Enabling Your Customer Engagement Success

Microsoft Dynamics Marketing: Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Microsoft Dynamics Marketing has been retired. For Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Marketing, please CLICK HERE.

At Vepro we have extensive experience of training and supporting organisations in their adoption of Microsoft Dynamics Marketing. Below are a collection of frequently asked questions and answers that we have collected from various sources and added some background information and easy search functionality. If you can't find sufficient answers here, please feel free to CONTACT US!

MDM FAQs

Question Answer Background Keywords
Why am I unable to see Media Expenses in the MDM menus? The MDM User Privileges must be set up with a User Type of Media Buyer. There is a slightly different set of features offered with the Media Buyer privileges. Media Expenses
Is Microsoft Power BI part of MDM? Not directly, however MDM data is published in OData tables. Therefore you can access all the MDM published data in Power BI. In MDM Settings, Site Settings use the OData(Rest) URL in the Organisational Data Service section. Within Power BI to connect - Click Get Data, select OData feed, add the OData(Rest) URL from MDM, Sign in with Organisational account, use OAuth setting. The OData tables are progressively incremented with each new release of MDM. You can download the Microsoft Power BI Desktop Designer to create your own customised views of MDM data. Power BI and MDM
How do I Customise the style of a Landing Page? You can add CSS in the Landing Page Header, Body and Footer panels. For maximum flexibility you may ask Microsoft Support to disable the HTML Sanitiser that prevents the addition of JavaScript. Landing Page Customisation
Can I synch up Custom Entities between MDM and CRM? Currently the standard MDM does not allow you to create special queries based on Custom entities. There is a standard set of entities that are connected between MDM and CRM controlled by the Connector component. You can add Custom Contact fields within the standard Contact Entity and share the Contact information between CRM and MDM. The MDM/CRM Connector is well documented in the following Blog prepared by John Birnbaum of Microsoft Technical support: Here! Note, that is possible to customise the MDM/CRM Connector with the Vepro Customer Engagement Toolset (Vepro CE Tools). For example, using the Vepro CE Tools it is possble to add more Contact Interaction data in CRM. Custom Entities in MDM
I want to analyse the data that our Contact has added to Landing Page. Where can I read this data that is created when a Landing Page is submitted? When a Contact adds some data in a Landing Page and submits the form an MDM Lead record is created. The Lead record contains Lead Interaction records in the Landing Page section, and the Landing Page form data contents are held in the Lead Interaction record. Lead Interactions are not synchronised to CRM in the standard MDM system. One tip is to add the required data fields as User Defined Fields (UDF) on the Marketing Contact. Then you add the Custom Contact UDF field to the Landing Page form layout. Then the Custom Contact UDF field can be sent to CRM. (assuming that the Custom Contact UDF field has been mapped to CRM in the MDM Connector) The Lead Interactions are published in the OData table, but must be parsed out of a plain text format in which it is published. The Vepro CE Tools have a utility to make these awkward Landing Page data fields more easily available, and available in CRM. Lead Interactions and Landing Pages
Can I deactivate an activated Email? Once the Email has been activated it cannot be deactivated. The best approach is to Copy the Email that you want to deactivate, edit the details , than activate the new email. Then add the new email to your Campaign Automation flow. Email
What Webinar services does MDM work with? You can only connect to an On-Premise Lync Server. MDM does not work for any cloud based Webinar Services. (Btw you could add your own separate Webinar Invite Hyperlink to a Marketing Event Invitation Email. Then the Contact would click the Hyperlink to register for your Webinar) Note that when you set up Events Registration Items there is a box that you can check for a Lync based Webinar. Beware here: MDM will slow to a stop, if you do not have an available Lync Server. Webinars
Does MDM Email scale the images in the Email editor? Images in Emails are adjusted to some degree, as the images are adjusted to the device. Images are only ever scaled down and made smaller. It is advisable to create the images with the correct size for the Email page layout, before uploading them into the Email Marketing directory in MDM Assets & Media, Files. Email Images
Can I run multiple MDM tenant organisations? No, you can only connect one MDM system to a single CRM organisation. More than one CRM cannot point to one MDM and vice versa more than one MDM cannot point to one CRM instance. MDM Multi Tenancy
Can I add Custom Fields to the Marketing Company record? Yes. Custom fields can be added throughout the MDM system. You must always check that the MDM Entities synchronise with CRM. As documented in this LINK. You can add as many records as you choose to the Contact record. Other records such as the Campaign or Program have more limited User Defined fields available. User Defined Fields have different definitions and can include Category lists, text, numeric & date fields. User Defined Fields
Can I add file attachments to Marketing Emails? No, you must add a hyperlink to a stored file to the Marketing Email. If you have specific documents related to particular Contacts, such as Contracts etc, that must be emailed, then you would create a Transactional Email using the MDM SDK that would import the required document as a link to an Xml document file. File Attachments, Transactional Emails
