The 5 Marketing Cloud Engagement Mistakes You Don't Know You're Making (Yet!)
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Agenda
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7+ years CRM & email marketing
4+ years in MCE
Marketing Cloud strategy, automations, data models, audits
6× Dreamin’ speaker
4× SFMC certified
��Trailblazer:
https://www.salesforce.com/trailblazer/hnimchuk
LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/hanna-nimchuk/
Hanna Nimchuk
Salesforce Marketing Champion 🏆
Marketing Cloud Engagement Consultant
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🛵 Moto and 🚴♀️ Cycling enthusiast by day
☁️ Marketing Cloud pro by… also day
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Why These Mistakes?
From multiple projects experience
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Internal
Chaos
❌ fragile automations
❌ ↓ platform performance
❌"don't touch anything"
Marketing Cloud doesn’t break dramatically. It breaks… quietly
Wasted
Resources
❌ endless troubleshooting
❌ rebuild instead of scaling
❌ paying for unused data
Reputation & Compliance
❌ wrong / duplicate msgs
❌ security & privacy issues
❌ loss of customer trust
Why These "Small" Mistakes Become Big Problems?
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Mistake #1
The “It’s All in My Head” Strategy
Documentation Gap
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Mistake #1 �The “It’s All in My Head” Strategy
❌ No Comments/no description� “I’ll remember why I built this SQL” (Spoiler: You won’t.)
❌ Naming Chaos
- Newsletter_Final_v2
- Newsletter_Final_v3_USE_THIS_ONE
- Newsletter_ACTUAL_FINAL_REALLY
- TEST_FINAL_FINAL_v7_REAL_ONE
- TEST_IGNORE_DO_NOT_SEND_v4
❌ Folder Hell
New Folder (3) → Old Stuff → Temp
❌ Copy-Paste-Pray assets everywhere
❌ The "ghost automation" nobody dares to touch
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Do this instead:
Solution #1
The “Future You” Favour
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Solution #1
The “Future You” Favour
Use descriptions fields�Every asset should explain what it does and have the owner. �Example: “Dynamic footer block used across all newsletters.”
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Use descriptions fields�Every asset should explain what it does and have the owner. �Example: “Dynamic footer block used across all newsletters.”
Comment your code�SQL /*This SQL calculates unsubscribes from the last 30-days*/�AMPScript /*Personalization logic for Gold Members*/
Create a Single Source of Truth �(naming convention YYYY_MM_Campaign + folders + architecture overview)
Pro Tip: Build reusable content blocks
(update once → fixes everywhere + assign Owners)
Solution #1
The “Future You” Favour
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Mistake #2
The "Set It and Forget It" Trap
Monitoring & operational health
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Mistake #2
The "Set It and Forget It" Trap
Classic signs:
❌ Silent failures
automations broke weeks ago — nobody noticed
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Mistake #2
The "Set It and Forget It" Trap
Classic signs:
❌ Silent failures
automations broke weeks ago — nobody noticed
❌ Zombie journeys
A "1-week promo" is still running 2 years later
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Mistake #2
The "Set It and Forget It" Trap
Classic signs:
❌ Silent failures
automations broke weeks ago — nobody noticed
❌ Zombie journeys
A "1-week promo" is still running 2 years later
❌ No goals = No insight
No journey goals → no real reporting
❌ The "404/500" experience:
Old automated emails leading to dead pages (brand damage)
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Automating the Auditor
(Detect → Alert → Review → Report)
Solution #2
The "Watchdog" Strategy
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Solution #2
The "Watchdog" Strategy
Automating the Auditor (Detect → Alert → Review → Report)
Detect Track failures + duration trends via Data Views.
Alert Route immediately to team-owned inbox/Slack (not one person).
Review "Sunset Rule" — every journey needs an end date or review reminder.
Report Build a lightweight monthly health dashboard tracking active assets.
"This is not a 'big project.' This is 1–2 small automations and a habit."
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DATA VIEWS
_AutomationInstance (automations duration) and _AutomationActivityInstance (failed automations)
GOAL
Find system slowdowns before they become outright failures or timeouts
WHAT TO LOOK FOR
✓ Average duration trending UP, frequent timeouts, or sudden execution spikes.
Tip 1: Check Average Duration
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DATA VIEWS
_AutomationInstance (automations duration) and _AutomationActivityInstance (failed automations)
GOAL
Find activities that failed to learn how to address the error.
WHAT TO LOOK FOR
✓ Repeating failures in the same step
✓ Locked Data Extensions (timeouts)
Tip 2: Check Errored Automations
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DATA VIEWS
_Journey (definitions) and
_JourneyActivity (performance).
GOAL
Get an overview on general journey information, over the past 6 months.
WHAT TO LOOK FOR
✓Status - is iy running forever?
