One of the most exciting things that makes Salesforce Marketing Cloud (SFMC) a top value proposition for marketers is its revolutionary Einstein features. These features leverage the power of artificial intelligence (AI) to analyze customer data and automate marketing tasks. The result? Campaigns that are a cut above the rest.

In this blog, we’ll check out Salesforce Marketing Cloud Einstein features and see how they can be used to optimize your marketing efforts, personalize customer journeys, and drive better results. However, before we do so, let’s have a basic overview of SFMC Einstein and what it brings to the table.

What is Salesforce Marketing Cloud Einstein?

Salesforce Marketing Cloud Einstein is a suite of artificial intelligence (AI) features built into the Marketing Cloud platform. It uses machine learning to analyze customer data and automate marketing tasks, helping you optimize your campaigns for better results.

Here are some key benefits of Marketing Cloud Einstein:

#1 Personalization - With Einstein, you can personalize your marketing efforts and understand your audience better than ever. By using its personalization capabilities, you can figure out what content, offers, and messaging will resonate most with each individual. This can significantly boost your conversion rates and customer satisfaction.

#2 Improved Engagement - Marketing Cloud Einstein can also help you send the right message at the right time. By utilizing features like Engagement Frequency and Send Time Optimization, you can know the optimal number of emails you’d send to each subscriber and the best time to send emails for maximum open rates.

#3 Content Optimization- Marketing Cloud Einstein also helps users craft better marketing copy and select the most relevant content for their audience. Einstein Copy Insights for instance analyzes the subject lines to predict which will drive higher open rates. Similarly, Content Selection chooses the most engaging content for each subscriber based on their profile and behavior.

#4 Increased ROI - By personalizing your marketing and optimizing engagement, Marketing Cloud Einstein can help you get more out of your marketing budget. Result? You'll see a better return on investment from your campaigns through higher conversion rates and improved customer lifetime value.

💡Experiencing hurdles in setting up Marketing Cloud? Enhance your knowledge with our latest blog > Salesforce Marketing Cloud Implementation: Key Features, Uses, and Best Practices.

What are the top features of Salesforce Marketing Cloud Einstein?

SFMC Einstein includes several features. Here are some of the prominent ones:

1. Engagement Scoring: Know Your Most Engaged Contacts

Ditch the guessing game and know exactly who’s most likely to respond to your marketing efforts with Einstein Engagement Scoring. This ML-powered tool analyzes your customer data and predicts how likely a person is to stay subscribed, open emails, or click links.

Here’s what Engagement Scoring offers:

a) Laser-Focused Campaigns: Einstein Engagement Scoring allows marketers to segment audiences based on the predicted engagement score. Based on this score (out of 100), marketers can target the most likely ones, ensuring optimal ROI for their campaigns.

b) Different Personas- Engagement Scoring categorizes audiences using various personas:

Loyalists- Subscribers with high open rates and click engagement. These are assigned a score of 90+
Window Shoppers- Subscribers with high open rates but low click engagement. These are assigned a score between 15-60.
Selective Subscribers-Subscribers with low open rates but high engagement. These are assigned a score between 60-90.
Winback/Dormant- Subscribers with low open rates and click engagement. These have scores between 0-15.

c) Audience Health Indicator- This indicator assigns a grade for the score across all subscribers. These grades include Excellent, Good, Fair, and Poor.

d) Audience Creation- Using Audience Builder, you can easily create an audience and apply Einstein Engagement Scoring to that audience base. For this, click on i) Create audience, ii) Select ‘Einstein Engagement Scoring’, and iii) Publish the audience.

Einstein Engagement Scoring for Email (Source: Trailhead)

2. Send Time Optimization: Deliver Emails When They're Most Likely to be Opened

Receiving emails at inconvenient times can be frustrating, prompting subscribers to unsubscribe, add emails to spam, or rarely open those.

Send Time Optimization has a solution to this challenge. This tool takes the guesswork out of scheduling by identifying the optimal send times for each contact. Using machine learning, Einstein STO analyzes subscribers’ past open behavior and time zones to ensure the emails are delivered when recipients are most likely to open.