How do I avoid Emails ending up in junk? You need to work with Microsoft Support team who will help to set up the appropriate Server Policy Framework (SPF) settings, as well as the Domain Keys to DNS. This is a task for your DNS Administrator. Raise a Microsoft Support Ticket for the advice. Email SPF/DNS, Junk & Spam settings
Can I change the URL addresses of the Email Plug ins, eg Landing Page and Subscription Centres, in the Email as they are rather unintuitive? Currently it is not possible to add your company name to the MDM Landing Page or Subscription URL. Remember that you can change the Text of the hyperlink in the Email. MDM creates the URL address for each Landing Page and Campaign combination. Landing Page URLs
Where can I find documentation for the MDM SDK? There is a well documented MSDN web site HERE Vepro can offer advice and guidance if required. MDM SDK Documentation
When do Leads transfer from MDM to CRM? Assuming that the MDM Connector is running correctly, and the Lead Scoring Rules have been added, then MDM Leads will be sent to CRM when they are marked as Sales Ready. In reality the Lead is synchronised immediately, but with a status of Inactive in CRM. You add Lead Scoring Rules to define when a Lead is qualified to be Sales Ready. Sales Ready Leads
Why are Opportunities only transferred from MDM to CRM? This is because the Sales Workflow is assumed to take place in CRM. Opportunities are not sent back from CRM to MDM. The MDM Opportunity record may only be really suitable for configurations where MDM is running in a standalone system, without a supporting CRM system. Opportunities
How can I see Website Traffic in MDM? There is a standard MDM Online Visitors view which lists all visits to Websites in which your Tracking Codes are running. Web site behaviour is published in OData tables. The standard Microsoft Power BI MDM template offers some simple views of Web visits to start with. Website Traffic reporting
How can I control which Email sender address is used? You can specify the Sender Address on the Staff Contact record. Where the Email sender varies, then you can add an Expression written in Razor code to derive the Sender email address. For example you could send the Email from the Contacts's prime contact, held as a User Defined field on Contact record. See Razor Code advice HERE Email Sends
How can I specify the Domain address of the Email Sender Address? You can define the sender Email Domain for the Company in the MDM Settings, Site Settings, Marketing Automation page. This enables you to define the Allowed Domains that can be used to send Emails from your organisation. This is a useful defense to ensure that you do not send out an Email Campaign from an unsuitable Email Domain address. Email Domains
If I have a Campaign Automation running can I resend an Email? (If I notice that the email address was wrong for example?) No, this is not possible. You would have to add a new Contact record and add it to the Marketing List. This follows on from an earlier question. Once a Contact is processed, then the Contact cannot be re-processed. Campaign Automation Advice
How can I see Event registrations and attendance in CRM activities? Event registrations and attendance data is not automatically transferred from MDM to CRM unless you implement the Vepro Customer Engagement Tools which will enable you to customise the MDM CRM Connector. Alternatively you could create a Marketing List of Registrants or Attendees in MDM and then the List will synchronise to CRM. You can see the event registrations and attendance information in the OData dataset. Then connect CRM to OData via a tool such as Power BI. MDM Events in CRM
If a contact appears in multiple lists in a Campaign, will they receive multiple emails? No, MDM will only send one Marketing Email to the Contact as determined by the list priority. Remember, that you can use lists to exclude contacts by using suppression lists functionality Multiple Marketing Lists in a Campaign
How do I avoid Email overload for my Contacts when we are sending out many Campaigns and our contacts may be targeted by different campaigns? You can set up Cross Campaign rules to limit the emails received across the organisation for your chosen periods. In MDM Settings and Rules & Models, the Cross campaign rules can be set up at Campaign, Program or Company level. The rules for the Cross Campaign controls are very flexible. Note that you need to be aware of the rules expecially when preparing test campaigns with test emails. Sometimes test emails may be blocked because Cross Campaign are being applied. Cross Campaign Rules
Can I add a Subscription Centre with a limited set of Subscription Lists for my contacts to sign up to? After MDM Version 19.5 you can add a customised Subscription Centres so that Contacts can add their names and subscribe to selected Subscription Lists. Remember that all Subscription Centres require an Unsubscribe from all option. In earlier versions this was not possible. Landing Pages with a customised Subscription Centre
Why are some of my Leads marked in red text? Red text implies the Lead is running late, beyond the Due Date and needs some action. Note, that the same rule applies for Tasks. Late running Tasks are also marked in red. Late Leads & Tasks
When a Marketing Contact submits a Landing Page how do I transfer the Contact to another web page? You add the Landing Page Redirect URL field and that will take the Contact to another website after submitting the Landing Page. You will see the Redirect field in the Landing Page Forms Details section, underneath the Capcha field. Landing Page Redirect URL field.
