Thank you to Roma Gupta, Sr. CRM Consultant at Nihilent, for this guest blog post!
Email marketing has always been one of the key features in the ClickDimensions marketing automation platform. And if you’re a digital marketer and a ClickDimensions customer, you are likely well-versed in utilizing email sends within the ClickDimensions solution.
On the email send record, have you ever noticed that when you click the Send button, the status changes from Draft to Sent in under a minute? But what about the odd occasion when that status doesn’t change even after 30 minutes? Did it go out? Did it not? All sorts of worries begin in those instances. But before you panic, it’s important to keep in mind that there are processing tasks that are happening behind the scenes like ClickDimensions getting all the recipients, scanning the template for personalization fields, checking your unsubscribes, etc. There are also some quick things you can do to troubleshoot and optimize your email send performance before opening a support ticket.
Excluded Recipients – Soft/Hard Bounce, Missing Email Addresses
Navigate to Click Dimensions tab > Related Entities > Excluded Recipients. If the total count of the list you find here exceeds 5,000, you really have some work to do. And even if the list isn’t that large, you can still take action before it gets out of control size-wise. By reducing the size of this list, it can save a lot of time in ensuring that your email is prepared quickly. Take this opportunity to connect with your customers to update their profiles. Use other communication channels like social media or a simple phone call to reach out to determine their interest in receiving your emails and to obtain their correct email address.
Service Account Issues
The ClickDimensions service requires a Dynamics user account to be set up as a service account. If this user’s password is changed, the ClickDimensions service will be unable to communicate with CRM, and you will be unable to access ClickDimensions functions from within CRM. Depending on how users and accounts are structured within your organization, this might not be the most likely reason why your email send is delayed, but it is a possibility. So, here’s what to do: navigate to ClickDimensions> Click Dimensions Settings> Service Credentials. Update the password and save. Keep in mind that it could take up to 60 minutes for the connection to be re-established. You can read more about this issue here.
Error Logs
ClickDimensions Error Trace is a helpful tool that allows users to check for errors they encounter while using ClickDimensions features. There could be some potential errors that are causing your email sends to be delayed. Navigate to ClickDimensions> ClickDimensions Settings> Error Trace. Have a look here and try resolving errors that could make your email sends quicker.
Version Issues
ClickDimensions does support older versions, but I hope you are not on an outdated version. Quickly check by navigating to ClickDimensions> ClickDimensions Settings> Auto Update. If it is the sandbox environment and not on the latest version, upgrade and do all your tests. Finally, upgrade on production. Tip: You can also put one of the sandbox environments on auto-upgrade to avoid manual updates.
Finally, keep in mind that customer data issues are often at the core of email performance woes. Even if you are on the latest version and your service account has no issues, if your data is bad, only you can resolve the problem. Be sure to have data validation checks in place. Correct data will reduce the overhead checks to be done and will have an email on its way to customers quicker.
If these suggestions fail, ClickDimensions support is there to help you every step of the way.
Keep reading, keep enjoying, keep exploring!
