RSMUS.comOver the course of my Microsoft Dynamics CRM career, I’ve worked with versions 4.0, 2011, 2013, and now 2015. In the earlier iterations, the Marketing module was not as strong as it is today, and I found myself recommending clients install one plugin or another in order to strengthen their marketing capabilities. In the latest release of Dynamics CRM, Microsoft has made that need much less pressing. Let’s take a look at how:
- WYSIWYG email editor: One of the main draws of the third party plugins is that they allow you to preview your email as you write it. Formatting, images and hyperlinks will all appear to you as they will to the recipient, which cuts creation time in half, and makes decision making that much easier. You can now add columns, backgrounds, and graphic elements, while maintaining the ability to insert dynamic elements—such as a First Name field—to really supercharge your marketing efforts, out of the box. There are now a handful of clean and professional looking templates included to help get you started.
- It also includes a preview feature that lets you check how your email will look on devices with different screen sizes before you send it, ensuring that your client who checks his email on his phone will have the same experience as the one who checks on his tablet and the one who checks on his desktop.
- Finally, it includes A/B testing, to let you verify which format and which delivery time is the most effective for getting your message across.
- Upgraded Campaign features: You can now have marketing e-mails send out based on new triggers and enhanced logic, and the system can automatically remove someone from the recipient list based on a set number of bounces.
- If you use Microsoft Lync, you can now integrate webinar events into your marketing emails and track customer attendance and registration.
- In addition to the current integration with Google Adwords, Dynamics CRM now integrates with Bing Ads. If you link either account to your Dynamics CRM instance, you can now track the results without having to leave Dynamics CRM. These features, among others, make Dynamics CRM Marketing a much more robust solution out of the box, lessening the need to increase expense and rely on third party plugins.
If you are considering a new CRM solutions, make sure Microsoft Dynamics is on your list. Here’s a helpful guide if you are comparing the costs of two popular CRM systems. If you have any questions about Microsoft Dynamics CRM Marketing or Dynamics CRM in general, contact our professionals at 855.437.7202 or crm@rsmus.com.
By Zach Greenbaum – Mid-Atlantic Microsoft Dynamics CRM partner
Zach Greenbaum
Zach has 11 years of experience as a Microsoft Dynamics CRM System Administrator. He is experienced in planning, directing, and executing projects, software design, development and testing, and data conversion and validation. During his career, Mr. Greenbaum has primarily focused on small- to mid-size non-profits and private equity groups, with an additional focus on Field Service and Insurance and Healthcare over the last few years. Before coming to RSM, Mr. Greenbaum was responsible for managing new CRM implementations, additional customizations for existing implementations, and client support, including project goal definition, prioritization of requirements, and conflict resolution while adhering to budget and project scope constraints. *PROJECT EXPERIENCE State of Indiana FSSA (Family and Social Services Administration) – Zach’s role in this project began during the discovery phase. His responsibilities included leading requirements-gathering sessions with Indiana’s team leads. Once those requirements were gathered, Zach transitioned to the building and Project Management team and finally to Quality Assurance Team Lead. Interamerican Medical Centers – Zach served as lead consultant on this project, helping to automate several manual processes and increasing efficiency and data visibility while redesigning the legacy CRM system for an upgrade. Additional functionality included integration with an EMR system, integration with Medicare capitation files, and Business Intelligence. Universal Insurance Holdings – Working with the VP of Corporate Applications, Zach designed a system with complex integrations into their legacy Policy database, routing and navigation tools for their field team, and high-level automation for keeping in touch with their authorized Agencies. Southern Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning – Working with the team, Zach configured the D365 Field Service application to meet Southern’s specific needs. Then, Zach spent several months traveling to each location under the Southern umbrella and training the field team and the administrators at headquarters and in the purchasing departments. Foundation Partners Group, LLC – Zach worked closely with the Director of IT and the PMO Group at FPG to implement a CRM system that included portal integration, ClickDimensions for Marketing Automation, and Geolocation based on Zip Code for automatic assignment. This project is now in a second phase, where Power BI and Power Apps for data are being implemented.