How are Email Quota limits controlled? You purchase monthly MDM Marketing Email volumes, to create an quota allowance. If the quota limit is reached in mid Email send, then the remaining emails will be sent after the Licence has been purchased. In early versions of MDM you were only allowed to use 50% of your monthly allowance per day. After the MDM 18.2 Version the 50% limit in one day was removed. Email volumes
Can I lock certain areas of an Email Template? No, if the user creates an email from a Read Only MDM Email Template then the whole email can be changed. You can set up privileges to ensure that the Templates are only created and edited by limited users. Email Templates
What does the Google Analytics check box field mean when you create a Marketing Email? Checking this field will add some extra tracking codes to your marketing emails. The tracking tags are as follows: Source = Microsoft Dynamics Marketing, Medium = Email, Term = Blank, Content = Blank, Campaign = Email Message Name. Email Google Analytics
Where are my Marketing Contacts after a successful import? They have disappeared. Remember to click the show view all/view my button to show all records, not just the records created by you. Imported records will be created by the system account as specified in the connector. Contact List
How do I see who has unsubscribed from my Marketing List? Open the Email Message. Then open the Contacts Tab. You will see the Type of Unsubscribes. Click Excel button to export. If the Contact has clicked "Unsubscribe from all" in the Subscription Centre then the Contact will be removed from all lists. Email Performance Unsubscribe.
What is the difference between Leads in MDM and CRM? In MDM there are Contacts with Leads. Leads are scored and when deemed to be Sales Ready they pass into CRM and Contacts are made visible. Actually as soon as Contacts arrive in MDM, say through the submission of a Landing Page, the Contacts pass in to CRM. These Contacts carry the status of insignificant, until the Lead is deemed to be Sales Ready. MDM Contacts & Leads with CRM
On the Campaign canvas, what sort of Bounce does the Trigger work on? The Campaign Automation trigger will act on the Hard Bounces. You must five the Campaign some time to settle after it is activated, plus it is worth using the scheduling options after the triggers. In the case of Soft Bounces, the MDM system will try to resend the email five times, and if it fails to deliver the email, MDM will then define the email as a Hard Bounce. Then the Campaign Trigger will be fired. Campaign Trigger on Bounces
Can a visit to a Web site add to an overall Lead Score? This is standard MDM Lead Scoring capability. You just need to prepare MDM to track Website visits correctly. Some Website preparation is required: i) You need to create an MDM Website record that creates a tracking script code. ii) Then you copy the MDM Website tracking script code onto the web page that you want to monitor. iii) Create an MDM Lead Scoring Model iv) Add the incremental scores for a Website visit in the Lead Scoring Model. v) MDM tracks the Contact's Website visits and stores information in local cookies. vi) When a Contact submits a Landing Page, MDM collects personla details in Cookies. vi) If the Website Visitor has also submitted a Landing Page then MDM can match the known Contact details with the Website visitor. vii) Scores for the Website visits are added to the related Lead Scoring Model. Lead Scoring Model
What is the best way to track Bounced Emails? When MDM hard bounces an Email, normally the email address will be removed to prevent further email errors. Default Hard Bounce rules are set in the MDM Settings/Marketing Automation page. The Email Performance tab will show all the Hard Bounced contacts. Select the Contacts to see the empty Email field. A second approach would be to create a Dynamic Marketing list to collect all contacts that have been hard bounced. When you create the Dynamic Query simply select the contacts based on Email Marketing Behaviour. Then you select Active Contacts with an Email Marketing hard Bounce Status of Greater or Equal to 1. Then you will have a list of Contacts requiring further research, data cleaning, and an accurate Email address. Hard Bounces Administration
How can I see who has downloaded my Content in my Marketing Emails? MDM enables you to track Hyperlinks clicked in an email. You add the Hyperlinks to your Content in the Email. Then you add a Trigger based on the clicked Hyperlink. Plus you can create a new Marketing list based on the Link clicked. The result is that you have a list of Contacts who have clicked the Hyperlink to your Content. Note, to set this up you must work in two steps. Firstly you must create the Email in full and you must activate it before you can create the Triggers to the Hyperlinks in your Email. If you make an error, then you must copy the original email, amend it and then activate it before adding it into the Campaign workflow. Email Marketing Content tracking
Why are some of my Leads and Tasks in Bold fold. Bold text implies that you have not opened the Task or Lead record. As previously noted, Red text tells you that you are overrunning the Due date. Therefore, a Bold and Red Task shows that you are not only running late but you have also not opened the record. Leads and Tasks
