As we reach the end of 2023, we’re rapidly approaching that time of year again. It’s that time where all of the HowToSFMC Elves and helpers get together to share their Scriptmas joy with the world. For the fourth year in a row, HowToSFMC is proud to announce Scriptmas is back!

Whether you’ve got a script you’d like to submit for the HowToSFMC Helpers to celebrate Scriptmas cheer in 2023 or you’re looking to see what the community has got to offer, that may be a little gift to yourself. Make sure to check back in the run up to the big day.

If you’re not familiar with Scriptmas, head up to the search bar and check out the submissions and contributions we’ve had over the last few years. From December 13th up to the big day itself we’ll be revealing one piece of Scriptmas magic for the world to see.

If you’ve got a script you’d like to share, showcase or shout about, get your submissions in quickly before the Scriptmas Elves close up their books and start to prepare the final list!

<button style=“text-decoration:underline;”><a href=“https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfT22-KrNTYlg-3NE56HIn3Ff4CzQvzrIZeOM5dJTz_G-cnoQ/viewform”>🎅🎄Submit your scripts🎄🎅</a></button> before December 10th 2023.

As the Winter ‘24 release finishes casting its influence on the world of Salesforce Marketing Cloud, the witching hour is rapidly moving towards us. Now, the only shadows that decorate our Marketing Automation platform are those cast from the jack-o-lanterns carved into the shapes of everyone’s favourite mascots. Whether you’ve got a Wicked Astro, an Evil Einstein or Creepy Codey in your pumpkin this year, we’ve got tales from our community to share. Brace yourself, get your comforting Trailblazer hoodie at the ready and scroll through the cursed texts of their deepest, darkest and most terrifying SFMC stories.

There’s little that births fear in the heart of an SFMC user than the thought of a quick fix. A simple concoction of actions to remedy the ills of an org. Whether it’s a data extension that needs some new fields or a journey that needs a new version… Here are some examples where that simple, quick fix led to a little more than a ghostly pause. It led to despair and dismay for users and customers alike.

Sometimes when you hear a knocking in your org, it’s better for you to sit tight and wait for it to just go away on its own. When you go looking for ghosts, sometimes ghosts find you as Lesley found out…

It was a dark and stormy afternoon when I paused a crucial automation for a “quick fix” before darting off to my attic to see what was making a suspicious noise. It was not until a week later when asked “why are these essential notification not going out?” that I realized I must retreat to that attic for the rest of my life to live in the shadows in shame.

But, just because you didn’t go looking for ghosts, it doesn’t mean the ghosts aren’t looking for you. The ghost may have been in the platform all along.

I’ll always remember the moment early in our SFMC usage when I learned that if a Triggered Send hit any error, it just stopped - for EVERYONE, not just the problem record - without any sort of notification of failure. I can still taste the bile that rose as I realized that critical emails had been paused for weeks.

Even if the ghosts don’t find you, time ticks for us all and whether we like it or not, time will always get us. Sometimes, times and date maths are the scariest parts of all.

I created coupon codes with 23:59 UTC-8 expiration dates; the SFMC import converted the code expirations to UTC-6. The email’s AMPscript had FormatDate(@dateString,“M”) with no conversion back to UTC-8, which meant the email showed the expiration as the next day.

The biggest challenge with ghosts is they can be incredibly tricky to see, you may think you’ve done the right thing but they can still appear later on or even straight away and leave you none the wiser. Duc has expressed their fears of not always knowing whether the job that was done was the only job that was done or whether the ghosts in the platform were having a little fun at their expense.

Refresh triggered sends (pause, publish, start). Did it include all the inactive ones…

As with everything you can’t see, you can never know what is happening in the background. Is there a queue of 1 thing, 20 things or 100 things in front of your request. Is the platform just cackling away in the background? Is that one of the things causing you a delay?

“Run Once" to perform Automation activities with clients in the test session. The automation was put in queue…

When traversing the hallowed fields of Marketing Cloud, one must always watch their step. One wrong move can turn a normal day into a weeks, months or even years long nightmare. Remember folks, the spirits behind Salesforce Marketing Cloud are old, ECMAScript 3 old in fact, and these spirits can be vindictive. They want nothing more than to see you slip.

Like a responsible developer, Aman maintains documentation of the history of their SFMC org, but, some words should be shared only through ephemeral means or locked away securely and away from prying eyes.

I just found our client ID, and Secret is available openly on Google. Good, they don’t have our login credentials

This anonymous community member summoned upon themselves the woe of misplaced contacts, sending them through the rabbit hole, never to be found again.

