Eloqua are currently releasing a new feature which has the potential to revolutionise data processing within the platform. It’s called ‘Program Canvas’ and will be accessible via the Orchestration drop down menu on the main navigation bar.
Eloqua Program Canvas explained
The Program Canvas aims to take the functionality from Program Builder but incorporate the speed of Campaign Canvas, which it has achieved. There is the option to create a Program Canvas for either Contacts or Custom Data Objects (CDO). So far it has taken a couple of key features from Program Builder including Update Rules and assigning Contact Security Labels but it’s still limited with what you can do. It’s a stepping stone between Campaign Canvas and Program Builder, however it is not going to replace Program Builder... yet!
The main advantage of the Program Canvas is that it will greatly reduce the amount of time it takes for a contact to be processed. Where Program Builder takes around 15 minutes to evaluate each step, Program Canvas will be almost instant (depending on the amount of contacts flowing through). Furthermore, data entry via a 'Listener' is evaluated in real time, compared to Program Builder where a feeder re-evaluates every hour.
Key Points Around Data
Listeners - This new step evaluates against the entire database and is always live. If a contact meets the Listeners requirements they will get added to the Program Canvas instantly.
This is currently limited to:
- Contact Creation
- Lead Score Model Change (Increase or Decrease)
- From Processing Step
There is already discussion about a future release where a Listener can evaluate whether a contact field's value has changed.
Segments - The same mechanism as a Campaign Canvas segment, however the key difference is that it’s re-evaluated as default with a minimum of 1 day extending to X number of months.
- By default, a contact can enter the Program Canvas multiple times so this needs to be carefully considered when developing the segment criteria.
A contact has the possibility to be in a Program Canvas in multiple steps at the same time - This is a big opportunity and will allow us to be much more creative with the design of the canvas to reap the benefits of this functionality.
One of the greater benefits is the ability to have multiple Listener entry points at different stages within the Program Canvas, allowing a contact to be in two separate paths on the canvas. Contacts can now be processed at multiple locations on the canvas at the same time. This functionality does come with some risk - having the option of the same contact on the canvas multiple times could lead to conflicting data processes or duplication of actions.
If you were to use these functionality we would advise that you consider all the scenarios and potential implications of having the same contact on a canvas multiple times. However, by being creative there is certainly the opportunity to make it a great success!
Why use Eloqua Program Canvas now?
Contact Level Security – With the ability to add contacts to a program canvas on creation and the steps to assign labels, you can replicate your current Program Builder version into Program Canvas. The main benefit of transferring this process from Program Builder to Program Canvas is that contacts will be assigned security labels much sooner, which reduces the risk of them flowing through the wrong marketing campaign.
Contact / CDO relationship processes – The Program Canvas can add a linked Contact or linked CDO to a program which allows multiple opportunities to manipulate contacts and Custom Objects which have been impossible before.
CRM Integration & Apps
Oracle explained on a recent webinar how they are looking to build apps for not only their Marketing Cloud, but for Salesforce and Microsoft Dynamics for use in Program Canvas. Processing lead management to Sales via the Program Canvas instead of Program Builder could reduce lead time and allow your sales team to actively engage with new leads faster. However, this is currently in development and we do not expect these CRM apps to be released until mid to late 2017.
If you'd like to understand more about Eloqua Program Canvas, we'd love to help - feel free to get in touch.
