Top 5 Reasons to Outsource SFMC Implementation to a Dedicated Partner

Smart brands understand that customer loyalty is the most valuable “currency” they can earn because it dictates the brand’s value, credibility, popularity, and profitability. One of the best ways to earn this currency is through marketing.

Brands can earn and nurture customer loyalty by understanding their needs and pain points, creating accurate buyer profiles, and by personalizing their marketing campaigns. And all of this is easier to do with the right marketing CRM. Here’s where Salesforce Marketing Cloud (SFMC) comes in.

SFMC enables companies to find and understand their target audience and design impressive email marketing campaigns to build closer customer relationships and garner their loyalty. Moreover, by using SFMC, many companies have increased revenues by 25% and customer satisfaction by 35%.

However, a lot of brands find it a challenge to leverage the full potential of SFMC. Many struggle to invest the time, effort, and funds required, while others can’t take full advantage of its huge range of features because they lack technical expertise and skilled resources.

Sound familiar?

The good news: Your brand can make the most of SFMC to enhance email marketing and earn customer loyalty. Outsource implementation to a dedicated, skilled, and trusted partner.

Here are 5 reasons to outsource SFMC implementation and management to a dedicated partner.

Get access to world-class expertise and in-demand skills

As more businesses adopt SFMC for their marketing programs, the demand for Salesforce experts is constantly growing. According to one IDC report, Salesforce cloud services will add about $1.56 trillion in revenues for companies and lead to the creation of 9.3 million new jobs by 2026.

But do you have the skilled Salesforce developers you need to give a boost to your email marketing program and increase your revenues? If not, outsourcing to an implementation partner is the best bet for your brand.

Companies specializing in SFMC implementation have mastery over the platform and its many tools and features. They know how to use Email Studio, Journey Builder, Data Management Platform, Einstein AI, and a host of other capabilities in SFMC to:

• Create journey maps and deliver 1-to-1 customer experiences at every touchpoint
• Design and deploy personalized email campaigns that impress and delight customers
• Build customer relationships with unique campaigns tailored to the needs of each subscriber
• Analyze campaigns to continually improve customer engagement and retention
• Automate campaigns to save time while also staying connected with each subscriber

The right implementation partner understands marketing trends and customer needs. They also know how to best leverage SFMC to align with these trends and create marketing campaigns to meet these needs. If you lack these capabilities in-house, outsourcing is the way to go.

Reduce operating costs and increase ROI

According to some estimates, the average salary of a junior developer in the USA is $111,103. This amount goes up to $159,299 for senior developers. Do you have the budget to hire, train, and nurture these SFMC resources in-house?

Of course, salary is just one cost that you will incur with in-house resources. Add in the costs of training, onboarding, allowances, leaves, bonuses, etc. and the total cost of a single SFMC resource can go up very quickly and by a substantial amount.

You don’t have to spend so much. Instead, you can use this money for other higher-value activities related to marketing strategy and customer experience. With an outsourcing partner, you can reduce overall marketing cost by 30%. Moreover, a partner will remain with you for the entire period of your contract so you can avoid yet another cost – the cost of employee turnover and replacement.

You can also avoid the costs of maintaining bench resources and paying in-house resources even when they are not required. If your business is experiencing a slump or if you don’t need to put campaigns out for some reason, in-house resources will be sitting idle but you will still have to pay them. Outsourcing will give you the flexibility of using outside resources on-demand and thus, better control over your resourcing costs. Lower costs can increase your marketing ROI and ultimately, your revenues and profits.

Get campaigns out faster

Many B2C companies scale up their SFMC email marketing programs during the holidays and just before special days, such as Thanksgiving, Halloween, Christmas, Black Friday, etc. But this requires a lot of preparation and a lot of effort.

Is your in-house marketing team prepared for the surge of work that will be required to design, develop, test, and track these campaigns? For instance, here are some tasks that will need to be completed to create a successful email campaign:

• Define the campaign goals
• Create an email list
• Choose a design from SFMC templates or create your own
• Create the copy that will go into each email (multiply this effort for multi-email drip campaigns)
• Personalize the copy and subject line for each subscriber
• Create an appropriate CTA and insert it into strategic locations throughout the email
• A/B test each email
• Set up the campaign schedule and send times
• Set up tracking KPIs and other metrics in SFMC
• Monitor progress in line with these KPIs
• Tweak campaigns as required

A business-friendly ESP like SFMC provides everything you need to complete these tasks and create amazing campaigns. And yet, the effort can be overwhelming for in-house teams. An expert implementation partner can help reduce the overwhelm. They will have the resources and expertise to complete all of the above activities seamlessly. Plus, the best partners follow proven best practices to guide their tactics and strategies. All of this can help ensure that your campaigns go out to the right audience and at the right time – with minimal pain and friction for your team.

Reduce risk and increase quality

There’s no formula or “right” answer when it comes to email marketing. To get it right, a lot of research, thought, and effort is involved. Successful email marketing requires zooming into the correct target audience, understanding who they are, where they live, what they want, and where they face challenges. If you can get these aspects right, the probability of success goes up exponentially. But if you don’t, you risk losing customers, their loyalty, and their sales.

By working with an experienced implementation partner, you can reduce these risks. They will focus on your needs and customers, tailor SFMC implementation for your brand and create campaigns that are unique to your business, audience, and use case. They will create high-quality emails for each sub-segment in your subscriber list. They will also set up relevant metrics and KPIs to track each campaign and consistently improve its quality. All these abilities will reduce the risk and enhance the quality of your emails and messaging. Moreover, they will always keep customer experience in mind, ensuring that your subscribers get value from your email marketing messaging.

Get ongoing support

How do your employees proceed when they get stuck? If they need help on a particular aspect of the SFMC ecosystem – which is vast – who do they turn to? Google? YouTube? Or do they make assumptions and guesses and hope that their ideas will work?

While there’s nothing wrong with self-learning, there may be occasions when quick decisions and nimble actions are needed more than experimentation. In such situations, you may not have the luxury of time to try different things or to hunt for answers in different places. Here’s where an implementation partner can provide support whenever you need and as soon as you need it.

A good partner’s job doesn’t end with SFMC implementation or campaign deployment. They will also offer extended and ongoing assistance to address all your support and maintenance needs. Their SFMC and email marketing experts will manage your ESP and email marketing program and make all the necessary adjustments in line with your brand’s goals and customer base.

The partner will reduce the burden on your in-house marketing team by taking care of the nitty-gritties of managing your SFMC project. And if an issue arises, they can act quickly and proactively to troubleshoot and fix the problem before it can affect your program or its customers. They can also help you build a strategic SFMC roadmap so you can continue to take advantage of the platform and scale it as your business grows.

Ready to Outsource SFMC Implementation to a World-class Partner?

Outsourcing Salesforce implementation to a skilled and experienced partner can streamline your email marketing program and ensure it delivers expected results. It can help you save money and time, and boost your business and marketing ROI. The partner will take over the day-to-day management of your SFMC-based email marketing program, so you can focus on strategic activities and take your business to the next stage of competitiveness and growth.

Dozens of companies benefit from the SFMC services and expert resources of Email Uplers. If you are ready to join their ranks, please reach out to us. Or if you are looking to hire a certified SFMC resource to work remotely for you, you can onboard a talent from our pool of pre-vetted resources.