Oracle Eloqua offers numerous tools to help businesses leverage their customer data and execute personalized marketing campaigns. Among these tools, custom objects (often abbreviated COs) stand out as a particularly powerful feature. Eloqua custom objects allow you to store important data points to use in more precise segmentation and customer targeting.

In this guide, we’ll explore what custom objects are, why they are crucial, and how you can maximize their potential to drive your marketing efforts.

What are Oracle Eloqua Custom Objects?

Custom objects are data tables that allow you to store information outside the standard contact and account fields. While Eloqua provides a robust set of default fields for contacts and accounts, these fields might not cover all your business needs, especially as your organization grows. Custom objects step in to fill this gap. You can add or remove columns in custom objects as needed, making connecting a single customer ID with multiple departments or product purchases easy.

Custom objects can store various types of data, including purchase history, areas of interest, transactional information, and more. They enable marketers to link multiple records to a single contact or account, providing a more comprehensive view of customer interactions and preferences. This flexibility makes COs a valuable segmentation, personalization, and campaign management tool.

What Can Eloqua Custom Objects Do?

Eloqua custom objects offer a variety of practical uses, some of which aren’t obvious at first glance. Just a few examples include:

Tracking Products or Services of Interest

Custom objects allow you to track customer interests, such as products or services they have shown interest in. You can store information like the original lead source, the most recent product of interest, and other relevant data. This helps you understand your customers’ preferences and tailor your marketing efforts accordingly.

Managing Leads

Custom objects are particularly useful for managing leads, especially when you need to associate multiple leads with a single contact or route different types of leads to various sales teams. By using COs, you can maintain clear connections between leads and contacts without overwhelming your team with unnecessary data.

Leveraging Purchase History

Storing purchase history in custom objects allows you to capture a complete record of products or services purchased, along with a timeline of customer activity. This information can be linked to a contact or account record, providing valuable insights for upselling, cross-selling, and personalized marketing campaigns.

Handling Shared Email Addresses

In some cases, multiple contacts might share a single email address, which can create issues since Eloqua uses email addresses as unique identifiers. Custom objects can solve this problem by associating multiple contacts with the same email address while maintaining distinct records for each contact.

Creating Subscription Centers

Custom objects can be used to manage subscription preferences, allowing contacts to update their communication preferences, preferred language, and products of interest. This data can be connected to the appropriate contact record and displayed accurately on the user’s preference center page.

Deleting Eloqua Custom Objects

As powerful as custom objects are, managing them effectively is crucial to avoid performance issues and data clutter. Over time, your Eloqua instance may accumulate a large number of custom object records that are no longer needed. Regularly cleaning up this old CO data should be a regular part of your routine to keep Eloqua running smoothly and streamline data management. Tools like the Mass CO Deleter Cloud App will let you automatically delete outdated or unnecessary custom object records.

Why Use Eloqua Custom Objects over Contact & Account Fields?

When setting up your Eloqua instance, it might seem logical to store all customer data directly on contact or account records. However, this approach can lead to several challenges as your data needs expand. Custom objects offer several significant advantages, most notably:

• Custom objects can hold significantly more data than contact and account fields. Eloqua’s default setup provides 62 contact fields and 18 account fields, with the option to create up to 250 custom fields each for contacts and accounts. Custom objects, on the other hand, can contain up to 1,024 fields each, with no limit on the number of custom objects you can create. The only restriction is the total number of records, capped at 25 million across all COs.
• Custom objects let you easily associate a single contact or account with multiple data records. For example, a customer might purchase several products from your company, each with its own set of details. Storing this information directly in account fields can quickly exhaust the available custom fields. Custom objects allow you to link multiple records to a single contact or account, enabling you to efficiently manage and reference this data within your campaigns.
• Custom objects can store both historical and dynamic data. Contact and account fields are ideal for storing relatively static information, such as contact details or business information. However, they are less suited for storing data that changes frequently or needs to be retained over time, such as campaign interactions or purchase history. Custom objects enable you to store this changing data, which can be invaluable for lead scoring, segmentation, and creating more targeted campaigns.
• Custom objects easily scale as your data management needs grow. Custom objects offer a scalable solution that can adapt to your changing requirements. By setting up a custom object structure that aligns with your CRM’s data architecture, you can ensure that your data remains organized and accessible, even as your Eloqua instance becomes more complex.

Expanding Eloqua’s Functionality with Custom Objects

To fully leverage the power of custom objects, you might need to move data between different records or even between custom objects themselves. This is where cloud apps can be incredibly beneficial. These apps can help you manipulate data in ways that Eloqua’s out-of-the-box functionality does not easily allow.

