unique Name ]" label="text_02 [ Given Unique Name ]", no_wrapper="True", html="Headline text goes here" %}

• Repeat sections in the following manner:

{% set my_options = [0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10] %}
                    {% choice "repeats1" label="Section Name", value="1", choices="{{ my_options }}", export_to_template_context=True %}
                    {% for options in my_options %}
                    {% if loop.index <= widget_data.repeats1.value %}

             ------------<table>------------------

{% endif %}
{% endfor %}

Note that in the above condition, if you need to repeat multiple sections, you should change the choice ‘repeats1’ to { ‘repeats2’, ‘repeats3’, ‘repeats4’ } as per your section repeat.

• For deleting sections, use the following code:

{% set my_options = [0, 1] %} 
                    {% choice "repeats1" label="Section Name", value="1", choices="{{ my_options }}", export_to_template_context=True %}
                    {% for options in my_options %}
                    {% if loop.index <= widget_data.repeats1.value %}

             ------------<table>------------------

{% endif %}
{% endfor %}

Note that in the above condition, if you choose ‘0,’ the section will be deleted. To display the section, you need to choose ‘1’.

As before, the <tr> must be added in the footer; otherwise, the template will not be published.

<tr>
 <td valign="top" align="center" style="font-size:13px; font-family:Arial, sans-serif; color:#303030; line-height:16px;"> {{site_settings.company_name}}, {{site_settings.company_street_address_1}}, {{site_settings.company_city }}, {{site_settings.company_state}},{{ unsubscribe_link }}</td>
 </tr>

You can see the entire process in action below.

Method 3: HubSpot COS

You need to edit images, text, background color, and text color. You can also add, delete, and drag-and-drop sections to the top or bottom. 

Importantly, you must code with a width of 600px. Please check to ensure the design width is 600px. 

Now, there are two ways to upload your email to HubSpot COS: 

1. All module in template
   
2. All module in email (Choice and Group field)

Let’s understand each method in detail. 

1. All Module in Template

In the first method, after finishing up the code, follow the steps shown in the video to make the local images live, and then integrate the COS.

2. All Module in Email

You need to put the editable content into one module and use group fields to organize it. Otherwise, all editable fields will be displayed on the left side of the email editor, making it hard for the client to identify each area of the module.

Additionally, you need to use the choice functionality to create a dropdown selector, allowing the client to select the modules to add. 

After reviewing and publishing the images, define the main group area and ensure that the modules are in HTML. Use concise names when uploading and avoid using very long ones.

{% for item in module.all_modules %}
<table align="center" width="600">
{% if item.module_type == "banner_section" %}
<tr>
</tr>
{% endif %}
{% if item.module_type == "text_section" %}
<tr>
</tr>
{% endif %}
</table>
{% endfor %}

Take a good look at the following screenshot for better understanding.

Coming now to editable tags, the process of giving editable tags to images, text, and other editable areas differs slightly from the normal COS method.

If you copy the variable from the screenshot above, it will provide you with the following value:

{{ module.text }}

However, the value we need to provide depends on your module name, which we defined in HTML. You need to remove “module” and replace it with “item.module_name”:

{{ item.text_section.text }}

module = item.module_name

We recommend you to watch this video to understand the process in depth.

It’s crucial to assign the correct variable to the editable area. Arrange the groups and choice selector as demonstrated in the video. Also, it’s important to follow the upload method exactly as shown in the video. 

Here are the steps: 

• Ensure that the HTML is live and that you have defined the modules.
  
• Create a choice field as demonstrated in the video, using the module names defined in the HTML for labels.
  
• Add editable fields for the modules and create a group for the editable fields of a specific module.
  
• Create a main group called “individual_module.”
  
• Change the “Display Condition” for each individual module group:
  • individual_module.module_type
  • is equal to
  • enter module name here
    
• Create an email after 1-2 modules are ready so that we can check if the functionality is working correctly.

Note: In all the three HubSpot methods you must add the following tags, or the template will not get published:

• {{site_settings.company_name}}
  
• {{site_settings.company_street_address_1}}
  
• {{site_settings.company_city}}, {{site_settings.company_state}}
  
• {{unsubscribe_link}}

Get More Insights into HubSpot Email Marketing

For more information on HubSpot email marketing, please visit our blog.

We are also HubSpot-certified experts. We can help you with end-to-end HubSpot email marketing. From campaign deployment to automation management to migration to HubSpot, we can do it all. Get in touch today!

The post How to Upload Emails to Your HubSpot Account: A Step-by-Step Guide appeared first on Email Uplers.

As a result, business software vendors are enhancing their tools to make implementing personalization more intuitive. 

So the question now isn’t whether personalization is part of your client’s marketing strategy. It most certainly is. 

