Our Sarasota customer list is full of duplicates. Where do we start?
With rules, not tools. Decide what makes two records the same customer, such as matching email, phone or address, and which record wins when they conflict. We then run matching in a sandbox, review a sample with your staff, merge in production and switch on duplicate prevention for new entries. Seasonal and returning customers are the usual source of duplicates here, so address changes get extra attention.
Can you optimize Marketing Cloud journeys at the same time as core Salesforce?
Yes, and it often makes sense. Journeys depend on core data: fields, segments and consent. Cleaning customer records and definitions in Salesforce first, then updating audiences and journeys in Marketing Cloud, prevents campaigns from reaching the wrong people. We also retire journeys that no longer run and document the ones that remain, so your marketing team knows exactly which ones are live.
Our Sarasota board will ask whether this money changed anything. Which proof points does the project produce?
We agree measures before starting, such as login frequency, record completion, duplicate rates, time to complete common tasks and report usage, and capture a baseline. After changes are released, we measure again and share the comparison. Where a measure does not improve, we look at why and adjust. Those before-and-after figures also help leadership decide whether a further round of improvements is worthwhile.