Erin Duncan, Author at The Spot

Getting Started, Marketing Cloud, Setup & Admin, Technology
March 19, 2025

SMS Provisioning and Marketing Cloud on Core

Erin Duncan

Product Note: Marketing Cloud on Core is now known as Marketing Cloud Next. Marketing Cloud Growth and Advanced are editions of Marketing Cloud Next and have also been referred to as Agentforce Marketing.

As someone who primarily focuses on B2B and Account Engagement, I’ll admit I was a little lost the first time I approached the topic of SMS and Marketing Cloud Growth Edition. SMS was just not regularly part of my Marketing world, so trying to figure out the difference between Long Code and Short Code, go through the provisioning process, and advise others on which code is right for them felt overwhelming. However, thanks in large part to my B2C and Marketing Cloud Engagement focused co-workers, I now have a good handle on this topic and want to make sure others in the community can too!

Long Code versus Short Code

The first thing to make sense of is the two types of SMS codes within Marketing Cloud on Core, their provisioning process, and which type is right for you.

Note: For some countries only one type of SMS code is currently supported (for example, only Short Code is available for Canada). If you are outside of the US, ensure you check the SMS Rate Card to see which SMS Codes are currently supported for your country.

Long Code

Long codes are a good choice for businesses that want to send messages to a smaller number of customers or create a more personal touch. Long Code SMS is also

More cost-effective and take less time to set up
Needed for International SMS
Needed for Conversational SMS
Has a longer send time (roughly 1 sec per message per recipient)

In summary, if you are sending delivery updates, appointment or event reminders, customer service communications etc. Long Code is likely the better choice.

Long Code Provisioning

Long Code Provisioning takes between 4-6 weeks and is a multi-step self-service process.

Step 1: Request a Brand

You’ll need to compile some basic info about your company for this form and then wait roughly 5 business days for the Brand to be approved (aka verified).

Step 2: Request a Campaign

After your Brand is “verified” you can then request a Campaign. This step is a little more complex and you’ll need to provide some sample SMS messages for the form. Campaigns take roughly 10 business days to be approved (aka registered).

Step 3: Request a Code

Once your Campaign is “Registered” you can complete the final step of requesting your Long Code. This step should only take 2 business days to complete.

Short Code

Short codes are the preferred method for organizations sending high volumes of SMS and expect very fast delivery times.

Short codes are also country-specific. A short code is only able to send messages to and receive messages from, same-country phone numbers. US short codes can only send to US phone numbers on US carrier networks that have approved that short code.

Short codes are the better choice if you intend on sending promotional messages to a large audience, such as sending limited-time offers and discount codes to all your current customers.

Short Code Provisioning

Short Code Provisioning takes an average of 12 weeks to set up and can only be done through a Mobile Approved Partner. Each partner has their own fees for Short Code Provisioning, but you can expect anywhere between $8k-$15k for this process.

That was a lot of information, could you put it in a chart?

You got it!

Scenario	Long Code	Short Code
Provisioning Timeline	4-6 Weeks	12+ Weeks
Provisioning Cost	None, Self Service	$8k-$14k
Purpose	Small sends, personal touches	Large sends, promotions
Supports International Recipients	Yes	No
Supports Conversational SMS	Yes	No
Send Speed	Slow – 1 sec per message per recipient	Fast – can handle large sends quickly

SMS Credits

Both Short and Long Code SMS require Salesforce Messaging Credits to send SMS. Credits are consumed differently based on their multipliers (which can change so ensure you check the multipliers page for the most up to date info). For example, US Short Codes currently have a multiplier of 4 and Long Code a multiplier of 5. Based on 15K text sends, Short Code US requirement will be 60K of Credits , Long Code: 75K of Credits.

SMS and Consent

Consent for SMS channels can’t be imported until after the SMS Code has been provisioned. Once provisioned you can proceed with importing existing consent records to tie opt-ins and opt-outs to your unified individuals. Ensure your phone numbers use the E164 format in your consent files!

What’s next?