Rather, do you as a service provider have extensive software expertise? Can you implement personalization on your client’s preferred software or ESP? 

Because software literacy is how you’re going to stand out. 

At Email Uplers, we’re experts at 50+ ESPs, including Braze. All-round software literacy enables us to meet various ESP-specific project requirements to spec. 

In this beginner-friendly guide, Braze is where it’s at. We’re going to show you how to do personalization in Braze using Liquid, a programming language. 

What Is Liquid?

Components of Liquid

Objects in Liquid

Filters in Liquid

Tags in Liquid

Advanced Data Types: Arrays & Objects

Arrays of Objects

Practical Use Cases of Liquid

What Is Liquid? 

Liquid, developed by Shopify, is a programming language written in Ruby, which is used to create dynamic content based on user data. 

Liquid is open-source, meaning it’s available for use by anyone. Compared to more complex coding languages, Liquid is straightforward and easy to learn, making it an excellent tool for marketers looking to personalize their communications.

Key Points:

• Origins: Developed by Shopify and adopted by customer engagement platforms like Braze
  
• Usage: Powers dynamic content in emails, notifications, and more
  
• Accessibility: Simple enough for marketers to learn with practice

Components of Liquid

Liquid is composed of three main elements, each serving a specific role in creating dynamic content: variables, tags, and filters. 

1. Variables

• Definition: Variables are placeholders that store data or values
  
• Syntax: {{ variable_name }}
  
• Functionality: Displays dynamic content, such as a customer’s name or order details.
  
• Example: {{ first_name }} displays the customer’s first name.
  
• Use Case: Personalize an email greeting with the recipient’s first name: Hello, {{ first_name }}!

2. Tags

• Definition: Tags control the flow and structure of the template.
  
• Syntax: {% tag %}
  
• Functionality: Handles logic, loops, and conditions.
  
• Example: {% if customer.is_vip %} initiates a conditional block.
  
• Use Case: Display a special offer for VIP customers: {% if customer.is_vip %} Exclusive offer just for you! {% endif %}

3. Filters

• Definition: Filters modify the output of a variable.
  
• Syntax: {{ variable | filter }}
  
• Functionality: Formats and manipulates data.
  
• Example: {{ product.price | currency }} formats the price as currency.
  
• Use Case: Format a product’s price to include a currency symbol: {{ product.price | currency }}

In our next section, we’ll explore these basics in a bit more detail.

Objects in Liquid 

Objects represent data points stored in Braze, accessed using standard attributes like {{ first_name }} and {{ email_address }}.

• Example: {{ first_name }} inserts the recipient’s first name into the email.
  
• Use Case: Include a user’s email address in a confirmation message: Your email address is {{ email_address }}

Filters in Liquid

Filters modify content within objects. Examples include:

• {{ first_name | capitalize }}: Capitalizes the first letter of the first name.
  
• {{ first_name | default: 'not here right now' }}: Uses default text if the first name is empty.
  
• Use Case: Ensure the first name is always capitalized: Hello, {{ first_name | capitalize }}!

Tags in Liquid

Tags define conditional logic using if, else if, and else statements:

• {% if first_name %}{{ first_name | capitalize }}{% endif %}: Prints the capitalized first name if it exists.
  
• {% if first_name == 'Peter' %}Here is your update{% else %}Hi there{% endif %}: Personalized message based on the name.
  
• Use Case: Provide a different message based on the user’s first name: {% if first_name == 'Peter' %} Hello, Peter! {% else %} Hello! {% endif %}

Advanced Data Types: Arrays & Objects

1. Arrays

• Definition: Lists of items of the same data type.
  
• Example: A user’s favorite sports: [“basketball”, “soccer”, “tennis”]
  
• Use Case: Display a list of a user’s favorite sports: {% for sport in favorite_sports %} {{ sport }} {% endfor %}

2. Objects

• Definition: Groups of metadata describing parent data.
  
• Example: An item with properties like name, price, and category: {“name”: “T-shirt”, “price”: “20”, “category”: “clothing”}
  
• Use Case: Display a product’s details: Product: {{ product.name }} – Price: {{ product.price }} – Category: {{ product.category }}

Arrays of Objects 

• Definition: Lists of objects.
  
• Example: A shopping cart with multiple items, each with properties like name, price, and size: [{“name”: “T-shirt”, “price”: “20”, “size”: “M”}, {“name”: “Jeans”, “price”: “40”, “size”: “L”}]
  
• Use Case: Display items in a user’s shopping cart: {% for item in cart %} {{ item.name }} – {{ item.price }} – {{ item.size }} {% endfor %}

Practical Use Cases of Liquid

1. Content Personalization

• Basic Personalization: Insert the user’s first name or other attributes.
  
  • Example: Hello, {{ first_name }}!
    
