Summer '22 Release Notes Summary
Published on 05/22/2022
As we rapidly approach the Summer ‘22 release, the optimism of 3 releases a year bringing bigger releases is being put to the test! Those of you who are in both the Salesforce CRM ecosystem and the SFMC ecosystem may have noticed that the Sales & Service Cloud release notes landed a few weeks before SFMC. Don’t expect this to change, release notes for SFMC will continue to be released between 2-3 weeks prior to the release. But, enough about the release notes launch scheduling - let’s get into the nitty gritty of the things you can expect to gain and the existing features you should be prepared to lose.
You’ll probably notice a few of these are just early warnings for the third and final release of the year. I’m guessing it’s been identified that giving people 2 weeks notice before a feature gets turned off that could completely break an org is probably a bad idea, so announcing it early does 2 jobs. It pads out the release and it gives customers further warning. Feel free to come up with your own Forward Looking Statement/Safe Harbor/That thing that every Salesforce presentation has joke to go in here. With the amount of things being retired or removed at the moment, a backwards looking statement may also be needed!
If you’re in an SFMC instance with data being sourced through the Marketing Cloud Connector, you’ll most likely be familiar with the option to use a field to filter which records get synchronised. (Really important to manage your Contact count in SFMC - if you’re not familiar with it already and you have too many contacts, read up on the subject!) As announced in this release, the Winter ‘22 release in October will be removing the ability to use a formula field from Sales/Service Cloud. Existing objects will persist, but if you need to modify or update them you won’t be able to do that with a formula field. You’ll need to get the field updated with APEX or SSJS or even Journey Builder if you need a code-free way to do it.
There’s a couple of changes on the way with AMPscript. No new capabilities or functions, but still important to be aware of.
For those who use nested AMPscript within subject lines, in February 2021 you’ll lose the ability to use nested AMPscript for this purpose. Currently, AMPscript gets two processing passes which enables you to derive a variable and then add it to a subject line. This isn’t just referenced in the release notes, but also has its own knowledge base article. Take a look and find out if you’re impacted by this!
If you’re using a multi-org connected SFMC instance, in order to prevent unauthorised access to data between business units, AMPscript will be restricted to the same connected app users. This ensures that the same data you see in a Data Extension within the Business Unit is what gets used to personalised and dynamically populate your content.
With the imminent end of life status of Classic Email, this release will see it moving to being a view only component of the platform. If you’re using anything Classic Email, you’ll need to migrate to Content Builder. All of the classic email studio/web studio tools will be fully retired in June 2022. This isn’t new, but the clock is ticking!
If you’re working in an instance with Intelligence Reports for Engagement Advanced, you’ll be able to leverage a number of Data Extensions to add audience attributes for context. The screenshots from the documentation suggest you’ll be able to use a number of data extensions and connect them to Datorama. These will then be available in the Queries module for you to reference. Queries module will also get the option to export results as a CSV in addition to OCR and PARQUET.
As the work continues with Package Manager, this release brings us:
It’s still sometimes tricky using Package Manager, so your mileage may vary. But, these are some much needed improvements to the product!
Mobile Studio continues to get enhancements and new features added, including some additional capabilities included in Salesforce CDP and behavioural triggered activities.
Leverage the power of Salesforce CDP to create MobilePush audiences, using the same process you would for any other channels by creating a segment and selecting Mobile App (MobilePush) as the contact point.
Users will be able to set up to 10 Push Message / 10 In-App Messages to be listened to for triggering activities. It’s unclear whether this limit is capped by Business Unit, App or Instance, so if you’re running multiple apps, you may need to keep an eye on that!
Throughout the release, there’s a rolling deployment of Mobile App Event and Exit criteria for Journey Builder, which the behavioural triggers mentioned above can leverage. One key thing to call out with these Entry Events is that there isn’t a Data Extension created like other Entry Events. If you do need that, you’ll need to come up with an appropriate solution for it.
You’ll also find Journey Builder is finally getting the In-App Messaging channel “Wait until Engagement” activity. Bit by bit, the “Wait until engagement” wait activity is taking over Journey Builder!
This release brings some new things released under the Einstein umbrella. Which apparently Google Analytics falls into now. Not sure I saw where that move got announced or the whole thing got brought together (Previously Google Analytics has been stored under Data Management in release notes). Key things to watch out for:
Trigger File Drops from Cloud Storage
After announcing in August 2021 that it would be possible to import data from Amazon S3 storage, this release adds a beta option for Azure Blob Storage, boasting up to 10x faster transfer speeds. So if you’re using Azure Blob Storage for a data warehouse, you can sign up for the beta by visiting the registration page. But, the biggest change is the option to use files in these Cloud platforms to trigger automations. There’s mention of a Trigger API, it would be interesting to see if this extends to files in the Import folder on the SFMC EFTP!
If you’re on Stack 1 or Stack 4, there’s an EFTP Key rotation due on June 22. Update your keys so you’re not caught out by unexpected downtime.
On the whole, this release is slim and features mostly updates on the optional extras like CDP/Interaction Studio and Datorama (Intelligence) Advanced rather than the core SFMC platform. But, there are some glimmers of progress with things like the Triggering File Drops from Cloud Storage. Where now you may have to create Azure Data Factory Pipelines or AWS Transfers to the SFMC EFTP so you can trigger activities when a file lands, you may be able to leverage a new and as yet unrevealed API instead. Will this API mean that the workarounds currently being used for File Drops may not be needed?
Consider optimism somewhat tempered with this release. The couple of things that are going to be available for general availability for those who have bought the core platform are decent. But, if there’s ever a signal that Salesforce is heavily invested in the ancillary products - this is it!