When do I see actual Contact names in the Web Sites visitor views and reports? As previously described, MDM knows about individual Contacts after the Contact has visited an MDM Landing Page and submitted the form. MDM retains details in local cookie files. Then MDM is able to match the Contact information with the Website visitors. The Web visitors will be anonymous if a Landing Page has not been submitted by the Contact. You must first create an MDM Website record for the Web site that you want to track. The MDM Website record creates a Script that you must add to your Web Page. This MDM Website Tracking code then compares the Landing Page visitor details to the Website visitor, so that you know which of your Marketing Contacts has visited your tracked Websites. If you visit a Web site first you will be anonymous, but then your Contact details will be visible after you submit a Landing Page. Website Visitors
What contact fields can I add when I import contacts to MDM? You can add any field that the appears on the Contact record. You create a CSV file with columns to match the fields that you want to import through the MDM Import routines. When you create a CSV to import Contact data, it is helpful to firstly use the MDM Contact View to create the columns that you will want to import. Then you export the Contact list view to Excel from MDM. The advantage is that the Excel format will be set. Finally you save the Excel Spreadsheet as a regular CSV file ready for Contact Import. Note, that the Vepro CE Tools have some useful features to set up standard File Import Templates that simplify the Contact Import routines. Contact Imports
What User Security privileges do I need to create and work with both Marketing Lists and Dynamic Marketing Lists? The User must have Media Buyer Type with Segmentation privileges to create both types of Marketing List in MDM. Note that Dynamic Lists that are created in CRM will be replicated in MDM as regular Marketing Lists. Marketing Lists User Priviliges
Can I rename the the Subscription Centre Name that appears on the Marketing Email? Yes, this is straightforward. Firstly you add the Subscription Centre Email Plug to the email. Then you click the Subscription Centre and check that the Hyperlink button (a chain icon) is highlighted. Click the Hyperlink and you will see the address of the Subscription Centre and the Title field. Change the Title field to suit. Advanced users could also use the HTML block to import the Subscription Centre Email Plug in and then make appropriate changes in the HTML code. Finally you copy the HTML code into the email. Renaming Subscription Centres
Can I create custom Solutions in MDM, in the same way as I can with CRM? No there is no option to create and copy customisations between different MDM systems. Solutions do not exists as a concept within the current MDM system MDM - CRM Solutions
What is the best way to handle high volume of emails? MDM will handle very high volumes of email. Customers often break the Lists up into sections to run within the campaign, to avoid Call Centre Overloads for example, and to maximise deliverability. For the first large Email Campaigns it is helpful to work with the Microsoft Tech team to ensure that the new transmissions are expected, and then any uxexpected issues can be resolved quickly. High Volume Emails
How do I ensure that my Campaign Automation collects contacts that are additional to my initial marketing list? This is a really important MDM Campaign Automation concept. Contacts that do not appear in the initial Marketing Lists will not appear mid way through the Campaign Automation flow. For example, someone might submit Contact details to a Landing Page although they were not on the original Marketing List, (because the link to the Landing Page was on a Twitter post). The MDM Solution is to create a Campaign Automation flow that starts with a Dynamic List. The Dynamic List must be designed to collect all Contacts who have submitted Landing Page forms and therefore Leads and Lead Interactions for that Campaign. This approach ensures that Contacts who come to the Landing Page are automatically swept into your Campaign Automation flow. Campaign Automation Advice
My Lists seem to have incorrect numbers of Contacts? Sometimes Contact numbers do look suspicious. The MDM system will update the Contact counts in the background, so at times the numbers look out of synch. If you are working with Dynamic Queries you can always click the "Apply" button to refresh the Query. Marketing Lists
Can an MDM Contact be both Staff and a Vendor? Yes, this is important in MDM for example where you have Sub Contractors who are working with your teams like regular Staff members, but are also actually external suppliers who will be sending you an invoice for their services. Staff, Vendor and Client Contacts are not synchronised with CRM. (Unlike Marketing Contacts who are synchronised with CRM) MDM Contacts
Which MDM records synchronise both ways to and from CRM? MDM Marketing Companies <--> CRM Accounts MDM Marketing Contacts <--> CRM Contacts Marketing Lists <--> CRM Marketing Lists MDM Campaigns <--> CRM Campaigns MDM Notes <--> CRM Notes MDM Tasks <--> CRM MDM Tasks The MDM Connector software controls which entities will actually be synchronised between CRM & MDM. MDM/CRM Connector