A few of our favorite built-in-house Eloqua cloud apps for custom objects include:

• Account CO to Contact CO Updater: Easily update all Contact COs associated with an account with data from the appropriate Account CO or static values.
• CO Cloud Feeder: Eloqua currently only allows standard, out-of-the-box filters on the program canvas. However, the CO Cloud Feeder app adds this ability to the program canvas.
• CO Count: Search for matching CO records and store count in the contact field using the campaign or program canvas.
• CO Date Calculator: Add or subtract days, weeks, months, or years in a date field and store the results in a custom object (CO) field in a CO program.
• CO Deleter with Archive: As the number of Eloqua custom objects (CO) increases, the more challenging it can be to maintain accuracy and peak performance. The CO Deleter with Archive allows you to delete large or small quantities of COs quickly and easily. (A version of this app for the campaign canvas can be found here.)
• CO Form Submitter: Automate form submission on the program canvas for contacts or custom objects.
• CO Lookup to Contact Record: Update contact records from custom objects matching your search criteria.
• CO to CO Lookup Multiple Match: Find matching CO records and copy data to the source CO.
• CO to CO Updater: Move data from one custom object to another on the program canvas smoothly.
• CO to Contact Mapper: Map custom object records to contacts based on a designated contact field.
• CO to Contact Updater: Update a contact record from a custom object on the campaign or program canvas.
• CO to Contact Updater (CO based): Enhance your Eloqua program canvas functionality to modify contacts from linked CO records easily.
• Contact CO Deleter: Remove mapped custom object records from a contact in a contact program or campaign canvas.
• Contact to CO Updater: Create or modify a custom object from a contact on the campaign canvas or program canvas.
• Embed CO Records in Email Table: The Embed CO Records in Email Table Cloud App enables you to embed multiple rows of data from Eloqua custom objects (COs) into an email using HTML.
• Mass CO Deleter: The Mass CO Deleter Cloud App can be configured to remove all mapped CO records, all unmapped CO records, or both. You can also specify which custom objects to exclude from this process.
• Unlinked CO Mapper: The Unlinked CO Mapper matches orphaned Eloqua custom objects records with matching contact records to create a complete customer profile for your marketing campaigns.
• Update All Contacts COs: The Update All Contacts COs Cloud App makes it easy to keep custom object (CO) data consistent across all mapped records with just a few clicks.

Unlocking the Full Potential of Oracle Eloqua with Custom Objects

Custom objects are a versatile and powerful feature in Oracle Eloqua that can significantly enhance your marketing automation capabilities. Whether you’re tracking purchase history, managing leads, or simply organizing data more efficiently, custom objects provide the flexibility and scalability you need to grow your business.

Ready to unlock the full potential of Eloqua custom objects? Contact our team today for expert assistance.

When Cetera Financial Group needed help completing their Eloqua to Marketo Migration project by the deadline, they turned to the team at 4Thought Marketing.

Cetera Financial Group is a leading financial services firm, overseeing and managing billions in assets, operating with the sole purpose of enabling the delivery of best-in-class financial advice to as many Americans as possible. Cetera proudly serves independent financial professionals, tax professionals, banks, and credit unions by providing wide-ranging financial planning and wealth management services.

Tasked with managing a prominent financial advisor community across multiple channels, the company recognized the need to revisit its MarTech stack and communication strategies. With that mindset, Cetera embarked on a digital transformation journey to remodel its marketing communications experience and capabilities.

Eloqua to Marketo Migration: A Strategic Move for Cetera

The Eloqua to Marketo Migration represents a pivotal shift in Cetera’s marketing strategy, aligning their tools and systems with contemporary market demands.

The company needed a fully standardized and integrated marketing automation process and a partner that understood its business. Fortunately for Cetera, their marketing automation partner, 4Thought Marketing, had knowledge of their business and both Eloqua and Marketo.

A migration project of this scale typically requires at least three months to plan and execute. Cetera had only half that time. But Cetera’s leadership team trusted 4Thought to make it happen. “A smooth transition was critical,” explains Ed Rayyis, Cetera’s MarTech and Architectural Manager. “The only way we accomplished that was with 4Thought Marketing providing invaluable training and support to our team.”

4Thought Marketing stepped in and took on a leadership role for the entire migration process. The 4Thought team created a transition schedule, managed internal announcements to Cetera employees, hosted regular training sessions, answered staff questions, responded to technical issues, planned for future integrations after the initial migration phase, and managed communications between our internal team and Cetera’s team. Our Senior Marketing Operations Consultant took on the role of project manager. Ultimately, Cetera completed the migration process by its deadline.

For now, Cetera employees continue learning Marketo with training materials created by 4Thought Marketing. Already-certified employees and newcomers can now take full advantage of their marketing automation platform to improve their output. Cetera expects enhanced adoption, utilization, and growth in the following phases due to the switch.

4Thought Marketing is proud to have had the opportunity to assume a leadership role in Cetera’s marketing automation platform migration. Whether a company migrates to Eloqua or a different platform, we have the know-how and experience to complete the project successfully. Contact us today to learn more if you’re considering your migration project.

Maintaining customer engagement is essential for your company’s long-term success. By consistently providing compelling, relevant, and timely information, you are more likely to elicit a response from your customers. However, your current offer, while interesting, may not address their current priorities.

When customers show signs of disengagement, offering them the option to control the type and frequency of content provides the best chance of retaining their interest in the long run. One possible option is adding a snooze feature to your email preference center, allowing customers to slow or pause communication instead of unsubscribing completely.

The Problem: Inactive Users

Our client was focused primarily on contact information gathered from live or one-time events. Their database contained tens of thousands of names. However, when those contacts stopped opening emails or clicking links, retaining all this inactive information became a problem. Time and money went into marketing emails that never got any engagement. By then, any form of engagement—even asking to pause communications—would turn an inactive contact into an active contact again. Our client was determined to do just that.