• Advanced Use Cases: Customize content based on user behavior or preferences.
  
  • Example: Show different messages based on the user’s subscription status: {% if user.is_subscribed %} Thanks for being a subscriber! {% else %} Subscribe now for more updates! {% endif %}

2. Multilingual Emails

Create emails that adapt to the recipient’s language preference using Liquid’s conditional logic:

• Data Preparation: Import user data with language preferences.
  
  • Example: Use a CSV file with language preferences: id,first_name,last_name,email,language
    
• Email Setup: Use Liquid to dynamically adjust content based on language attributes.
  
  • Example: {% if language == ‘en’ %} Hello! {% elsif language == ‘es’ %} ¡Hola! {% endif %}
    

Incidentally, you can also add a custome attribute to set your preferred color in the following manner:

{% if {{custom_attribute.${favorite_color}}} == ‘red’ %}

3. Abandoned Cart Emails

Leverage Liquid for loops to create dynamic abandoned cart emails:

• Data Structure: Store cart items in a custom attribute.
  
  • Example: {“items_in_cart”: [{“id”: “123”, “name”: “T-shirt”, “price”: “20”}, {“id”: “456”, “name”: “Jeans”, “price”: “40”}]}
    
• Loop through Items: Use loops to display each item in the email.
  
  • Example: {% for item in items_in_cart %} {{ item.name }} – {{ item.price }} {% endfor %}

4. Random Number Generation

Use current time and modulo operations to generate random numbers for various scenarios, like randomizing email subject lines:

• Example: {% assign random_number = ‘now’ | date: ‘%N’ | modulo: 5 %} {% if random_number == 0 %} Subject Line 0 {% elsif random_number == 1 %} Subject Line 1 {% elsif random_number == 2 %} Subject Line 2 {% elsif random_number == 3 %} Subject Line 3 {% elsif random_number == 4 %} Subject Line 4 {% endif %}

Need A Hand to Get Started?

Liquid provides a powerful yet accessible way to create personalized and dynamic content in Braze. By understanding and leveraging variables, tags, and filters, marketers can enhance their campaigns and deliver more relevant messages to their audience. 

If you need help getting started, get in touch with our Braze-certified experts. For more information on this ESP, catch our series on all things Braze.

The post A Beginner’s Guide to Liquid: Personalization And Dynamic Content in Braze appeared first on Email Uplers.

But clearly, wanting both and neither is unproductive. That’s not a helpful position to be in. It’s a waste of time and mind. 

But what if you didn’t have to choose per se? The fact is, effective digital marketing exists on a spectrum. The best approach leverages the strengths of both. That’s been our approach so far when it comes to email and SMS. Coupled with the desire to engage with and respect the choices of our audience. (The latter part is critical; being people-centric facilitates intuitive decision-making.) 

In this blog post, you’ll learn how to utilize email and SMS marketing. Not necessarily in opposition to each other. But chiefly collectively. Let’s get started. 

• The relationship between email and SMS marketing
  
• Advantages of SMS marketing
  
• Advantages of email marketing
  
• SMS and email marketing in action 

The relationship between email and SMS marketing

Mentioning email and SMS together is not jargoning. The similarities between the two are real:

• Both email and texts are checked on mobile devices. (Mobile clients make up 41.6% of email opens)
  
• Both email and SMS are two-way communication channels.
  
• Both email and SMS require users to opt-in. So both are forms of permission marketing.
  
• Both email and SMS allow for segmentation and personalization. 

These similarities show how email and SMS marketing can complement each other. Using both together leads to more people taking action. In fact, according to Omnisend, campaigns using both SMS and email are 429% more likely to trigger purchases. This is because you’re increasing the channels of reception. If someone misses an important email, you can still contact them through text. 

This leads us to another significant realization: the differences between email and SMS marketing are just as strong an argument for a combined approach as their similarities. If not more so. The pathways of email and SMS are different. At more technical levels, their use cases also differ. Their starting points are not the same either. 

All this lends flexibility to your marketing campaigns. Betting on their unique roles, you can use SMS and email to streamline next steps based on the ever-evolving status of your communications with your audience.

“Done right, bundling email and SMS can jump start any type of customer journey, as each channel has its own qualities to build engagement, leverage them together, and you can shorten the nurturing phase with a seamless experience that meets customers on the channel of their choice, at that time in their customer journey,” says Elizabeth Ciccolo, former Senior Email Marketing Manager at MedBridge. 

We’ll explore some of the cool ways you can combine email marketing and SMS to maximize reach and drive engagement. But first, let’s understand in what ways each channel can contribute to your campaigns. 

Read more: How to get started with Klaviyo SMS marketing

Advantages of SMS marketing

1. Narrow point of impact

SMS is perfect for sending timely alerts, appointment reminders, flash sales, seasonal promotions, day-to-day offers, etc. 