Main sub-features of Einstein STO:

a) Einstein STO Dashboard: The STO dashboard provides visual insights into how your subscriber base engages with your marketing activity during specific hours of the day or days of the week. This data can be used better to target customers during any specific hour of the day.

b) Einstein STO Journey Builder Activity

The activity feature is available in Flow Controls in the Journey Builder. It allows users to send an email or push notification to each subscriber when they are most likely to open it. Simply drag and drop Einstein STO activity before any email activity in the Journey flow and those emails will be scheduled for your selected time.

Note that Einstein STO activity should be placed right before any Email activity. If you wish to add multiple emails to your journey flow, drag and drop the “Einstein STO” before each Email activity.

3. Engagement Frequency: Find the Perfect Balance in Communication

Sending too many emails to a customer is a surefire way of getting ignored. You’ll likely land in their spam list or will soon get unsubscribed. On the contrary, sending too few emails may not be sufficient to gain the attention of your audience.

Engagement Frequency recommends to marketers the optimal number of emails they should send to each contact, maximizing engagement rates and reducing unsubscribes. Engagement generally increases when send frequency is increased, until a contact reaches saturation.

Here’s more on Einstein Engagement Frequency:

-Engagement frequency metrics are derived from the past 28 days' data.

-Only commercial emails are analyzed (Test and transactional ones aren’t )

-A minimum of 5 frequencies(time intervals for sending emails) are required to get recommendations.

Einstein Engagement Frequency Dashboard (Source: Trailhead)

Key Features: Einstein Engagement Frequency

a) Einstein Frequency Suggestion Card

Identify the suggested frequency range for your email activity through Einstein Frequency suggestions. This feature analyzes how changing the frequency can increase your open rates or other KPIs

b) Email Frequency Chart

This chart showcases email performance based on the timeframe you select in the Data Filter. It breaks down key metrics for different email-sending frequencies such as:

Number of Emails Sent: See how many subscribers received a specific number of emails during the chosen period.
Open Rates: Track how many subscribers opened emails based on the frequency they received them.
Click Rates: Analyze how many subscribers clicked on something within your emails sent at different frequencies.
Unsubscribe Rates: Monitor how many subscribers unsubscribed after receiving a specific number of emails.

c) Data Extensions

Einstein Engagement Frequency can help you identify subscribers who haven't received enough emails (undersaturated) or who are getting bombarded (oversaturated). This information is stored in separate Data Extensions (DEs).

You can then use these DEs to target your email sends more effectively. For example, you can exclude over-saturated subscribers from upcoming campaigns or adjust the frequency of emails they receive.

Tip: 🧠You can even build personalized recommendation models with Einstein. Leverage the power of AI and Big Data through Einstein Recommendation Builder with Concretio.

4. Messaging Insights: Stay on Top of Campaign Performance

Keeping track of multiple marketing campaigns can be overwhelming. Messaging Insights simplifies the process by providing real-time alerts and performance updates, no matter where you are in Marketing Cloud Account Engagement.

You'll be notified of any anomalies in your email sends or journeys, allowing you to quickly identify and address potential issues. To view these insights, you can simply click on the Einstein notifications badge at the top of the header or visit the insights hub which offers a detailed result analysis.

Einstein Messaging Insights Dashboard (Source: Trailhead)

Key Pointers: Einstein Messaging Insights

Einstein Messaging Insights keeps a watchful eye on your email performance, including both batch sends and journeys. It tracks key metrics like open rates, click-through rates, and unsubscribes.
If Einstein detects a significant deviation from what's expected, either a big jump or a surprising drop, it flags it as an "insight" for you to investigate.
To activate this feature, simply go to your Marketing Cloud account < Einstein < Einstein Messaging Insights < Activate for the business unit(s)

5. Copy Insights (including Generative AI): Craft Compelling Email Copy that Converts

Writing effective email subject lines and body copy is an art form. Copy Insights empowers you to create high-performing content by analyzing your existing copy and offering data-driven suggestions for improvement.

They use their expertise in text analytics and natural language processing to dissect your subject lines and uncover hidden insights – the secret. It even utilizes generative AI to create draft subject lines and body copy, saving you time and effort while maintaining your brand voice.