The Re-Engagement Campaign: A Fresh Approach

The initiative began with a clear objective: reach out to the tens of thousands of inactive users in the client’s database and determine if these users still wished to receive communications. More importantly, they wanted to give these contacts more options than continuing as is or opting out.  So, they decided to add a snooze option to their email preference center.

Crafting the User Experience

The process began with designing an email to the inactive contact.  The copy clearly showed the reason for this email and that they wanted to serve the customer according to their wishes.

The email allowed customers to re-subscribe immediately or navigate to a redesigned email preferences page, where they could choose between three options.

Upon receiving the email, users found their email address pre-populated in the form. They could simply click a button to save their preferences. If they chose to adjust their subscription, they had two main options: pause their subscription or unsubscribe.

Subscription Pause: Offering Flexibility

The pause option introduced a layer of flexibility that aimed to reduce permanent unsubscribes.

Users could pause their subscriptions for one, three, or six months. This feature was designed for those overwhelmed by emails or those taking a temporary break, such as a vacation. By providing this choice, they aimed to retain subscribers who might otherwise opt out permanently.

Our Client’s Results

Our client’s initial focus was re-engaging inactive users and managing event follow-ups. The snooze option allowed customers to select their own preferences. This strategy proved successful, as any interaction from previously inactive users was considered a win.

Adding a snooze option to your email preference is a simple option that added a valuable dimension to our client’s re-engagement campaign. By offering users the flexibility to pause their subscriptions rather than unsubscribe, they were able to retain a portion of the audience that might have otherwise been lost.

Do your inactive contacts need a break? Contact us today to implement a snooze option in your campaigns.

Artificial intelligence has found its way into almost every industry now. Its impact cannot be overstated, and its popularity continues to grow. And for the marketing automation industry in particular, AI is poised to play an increasingly transformative role.

Incorporating artificial intelligence into marketing automation may help reshape how businesses interact with customers, optimize campaigns, and drive revenue growth. Today, we’re looking at several key areas AI might impact the most.

The Role of AI in Marketing Automation

As marketing experts take more advantage of artificial intelligence, we may see significant shifts in areas such as:

• Hyper-personalization: AI can enable marketers to create highly personalized experiences at scale. AI can deliver tailored content, product recommendations, and communication timing by analyzing a wider range of customer data in detail, resulting in deeper customer engagement and improved conversion rates.
• Predictive analytics: As AI-powered predictive analytics become more sophisticated, marketers can more effectively anticipate customer behavior and preferences, enabling them to address needs and concerns proactively. Predictive models can also help identify high-value leads and the best times to engage with them, improving lead nurturing and conversion rates.
• Direct customer communication: chatbots with AI integration will answer customer queries and engage in meaningful conversations, troubleshoot issues, and facilitate transactions. This level of automation will improve customer support, reduce response times, and enhance the overall customer experience.
• Marketing attribution: AI-driven attribution models may offer more accurate insights into the customer journey. Marketers can better understand the impact of each touchpoint on conversions, enabling data-driven decision-making and more efficient allocation of marketing budgets.
• Augmented decision-making: AI will not replace human creativity, but will encourage it by providing data-driven recommendations and insights that lead to more effective strategies and campaigns.

But even as AI becomes more and more prominent in the marketing world, it can never fully replace humans. Surveys have provided valuable insights into customers’ thoughts on AI, most notably:

• 78% of UK-based customers would still rather speak to a human than an AI online or over the phone.
• 57% of consumers overall prefer their first contact with a company to be by phone rather than via chat.

How to Approach AI in Marketing Automation

The future of AI in marketing automation appears poised to revolutionize customer engagement, campaign optimization, and data-driven decision-making. As AI technologies continue to evolve, businesses that embrace these innovations could gain a competitive edge in delivering personalized and seamless customer experiences.

It’s important to ensure that AI applications align with both business goals and customers’ expectations in an increasingly data-sensitive world. But don’t worry: we can help with both! Contact our team today and start taking advantage of all that AI has to offer your marketing strategy.

July 25, 2024

Next-Level QA Tasks – Building Snooze Program – Office Hours

Join us to boost your Eloqua skills through real-world examples.   Learn how to take your QA testing to the next level, and nerd out on the details building a snooze program with all the essentials. Eloqua Office Hours is 4Thought Marketing’s monthly gathering for Eloqua users to share insider hacks, and clever tips, and address all your pressing questions. Expand your knowledge and connect with like-minded professionals.

We’ll discuss:

• Next-level QA tasks to improve campaign performance
• Building a snooze program in Eloqua, step by step

Customer nurturing is an essential part of the marketing process. After all, acquiring a new customer requires much more time, money, and effort than maintaining and growing with a current one. But marketing shouldn’t be the only department involved in nurturing. When marketing enables the sales team to participate and control nurturing to suit their needs, it opens the door to a new strategy: sales-influenced nurturing.

Understanding Sales-Influenced Nurturing

Sales-influenced nurturing focuses on supporting sales activities through tailored marketing efforts, ensuring that both current and potential customers receive relevant and timely information as they move through the sales funnel. This strategy is particularly crucial during the middle stages of the funnel, where nurturing can significantly impact qualification and opportunity management processes.

