Velocity Scripting in Marketo 101

For the uninitiated, Velocity Scripting allows usage of relevant content stored in opportunities and custom objects dynamically inside emails for lead nurturing. Velocity shows dynamic content in emails on the basis of user preferences. This data can be fetched from the lead database, custom objects, custom fields, etc.

If Marketo is your preferred marketing automation platform, this is just the read for you to know how Velocity Scripting can help you scale your marketing campaigns.

What Can Velocity Scripting Do for You?

Since Velocity is a Java-based template engine, it can be used for several purposes like generate webpages, PostScript, SQL, and other output from templates. A few applications of Velocity Scripting are:

1. Email Personalization: Web developers use Velocity to create HTML emails with placeholders (default values) for dynamic values. When the email is previewed in Marketo, it would show the dynamic content based on the database values of the lead.

2. Promo-code Generator: Velocity Scripting is also used to create promotional codes using random number generator functions. It also includes additional information for users to find out the validity of the promo codes.

3. Transactional Emails: Velocity Scripting is used to create transactional emails like order details. These emails are sent dynamically on the basis of the users’ orders. There are two kinds of custom objects in Marketo for transactional emails:

• Products: Product custom objects contain a list of all the products offered by a brand
• Orders: Order custom objects contain the information of the specific orders of the users

These two custom objects are then combined to send dynamic transactional emails.

How Can You Benefit from Velocity Scripting?

With the several applications of Velocity Scripting, come the several benefits it has. We’ve listed the major benefits of Velocity Scripting for you. These are:

• You can use it to generate web applications/emails as a direct replacement of JSP
• Since JavaScript cannot be used directly in emails, Velocity Scripting saves the day by being the only source to make dynamic emails
• You can leverage it to personalize data, subject lines, announcements, and other content, thus potentially increasing the click rates of the emails

How has Grazitti Leveraged Velocity Scripting in Marketo?

We pride ourselves in being LaunchPoint partners with Marketo. We have made optimum use of every functionality that Marketo is capable of and Velocity Scripting is no exception. To cite an example, we worked on weekly newsletters for one of our customers where they were sending them as static emails. We leveraged Velocity Scripting in 3 different ways:

1. Dynamic Announcements: We leveraged Velocity to send the users relevant announcements that they had signed up for. With this approach, the customer saw a 40% increase in email click rates. We also used Velocity for other content like Preferred Training Centers, Training Blogs, Developers’ Banners, etc.

2. Transactional Emails: For transactional emails, we used Velocity to map Order IDs with Product IDs to fetch all the details into the email like price, promo-code, shipping details, etc.

3. Personalized Subject Lines: We used Velocity to make personalized subject lines using information like Job Titles, Gender, and other data objects.

Velocity Scripting in Marketo is no rocket science if applied correctly. If you think you could use an extra set of hands to implement the Velocity Scripting functionality in your email assets, your extended Marketo team at Grazitti will be happy to pitch in, thus making you see an elevated engagement in your email marketing campaigns.

Want to do away with your Velocity Scripting Woes in Marketo? Contact Us!