The character limit also helps getting the message across. It’s direct targeting that commands immediate attention and doesn’t require much cognitive effort from the recipient (assuming you’re not firing texts to random strangers). 

Image source

2. High engagement

The average open rate of text campaigns is 98%. It’s likely that even the outlying 2% will eventually check their text messages. 

In this SMS, Beachwaver utilizes the engagement potential of text to send a cart abandonment reminder. Note the text’s brevity and informal tone. 

Image source

3. Personalization 

It’s unfortunate that SMS is often labeled aggressive. That’s because hustlers have been abusing the channel, desperate to be heard. 

But SMS is not essentially aggressive. If you text someone who opted in to receive your pings, you have no problem. But you don’t stop at consent. 

You still need to text the right message to the right people. Personalization is key. 

The following SMS from Rainbow is directed at a specific customer, Ruby, not a stranger who might be unaware of the brand.

Image source

4. Measurable

Like email campaigns, SMS marketing is measurable. SMS analytics helps you to monitor, analyze, and optimize your campaigns for further improvement and long-lasting engagement. Here is an example of SMS analytics on Attentive. 

Image source

Advantages of email marketing

1. Rich media, storytelling, empirical value 

Although certain SMS platforms accommodate rich media, email surpasses them in versatility. With email, you can incorporate images, videos, GIFs, animations, games, and more. 

What sets email marketing apart from SMS is its empirical value. Unlike SMS, email engagement extends beyond mere metrics; it strives for dynamic, sensory interaction. This unique approach facilitates brand awareness and fosters long-term relationships through storytelling. Here’s an example of rich media in email. 

Image source

2. Extensive behavioral data landscape  

While SMS marketing does offer segmentation and personalization capabilities, email marketing enjoys a broader psychographic reach.

Email campaigns benefit from a wider scope, enabling subscribers to interact with emails in various ways. This diverse interaction pattern gives marketers a plethora of behavioral cues, empowering them to target subscribers based on even the smallest actions. 

3. Long-form content

Long-form content is chiefly what gives email marketing its empirical value. 

There are no length restrictions. While subscribers do prefer skimmable content, they’re not unwilling to engage with emails. Remember, email is not just text. Subscribers are more likely to dedicate time to interact with your emails and enjoy the rich media elements they contain. Check out this email from Goldbelly. 

Image source 

If your emails are relevant and valuable, that’ll translate into more scroll depth. Multiple CTAs will also prevent scrollback.

4. Effective lead nurturing

Image source

SMS and email marketing in action

Now that we’ve left the “email marketing vs. SMS marketing” debate behind, let’s explore how SMS and email can work in tandem.

1. Gift-giving campaigns

During seasonal campaigns, ecommerce brands often send detailed gift guides to their email subscribers. Yet, not all recipients proceed to make purchases. 

In such instances, brands can employ a final strategy by sending text messages to these subscribers on the day of the special occasion. Uncommon Goods seems to have taken this approach for Father’s Day. First, an email; then a short text with the URL. 

2. Transactional messages

Sending transactional notifications is one of the most common uses of the combined approach. You can send order confirmations via SMS and email the details.

In this example, IGP sends order confirmations via both SMS and email. However, the content differs between the two. The email notification includes detailed information such as the order number, amount, product image, recipient and sender details, and sender address. In contrast, the SMS only provides the order ID and tracking option. 

“Generally, SMS can be an effective way of building relationships with customers in a post-transaction environment. It’s great for providing specific and targeted information about a transaction,” argues Paul Christmann, Chief Innovation Officer at rasa.io. 

3. Encouraging cross signups

You can send a text encouraging email signups and send an email encouraging text signups. It’s a clever way to maximize your reach. In either case, you can incentivize the signup process by offering discounts. 

4. Limited-time sale campaigns

For a limited-time sale, combine SMS and email. A calibrated mix of email and SMS reminders will effectively encourage purchases. 

That’s how Purity Coffee leverages SMS and email for their Mother’s Day campaign.

5. Abandoned cart reminders

Abandoned cart reminders aren’t limited to email. You can also send text reminders, as cart abandonment indicates strong interest from the subscriber. You should follow up with the leavers, potentially incentivizing the purchase over time. 

That’s a common strategy to boost sales. By sending reminders on both channels, Boston Proper witnessed a 177x ROI

Read more: 8 Abandoned Cart Email Ideas Best Practices

6. Giveaway contests

You can combine SMS and email to promote contests and drive sales. 

In this regard, Kodiak Cakes’ Father’s Day campaign is inspiring. The brand launched the campaign via email and SMS, offering subscribers a chance to bag a $100 gift card. Have a look at the campaign’s SMS and email avatars. Do you see the similarities and differences we talked about? 