After your SMS code has been provisioned and you’ve imported your Consent Records there are a few additional setup steps you’ll want to tackle before you start sending:

Create a Branded Domain – This allows you to shorten URLs sent via SMS into personalized links.
Vet your SMS Brand – Improve your sending reputation by validating your identity.
Set up Analytics – Ensure you’ve installed the SMS Analytics packages

New Features, Release Notes
January 10, 2025

Salesforce Spring ‘25 Highlights: Marketing Cloud Account Engagement

Erin Duncan

While we were all preparing for the New Year, Salesforce was busy getting the Spring ‘25 release notes posted! Let’s dive into what this release has in store for Marketing Cloud Account Engagement (f.k.a Pardot) users.

Support for the Enhanced Email Builder is Being Phased Out

Support for the Enhanced Email Experience, aka the Account Engagement Lightning Email Builder or the Drag-and-drop builder, is being phased out—meaning that Salesforce is only committed to fixing significant issues going forward, the builder will still be available for use.

If you saw the release notes right after they were published, they did say that the Enhanced Email Builder was going to be fully retired, but this retirement has since been put on hold.

Again, users of the Enhanced Email Experience can continue to use this builder, but users also have the option to use the New Email Experience (aka the Marketing Cloud Builder). Salesforce has provided a comparison of the three builders here. Keep in mind that the New Email Experience will continue to get updates every release.

Once this new release is available I will do a deeper dive into using the New Email Experience as an Account Engagement User, so keep an eye out for more info!

Einstein Generative AI supports additional languages

Einstein Gen AI, aka Einstein Assistant, has been expanded to support five new languages: French, German, Japanese, Portuguese (Brazil), and Spanish. Einstein Assistant helps users create landing pages, forms, and email copy and is available to users with Advanced or Premium Editions of Account Engagement.

A screenshot of the Einstein Generative AI assistant.

Easily Enable Marketing Cloud from within the Account Engagement Optimizer

During Dreamforce ‘24, Salesforce announced that all Account Engagement orgs with a current edition (Growth, Plus, Advanced, or Premium) can get access to Marketing Cloud Growth or Advanced Edition at no additional cost. This new platform runs on Data Cloud and can be used alongside Account Engagement to bring more features and functionalities to the Marketing tech stack. The Spring ‘25 release introduces a streamlined setup process for Account Engagement orgs, enabling them to deploy Marketing Cloud Growth or Advanced Edition via the Account Engagement Optimizer.

Additional Visibility into Email Send Issues

It’s always frustrating when an Account Engagement email fails to send to a prospect and the error message is vague at best. With the Spring release, List Email will provide more reasons on why a send fails and will help point you to configuration issues that can help prevent additional failures. The new Failed Email Sends table will be available in the Account Engagement Optimizer and will display the Prospect’s name, company, failure reason, and other details.

Additional Updates

It’s now even easier to connect Account Engagement to Data Cloud with new automatically created Data Streams.
Copying Assets to Salesforce’s CMS now includes Landing Pages and inline CSS for Forms. Also, orgs can now use V5 of the Account Engagement API to expedite copying Email, Forms, Files, and Landing Pages to CMS.

Which Spring’ 25 Account Engagement features are you most excited about? Which features do you want to know more about? Let us know in the comments!

Career Development, Community, Community Spotlight
October 3, 2024

Introducing the 2024 Salesforce Marketing Champions: Sercante Edition

Erin Duncan

Congratulations to the 2024 Salesforce Marketing Champions! We are honored and excited that some of our own Sercante dragons were selected as part of this prestigious group. Let’s get to know our new Marketing Champions.

What is a Marketing Champion?

Before we meet our new Champions, what exactly is a Salesforce Marketing Champion? Marketing Champions are nominated by the Trailblazer community for their expertise in the marketing industry, their wealth of knowledge with Marketing Cloud, and for actively helping other members of the Trailblazer Community grow and thrive.

We also want to send a BIG congratulations to the entire Salesforce Marketing Champion class of 2024! See the complete list here.

Meet our new Marketing Champions

Aaron Stayman

The Spot Author page
Linkedin
Location: New York, NY
Why are you excited about joining the Marketing Champions Program?
- I am honored and excited to join my peers in this year’s class, and I am eager to learn from the expertise of others. I hope that my presence shines a spotlight on the incredible capabilities of Marketing Cloud Intelligence as a tool for marketers looking to utilize data for decision making.
Favorite Salesforce Tool:
- Marketing Cloud Intelligence (f.k.a. Datorama), it’s how I entered the Salesforce ecosystem and still the tool I love to dive into in new and exciting ways every day.
Something Fun:
- I am a board game fanatic-my favorite games are Star Realms, Splendor, Business Walrus, and Monikers (depending on the crowd). When I want a lively evening out, I enjoy concerts and Broadway shows (Guternberg! The Musical! is a somewhat recent favorite).

