{"id":26977,"date":"2021-07-30T17:49:42","date_gmt":"2021-07-30T12:19:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/email.uplers.com\/blog\/?p=26977"},"modified":"2023-03-13T16:20:12","modified_gmt":"2023-03-13T10:50:12","slug":"practical-guide-salesforce-marketing-cloud-journey-builder-path-optimizer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/email.uplers.com\/blog\/practical-guide-salesforce-marketing-cloud-journey-builder-path-optimizer\/","title":{"rendered":"A Practical Guide to Salesforce Marketing Cloud Journey Builder\u2019s Path Optimizer"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u201cEvery contact we have with a customer influences whether or not they\u2019ll come back. We have to be great every time or we\u2019ll lose them.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

–Kevin Stirtz, Author, Business Thought Leader<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Every present-day thought leader, business influencer, and accepted wisdom would agree that the only way to run a successful modern business is by putting the customer at the center of everything. This requires getting to know them better, creating products and services that improve their lives, and understanding how, when, and why they interact with the brand. Here\u2019s where customer journey mapping<\/em> comes in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Salesforce Marketing Cloud (SFMC) provides a user-friendly tool to design powerful customer journey strategies and create effective customer journey maps. With SFMC Journey Builder<\/a>, you can create 1:1 marketing journeys that encompass numerous touchpoints for each customer, from initial contact to purchase and beyond. By visually representing every interaction that a customer could have with your brand \u2013 via every possible channel, including email \u2013  within a single interface, you can glean valuable, actionable insights about them. Then you can leverage this goldmine of information to drive and improve your email marketing initiatives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Journey Builder is constantly evolving to help you automate more actions as you map and optimize your customer journeys. And one of its most amazing features is Path Optimizer \u2013 part of the flow control activity family in Journey Builder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Path Optimizer<\/a> is a  great way to identify the most effective journey for your customers, and make on-the-fly adjustments to your marketing strategies to better meet your business goals. And in this guide, we explain everything you need to know about this amazing functionality within SFMC Journey Builder.<\/p>\n\n\n

\"Let<\/a><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

What is Path Optimizer in SFMC Journey Builder?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Path Optimizer was part of the May 2020 release<\/a> of Salesforce Marketing Cloud. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the name suggests, it helps you test various journey paths so you can select a \u201cwinning\u201d branch, and thus identify the best way to reach customers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Does this sound like A\/B testing?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To some extent. However, Path Optimizer is different from A\/B testing. Here\u2019s how.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With A\/B testing, you can only test your emails for two variables, such as subject lines, images, CTA text, from name, etc. to determine the best version to send to your recipients. A\/B testing is useful for determining which email version is likely to get more opens, clicks, and conversions before<\/em> sending it to everyone on your mailing list.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Think of Path Optimizer as A\/B testing x 10<\/em><\/strong>. This means that unlike the two-variable limit in A\/B testing, you can leverage Path Optimizer to configure branches with up to 10 paths in Journey Builder with user-defined distributions. Here, a path is a sequence of events in a customer journey. The winning branch is automatically (or manually) selected based on email engagement metrics<\/a> to receive the relevant email message. All losing paths shut off the flow of contacts. Read on to know how Path Optimizer works.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Use Case: Path Optimizer to Test a Welcome Email Campaign<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Suppose you want to create a welcome journey in SFMC Journey Builder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A welcome campaign is a great way to greet new customers when they sign up to receive your email communications. You can either send a single campaign as AirBnB does below, or you can use Journey Builder to expand from a single email to a series of messages<\/a> to further improve the customer experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Welcome
Source<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s what your welcome campaign might look like:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Welcome<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

With Path Optimizer, you can experiment with multiple paths\/emails for a single welcome campaign, so it might look something like this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Welcome<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Each of the first welcome emails is on the same journey but a different path. All 4 paths culminate in welcome email #2. With Path Optimizer, you can easily test these 4 paths simultaneously to determine which  one performs better in terms of:<\/p>\n\n\n\n