Image source

Are you ready for email and SMS marketing?

Summing up, there are four main reasons why you should combine email and SMS:

1. Unified data access
   
2. More targeted approach
   
3. Better reach
   
4. Greater ROI 

Not sure which SMS and email marketing platform to springboard off? Our email experts specialize in over 50 ESPs, most of which include SMS and email marketing features. Let us guide you. 

The post SMS vs. Email Marketing – Is That Even The Right Question Anymore? appeared first on Email Uplers.

In today’s highly digitized world, customers expect you to be attentive to their needs 24×7. If you aren’t, they won’t hesitate to move on to a competitor that does!

This is exactly why a solid customer relationship management (CRM) strategy is critical to business operations today.

To that end, you may be researching the perfect CRM platform and exploring ways to deploy it in the most optimized manner. But have you thought about what a successful CRM team should look like? Surprisingly, this is the one aspect that a lot of businesses overlook when putting together a CRM strategy.

Successful CRM entails a lot more than just picking out the best software. If you plan to be around for years to come, the end-goal should be to build lasting and strong relationships with your customer base. 

But to pull this off with panache, you first need the right human resources!

8 Roles that Make a Rockstar CRM Team

The secret to CRM success lies in striking the right mix of technology, processes, and people. Sure, you need to invest in customer-centric business processes and the technology to support these processes. But most critically, you need people who can enhance the effectiveness of such processes, including email template development, email automation, campaign management and so on.

Here are the eight roles that are critical to building and sustaining robust CRM systems that work efficiently for every department in your organization. Your very own Avengers, if you will.

1. The Project Leader

This is the person who will get behind the driver’s wheel and steer your project in its intended direction, making them, the most vital cog of your CRM team structure. The project leader will be responsible for all the deliverables of your CRM initiative and delegating all concerned CRM roles and responsibilities.

Needless to say, this has to be a person in a senior position within the organization or someone with the expertise in handling CRM projects. Yes, you can select the leader internally or find an external consultant for this role. However, this choice must be based on evaluating your requirements in the immediate and distant future vis-à-vis the budget.

At the same time, it’s important to give the project leader a say in drafting the vision of your CRM initiatives and finalizing the deliverables. Equally important is to give them the liberty to allocate CRM roles and responsibilities as they deem fit.

2. The Trendsetter

Research suggests that the failure of corporate management to embrace CRM in their day-to-day operations is one of the key reasons behind the failure of these initiatives. Without a nudge from leadership, your CRM initiatives cannot scale to their true potential.

So, pick someone from the top brass – a CEO, COO, managing director, board member – to be the trendsetter. This person would be responsible for ‘leading by example’ by using your new CRM system to communicate with employees. They’ll also be responsible for coming up with many of your most successful CRM strategies.

And do so with zeal!

3. The Experts

Software applications and a set of tech tools to facilitate seamless operations are critical for any CRM initiative. You need to have the right technical experts on your team- like the email developers. These technical experts will not only prove to be a great asset in eliminating the frustration around initial hiccups in the implementation of the CRM software but also offer support in data protection, bug removal, and other tech issues later on. In a way, they shoulder the most pivotal CRM responsibilities within the team.

To choose the right talent, you need to first have clear specifications on what your CRM initiative will entail and the kind of technical expertise required to pull it off.

4. The Bees

CRM implementation can be an arduous task. One that requires a considerable amount of manual effort in checking systems, uploading files, and so on. You need to have a pool of hard-working employees who can pick up the slack and bring stability to your CRM operations, and ultimately breathe life into your successful CRM strategies. Maintaining a dedicated team to take care of these less fancy aspects of CRM operations ensures that the entire system works like a well-oiled machine without causing a significant dent in your budget.

5. The Champion

The process of CRM system implementation can be a long-drawn-out, thankless job. There will always be some glitches and unhappy end-users. And there will be a team of professionals working tirelessly to iron out these crinkles.

Having a senior member of your organization rooting for these team players can be a huge asset for their morale and motivation. If you want to make successful CRM campaigns a habit, such an individual must be present in your team. This appointed champion can also play a key role in getting other stakeholders invested in your CRM initiative.

6. The Sounding Board

When a group of professionals is working closely together on a project, they’re likely to get too invested in it to view the outcomes dispassionately. That’s where your sounding board comes in. Here’s someone who is result-oriented and can see the big picture.

This team member is of paramount importance in making your CRM initiatives a success, as they question decisions, review CRM responsibilities, critically examine outcomes, and offer vital inputs for improvement. In short, this one team member will drive the rest to push the envelope and ensure successful CRM campaigns. They may not be appreciated by others on your CRM team for obvious reasons, but their role in optimizing your CRM initiatives is indispensable.