Sales Qualification

At the early stages of the funnel, sales teams engage in qualification activities to identify potential customers’ needs and determine if they are a good fit for the product or service. Marketing automation can support this by sending targeted emails, using page tagging to understand customer interests, and providing valuable content to help resolve qualification questions.

Opportunity Management

During the evaluation stage, the focus shifts to managing opportunities. This involves providing comparison criteria, offering social proof through testimonials, and avoiding content that might disrupt the sales process. Effective nurturing at this stage ensures that the customer feels understood and supported in their decision-making process.

Who Benefits from Sales-Influenced Nurturing?

Sales-influenced nurturing can benefit various roles within the sales team, each with its specific needs and challenges:

• Sales development representatives (SDRs): SDRs often face long and challenging processes as they attempt to connect with leads. Nurturing can help maintain engagement, especially when initial contact attempts fail.
• Inside sales teams: Typically handling smaller deals with a faster turnaround, inside sales teams can benefit from nurturing that aligns with their quick-paced environment, enhancing their ability to close deals efficiently.
• Field sales representatives: Handling larger, more complex deals, field sales reps are often the most resistant to marketing interventions. However, when done correctly, sales-influenced nurturing can provide valuable support without risking disruption to their processes.

Implementing Sales-Influenced Nurturing: Strategies for Success

To successfully implement sales-influenced nurturing, consider the following strategies:

• Empower sales reps with control: Sales reps should be able to control the nurturing process. This can be achieved through simple on/off switches, pause functionalities, or allowing reps to select specific nurturing campaigns from a predefined list.
• Leverage CRM integration: Integrate your CRM system with your marketing automation platform. This integration ensures that sales reps can update fields related to nurturing campaigns directly within the CRM, which then syncs with the marketing automation system.
• Use activity-based triggers: Implement activity-based triggers to start nurturing campaigns when there is no sales activity for a specified period. This ensures that potential customers continue to receive valuable content, even when sales reps are unable to follow up promptly.
• Phase implementation: Introduce nurturing controls in phases to ease the transition when you introduce sales-influenced nurturing. Start with basic controls and gradually introduce more advanced options as the sales team becomes comfortable with and have confidence in the process.

Overcoming Challenges and Gaining Buy-In

One of the most significant challenges in implementing sales-influenced nurturing is gaining buy-in from sales leadership. To address this:

• Present data and narratives: Use success stories and data to demonstrate the positive impact of nurturing on sales outcomes. Highlight cases where nurturing helped re-engage prospects, maintain interest if the prospect becomes distracted, or close deals that were previously at risk.
• Ensure sales rep autonomy: Emphasize what sales reps will retain control over in the nurturing process. This autonomy can alleviate concerns about marketing interfering with sales activities.
• Address potential concerns: Be mindful of the political dynamics within the sales team. Collaborate with sales leaders to align nurturing strategies with sales goals and address any objections proactively.

Sales-Influenced Nurturing:

Sales-influenced nurturing offers a powerful way to enhance the collaboration between marketing and sales, ensuring that potential customers receive relevant and timely information throughout the sales process. By empowering sales reps with control, leveraging CRM integration, and implementing activity-based triggers, businesses can create a seamless and effective nurturing strategy that drives engagement, improves conversion rates, and ultimately boosts sales performance.

For a head start on your own sales-influenced nurturing strategy, get in touch with our team today.

Digital marketing relies on data—data provided by customers, collected by programs, or deduced from past customer purchases or behavior. However, the accuracy and quality of this data are paramount. Inaccurate or outdated data can lead to ineffective campaigns, poor customer experiences, and wasted resources.

Real-time data validation offers a solution to these challenges by ensuring that the information you collect is accurate and reliable from the moment it enters your system. Today, we’re exploring the concept of real-time data validation, its benefits, and practical implementation strategies in Eloqua.

The Importance of Data Quality

High-quality data is essential for effective marketing. It enables personalized communication, accurate targeting, and insightful analytics. Conversely, poor data quality can lead to:

• Inaccurate targeting: Sending messages to the wrong audience.
• Reduced engagement: Irrelevant content leading to low open and click rates.
• Wasted resources: Time and money spent on ineffective campaigns.
• Damage to brand reputation: Frustrated customers receiving incorrect or irrelevant information.

What is Real-Time Data Validation?

Real-time data validation is the process of verifying the accuracy and quality of data at the point of entry. This involves checking data against predefined rules and external databases to ensure it meets specific criteria before being stored or used. In Eloqua, real-time validation can be applied to various data points, such as email addresses, phone numbers, and postal addresses, ensuring they are accurate and deliverable.

Benefits of Real-Time Data Validation

• Improved data accuracy: Ensures that only correct and valid data enters your system.
• Enhanced user experience: Reduces the likelihood of sending incorrect or irrelevant messages to your audience.
• Increased campaign effectiveness: Higher data quality leads to better targeting and more effective campaigns.
• Cost savings: Reduces the need for costly data cleansing and correction processes.
• Compliance and deliverability: Ensures compliance with data protection regulations and improves email deliverability rates.

With this in mind, let’s look at several key steps to implementing real-time data validation in Eloqua.