Which MDM records travel one way only to CRM? MDM Sales Ready leads --> CRM Leads MDM Email Marketing Messages --> CRM Campaigns MDM Online visitors --> CRM Web Behavioural Data Email massages are import to note here. MDM/CRM Connector
Which CRM record travels to MDM? CRM Opportunities --> MDM Opportunities As previously described, once the Sales processes are under way in CRM the Opportunity information is returned to MDM. And can be used to calculate Campaign ROI. MDM/CRM Connector
How do I see Event Information in CRM? As described above your MDM Events are not synchronised to CRM. One solution would be to add the MDM Event to an MDM Campaign record, which will synchronise with CRM. Or, you could consider the use of Vepro CE Tools which will add some customised Event Entities that can be shared between MDM and CRM. MDM Events in CRM
My Event teams use various other software tools for running the Ticketing and Event attendance. How do I import the Attendee information into CRM and MDM? You can import Attendees as Contacts into an MDM Marketing List, which you can synchronise to CRM. Add the new Attendee List to your Marketing Automation flow and then use the Triggers to set the correct Registration or Attendance status. You could also import the Attendees directly to CRM and then synchronise the Contacts to MDM. The Vepro CE Tools make importing Contacts from external systems really straightforward. Event Attendance
My Marketing Emails are sent from Senior Marketing Team, how do I prevent the Email sender's email inbox filling up with replies, or out of office messages? Use the "Email Reply to" field in the Marketing Email Setting panel to add your Email Administrator who will control the incoming replies to your Marketing Emails. You can create a special Contact for this. Email Marketing Reply handling
Where can I see how many Email messages have been sent out? The MDM Administrator can see the Email Sent volumes across all Campaigns. You find this information in the MDM Settings, Marketing Automation page. Marketing Email Send Volumes
Will my Test Emails be added to the Marketing Email usage Quota? Yes, they will! The Email Quota includes Activated Emails as well as Test Emails. Marketing Emails forTesting.
How can I create a Blind Copy to ensure that we keep a copy of the Email Campaigns that have been sent out? MDM has no specific solution for this. However, the answer is quite easy to sort out by adding your own Copy Contacts to a special Marketing list, that you could add to the Campaign Template. A more advanced solution would be to add the extra Copy Contact to the Marketing list with an extra CRM process. Email Marketing Blind Copy
Why can I not see my Marketing Email in the Campaign Automation workflow? Check that your Marketing Email has the correct Designation. A regular Commercial Email will not appear in a Campaign workflow. The Designation must be Campaign Automation. Marketing Email Designation
What is a One Click Subscribe Marketing Email Plug in? When you click Marketing Email Plug ins you will see a list of all the Subscription Lists. The Contact who receives your Marketing Email can click the One Click Subscription link to add their details to the Subscription list. You should maintain the list of Active Subscription lists to ensure that the Drop down list of Subscription Lists remains manageable. Remember too that the Subscription Centre can contain a list of Subscription lists for your Contacts to Subscribe or Unsubscribe from. Marketing Email Plug in for One Click List Subscriptions
Can I use my Company font in my Marketing Emails? No, you must use a font provided by Microsoft in the Marketing Email Editor. You need to find a close approximation of your Company font. Note that you can create your own totally customised Marketing Email in HTML Marketing Emails and House fonts
Can I add my own images to my Marketing Emails from my own content store? You must store the images that you want to add to the MDM Marketing Emails in the MDM Media Library in the MDM Assets & Media system. (In the Email Marketing Folder) You must store the files in the MDM Email Marketing Folder section. These files will be publicly available when added to your Marketing Emails. MDM files disk space is a Dynamics 365 price list item. Email Marketing Files
Can I delete MDM Email Marketing image file from the MDM system? In general, MDM records cannot be deleted, however it is possible to delete files from the MDM Assets & Media system. You must mark the files for deletion in the MDM Assets and Media system. Then the Administrator can Permanently Delete Inactive files from MDM in the Settings, Administration, File Options area. MDM Image file deletion
Can I design an Email layout in HTML in an another external email designer? Yes, you would create an HTML based Email, then copy the external HTML code into the MDM Email Marketing Message record. You would not use the MDM Email Editor. The advantage of using the HTML emails is that you can design any layout that you choose, the disadvantage is that you lose the immediate flexibility of the MDM Email Design editor. If you use the MDM Email Editor you can also add blocks of HTML code for extra flexibility. MDM Email editor HTML