Marketing Cloud Implementation – Data Graphs

If you want to deliver truly personalized email campaigns in Marketing Cloud, you need to build a data graph.

Let’s get started.

Marketers use data graphs to personalize emails in Marketing Cloud.  For instance, if you want “First name,” or “Loyalty number,” to appear in emails specific to each email recipient, you need a data graph.

The data graph is centered around the Unified Individual object, which represents a person/customer across systems. From there, you can link related DMOs (e.g. “Contact Point Email”, “Account”, “Campaign Member”, etc.) to pull in related fields and attributes.

You define which objects and fields are included; then the Data Graph is “built” and refreshed on a schedule (you pick the cadence) or in near real-time (depending on your settings and edition).

Creating a New Data Graph

1. Go to the Data Graph tab and select “New.”

2. Choose “Start from Scratch.”

3. Select “Standard Data Graph.”

4. Complete data graph details. You need to be sure to choose “Unified Individual” as the Primary Data Model Object.

5. Next, choose the fields that make sense for email personalization.  Remember, this is not about segmenting the recipients of the email.  Also, ONLY select the fields that are likely to get used.  Otherwise, you will consume credits unnecessarily, which can get expensive.

6. Complete the branching. First, you want to select “Unified Link Individual.”  This means “What is linked (related) to the unified individual.”

Think about where your most accurate personalized data is stored.  Is it in your CRM?  Is it your 3rd-party system, or ERP?

When complete, you can choose “Save and Build.”

7. Lastly, you can set your data graph refresh schedule.  Think about how “fresh” you need your data because frequently refreshing your data can get costly.  Do you need it refreshed every 30 minutes?  Or can you settle for daily?

The data graph will go into “Processing” mode until complete.

8. Final step!  Type “Reporting and optimization” in the Setup > Quick Find box.  Under “Configure Basic Personalizaion,” enter the data graph that you just created.