Real-time journeys transition FAQs

What is Dynamics 365 Customer Insights? Is it a new product?

The new Dynamics 365 Customer Insights offering combines the standalone Dynamics 365 Customer Insights and Dynamics 365 Marketing apps into a single offering. While the name is unchanged, the new Customer Insights offering is expanded to include both the Dynamics 365 Customer Insights – Journeys (formerly Dynamics 365 Marketing) and Dynamics 365 Customer Insights – Data (formerly the standalone Dynamics 365 Customer Insights) applications.

As shown in the visual above, Customer Insights - Data and Customer Insights – Journeys are sold together but they're still separate apps and are provisioned separately. You don't need to have or use Customer Insights – Data to be able to use Customer Insights – Journeys (and vice versa). We offer them together as part of the new licensing because they work better together and complement each other.

Learn more: Dynamics 365 Customer Insights FAQs

What changes to Dynamics 365 Marketing did Microsoft announce recently?

Microsoft recently announced three changes to Dynamics 365 Marketing:

1. Name change: Dynamics 365 Marketing is now called "Customer Insights – Journeys." This is only a name change. There are no functionality changes on account of the name change. Customer Insights – Journeys continues to contain outbound marketing, real-time journeys, and event planning capabilities (the same as before the name change).
2. License and SKU changes: On September 1, 2023, Microsoft launched a new license and SKU called Customer Insights that allows customers to obtain both “Customer Insights – Data” (previously known as Customer Insights) and “Customer Insights – Journeys” (previously known as Dynamics 365 Marketing) as a single SKU with a single simplified license.
3. Transition to real-time: Generative AI and many other new innovations are only coming to the real-time journeys area. Therefore, we're encouraging all customers who are still using outbound marketing to transition to real-time. Similarly, new customers should start in real-time only to avoid having to transition later. To facilitate this change, new orgs are now provisioned only with real-time journeys by default. After provisioning, existing outbound marketing customers will see an "enable" link to add back outbound marketing functionality. If you don't see the enable link, follow the guidance for requesting outbound marketing to be added. These changes are only applied to new orgs, they aren't applied to existing orgs. Existing orgs can continue to receive and apply monthly and wave release updates as usual.

I'm an existing Dynamics 365 Marketing customer using outbound marketing. How do these changes impact me?

As an existing outbound marketing customer, you can expect the following:

1. Name change
   1. This is a name change only and doesn't change any functionality.
   2. The name change is applied automatically with the September 2023 monthly update.
2. License and SKU changes
   1. No immediate changes or impact: Your current license and entitlements continue to work as before.
   2. When it's time to renew your license, you'll have the option to renew your current license or switch to the new Customer Insights license. Until then, there's no change to your current license or entitlement. More details about what is included in the license and pricing is available on the Customer Insights pricing page. Your partner or authorized reseller can also provide more detailed information and offers available to you.
3. Transition to real-time journeys - As an existing outbound customer, you won't see any change in your existing orgs, but you'll see the following changes in new orgs:
   1. New org creation: By default, the new org will only include real-time journeys. To add outbound marketing, use the "enable" link on the Settings > Version page. The same process is required if an existing org is reinstalled, copied, or otherwise put through any steps that cause a reset or reinstall. If you don't see the enable link, follow the guidance for requesting outbound marketing to be added
   2. New features available only in real-time journeys: You should start planning for transitioning to real-time journeys. At this time, we haven't announced a date for removing outbound. However, product enhancements and many new exciting capabilities with generative AI and Copilots will only be available in real-time journeys.

I'm a new Dynamics 365 Marketing customer. How do these changes impact me?

As a new customer, you can expect the following:

1. Name change
   1. This is a name change only and doesn't change any functionality.
   2. The name change is applied automatically with the September 2023 monthly update.
2. License and SKU changes
   1. Already purchased a Dynamics 365 Marketing license previously: You can use a previously purchased license and there's no need to purchase the new license. When your license is up for renewal, you have the option to renew your current license or switch to the new Customer Insights license. More details about what is included in the license and pricing are available on the Customer Insights pricing page. Your partner or authorized reseller can also provide more detailed information and offers available to you.
   2. If you haven't yet purchased a Dynamics 365 Marketing license, you're no longer able to purchase that specific license (if you were in the process of purchase, you may work with your sales team to get an exception to purchase the previous license). Work with your partner or reseller to purchase the new Customer Insights license that provides a better value and includes additional benefits.
3. Transition to real-time journeys - As a new customer, when you provision Customer Insights – Journeys (previously Dynamics 365 Marketing), you'll only see real-time journeys by default. If you have specific reasons that prevent you from using real-time journeys and you need outbound marketing, contact support and request an exception. Upon review and approval, the product team will add outbound marketing to your org.