Ambre Juryea-Amole

The Spot Author page
Linkedin
Location: Reading, PA
Why are you excited about joining the Marketing Champions Program?
- Content is in everything marketers touch. I’m excited meet other content marketers through the program and create a better understanding of what works and what doesn’t when it comes to the marketing tools we use.
Favorite Salesforce Tool:
- Engagement Studio Programs (Account Engagement/Pardot) – I love all the creative use cases beyond standard prospect nurtures. At the same time, it’s got that user-friendly aspect that makes it easy to turn nurture strategies into Engagement Studio Programs.
Something Fun:
- My happy place is skanking in circle pits at ska and punk shows. A couple of my faves in 2024 were Voodoo Glow Skulls, Folly, The Interrupters, NOFX, The Bouncing Souls, Lagwagon, Catbite, and We Are the Union.

Cara Clanton Pope

The Spot Author page
Linkedin
Location: Atlanta, GA
Why are you excited about joining the Marketing Champions Program?
- I have been following and learning from my fellow Marketing Champions for years. When I first got started in the ecosystem I remember reading their blogs, being amazed by their knowledge, and just wanting to be part of this esteemed group. I am excited to continue to learn but to also give back to the community. I hope to continue to bring analytics and reporting for marketers to the forefront.
Favorite Salesforce Tool:
- I am a CRM Analytics/ B2B Marketing Analytics girly all the way 🙂. I love being able to help customers analyze their marketing efforts. This sounds dorky, but genuinely being able to make a really awesome dashboard that shows how hard the marketing team has been working legitimately makes me excited.
Something Fun:
- I sang in an a cappella group in Atlanta for 10 years! Even though I am retired now, they are still some of my closest friends! I even sang for President Barack Obama in college!

Heather Rinke

The Spot Author page
Linkedin
Location: Peterborough, Ontario
Why are you excited about joining the Marketing Champions Program?
- I have learned from and admired this group of awesome people for a long time. Not just their knowledge, but their willingness to help support others in the community. I’m thrilled to join this group, to continue to learn, and also to give back and pay it forward to help others learn.
Favorite Salesforce Tool:
- Salesforce Flow! I’ve been a #flownatic for years and love to build cool solutions for marketing teams. I have been so excited about how this tool has evolved and enjoy digging in and trying out what’s possible.
Something Fun:
- I took up pottery a few years ago and it’s become my favourite way to get away from the computer, chill out, and get my hands dirty.

Theron Troxel

The Spot Author page
Linkedin
Location: Adams, Nebraska
Why are you excited about joining the Marketing Champions Program?
- I’m excited about joining the Marketing Champions Program because it offers an incredible opportunity to network with and learn from some of the best minds in the Salesforce marketing ecosystem.
Favorite Salesforce Tool:
- There are so many, but I find myself using Sercante’s HTML to Email Text Converter daily.
Something Fun:
- I’m a huge fan of arcade and pinball machine restoration. You can find me elbow-deep in wiring, schematics, and bringing vintage games back to life!

Repeat Sercante Marketing Champions

We’re super proud of our new Marketing Champions. But let’s all take a moment to recognize members of the Sercante team who were named Marketing Champions in the past (once you’re in, you’re in for good) and are already seasoned pros when it comes to championing marketing for Salesforce.

Connect with the Salesforce Marketing Champion Community

One of the qualities of a Salesforce Marketing Champion is that they put themselves out there to be helpful to the greater Salesforce community. Champions frequently write blog posts, speak at Salesforce events, lead user groups, answer questions in Slack and trailblazer communities, etc. Consider this your invitation to connect with Marketing Champions!

Follow Marketing Champions on Twitter and Linkedin with #MarketingChampions
Connect with Champions in the Trailblazer Community or in Slack in the Pardashians Community
Check for Trailblazer Community Groups in your area
Attend a Community Conference or World Tour event

Learn from Marketing Champions during MarDreamin 2024

New Features, Pro Tips, Strategy
September 19, 2024

Announcing Marketing Cloud Advanced Edition

Erin Duncan

Product Note: Marketing Cloud Growth and Advanced are editions of Marketing Cloud Next and have also been referred to as Agentforce Marketing.