1. Identify Key Data Points for Validation

Start by identifying which data points are critical for your marketing efforts. Common fields for validation include:

• Email addresses: Verify format and deliverability.
• Phone numbers: Ensure correct format and check against carrier databases.
• Postal addresses: Validate against postal databases for accuracy.

2. Choose the Right Validation Services

Select third-party validation services that integrate seamlessly with Eloqua. Some popular providers include Sureshot.io, FreshAddress, NeverBounce, and BriteVerify. These services offer APIs that can be integrated into your Eloqua forms and workflows to validate data in real-time.

3. Integrate Validation into Forms

Incorporate real-time validation into your web forms using JavaScript. This ensures that data is validated as users enter it. For example:

• Email validation: Check if the email follows the correct format and if the domain exists.
• Phone validation: Verify the number’s format and whether it is a valid mobile or landline number.
• Address validation: Confirm the address against postal databases.

4. Set Up Validation in Campaigns & Programs

Beyond forms, integrate validation into your Eloqua campaigns and programs. Use validation steps in your workflows to check and clean data before it is used in campaigns. For instance:

• List uploads: Validate data when importing lists to ensure accuracy.
• CRM integrations: Validate data flowing from CRM systems into Eloqua.
• Ongoing data quality checks: Regularly validate data within Eloqua to maintain quality.

Practical Example: Real-Time Email & Phone Validation

Let’s explore a practical example of implementing real-time email and phone validation in an Eloqua form:

1. Create the form: Develop a form in Eloqua for data capture.
2. Integrate JavaScript: Use JavaScript to call third-party validation APIs. When a user enters their email or phone number, the script sends the data to the validation service.
3. Display validation results: If the data is invalid, display an error message prompting the user to correct their input. For example:
   1. If the email is invalid, show: “Please enter a valid email address.”

   1. If the phone number is invalid, show: “Please enter a valid phone number.”

Monitoring & Optimizing Data Validation

Once implemented, it’s essential to monitor the performance of your validation processes:

• Track error rates: Monitor how often users enter invalid data and adjust your forms or user instructions accordingly.
• Analyze data quality: Regularly review the quality of your data to ensure validation processes are effective.
• Optimize validation rules: Refine your validation criteria based on observed trends and user feedback.

Prioritizing Real-Time Data Validation

Real-time data validation is a powerful tool for enhancing data quality in Eloqua. By ensuring that only accurate and reliable data enters your system, you can improve campaign effectiveness, enhance user experiences, and save on costs associated with data cleansing. Implementing validation requires thoughtful integration and ongoing monitoring, but the benefits far outweigh the efforts. By adopting real-time data validation, you can maintain a high standard of data quality and drive more successful marketing outcomes.

If you have any questions about implementing real-time data validation in Eloqua or need help setting up your own validation system, contact 4Thought Marketing today.

In Eloqua, custom objects (hereafter COs) are excellent ways to store additional information about a contact. But sometimes, an integration, upload, or process adds COs without connecting them to Eloqua contact records. Even if a contact record already exists, Eloqua’s default behavior is to map contact records and COs by email address.  If you need to map COs with other contact fields, those records are not mapped and remain orphaned. This is obviously a problem.

This is where the Eloqua CO to Contact Mapper Cloud App comes in. This cloud action is designed to quickly and easily map a custom object to a contact record based on other fields besides email addresses. It expands Eloqua functionality to ensure COs are mapped to their respective contact records. Connecting data to the right person and segmenting accordingly has never been easier.

For more information on the CO to Contact Mapper Cloud App, get in touch with the 4Thought Marketing team today.

 

The Spam and Open Relay Blocking System (SORBS), one of the oldest domain name system-based blackhole lists (DNSBLs), closed shop on June 5, 2024, after more than two decades online. The blocklist was acquired by Proofpoint Inc., in 2011 but continued operations as a free, standalone service until it was retired.

SORBS’ sudden closure with no real explanation other than the statement, “Please note that this service has been decommissioned and will no longer contain reputation data,” has ignited more than a few conversations about the future of free and open-source software and what the future may hold for the currently decommissioned SORBS. On a more practical level for email marketers, it’s a good reminder to monitor and improve your email deliverability.

SORBS: A History of Plaudits & Criticisms

In its heyday, SORBS allowed users to effectively block spam and malicious emails from more than 12 million host servers and counted several government organizations among its 200,000 patrons.

Widely regarded as a pioneer in the anti-spam industry, SORBS was praised by mail administrators for its ease of integration into mail server workflows as well as the ability to choose and reference blacklists at varying levels of strictness. It was SORBS’ transparent operating practices that won it the most praise.

Conversely, it faced criticism for being highly sensitive, overblocking IP ranges, and having issues accessing its databases. According to email anti-abuse expert Mickey Chandler, SORBS wasn’t particularly relevant in the email marketing industry and was mainly the domain of “hobbyist email administrators” in the years leading up to its closure. 

Will it be reinstated? The community hopes that SORBS will be taken over by legitimate sources instead of spammers who have expressed interest in acquiring the blocklist for years.

What Does This Mean for Email Marketing?