How is Dynamics 365 Marketing impacted by this announcement?

Dynamics 365 Marketing is becoming Dynamics 365 Customer Insights - Journeys. This is a change in a name, not a merge between or within apps. The current Marketing app functionality remains the same. It continues to have outbound and real-time modules. For new Dynamics 365 Customer Insights - Journeys customers, the focus will solely be on Customer Insights - Journeys, ensuring a modernized and efficient approach to customer engagement. This shift highlights the commitment to providing businesses with powerful tools to deliver personalized experiences, ultimately driving growth and fostering stronger customer connections.

Over the next year, we invite all customers to fully transition from outbound to Customer Insights - Journeys. Customer Insights - Journeys has already surpassed traditional outbound marketing in functionality, effectiveness, usability testing results, satisfaction surveys, and our innovations and upcoming AI features are exclusively focused on Customer Insights - Journeys.

Starting in August 2023, new customers will access Customer Insights - Journeys only. Current customers provisioning new environments will also get Customer Insights - Journeys by default, but if necessary, can add outbound using a self-serve experience. More details: Move from outbound to Customer Insights - Journeys

Why should I transition to real-time journeys?

Customer Insights - Journeys introduces new ways of marketing by integrating the latest AI technologies, while covering and enhancing traditional outbound scenarios. It offers a wealth of benefits to deliver engaging B2C and B2B experiences.

By transitioning to Customer Insights - Journeys now, you can enjoy the following benefits:

Leverage AI to do more with less

Customer Insights - Journeys already assists marketers with several Copilot capabilities to:

• Target the right audience simply by describing your segments using everyday words.
• Generate engaging email content within seconds simply by writing key points or selecting a topic and a tone of voice matching your message.
• Receive images recommendations from the library that complement your emails.

Furthermore, in the upcoming months, you'll be able to use new innovative Copilot capabilities to:

• Easily rewrite your existing content to make your messages more compelling.
• Create new journeys just by describing them in simple words.
• Prevent messages from sending during unwanted times.
• Effortlessly style your emails and forms based on your website design.
• Get step by step guidance to authenticate your domain.

Optimize every interaction

• Experience seamless integration with Dynamics 365 Customer Insights – Data to capitalize on customer understanding and insights to enhance every interaction.
• Craft journeys for contact and lead entities in Dataverse, or profiles from Customer Insights.
• React to customers' actions instantly using out-of-the-box triggers, custom triggers, or triggers based on any data change in Dataverse all without writing any code.
• Refine your audience targeting with advanced segmentation capabilities and an unlimited number of segments.
• Deliver your messages through out-of-the-box text messages, push notifications, custom channels, and benefit from AI-powered channel optimization to reach customers on the most effective channel.
• Embrace hyper-personalization features like dynamic text and no-code conditional content to support 1:1 targeted, responsive campaigns tailored to individual preferences.

Unify sales and marketing

• Easily create powerful registration forms, identify leads, organize events or create nurturing journeys.
• Define granular qualification criteria to better identify and prioritize leads with the upcoming enhanced lead scoring builder.

Thanks to the deep integration of Customer Insights - Journeys and Dynamics 365 Sales, you can:

• Align your efforts with sellers by sharing a unified timeline of customer activities.
• Seamlessly transfer qualified leads to the sales team (upcoming) or engage sales representatives within your customer journey at exactly the right time by assigning a sales call or triggering a sales sequence to further increase the likelihood of closing deals.
• Continuously optimize your marketing efforts by using AI-powered attribution analytics to understand how your marketing activities contribute to your defined milestones.

Scale your business

• Leverage business units, brand profiles, and the new consent center to tailor Customer Insights - Journeys to cater to your business’ unique requirements.
• Scale your business with 300 million monthly interactions and reach up to 100 million marketing contacts.

Overall, transitioning to Customer Insights - Journeys is a powerful way for your businesses to improve marketing strategies, enhance customer engagement, and drive growth.

How do I start with Customer Insights - Journeys?

New customers will directly start in Customer Insights - Journeys. As a new customer you can start by exploring the main functionalities, create a journey, or send a quick email.