A user loaded a big chunk of our opted-in Contacts dataset into a new Data Extension, with smartly designed segmentation and personalisation flags to run a fancy new journey. Then they selected the wrong Subscriber Key for the Contact relationship, and hit Send…

Never trust phantom data. Especially when it comes to sending test emails as Stephan found. Nobody knows what lurks in the shadows and unless you’ve been and explored, there may be ghouls and zombies waiting for you.

We sent a test email to random generated supposedly non-existing e-mail addresses. We had clicks and opens!

Sometimes you don’t have to make a misstep to be caught out by the shifting tides within SFMC, as the tool moves, evolves and creates new capabilities it can be all too easy to be caught out by some form of new hex.

The moment you realised missing an enhancement to lookup lead records in CRM before creating new ones and your SFMC landing pages pumping duplicates into salesforce CRM over an year!

The shifting tides aren’t always on the surface, the undercurrent can look very different from the surface. What was a good idea in years past may no longer be that same good idea. What worked before may not work now. Exercise caution, especially when others have elected to freeze and stay still.

I accidentally changed the wrong FTP user password in the enterprise business unit and it wouldn’t let me change it back because it didn’t meet the latest password security baseline baked into SFMC. It was the week between Christmas and New Year’s Eve during a tech freeze and no one was around to help me update passwords in the systems dropping off data so most of file drops needed to power customer journeys failed for 8-10 days

Be aware of mimics. What may look harmless and safe to play with, doesn’t necessarily mean it is

Delete an original data extension instead of a test DE in an accident…

You never know what’s lurking around the corner…

We all need to know the best tools for the job we need to do and we all need to use them wisely. Whether you’re looking to hunt vampires or crush bugs, getting the right tool can be the difference between success and failure. But, sometimes we have to make do with the only tools we have.

Billy found this out first hand when trying to overcome the creatures of SSJS in SFMC.

Not feeling as comfortable with SSJS, so I build out the original solution in a cloudpage just so I can get a feeling of any errors as opposed to putting it all in the SSJS and then running it and hoping that it won’t error. There as to be a better way!

Sometimes the right tool for the job doesn’t exist in our own tool kits. We should look at all of the tools available to us and perhaps the right tool is in the software next door. But if you use the tool badly, the issue may persist or even get worse as Cam alludes to…

Once upon a time there was a business who self implemented Marketing Cloud and Marketing Cloud Connect. Their Salesforce Org was full of duplicate records due to bad merge rules, and rather than cleaning up the source data, they built a SQL solution in Marketing Cloud to dedupe records and assign them a new subscriber key - which was a random number generated in a SQL query

Whilst some tools may not do the job and some tools may be supported a little further away from home than we’d typically be used to, sometimes the right tool is in front of our eyes within SFMC. These zombie links could have remained alive rather than undead in Content Builder.

We used external social media icon URLs for every MC email template. The URLs are broken after 3 years…

Even if we’re using the right tool, things can still go wrong in the shadows. Things can still not go according to plan as highlighted in this warning for everyone who activates journeys. Not all that appears fine is always fine.

Journey ran perfectly when I checked on the UI. Recipients didn’t receive the EDM…

The wisened veteran Pato was seemingly using the right tool at one point, but in an effort to enhance things may have instead opened a crypt of configuration requiring 120 re-integrations!

One hundred and twenty BUs, I decided to turn on multi-org. One by one all users had to be re-integrated again.

At times in our lives in SFMC, we need to communicate with the other side, whether that is customers, clients or contacts. These communications can sometimes be fraught with danger, with or without a ouija board it’s easy for requests or requirements to go astray.

Unexpected voices bring about a fear and sense of Halloween dread unlike any other. Seeing an unfamiliar name, sensing an unfamiliar presence can bring about a swift change of priorities, especially when it’s throwing the bile of a bad customer experience into the world as Pep once found out.

Yes, it’s me… WHAT???.. call center says customers asking us to stop sending duplicate emails?.. MORE THAN 200 TO EACH CUSTOMER???

Lesley has seen a fair share of horror stories, but nothing could have prepared for the sheer pain of logging in to find someone else lurking in the shadows and releasing wickedness into the world!

It was a seemingly normal day when my client allowed another contractor into their org. They created an all subscriber data extension and made it testable.

Sometimes the communications are all hidden away where mortal eyes cannot see, the beasts of the back end can play havoc with your finest technology work and just rear their ugly heads without warning as Duc found out.