The closure of SORBS shouldn’t have an impact on most marketers. However, those who relied on SORBS for spam filtering will need to explore alternative blocklists. Spamhaus, SpamCop, Barracuda, and the Composite Blocking List (CBL) are a few that are already in existence while newer players like Data443, with Cyren, have been quick to jump onto the bandwagon.

The closure of SORBS is characteristic of the shift from open-source software to enterprise technology that leverages AI to recognize abnormal behavior patterns.

How Should Marketers Ensure Email Deliverability?

The answer is simple. It is to continue implementing the best practices for, and optimizing email campaigns. Some of them include:

• Monitoring your IP: Monitoring your IP reputation remains a crucial step to avoid blacklisting. It is vital that your sender score is checked, and emails comply with any applicable regulatory requirements and privacy laws.
• Analyze spam scores: Conduct email preview tests to assess your spam scores and take corrective actions where necessary.
• Implement authentication protocols: Configure your domain with your own SPF (Sender Policy Framework), DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail), and DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance to maintain control over your sender reputation. A fixed, static IP address can also help build reputation.
• Consistent sending volumes are key: Spam filters monitor inconsistent behaviors, such as sudden spikes in email sending. Keeping your outgoing emails at consistent levels will help you avoid triggering these filters.
• Maintain clean email lists: Old, outdated email addresses on your emailing lists can wreck your deliverability, resulting in higher bounce rates and raising red flags with spam filters.
• High-quality content: What you send your subscribers matters. Creating high value content is a key factor in driving engagement and reaching your campaign goals.

Avoid Spam Filters by Maintaining Email Marketing Hygiene

Email marketing is an effective marketing strategy that offers robust ROIs. Integrated email marketing strategies can help maximize the impact of your email marketing campaign. Checking your sender reputation, analyzing your spam scores, effectively segmenting your subscriber list, adopting best practices, and addressing issues immediately are all ways you can keep your deliverability metrics on track.

Need some help? Contact our team today to get expert help optimizing your email campaigns to build trust and ensure they reach their intended users.

Businesses naturally want to generate leads. And if a customer is already on your website, an online form is one of the best ways to capture them as a lead. Directing the customer to the form is easy enough. But unfortunately, getting the form in front of your contact doesn’t guarantee that they’ll actually fill it out and submit it.

No “magic button” to guarantee form completion exists. However, Oracle Eloqua users have a powerful form design editor at their disposal to make the whole process easier to complete. Today, we’re looking at design principles and how to decrease form abandonment.

Lead Generation from Online Forms

Obviously, online forms exist to generate leads for your business. But a quality lead is more than just a name and email address. A college student working part-time is not a worthwhile lead for a jet engine manufacturer, for example. Gathering valuable leads means collecting enough information to make it obvious whether this lead is worth pursuing.

Here we run into a problem. Marketing experts will tell you, correctly, that gathering as much information as possible on a lead provides a much-needed boost to nurturing and customized marketing. But collecting that information can be a challenge. Forms that get too long and complicated, or that ask for data not readily available, can add friction and lead to the dreaded form abandonment.

What Causes Form Abandonment?

Simply having a form on your website is not a guarantee of lead generation. Customers may start filling out your form but stop halfway through and never finish. Marketing experts tend to agree that form abandonment usually results from one of these issues:

• Long, complicated forms with too many questions
• Forms that load slowly and force users to wait
• Requests for information that is not readily available (i.e., information the customer may have to leave the computer to find)
• Confusing layout or instructions
• Questions with an unclear purpose (i.e., the customer doesn’t know how you will use their data and if they agree)
• Hindered accessibility from poor form design
• Lack of privacy controls

Fortunately, these problems are easily treatable with Eloqua’s form design system.

User-Friendly Online Form Design Strategies

Changing how you develop online forms can make a significant difference in your lead generation numbers. As you revamp your form templates in Eloqua, keep these principles in mind:

1. Optimize your form for the correct device. Poorly formatted forms can lead customers to decide this isn’t worth it.
2. Test your form ahead of time, repeatedly. Catch any glitches, errors, or loading problems long before a customer ever sees your form.
3. Short and sweet. The longer a form is, the more likely the potential lead will lose patience. Only request information that is strictly necessary.
4. Limit your form to a single column. This makes the form appear simpler, shorter, and cleaner. This also optimizes your form for mobile devices.
5. Give your form and fields clear titles. Customers want to know they’re on the right form, and what information you’re asking them to provide.
6. Avoid drop-down menus. Consider radio buttons instead, where all possible answers are visible at once so the customer can more easily decide.
7. Start with the easiest information to find. Keep “harder” but necessary questions, like information the customer will have to leave the computer to find, at the bottom. Since the form is mostly complete by now, this makes them more likely to return and finish.
8. Be upfront about your privacy approach. Clearly explain how the requested information will be used. Additionally, provide a link to your full privacy statement for details. This should feed into your marketing consent solution like 4Comply.
9. Provide an unmistakable CTA. The form won’t do you any good if it’s not submitted!
10. Thank the customer. Always say thank you when someone trusts you with their information.

Collect More Quality Leads with Well-Designed Forms

High-quality Eloqua forms do both you and your customers a huge favor: they make lead generation quick and easy. Why wait to improve this? Get in touch with 4Thought Marketing today to improve your Eloqua form design and increase lead generation.