If you're a current customer using outbound, you are in “mixed-mode” where both outbound and Customer Insights - Journeys capabilities are available and can be used simultaneously. Our recommended approach is to start progressively with Customer Insights - Journeys and then ramp up after you have gained confidence. You can start using Customer Insights - Journeys for running new journeys. This way you have time to train and troubleshoot any dependencies or issues that may arise. Having created and successfully run a few real-time journeys, continue by moving your outbound journeys. This would be a great time to revisit and redesign them. For instance, many of your outbound journeys could flow more naturally and be reused by using triggers in Customer Insights - Journeys.

To make sure your transition to Customer Insights - Journeys is a success, we have designed a user-friendly interface that doesn't require extensive retraining - you'll experience interface enhancements that significantly improve usability and efficiency.

To easily kickstart delivering experiences using Customer Insights - Journeys, we've designed an email transition tool, made outbound segments available directly in Customer Insights - Journeys, and empowered you to generate more engaging content and revisit or create new journey within minutes thanks to our new AI-powered Copilot features.

Where can I get help setting up Customer Insights - Journeys?

Customer Insights - Journeys is already available. To get started, you can consult our learning center: Customer Insights - Journeys overview

If you're transitioning from outbound marketing, review our resource page (Real-time transition resources) to receive guidance and prepare your transition to Customer Insights - Journeys.

Reach out to your account manager with further questions or if help is needed.

What does this mean for outbound marketing?

Customer Insights - Journeys has already surpassed traditional outbound marketing in functionality and effectiveness, and our innovations and upcoming AI features are exclusively focused on the Customer Insights - Journeys. In the coming year, we'll be transitioning all customers to Customer Insights - Journeys to benefit from improved features to better engage your customers in the moment that matters. We'll continue to support outbound, but we don't intend to add new enhancements.

When will outbound marketing be deprecated?

At this time, we haven't announced a date for removing outbound marketing. However, product enhancements and many new exciting capabilities with generative AI and copilots will only be available in real-time journeys, therefore, we strongly encourage all customers still using outbound marketing to start transitioning to real-time journeys. We have many transition resources available for you here: Real-time journeys transition resources

Will transitioning to Customer Insights - Journeys require significant user retraining due to a new user interface?**

Transitioning to Customer Insights - Journeys doesn't require extensive user retraining, particularly for the most common marketing activities listed below. In these areas, you'll either encounter no differences in the user interface (UI) between outbound and Customer Insights - Journeys, or you'll experience UI enhancements that significantly improve usability and efficiency.

Email creation

• Users familiar with the outbound email designer will find the same interface in Customer Insights - Journeys for basic design and editing capabilities. The interface offers easier and more efficient personalization without need for any coding/scripting.

Event planning

• The user experience for event planning and forms remains the same in both outbound and Customer Insights - Journeys, eliminating the need for additional training.

Forms

• Forms benefit from a revamped user experience based on the email planner.

Segment building

• The segment builder in Customer Insights - Journeys has a user-friendly and intuitive UI. It now supports natural language instructions, simplifying segment creation. Users can provide instructions in everyday language instead of complex queries.

Journeys

• The journey UI has been completely redesigned in Customer Insights - Journeys. Customer feedback indicates that the new UI is more user-friendly, efficient, and natural. Any retraining required for the redesigned journey UI is considered a worthwhile investment, as it improves usability and effectiveness.

What is the new scale of Customer Insights - Journeys and how does it compare to the previous level?

Marketers can now reach up to reach up to 100,000,000 contacts or leads and send up to 300,000,000 messages per month in Customer Insights - Journeys. This is over 3x the previous outbound marketing limit of 30,000,000 contacts and 100,000,000 monthly interactions.

This added capacity empowers marketers to deliver personalized experiences at scale and delight their customers in new ways. Additional interactions help marketers grow their business, whether by increasing their customer base in new markets, reaching additional geographies, promoting new products, or expanding their prospective customer pipeline to reach higher sales targets.

When is the increased scale available and is it available only for Customer Insights - Journeys?

The new scale of 100,000,000 contacts and 300,000,000 monthly interactions can only be unlocked with Customer Insights - Journeys. This is available immediately for customers who need to operate at the new scale. To learn more, reach out to your Microsoft representative.

Are there any additional costs associated with the increased scalability level? What is the implementation process?

There's a contact threshold of 10,000,000 contacts purchased that unlocks the new scale. Existing customers that need to upgrade or new customers must meet the contact threshold to unlock the new scale and receive the increased throughput.

To unlock the new scale, reach out to your Microsoft sales representatives with your requirements. The end-to-end process to upgrade to the new scale will be completed within two weeks.