Here’s what Einstein Copy Insights offers:

Einstein analyzes past email performance, just like studying customer demographics and buying habits. It identifies what kind of language resonates with your audience (e.g., urgency, curiosity, exclusivity).
Einstein Copy Insights can put your subject line ideas to the test and compare them to past successful campaigns. This allows you to refine your wording and choose the subject line most likely to boost open rates (engagement rate).
Like a creative partner, Einstein Copy Insights can generate subject line options for you (generative AI). These can be used as springboards to brainstorm further with your team.

Additional Salesforce Marketing Cloud Einstein Features

While we discussed the core SFMC Einstein features above, there are more Einstein features you can benefit from. This includes:

Engagement Splits - Checks if someone interacted with your message (typically the activity that happened before reaching the split).
Path Optimizer- Path optimizer tells which branch is the most efficient when a path is set up in the Journey Builder.
Einstein Content Selection- Automatically pick the perfect content for each subscriber, negating the need for any code.
Content Tagging - Auto-add searchable labels to your Marketing Cloud images with Einstein Content Tagging.
Email Recommendations- Leverage customer behavior to tailor emails with the most relevant content or product recommendations using Einstein Email Recommendations.
Web Recommendations- Show website visitors exactly what they're interested in with Web Recommendations, which personalize your site based on their behavior.

Conclusion

Salesforce Marketing Cloud Einstein offers revolutionary features for businesses wanting to amplify their marketing efforts with AI. These features not only guide decision-making but also help personalize with every customer at scale, turning marketing goals into reality.

But unlocking Einstein's full potential requires a strategic partner i.e. someone who has a track record in implementing these features and helping achieve profitable results. At Concretio, we have a pool of certified Marketing Cloud Implementation experts ready to help you unlock Salesforce Marketing Cloud Einstein features, and track success for continuous improvement.

As a leading Salesforce Marketing Cloud agency, Concretio provides the expertise and strategic insights necessary to fully leverage the power of Einstein. Our team of experts collaborates with you to create customized solutions that align with your business goals, ensuring that you maximize the benefits of Salesforce Marketing Cloud.

References

1. Einstein for Marketing Cloud Account Engagement Feature Overview and Requirements

2. Enable Einstein Generative AI in Marketing Cloud Account Engagement

3. Einstein Engagement Scoring

4. Einstein Send Time Optimization

5. Einstein Engagement Frequency

6. Einstein Messaging Insights

7. Einstein Copy Insights

FAQs

SFMC Einstein is built right in, so you don't need any additional software! Here's how to get started:
Explore the Features: Familiarize yourself with the different Einstein features available, such as Engagement Scoring, Send Time Optimization, and Content Selection.
Connect Your Data: Ensure your customer data is properly synced within the Marketing Cloud for Einstein to analyze and generate insights.
Set Up Your Workflows: Utilize Einstein features within your email marketing campaigns and journeys to automate tasks and personalize experiences.
Analyze and Refine: Monitor the performance of your campaigns and use Einstein's insights to improve targeting, messaging, and overall effectiveness continually.

Many resources are available from Salesforce to help you get the most out of Einstein. Check out the documentation and tutorials for step-by-step guidance.
By leveraging SFMC Einstein, you can achieve significant results in your marketing efforts:
Improved Targeting: Reach the right audience with the right message at the right time. Enhanced Engagement: Boost open rates, click-through rates, and conversions with personalized content.
Streamlined Workflows: Automate repetitive tasks and free up your marketing team for strategic initiatives.
Data-Driven Insights: Gain valuable insights from customer data to optimize campaigns for even better results.
Increased Efficiency: Save time and resources with AI-powered automation and optimization.
A qualified Salesforce Marketing Cloud implementation partner can help you:
Navigate the Setup Process: Streamline the implementation of Einstein features.
Customize Einstein for Your Needs: Tailor features to your unique marketing goals and data structure.
Unlock Advanced Capabilities: Leverage advanced features for maximum benefit. Track Success: Monitor progress and optimize campaigns for continuous improvement.

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Guide to Salesforce Marketing Cloud Einstein Features