As consumers become increasingly aware of their data privacy rights and the options available to them, businesses need to adjust accordingly. Personalized marketing materials still work wonders, but how can your company collect enough data for personalization without violating privacy laws? What’s the balance between respecting user privacy and effectively using data?

The Evolution of Preference Management

In short, the answer lies in a practice called preference management. This allows customers to control exactly what data they provide to your company and how they allow your company to use the collected data. There are multiple ways to approach this. Today, we’ll be looking at ten levels of preference management, each building on the previous one.

Level 1: Basic Opt-In/Opt-Out

At the most fundamental level, preference management begins with the ability for customers to opt in or opt out of communications. While this may seem elementary, providing a balanced choice like this goes a long way. A well-designed preference center not only offers an opt-out option but also encourages customers to opt back in by explaining exactly how and when their data will be used. This keeps contacts informed and ensures they feel in control of their choices.

Level 2: Granular Preferences

Granular preferences allow customers who have opted in to specify the types of communications they wish to receive. This can be segmented by product lines, content types, business units, or any number of other relevant categories. This choice assures customers that the communications they’ll receive will be both relevant and not overwhelming.

Level 3: Ease, Transparency, & Compliance

This level of preference management has three distinct levels of its own.

First, ease of use. Preference centers should be intuitive and straightforward. Too many options will overwhelm users and make them more likely to opt out of everything. Keep your dashboards scannable and simple.

Second, transparency. Being honest about your data collection and usage is crucial at this stage. Don’t ask for more data than you need. Explain how and when you’ll use the data you ask for, and stick to it. Make your privacy policy easily available for customers to review.

Third, legal compliance. It’s essential to prove that you’re honoring your customers’ requests. A customer’s preference submission is already connected to their email address. To be truly compliant, you must gather additional identifying data such as date, time, and form location, that show when and how the request was made. Returning only the most recent opt in or out state, if it’s a checked or unchecked box, is insufficient evidence if your compliance is ever challenged. You must provide a history of changes.

Level 4: Frequency Preferences

Some visitors who ask to unsubscribe might not want to completely stop communications—they may just want a break. Providing an ability to control how often they receive things -frequency preferences, makes this easy for both them and you.

Depending on your company’s exact marketing approach, frequency preference management can take different forms, such as:

• You may give visitors the option to pause all communications for a period.
• Alternatively, you may want to give them to control, for each preference they opt into a frequency option. For example they may want to get newsletters only quarterly, but product support information immediately.
• Finally, you may want to consider “fatigue analysis”, which slows down communications to customers who aren’t actively engaging with your messages anymore. Communications will pick back up when their participation does. This keeps messaging frequency at the customers’ comfort level without costing you a contact.

Level 5: Validation & Authorization

This level is fairly straightforward: making sure the customer is who they say they are. This can be accomplished with something as simple as an identity verification email. This adds an extra layer of security to the preference management process, ensuring that no one else can sign up a customer for unwanted communications or change their set preferences.

Level 6: Cross-Platform Synchronization

In large organizations, recorded customer preferences may be scattered across various systems and departments. This obviously makes managing these preferences harder for internal marketing and privacy professionals that must deal with making multiple systems legally compliant. It also makes submitting those preferences in the first place harder, as customers have to navigate multiple menus and webpages. Consolidating them into a single, unified view through cross-platform synchronization makes things far easier for the customer and for you. Some jurisdictions even legally mandate this.

Level 7: Multi-Channel Management

Email marketing may be the most lucrative form of online advertising, but it’s far from the only one. SMS, push notifications, and other communication channels are still effective ways to reach your audience. And different demographics will prefer different channels. For example, one age group may prefer SMS messages over email, while another group wants email communication and nothing else. This is another layer of choice that your preference center needs to offer.

Level 8: Role-Based Dynamic Preferences

Prospects, customers, and company partners will have different areas of focus when it comes to receiving communication from you. Offering a universal preference center can make those areas of focus harder to track. Consider creating one preference center for prospects, one for current customers, one for company partners, and others as required so you can offer each group a relevant set of choices. (You’ll also need to remember the validation step of level 5 as you do this.) This makes things easier for the users and, by extension, increases their engagement.

Level 9: AI-Predictive Preferences

This level uses artificial intelligence to predict and then pre-set customer preference settings based on historical data, behavior, and other inputs. Many companies do this with an algorithm today, but enabling an AI to set these is typically far more capable when preferences are many and complex.

While AI-predictive preferences should not replace customer-set preferences, they can provide a valuable starting point, especially for new customers or prospects.

Level 10: AI Preference Assistance

The most advanced level of consent management involves AI-powered systems that interact directly with customers to understand their preferences. Imagine typing into a preference page:

“Every two months, send me an update with hyperlinks for all content on everything happening regarding home appliances from this company only. However, I’d like product announcements to be sent to me immediately.”

“I’ve turned on the three preferences below that pertain to home appliances with a frequency of every two months, and also the preferences for product announcements to come as soon as available.”

These systems look and behave like your typical chatbot, except they are intentionally focused and pre-prompted to understand all the content a company creates and the concept of preferences.  This futuristic approach can simplify the preference management process, making it more even intuitive and user-friendly.