During the Marketing & Commerce Keynote at Dreamforce 2024, Salesforce announced the latest edition of Marketing Cloud built on Data Cloud — Marketing Cloud Advanced Edition! Expected to be released in November 2024, this new edition expands the features and functionalities of Marketing Cloud Growth Edition, released in February of this year.

What Comes with Advanced Edition?

Let’s dive into what Marketing Cloud Advanced Edition brings to the table.

Path Experiment

Path Experiment allows Marketers to maximize engagement with your audience through testing. This new feature allows marketers to test variations within marketing content, such as different subject lines, variations in channels, such as sending an SMS instead of an email, and even variations in cadence, such as sending an email in 3 days versus 1. Path experiment allows marketers to test up to 10 paths within a single experiment, customize the distribution percentage across the paths, and automatically randomize individuals between the paths to help ensure fair, unbiased results. There is no limit to the number of Path Experiments that can be included in one Flow.

Einstein Engagement Frequency

Einstein’s capabilities will also be expanded in Marketing Cloud Advanced Edition. First, we have Einstein Engagement Frequency which assists Marketers in sending the right number of messages to their audience. Einstein Engagement Frequency provides insights into the distribution of email sends and subscriber engagement, suggesting the optimal frequency to maximize engagement. This data can then be used to create segments, allowing marketers to suppress or target subscribers who are over or under-saturated.

Einstein Engagement Scoring

Next, we have Einstein Engagement Scoring, which helps predict how likely each subscriber is to open, click, and stay subscribed to an email communication. Einstein Engagement Scoring’s data can be used to create segments, send subscribers down different Flow paths, or even help personalize content more effectively.

Unified Conversations with SMS

With the new Digital Engagement add-on, Marketing Cloud Advanced Edition enables marketers to transform one-way promotions into a conversation with their audience. Marketers can respond to messages in real time using the unified customer data within Data Cloud and automate interactions with connected chatbots.

Looking Toward the Future

What other features and functionality would you like to see Salesforce bring to Marketing Cloud Growth or Advanced Edition? Let us know in the comments!

Getting Started
August 20, 2024

Salesforce Winter ‘25 Highlights: Marketing Cloud Growth Edition

Erin Duncan

Product Note: Marketing Cloud Growth and Advanced are editions of Marketing Cloud Next and have also been referred to as Agentforce Marketing.

The Salesforce Winter ‘25 Release Notes are out! Let’s dive into what’s new in the Winter ’25 Release for Marketing Cloud Growth Edition.

Streamlined Setup

First things first. Salesforce is working to make Marketing Cloud Growth (aka MCG) easier to manage and keep updated as additional features and functionalities are added. With the Winter ’25 release, users with the Marketing Cloud Admin permission set can now access the setup assistant for easier implementation of MCG. All Data Kits can also be updated with the click of a button on the Marketing Data tab.

Some Data Kits do require you to then deploy the update within Data Cloud’s ingestion data streams. See this help article for guidance.

Dynamic Content

I love seeing my favorite Marketing Cloud Account Engagement (Pardot) features show up in MKG! With this release, MCG users can now build Dynamic Content for email subject lines, email preheaders, and email components and even use Einstein Co-Pilot to help with the copy.

While in the Email Builder, users can create content variations and determine the logic for when a variation is shown.

Event-Triggered Campaigns

A new Campaign template is coming to MCG that will enable Marketers to easily send event-based email messages to their audience. This new campaign can be used when a prospect or client performs an action, such as making a purchase. MCG can then personalize the email with event data. For our “making a purchase” example, the email could contain the order confirmation and details about said order.

Einstein Co-Pilot

Einstein Co-Pilot continues to expand across Salesforce applications to not only deliver a consistent user experience, but also answer questions and generate content that is grounded in your unique data. Einstein Co-Pilot is generally available for MCG as part of the Winter release and can assist in generating campaigns and copy. If you have already implemented MCG and are currently using Einstein Co-Create, you will need to make some changes to switch to Co-Pilot. Steps to make the switch are coming soon.

Brand Tone and Identity

Marketing Cloud Growth’s Brand Guidelines are being extended to include Brand Identity and Brand Tone. These brand details help Einstein Co-Pilot better generate content that matches your unique brand and allows you to quickly revise content using a different tone when needed.

