Dynamics 365 Marketing is a marketing automation solution that enables the creation and execution of multichannel campaigns, generating qualified leads, personalizing the customer experience, and measuring the return on marketing investment (ROI). Microsoft Customer Insights is a Customer Data Platform (CDP) that allows the unification and enrichment of customer data, obtaining actionable insights, and activating customers in real-time.

The product integration between Dynamics 365 Marketing and Dynamics 365 Customer Insights aims to offer customers a complete and integrated solution to manage the customer lifecycle, from attraction to loyalty.

In this post, we will detail the changes in price, features, implementation, support, etc., with this integration and address the most frequently asked questions from customers along with related answers to the new Microsoft Customer Insights.

Pricing for Dynamics 365 Customer Insights (Data & Journeys)

The pricing for Dynamics 365 Marketing depends on the number of marketing contacts in your database. You can choose between two plans: the Base plan, which costs $1,500 per month for up to 10,000 contacts, and the Additional plan, which costs $250 per month for each additional 5,000 contacts. The price includes all features of Dynamics 365 Marketing, such as segmentation, email marketing, landing pages, forms, events, webinars, lead scoring, customer journeys, analytics, and reports.

The pricing for Microsoft Customer Insights depends on the volume of data processed on the platform. You can choose between two plans: the Standard plan, which costs $1,500 per month for up to 100,000 customer profiles and 1 billion interaction points per month, and the Premium plan, which costs $1,000 per month for each additional 100,000 profiles or 1 billion additional points. The price includes all features of Microsoft Customer Insights, such as data unification, data enrichment, advanced segmentation, predictive insights, real-time activation, and integration with analysis and artificial intelligence tools.

With the product integration between Dynamics 365 Marketing and Customer Insights, you can enjoy the benefits of both solutions by paying only for the Customer Insights plan that meets your data volume needs. In other words, you don’t need to pay for the Dynamics 365 Marketing plan if you are already a Dynamics 365 Customer Insights customer. This represents significant savings for customers with a large marketing contact base.

Features of the new Customer Insights

Microsoft’s new Customer Insights is a solution that integrates Dynamics 365 Marketing with Customer Insights, enabling the creation and management of personalized customer journeys based on data and artificial intelligence. With this solution, you can:

  1. Create, Enrich, and Integrate Customer Profiles: Aggregate, enrich, and integrate customer profiles from various sources such as CRM systems, ERP, web, social media, and IoT to gain a 360-degree view of customers.
  2. Integrate Marketing Data and Actions with Sales and Service Teams: Provide a consistent and relevant customer experience throughout their journey by integrating marketing data and actions with sales and service teams.
  3. Enrich Data with Demographic, Behavioral, and Predictive Information: Enhance data with demographic, behavioral, and predictive information using pre-built or customized AI models.
  4. Segment Customers Based on Attributes, Events, Affinities, and Scores: Group customers into homogeneous segments based on attributes, events, affinities, and scores. Analyze customers based on attributes, preferences, needs, behaviors, and propensity to purchase.
  5. Orchestrate Real-Time Journeys: Trigger personalized actions in the most suitable channels for each customer, such as email, SMS, push notifications, chatbots, and social media, orchestrating real-time journeys.
  6. Measure Journey Impact on Business Results: Utilize key performance indicators and advanced analytics to measure the impact of journeys on business results.
  7. Monitor and Measure Campaign and Customer Journey Performance: Track campaign and customer journey performance, including indicators like open rate, click-through rate, conversion, retention, and customer lifetime value (CLV).
  8. Create and Execute Personalized Multichannel Marketing Campaigns: Utilize predictive models and artificial intelligence to optimize delivery, content, and offers for personalized and multichannel marketing campaigns.

In summary, these features aim to provide marketing and sales professionals with a comprehensive and unified view of their customers, covering demographic, behavioral, and transactional data, as well as interactions across various channels and touchpoints.

What are the benefits of Dynamics 365 Customer Insights Data & Journey?

Dynamics 365 Customer Insights Data & Journey offers several benefits for organizations aiming to enhance their customer relationships and increase revenue. Some of these benefits include:

  • Increased Customer Loyalty and Satisfaction: Provide a personalized, consistent, and omnichannel experience, leading to higher customer loyalty and satisfaction.
  • Improved Efficiency and Productivity of Marketing and Sales: Automate and optimize campaigns and customer journeys, resulting in enhanced efficiency and productivity for marketing and sales teams.
  • Boost in Revenue and Profit: Identify and capitalize on cross-selling, upselling, and customer retention opportunities, contributing to increased revenue and profit.
  • Reduction in Operational and Infrastructure Costs: Utilize a single, cloud-based, integrated platform to decrease operational and infrastructure costs.
  • Enhanced Data Quality and Regulatory Compliance: Ensure data quality and comply with regulations by utilizing a secure, scalable platform compatible with privacy standards.

Requirements for Using Dynamics 365 Customer Insights Data & Journey

To use Dynamics 365 Customer Insights Data & Journey, you need:

  1. A subscription to Dynamics 365 Customer Insights or Dynamics 365 Marketing.
  2. An Azure Active Directory (AAD) account for user authentication.
  3. A stable network connection to access cloud services.
  4. A compatible web browser to access the user interface.

Getting Started

To initiate the use of Dynamics 365 Customer Insights Data & Journey, follow these steps:

  1. Set up Dynamics 365 Customer Insights Data & Journey in the Dynamics 365 admin portal.
  2. Connect data sources to Dynamics 365 Customer Insights Data & Journey using available connectors or by creating custom connectors.
  3. Define customer data unification rules using predefined algorithms or by creating custom algorithms.
  4. Enrich customer profiles using insights generated by Dynamics 365 Customer Insights Data & Journey or by integrating external insights.
  5. Create customer segments using available criteria or by defining custom criteria.
  6. Develop marketing campaigns using available templates or by creating custom models.
  7. Build customer journeys using available triggers, actions, and conditions or by defining custom triggers, actions, and conditions.
  8. Execute customer campaigns and journeys using available channels or by integrating external channels.
  9. Evaluate campaign and customer journey results using reports.

Implementation and Support

While Dynamics 365 Customer Insights is a powerful and flexible solution, realizing its full potential may require the assistance of a Microsoft partner. A Microsoft partner can:

  • Assist in defining customer data and journey strategies aligned with the company’s business objectives.
  • Configure and integrate Customer Insights with existing data sources and marketing systems.
  • Create and optimize AI models for enriching and segmenting customer data.
  • Design and execute customer journeys using marketing best practices and customer experience principles.
  • Monitor and assess the results of journeys, suggesting continuous improvements.

Dynamics 365 Customer Insights is an innovative solution that can transform how businesses engage with their customers, offering personalized, relevant, and timely experiences. To learn more about Dynamics 365 Customer Insights (Data & Journeys) and how a Microsoft partner can help implement and support this solution, feel free to get in touch with us.