7. The Innovator

This team member has to be an early adopter of the technology you’re working with. They can play a key role in weeding out antiquated practices and replacing them with a more futuristic approach. This makes them a crucial player of your CRM team. The innovator may also help you find new, hitherto unexplored, ways to tackle the myriad roadblocks in your CRM initiative.

8. The Tester

There is only one way to know whether your CRM system is working optimally – by testing settings, fields, categories, workflows regularly. That’s where the tester comes in. It’s fair to say that your CRM team structure won’t ever be complete without them. They will test different functionalities of your system from time to time, ask the right questions, and offer the right tips to eliminate glitches.

They will perform this task on a loop until your CRM system is ready to work seamlessly. And then, top it up with more tests along the way to make sure that it stays that way. A person with the technical know-how as well as a firm grip on your target user base is ideal for this role.

Finding the Right Resources through Outsourcing

You’re probably wondering: ‘Where am I going to find all these team members?’ ‘By how much will that shoot up my CRM budget?’ Putting together a well-rounded and successful CRM team doesn’t necessarily have to be expensive. A handful of these resources can be pulled from within your organization. The trendsetter, the sounding board, the champion, for instance.

Depending on the nature of your operations, you may also find a few more skills in-house. For the rest, you can consider collaborating with a third-party service provider. It is ideal to outsource tasks or roles that are not a part of your core operations but essential for successful CRM development and implementation.

Some of the key benefits of the outsourcing approach include:

• It proves to be a time- and cost-effective alternative. In most of these contractual arrangements, you typically pay for the work done. This means saving up on salaries of idle resources as well as the cost of employee training. Besides, trained professionals who offer their services remotely prove much cheaper than hiring full-time experts for the same job.
• Since the professionals offering third-party services work primarily with CRM systems, they are more skilled and experienced. These people have handled scores of similar projects in the past, and can therefore optimize your CRM initiative more efficiently and quickly.
• It allows you to pick and choose resources as per your requirements, which may not be the case if you’re working with in-house employees.
• You don’t have to worry about keeping backups ready in case a team member takes a leave of absence.
• There is greater room for scalability. There is no need to hire or fire employees if you decide to expand or curtail business operations.

Wrapping It Up

Your CRM initiative is as good as the people behind it. Once you’ve found your rockstar team, make sure each member understands the objectives clearly. Institutionalize a rock-solid system for project management, and interact with them regularly to understand the challenges, progress, and expected outcomes.

For hands-on assistance with outsourcing CRM roles, simply contact us at Email Uplers to get the ball rolling!

The post 8 Roles that are Essential for a Rockstar CRM Team appeared first on Email Uplers.

Mailchimp, one of the leading marketing automation and email marketing platforms, can do wonders for your business in tandem with ChatGPT. Being Mailchimp email experts ourselves and having delivered tangible results for our clientele across the board, we can more than vouch for the platform’s wherewithal in relation to integration. 

In this guide, we will learn how to integrate ChatGPT into Mailchimp so that you can lubricate the cogs of email marketing and deliver frictionless customer experiences. As a bonus, we will also be exploring Mailchimp’s rendezvous with AI. So, on with the motley! 

1. Generate API Keys

To set the ball rolling, you need to first generate API keys for both ChatGPT and Mailchimp. To obtain the API key for ChatGPT, follow these steps:

• Visit the Open AI platform. Navigate to the sidebar, and select API keys as shown below.

• Click API keys and create a new secret key, as shown in the following image. (You may be asked to verify your phone number first.)

Now, follow these steps to obtain the API key for Mailchimp. 

• Log in to your Mailchimp account. Go to the Account page.
  
• Click the Extras tab and choose API keys as shown here. 

• Click Create A Key. Then copy the generated API key.

2. Set up A Dev Environment

Now, you need to set up a development environment. It’s a safe workspace for developers to make necessary changes without upsetting anything in the live environment. 

You can use any programming language of your choice. We will be using Python. So we have pip already installed. Now, we will install requests and mail_chimp packages. 

3. Create Email on ChatGPT

Now, we will generate email content using the API key for ChatGPT. Feel free to use the following Python script. Remember to replace YOUR_UNIQUE_API_KEY with your actual key. 

4. Send an Email on Mailchimp

Now, we will use Mailchimp’s API key. Take a good look at the following Python script. Once again, replace the API key and the list ID with your unique values. 

5. Tacking It Together

You are almost done. Now, you can use both functions in a single Python script, as shown below. We want to generate email content in ChatGPT and then send it in Mailchimp. 

Reinforcing The Integration

Now that you know how to apply the integration, you would need to reinforce it by importing more advanced features and functionalities, such as audience segmentation and personalization, from both ChatGPT and Mailchimp. 