✓ Last Modified > 6mo old
✓Zombies: Promos that never ended
Tip 3: Journey Health Insights
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Mistake #3
The "Data Firehouse"
Data synch strategy
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Mistake #3
The “Data Firehouse”
What it looks like:
❌ Over-Syncing
synch all 500 fields “just in case”
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Mistake #3
The “Data Firehouse”
What it looks like:
❌ Over-Syncing
synch all 500 fields “just in case”
❌ Fields Chaos
fields called Status_ID, StatusID, Status_ID_v2 which one is correct? �Nobody knows.
❌ Performance Drag
Massive Synchronized DEs → SQL timeouts → injection delays
❌ Zombie Fields
Fields synced for years with 0% usage, like Preferred_language_4
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Rules that keep you fast and sane
Solution #3
The "Data Diet"
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Solution #3
The "Data Diet"
Rules that keep you fast and sane:
Need-to-Know Rule
Unified Naming
6-Month Cleansing Ritual
Only sync the must for segmentation, personalization, or reporting.
Fields with 0% usage → review → un-sync / delete.
Avoid chaos like: �Product_ID / ProductID / NewProduct_ID
Just because you can sync it... does not mean you should
Marketing Cloud ≠ CRM mirror
Design data model for sending, �not CRM structure.
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Mistake #4
The "Just In Case" Museum
Digital Hoarding
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Mistake #4
The "Just In Case" Museum
Signs you're running a museum:
❌ The “Temp” Folder Lie
Temp_Delete_After_Campaign, created in 2019. Still full.
❌ Zombie Automations
SQL activities still running for journeys that no longer exist.
❌ Compliance Risk
Storing PII for subscribers who haven’t engaged in years
❌ The Storage "Tax"
Paying for rows of "trash" data that is unused
or "Don't delete it... just in case"
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Make cleanup automatic
Solution #4
The Art of “Letting Go"
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Solution #4
The Art of “Letting Go"
Make cleanup automatic:
Retention by Default� "Golden Rule" - no Sendable DE without a retention policy �(e.g., "Delete records after 30 days" or "Delete DE after 6 months").
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Solution #4
The Art of “Letting Go"
Make cleanup automatic:
Retention by Default� "Golden Rule" - no Sendable DE without a retention policy �(e.g., "Delete records after 30 days" or "Delete DE after 6 months").
Implement Tagging System� Newsletter, Autoresponder, Footer, Logo - for navigation� Delete_2026_Q4 - for expiration (make quarterly clean-ups a 5-minute task)
The Quarterly "Purge Party"� Rule: If nobody understands what it does → review or delete it.
Sunset Strategy�suppress, archive, or delete inactive subscribers �(e.g., 18mo no open) to stay lean
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Mistake #5
“Free Access for Everyone!”
Access control & Governance
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Mistake #4
The "Just In Case" Museum
Governance red flags:
❌ It’s easier if everyone is an admin
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Mistake #4
The "Just In Case" Museum
Governance red flags:
❌ It’s easier if everyone is an admin
❌ Interns/temp users with full delete rights
❌ The Ex-Employee Chost
People who left months ago can still log in
❌ Mystery deletions
no "who/when/what" trail
❌ Shared logins
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Control without slowing teams down
Solution #5
The “Guardian” Protocol
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Solution #5
The “Guardian” Protocol
Control without slowing teams down:
Least Privilege Roles�Use Default or Custom Roles. If a user only builds emails → they do not need delete/APi rights.
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Solution #5
The “Guardian” Protocol
Control without slowing teams down:
Least Privilege Roles�Use Default or Custom Roles. If a user only builds emails → they do not need delete/APi rights.
Enable Audit Trail� Basic is free. Use it to see the "Who, What, and When" of every system change or deletion.
Team-Owned Alerts� Route critical system-level failures immediately to a shared channel (Inbox/Slack), not just one person
Access Review�Conduct quarterly or annual access reviews. Deactivate users inactive for 90 days.
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If You Only Fix 2 Things This Week...
Start with these high-impact foundational wins:
Monitoring & Alerts
�✓ Track silent failures: �detect automation drops before clients do.
✓ Route errors centrally: direct critical alerts to a team Slack or shared inbox.
✓ Review cadence: enforce a sunset rule or review date on every journey.
The Data Diet
�✓ Stop syncing everything
Only sync fields used to segment or personalization.
✓ Clean unused fields
Fields with 0% usage in months → review or remove.
✓ Design to send, not CRM
Marketing Cloud is not a CRM mirror
Good governance and monitoring is how you move faster with less fear.
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The 5-Step MCE Health Framework
Key Takeaways
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Key Takeaways
The 5-Step MCE Health Framework
DOCUMENT
for
Future You
MONITOR
don’t assume check DataViews
DIET
sync less, not more
Pick ONE mistake and fix it this week.
GOVERN
control access
DELETE
without guilt
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Thank You!
Hanna Nimchuk
Salesforce Marketing Champion 🏆 | SF MCE Consultant�Connect for more SF MCE tips, audits & best practices
Q&A
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