Script activity, SQL query activity worked perfectly with test records. Runtime error occurred when running with real data volume…

But the worst can sometimes be what is not said. Rafał shared this tale of something going wrong, something being acknowledged as wrong and everyone being left in the darkness knowing not what happened, nor what to do. The anticipation of finding out whether something was getting better, getting fixed or even getting worse playing on the mind is a fear that will keep even the most stalwart of us all on edge.

In the shadowed realm of the server stack, a ghastly silence stretched for 12 hours, ensnaring a team in a maddening abyss of worklessness and desolation. Like characters in a cursed tale, they languished, their souls tormented by the absence of updates on the incident report and halted communication

At times communication can lead to a sacrifice that you may not be ready to make. It may not be avoidable and it

I cc’d my boss on the SFMC email blast today. However, for some reason, I can’t log in now.

After seeing all of these horror stories, we should remember that sometimes the biggest reason to scream in fear is a little closer to home. It’s not the ghouls, ghosts or gremlins that live in the SFMC platform that can strike fear into our hearts. Sometimes it’s in the friends we meet and the people we collaborate with where the fear can come. We know everyone involved means the best, but sometimes it cannot be helped that these scary challenges will come across us. Here are a few horror stories that have led to some of our community having to wrap up extra safe in their Salesforce swag.

The client asked to update an EDM. Not aware where it is but only the EDM screenshot is given…

The client asked for keeping their contact counts not overage, but… They ingest and consume new data every day

The client was not happy with the cost. Now they are starting to compare other competitors with SFMC.

What are your scariest SFMC tales? What has spooked you out or made you scared to turn out the lights for bed? Come and join us on Slack and share some of the things that taught you HowToScream.

Introduction:

Many of us came into the Salesforce Marketing Cloud ecosystem the same way others came into the general Salesforce space, by chance.

My career began as a web developer in 2010 when many companies were making the transition from traditional print marketing to digital engagement (primarily through email and web). My manager at the time attended Dreamforce and purchased Salesforce Marketing Cloud. The onboarding process required collaboration with other teams within the company to add DNS configurations, internal email routing, SSL certificate generation, and other topics that were outside of the skillsets of a normal marketing team. Since I was already managing our existing ESPs and developing and deploying websites for the team, my skills were best aligned with the onboarding process and configuration and implementation needs of the platform beyond onboarding.

Emergence of the Technical Marketer:

Today’s MarTech landscape requires more than just an ESP and a handful of customer data points. Companies need the ability to respond to customers in real-time, at the moment it matters most, and with relevant content. Mix in the latest innovations in AI and it can seem like an impossible task for small and often under-funded marketing teams.

Modern marketing requires a deeply integrated marketing stack that not only ties customer data to your marketing automation platform of choice but surfaces it in a way that is meaningful for automated segmentation, offer targeting, proactive customer service and support.

Here’s an example of what a Modern Marketing Architecture might look like today:

With new products like Data Cloud and the latest Salesforce Einstein innovations, marketing teams will be able to take on more initiatives. Once they work with internal IT and Big Data teams to integrate the right data and lay the foundation for success by establishing their Customer 360 data models for segmentation and targeting, they’ll be able to pivot quickly as the needs of their organizations and the AI-driven marketing landscape evolves.

Transition to Management:

Salesforce Marketing Cloud has historically had a steeper learning curve, but it also creates opportunities for enterprise marketing teams to build just about anything they can imagine. The flexibility of the platform and ability to configure it, integrate with it, and develop in it has led to a lot of highly sophisticated marketing solutions.

Those who advanced quickly in their Marketing Cloud careers understood the platform’s potential. They developed solutions that had a noticeable impact on revenue streams and influenced customer behaviors for large brands. Their roles often existed on the business side, not within IT, but they had a direct connection with IT teams (network/infrastructure, security, integration, and mobile app teams to name a few). Highly technical marketers collaborated with these teams regularly, often raising the question of where this marketing role should live within the organization.

As the value of Salesforce Marketing Cloud gains visibility within enterprise companies, it begins to attract attention from other departments who want to utilize marketing automation to support their initiatives.

What typically begins as a marketing automation team of one or two people, grows over time, and requires someone to take the lead and help scale the use of the platform across the enterprise. In addition, they must also manage daily marketing operations to maintain, monitor, and troubleshoot live automations and integrations.

I’ve had the privilege of working with some amazing people in my career and have worked as both an individual contributor and manager. Leading a team is a big responsibility, but having the opportunity to teach and help others grow their career is really an honor. It’s an interesting position to be in when you train others up and encourage their growth. You must balance the feelings of pride from watching them reach their potential with the realization that their success means you must start over again by hiring, training, and leading new team member(s) on their career path. I still love hearing from many of them and having an opportunity to catch up on their latest achievements (personal and professional) and provide guidance when they seek it.