For instance, in the case of personalization, you can add relevant tokens to ChatGPT prompts. The most obvious one would be {first_name}. 

You can then leverage Mailchimp’s native segmentation tools to create uber-targeted campaigns. 

For each segment, you can generate unique ChatGPT prompts and send the right message to the right people. 

Another instance could be A/B testing. You can implement it in your Python script once you create multiple campaigns with different subject lines (or any other variable you choose to test). You can then pick the winner from Mailchimp’s reports. 

Mailchimp’s Rendezvous with AI

Ever since the advent of AI, Mailchimp’s team has been quick to adopt it and leverage it to expand the potential of the platform. It all began with Mailchimp’s acquisition of the automated design platform, Sawa, in 2019. Following this, Mailchimp acquired Inspector 6 in 2020 to help brands create “more effective marketing content.”

Today, Mailchimp boasts more than 20 “AI and data science features in-app.” Mailchimp’s stated goal is to enable marketers to save time, build and deliver more effective marketing campaigns, and transfer data-driven insights to their collective decision-making. 

Of course, generative AI plays a big role in making all this possible. As Jon Fasoli, Chief Design and Product Officer at Mailchimp, puts it, “We see generative AI fundamentally changing the landscape of creative work, and we’re here to help our customers apply it to their day-to-day marketing in meaningful ways so that they get more done and reach their goals faster.”

From Send Day and Time Optimization, Content Optimization, and Alt-text Generation to Journey Builder Recommendations, Stock Image Suggestions, and Product Recommendations, Mailchimp’s AI-powered Email Content Generator is an all-in-one unraveling of the potential of email marketing combined with AI. 

To illustrate how ambitious Mailchimp is toward leveraging gen AI, in February 2023, the brand utilized ChatGPT to deliver minute-by-minute highlights of a game at the Super Bowl. 

Christened “Play by AI,” Mailchimp aimed to give fans an “AI-generated, live tweeting experience.” 

Jeremy Jones, Group Creative Director of Advertising at Mailchimp, says, “Culture is made in an instant at the Super Bowl, but for marketers who want to capitalize on it, all the noise can feel overwhelming. That’s why Mailchimp—a marketing platform that markets to marketers—created Play by AI to highlight the fun and practical ways AI can help generate compelling and effective content for email and beyond.”

The point of it all is partly to emphasize Mailchimp’s commitment to AI and partly to reassure marketers. Mailchimp has put their money where their mouth is. With time, we can expect them to announce more such fraternizing with AI – all ultimately for the benefit of businesses, small and large. 

Wrapping Up!

AI-powered digital marketing is all the rage, and not for nothing. More and more businesses are starting to realize its potential in transforming how they can traverse the customer-scape across multiple touchpoints. Speaking of AI-integrated email, it is one of the more dynamic offshoots of the industry-wide revolution. 

With Mailchimp’s well-attested integration capabilities, coupled with ChatGPT’s globally celebrated utility, your next email campaign enjoys all the necessary ingredients to succeed. 

The post A Step-by-Step Guide to Integrate ChatGPT into Mailchimp for Maximizing Engagement appeared first on Email Uplers.

Facilitating efficiency, dialing up conversions, taking care of repetitive and manual tasks, nurturing leads- the merits of marketing automation are many, which is why it has come to find a place in virtually every business’ toolkit today, irrespective of their size and scale. Now, while there are quite a few marketing automation platforms for you to choose from, few are as powerful and feature-rich as Pardot by Salesforce. Goes without saying, thus, that in order to make the most of it, one must strive to be fluent with its myriad capabilities; that’s precisely what we aim to help you out with today. In this blog, we take a detailed look at a number of sophisticated Pardot features that you can leverage to give a leg up to your marketing endeavors. Curious to find out what they are? Well, dive right in!

Engagement Studio

In order to deliver a sublime user experience to your customers, you must engage them effectively at every stage of the customer journey. Pardot’s Engagement Studio helps you do just that. Easily among Pardot’s most sophisticated features, Engagement Studio gives you a clear picture of your email drip campaigns. Once you have launched your drip campaign, you can monitor and track it with ease thanks to the wide range of tools that Engagement Studio has to offer. Additionally, you can execute an array of other actions, too, such as adding/removing tags, notifying users, changing fields, adding/removing lists, assigning groups to users, and sending automated emails. What’s more, by integrating Engagement Studio with a Salesforce Connector, you can realize extremely efficient and hassle-free email marketing automation. 

You can configure whether Pardot initiates the appropriate actions immediately or upon your lead reaching a particular stage (and satisfying a specific condition- what marketers refer to as triggers). Engagement Studio lets you define a number of triggers such as email open, content view, file download, email link open, click on content, and the like. By utilizing prospect attributes like lead grade, status, score, campaign, tag, etc., you can specify rules that will subsequently govern the steps recipients will take in your drip campaign.

