3 Key Highlights of Oracle Eloqua Release 485

If one thing is constant in email marketing, it’s change. Change in tactics, deliverability guidelines, design standards… and, of course, our marketing tools! The latest updates to the Oracle Eloqua platform came out over the past few weekends, with Release 485 reaching Pod 1 users just a few days ago. We’ll see tweaks across the board, but three changes promise to affect how we use Oracle Eloqua every day.

Program Canvas

With the upcoming depreciation of cloud connectors starting next week, we won’t be able to add new cloud connector instances. Instead, Oracle Eloqua users are looking to Program Canvas to take advantage of the Oracle AppCloud tools.

As of Release 485, Program Canvas can manage more processes we Eloquans use every day, including critical functions of:

• Subscribe/Unsubscribe contacts
• Move/Add contacts to Program Builder

This second function is crucial to a smooth transfer from the old Cloud Connector platform to the new AppCloud platform. Rather than recreate each Program Builder managing an Eloqua instance, we can now perform new AppCloud actions on contacts and custom objects in Program Canvas. Then, we can employ our existing Program Builder configurations to execute the remaining processes.

Forms

Another process affected by the phase-out of Cloud Components is the Form Population App. Oracle Eloqua has moved this configuration into the main functionality of the Form Editor. Four population options are available:

• Preference Center: Pre-populate checkbox fields to display a contact’s global subscription status or email group status.
• Query String: Populate a field with a query string value. This feature does not work on fields that are used to redirect form submitters to a webpage.
• Advanced Field Merge via Custom Data Objects: Merge in a field value from a Custom Object linked with the form submitter. In Custom Data Objects with a one-to-many relationship, we can define whether we want to merge the value from the contact’s first created, last created, or last modified Custom Object Record.
• Static Value: We’ve always had the opportunity to populate the back end of a form field with a static value; now we also can display that value in the field visible to the form submitter.

It’s important to note a few limitations and essential tasks:

• This functionality is implemented on a 1:1 basis; That is, the configuration for a form may only be used on one Eloqua landing page. If we want to display different field values on each landing page, we’ll need to create a separate form for each page.
• The tool will not populate an Eloqua form hosted on a non-Eloqua landing page, although it is possible to implement field population on an external page using scripts.
• As of March 31, all existing instances of the Form Population App will cease to function. To ensure uninterrupted service, it’s key to update forms with this built-in population functionality before this date.

Lead Scoring

There’s always a fuzzy view of the outcome when we start lead scoring. The first time we activate a model, we can expect an anxious wait to see how our database stacks up. With Release 485, Oracle Eloqua has taken out some of the guesswork.

Now, while configuring a scoring model, we can preview the scores that will be applied to records in our database. Not only does this feature display the profile and engagement scores, it breaks down the criteria that contributed to the result. With this improved visibility, we can better predict the accuracy of our metrics and scoring thresholds.

A lot of changes are coming for us marketers over the next several weeks. Although they are for the better, they’re definitely going to keep us on our toes. Feel free to drop us an email or leave a note in the comments to talk more about what this means for Oracle Eloqua!

If you have Eloqua and you need support with email strategy or building emails, please contact us!  We love helping companies transform their marketing automation.