Implementing Effective Preference Management

While understanding these levels is crucial, implementing them effectively requires strategic planning and execution. As you begin:

• Assess your current state: Identify which level your organization currently operates at. Are you still at basic opt-in/opt-out, or have you moved towards AI-predictive preferences?
• Prioritize ease and transparency: Regardless of the level, ensure your preference center is easy to navigate and transparent about what each option means. Use clear language and, where possible, visual aids.
• Take advantage of technology: Use technology to automate and streamline preference management. This includes using AI for predictive preferences and cross-platform synchronization to consolidate data from different systems.
• Focus on compliance: Stay up-to-date with legal requirements and ensure your preference management practices comply with relevant laws. This not only protects your organization from legal risks but also builds trust with your customers.
• Customize and personalize: Tailor your preference management to different user groups. Use role-based dynamic preferences to provide relevant options to prospects, customers, and partners.
• Stay flexible and adaptive: As new technologies and customer expectations evolve, be prepared to adapt your preference management strategies. Regularly review and update your practices to stay ahead of the curve.

Conclusion

Effective preference management is a dynamic and evolving process that requires a thoughtful approach and the right blend of technology and strategy. By understanding the different levels of preference management and implementing best practices, marketers can offer personalized experiences while maintaining compliance and building customer trust. The journey from basic opt-in/opt-out to AI-driven preference assistance is not just a technological upgrade. Rather, it is a strategic evolution that can significantly enhance customer engagement and satisfaction.

To take the next step in customer preference management and data privacy, contact 4Thought Marketing today.

Eloqua users already know how extensive its capabilities truly are. But what if it could do even more? What if your team could use Eloqua for more effective marketing campaigns and long-term plans? That’s all possible when you pair Eloqua with another tool from Oracle: Oracle Unity CDP. Today, we’re looking at a few important advantages this pair-up offers.

1. Advanced Segmentation for Refined Targeting

One of the biggest challenges marketers face is fragmented customer data. This was the case for a leading financial institution struggling with siloed information. Combining the capabilities of both Oracle Unity CDP and Eloqua, they unified their customer data, allowing for advanced segmentation. This integration enabled them to create precise segments and apply AI-driven insights to determine the next best actions.

The results were impressive: a 24x faster performance in building segments and a 4x increase in generating next best actions, leading to more personalized and effective marketing campaigns.

2. 360-Degree Customer View

Understanding your customer’s journey across various touchpoints is crucial. To understand this further, let’s look at another real-world example. A major telecommunications company solved its fragmented data issue by integrating 23 data sources into Oracle Unity. This holistic view enabled them to run evergreen campaigns and deliver personalized experiences in real time.

Once again, the results speak for themselves. The company saw a 20% lift in performance for new opportunities and reduced segment creation time from weeks to the same day.

3. Improved Lead Scoring & Nurturing

For other companies, identifying high-value leads and nurturing them effectively is a challenge. One particular international company discovered this the hard way. By integrating their customer data into Oracle Unity and applying AI models, they significantly improved their lead scoring. This allowed them to deliver high-quality leads to Eloqua, where personalized campaigns could be executed.

The impact was substantial, with a 230% increase in lead submissions and a 5% increase in order uptake.

4. Consistent Omnichannel Experience

Customers deserve a seamless, headache-free experience across all channels. Oracle itself faced challenges in this area, spending excessive time on manual processes. By utilizing its own tool to centralize customer data and integrate it with various other tools, including Eloqua, Oracle automated 70% of its marketing transactions.

This resulted in faster campaign execution, a reduction in lead time from weeks to days, and a 33% increase in opportunity size.

5. Reducing Churn & Increasing Cross-Sell/Upsell Opportunities

Oracle Unity also allows users to take a proactive approach to opportunities. For example, a prestigious car brand aimed to enhance its upsell and cross-sell efforts, particularly in the context of new car services and warranty renewals. By integrating its customer data into Oracle Unity and applying predictive models, it could foresee customer needs and engage them proactively.

This led to a 29% increase in revenue and a 39% callback rate from customers, not to mention the amount of time saved by this approach.

Why Choose Oracle Unity CDP?

Oracle Unity stands out for several reasons:

• Safety, security, and scalability: Built on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, Oracle Unity CDP ensures your data is secure and scalable.
• Comprehensive data integration: Oracle Unity connects both front and back-office data, offering a complete view of your customer.
• Industry-specific data models: Ready-to-use models offer quick implementation and faster realization of benefits.
• Native AI/ML capabilities: Built-in intelligence helps to predict customer needs and optimize engagement.
• Flexible mastering of profiles: Oracle Unity can master various data points, such as products or business-specific needs.
• Seamless journey orchestration: Oracle Unity enables the creation of personalized and real-time customer journeys across all touchpoints.

Conclusion

Oracle Unity CDP and Eloqua offer a powerful combination for marketers looking to enhance their strategies. By unifying customer data, applying advanced AI insights, and enabling seamless integration across channels, these tools help create personalized and effective marketing campaigns. Whether it’s improving lead scoring, delivering consistent omnichannel experiences, or reducing churn, Oracle Unity and Eloqua can elevate your marketing efforts to new heights.

For more information on how Oracle Unity and Eloqua can transform your marketing strategy, contact the 4Thought Marketing team today.