Opportunity Influence

Similar to Campaign influence, Opportunity influence will assist marketers in identifying which campaigns were impactful for opportunities. First-touch and last-touch attribution models will be available as part of the Winter release, allowing marketers to report on which campaigns are most effective during the different stages of the customer’s journey. Opportunity influence will require some backend setup and configuration for accurate reporting, so stay tuned for a more detailed blog post once this feature is available!

And more!

Einstein Data Prism helps generate more accurate segments by enriching the Data Cloud schema with semantic descriptions.
Easily share content across workspaces. This addition is especially helpful if you are using Salesforce CMS for multiple applications, for example MCG and MCAE Lightning Builder.
Designate images as decorative for screen readers and other assistive technologies.
Give subscribers the ability to manage their SMS preferences as well as opt-out of SMS messaging.
Create more complex scoring rules by grouping or combining scoring rules. Read more about the scoring capabilities of Marketing Cloud Growth in our previous blog post.

That is a LOT of updates, and I’m happy to see it! What is your favorite feature coming to Marketing Cloud Growth in the Winter ‘25 release? Let us know in the comments.

New Features, Release Notes
August 16, 2024

Salesforce Winter ‘25 Highlights: Marketing Cloud Account Engagement

Erin Duncan

The Salesforce Winter ‘25 release notes are out! Let’s dive into Winter ’25 highlights and what Account Engagement (f.k.a. Pardot) users can expect to see come October.

Duplicate Management!

Back in 2021 we got the Email Uniqueness field that told us whether or not a Prospect’s email address was unique to the prospect. Although this field is super handy, you can’t export its data and it only tells you if there is a duplicate email somewhere in the system.

Now, All Account Engagement editions are getting bonafide duplicate management capabilities.

As part of the Winter ‘25 release, Account Engagement Optimizer will help users keep their database squeaky clean by enabling them to view and merge duplicate prospect records.

Default System Emails to Lightning App Links

If you receive system notification emails from Account Engagement, for instance the Daily Prospect Activity report, then you know these emails typically include pi.pardot.com (a.k.a. Pardot Classic) links rather than the, now standard, Account Engagement Lightning App links.

Fortunately, with the Salesforce Winter ‘25 release, all orgs will be updated to have their Account Engagement system emails to use Lightning App links, directing users to the right app or prospect without having to log into pi.pardot.com.

Now the only link this update won’t fix is the “Account Engagement URL” field on Salesforce Leads and Contacts. This field will continue to have a pi.pardot.com link. However, you can create a Formula field on the Lead and Contact objects to display the Lightning link instead.

Use the formula:

SUBSTITUTE( pi__url__c, “http://pi.pardot.com/prospect/read?id=”, “https://company.lightning.force.com/lightning/page/pardot/home?pardot__path=/prospect/read/id/” )

Making sure you update the section in red with your own Salesforce URL. While the Pardot Classic App will forever hold a piece of my heart. I’m excited to see this last remaining vestige of the Classic interface go away.

Do More with Data Cloud

Account Engagement and Data Cloud’s integration continues to grow with each release. Orgs will now be able to connect form, landing page, and tracked website engagement data to Data Cloud for personalized marketing efforts, calculated insights, and improved segmentation.

Speaking of Data Cloud Segments, Account Engagement can now have 25 Data Cloud segments per business unit (an increase from 5)! Currently the segment increase only applies to Account Engagement users with Growth or Plus edition.

Copy Forms and Emails to CMS

Building on the “Copy Images from Account Engagement to CMS” feature of Summer ‘24, All Account Engagement orgs can now also copy forms and emails to their CMS.

PDF, MP4, and Zip file types are also now supported as part of this release.

Pause or Cancel Permanent Prospect Deletions

One of the worst feelings as an admin of any system is accidentally deleting something you shouldn’t have. Even worse is when it is a permanent deletion.

Thankfully, Salesforce is helping you avoid that feeling of dread and doom but allowing for these table actions to be paused or outright canceled. Deletion requests can be paused/canceled in the Table Action Manager found within Account Engagement Optimizer.

Get help understanding the Salesforce Winter ‘25 release and how it affects Account Engagement orgs

What questions do you have about the new features coming to Account Engagement? Let us know in the comments or reach out to the team at Sercante to start a conversation.