Building a Team:

As we all know, technology changes at a rapid pace. It’s important to learn how to balance the ability to lead and manage your team while deciding how much of an individual contributor role you can play (if any).

Knowing what roles your team will need to support enterprise-scale marketing automations is also key. There can (and often will) be team members that share multiple roles, but as the team grows this can be a guideline for how individual roles might become more focused to grow with the organization:

!Marketing Automation Team

Management and Servant Leadership:

When transitioning from an individual contributor to a supervisor or management role, are some new skills you will need to learn and implement. These are a few things I’ve learned over time that will hopefully help others seeking a management role:

• Don’t be afraid to surround yourself with people who either know more than you about a specific topic or can challenge you in ways you might not challenge yourself.
• Learn to delegate! This was so hard to do early in my management career. But once I did, it was amazing how much we could accomplish as a team.
• Be a leader not a boss. To be an effective leader, you must have a genuine desire to grow others and champion their success.
• Actively seek opportunities that allow your team to grow. This could be through experiences like on-site retail visits to immerse them in the experience of your customers or it might be an opportunity to lead a project that gives them more exposure to different teams across an organization.
• Allow your team to present their own work (weekly standups, monthly product demos, quarterly presentations).
• Recognize wins and learn from failures as a team (be willing to accept responsibility as their leader when things go wrong, but align that with retrospectives and constructive feedback given privately).
• Reserve 1-1 time for team members each week to clear obstacles. This also gives them a space to communicate other challenges and accomplishments.
• Allow the team to work through problems without running to their rescue. They can’t learn, if they aren’t allowed to work through a journey decision flow, troubleshoot errors, weigh pros and cons of implementing campaigns in different ways, or anticipate blockers, etc.

There are also some things that might be unexpected. A few things you may want to consider about the transition from an individual contributor to a management role:

• It’s difficult to lead a team when you don’t know how to steer the ship. Experience comes from exposure to a variety of scenarios that may seem unpredictable in the moment. Over time, those are the experiences that form your ability to think ahead and plan for points of friction, scalability considerations, etc. that will help lead your team in the right direction.
• For many, imposter syndrome creeps back in at a swift pace when you’re no longer “hands on” and actively developing on the platform. Plan for this in advance, so you know how to address it head on if it happens.
• Keep an eye on what’s trending. This requires even more attention with all the rapid changes with AI.
• Multiple meetings, reports, and other activities will compete for your time in management. You will need to pro-actively schedule time on your calendar to allow for that pulse-check and research on the latest innovations that could impact your team and organization.

Return to Individual Contributor:

Because managing teams leaves less time for implementation, many leaders find themselves wondering if they’re on the right path. This is a trend I’ve seen a lot of technical marketers and developers choosing over the last couple years. I have also seen many alternate from an IC to leadership, back to IC and then return to leadership again with a renewed appreciation and deeper understanding of well architected solutions.

!Manager Flow

While my career change was primarily motivated by the needs of my family, there was also a desire to return to a role where I could avoid losing the skills I had worked so long to build. This is a concern for many who lead technical teams because of the rapidly changing landscape and the fear of becoming irrelevant.

Many companies don’t have a clear path for developers and other technical roles to advance beyond a senior role, so management is the only path forward. Solution and Technical Architecture roles are a natural progression for these roles and are common in the consultancy and implementation partner space but are not seen as frequently in enterprise organizations.

While the best career choices are unique to the individual and circumstances, it’s important to weigh the pros and cons to determine the best career path for you.

Here are a few additional resources for those considering management or transitioning back to an individual contributor role from a leadership position:

• A Guide for Transitioning from Manager to Individual Contributor
• What You Give Up When Moving Into Engineering Management
• You Can Stop Being a Manager Without Sinking Your Career
• Why I Left Engineering Management and Moved Back to Individual Contributor

<br />

About Natasha:

Title: Salesforce Marketing Cloud Architect

Company: Rosetree Solutions (https://rosetreesolutions.com/)

Bio: Natasha has managed and trained teams on Marketing Cloud and led the technical implementation of numerous customer-facing campaigns that span loyalty, sales, retail, mobile app, and more. She began working as a web developer in 2011 with a dual client/project management role. In 2013, she transitioned to a technical marketer role that included web development, marketing automation, integration, and project management. She has architected automated campaign solutions that deliver messaging to customers in real-time utilizing MuleSoft APIs, point-of-sale integrations, Salesforce Marketing Cloud, Salesforce Data Cloud, and more.