B2B Marketing Analytics

When your customers and prospects interact with your digital marketing assets, they produce B2B marketing data. What Pardot’s B2B Marketing Analytics does is provide you with data visualizations, allowing you to glean critical and actionable insights. An Einstein Analytics app, B2B Marketing Analytics brings your marketing and sales data to one place; this enables either department to complement the functioning of the other, ultimately resulting in revenue maximization. By helping you gain a clear and accurate idea of your campaign’s ROI, B2B Marketing Analytics helps you go about performance optimization in an extremely informed manner. Besides, they also offer a comparative analysis of the performance of all your various campaigns; this proves to be extremely handy when it comes to budget allocation. 

Pardot’s B2B Marketing Analytics comprises three important components. They are:

1. Datasets: This is source data that has been formatted and dispatched to Analytics Studio. In B2B Marketing Analytics, you can create a dataset from Salesforce data, a CSV file, or simply connect to data in data warehouses, supported applications, and database services.
2. Lenses: Lenses in B2B Marketing Analytics refer to a specific view of a dataset. They are used for visualization and exploratory data analysis. The four standard lenses in B2B Marketing Analytics are Pipeline Deals, Lead Sources, Campaigns, and Lifecycle Snapshot.
3. Dashboards: They refer to a group of charts, tables, and metrics; they are based on data contained in one or more lenses. The different types of dashboards present in B2B Marketing Analytics are pipeline dashboard, engagement dashboard, marketing manager (a combination of pipeline and engagement, account-based marketing, and multi-touch attribution dashboard.

Dynamic Content

Hands down among Pardot’s most powerful features, Dynamic Content lets you deliver personalized content to every segment of your audience. In the process, it empowers you to skyrocket your engagement and conversions. Based on a particular user’s engagement, you can create custom emails, forms, websites, landing pages, and other assets with the help of Dynamic Content. With this Pardot feature, you can make sure to leave a deeply positive impact on your customers’ minds and have them looking forward to your communications. 

As powerful as Dynamic Content is, there are certain limitations associated with it in Pardot. Let’s take a look at them.

• One can only use one prospect field at a time while creating dynamic content.
• You aren’t allowed to utilize custom object data directly from object.
• It is mandatory to declare actual field values while defining a dynamic content variation; one can’t set it to “is blank” or “is empty”.
• You can only create a maximum number of 25 variations.

Connected Campaign

Released in 2018, Connected Campaign is a comparatively new Pardot feature which enables users to combine their Salesforce and Pardot campaigns. In doing so, it paves the way for streamlining campaign management and makes campaign reporting extremely unfussy. Moreover, Connected Campaign lets you access Pardot Einstein Campaign Insights and Engagement History without leaving Salesforce. The improved connectivity fostered by this feature makes managing workflows highly convenient for marketers. 

There are certain considerations one has to contend with while using Connect Campaigns. Let’s find out what they are.

• Upon enabling Connected Campaigns, marketing asset sync takes place, counting towards storage limits. 
• When Salesforce and Pardot campaigns are connected, the former becomes the master campaign, and thus field values belonging to it are considered to be true. As a result, if there happens to be any difference between the field values of both, Pardot field values get overwritten by Salesforce field values (And this can’t be reversed, in case you were wondering). Some fields which particularly happen to be at risk in the event of value discrepancies are Campaign Name, Cost, Updated By, Archive Date, Created By, and Updated At. Hence, one is always advised to export Pardot campaign data into a CSV file to be on the safe side. 
• Once Pardot campaigns get connected, you can no longer effect edits for they become read-only. All subsequent edits to campaign records can only be made in Salesforce. You won’t be able to create new Pardot campaigns, either; if you wish to, you would have to create them in Salesforce and await their syncing to Pardot. 

Salesforce User Sync

This is an administration feature that allows users to manage their Salesforce and Pardot accounts simultaneously. Salesforce User Sync is an opt-in feature and can only be enabled when the user has a Salesforce and Pardot connector. This feature fosters enhanced user experience and improved user management, along with boosting security. Keep in mind that once Salesforce User Sync is enabled, Pardot becomes a Salesforce platform-powered native lighting application; this results in a substantial change in how you use Pardot. If you happen to be a new Pardot user, your user profile will be matched to the respective Salesforce profile once you opt for User Sync. Once this feature is enabled, it can’t be disabled.

Wrapping It Up

Although getting marketing automation can be pretty complex, with Pardot in your toolkit the endeavor stands to become a lot simpler for you. We hope you are able to tactfully leverage the Pardot features discussed above and take your marketing campaigns head and shoulders above your competitors.

The post Top Pardot Features That Will Help You Ace Your Marketing Automation Game! appeared first on Email Uplers.