Plans have been released for the 2022 Release Wave 1, the semi-annual feature upgrades for the Dynamics 365 suite of business applications. These feature releases keep you on the forefront of technology with improvements based off user feedback – so you can always count on quality updates that really make a difference in your workday.

The early access period of this release wave is now available, so talk to your Microsoft partner about validating all the latest updates and features. The entire update will be generally available and automatically enabled for users in April 2022.

Here’s everything you need to know about the new, standout features coming to Dynamics 365 Marketing with Release Wave 1:

Moments-based marketing

Real-time, moments-based marketing was a game changer out of last year’s release waves, so users can expect this aspect of Marketing to continue to grow and evolve as time goes on. Many of these features are based on enhanced data and AI capabilities, and these suggestions can be used to add a touch of high-quality personalization to every piece of marketing content. Highly personalized journeys can target contacts at just the right time with custom event-based journey triggers, like sending coupons to buyers who have abandoned their shopping carts.

Or, create segment-based journeys by focusing on who you’d like to target, and use data points and attributes to create fine-tuned segments. An improved segment builder helps users create segments based on customer and lead attributes like location, budget, past interactions with your marketing content, and more.

Journey branches can also interact more with SMS messages sent out to customers and can offer personalized content recommendations based on custom keywords – and journey actions can be added based on SMS interactions that you set up. When a customer sends an SMS message with a predefined custom keyword (think those “reply YES to confirm” auto-texts you likely receive), it will trigger the next action in the journey or start a Power Automate flow, which can then send out your conditional text in response (discount codes, shop items tailored to your customer, item restocks, etc.).

These SMS actions can easily be used in journeys to send reminders to customers and encourage them to engage with a CTA or complete a purchase. The possibilities are endless and exciting, and will help keep customers engaged from start to finish.

Personalize content with data and AI

The entire suite of Dynamics 365 apps continue to be data-driven to bring you the best results possible, and the main focus of data usage in Marketing is to ensure that your content is fine-tuned and tailored to reach every customer on a personalized level. Creating and sending out compelling content is what keeps customers hooked and keeps them coming back.

Setting up rules with AI-enhanced suggestions helps you create conditions to match every kind of customer in ways that will grab their attention—all using your existing customer data via past interactions and Dynamics 365 Customer Insights. Content and offers can be hyper-personalized to match specific preferences, interests, and motivations of each unique customer—from creating marketing emails, capitalizing on real-time marketing efforts, sending out targeted offers, and orchestrating highly personalized journeys, your own data lake will become your biggest asset.

AI-generated content suggestions can be used when creating emails and are based off past emails and campaigns created in Marketing. Gather fresh ideas while still staying true to your brand identity and voice, plus you’ll save time when brainstorming email content. And the best part is, AI features are easy to use and don’t utilize any additional coding or development on your part.

Collaborative content creation

As we’ve seen with many of the previous release waves, Microsoft is pushing collaboration as a major cornerstone of each and every application. Now, Teams chats are more embedded than ever into your Marketing workspace so you can stay in touch with team members across your entire organization when planning, executing, and collaborating on marketing campaigns. After all, engaged team members create engaging marketing materials.

And speaking of engaging marketing materials, customer journeys are now more personalized with journey features and all-new flow actions. Using custom event triggers, multiple customer journeys can run with one another, or can be used to trigger a Power Automate flow within the journey. Say a customer visits your site for the very first time and places an order – lucky you! Your journey for first-time buyers will run, and this first-time buyer journey can coincide with a journey that runs ongoing marketing efforts to encourage future orders as well. Strategically setting up custom event triggers can bridge the gap between two unrelated-but-similar-enough processes. Journeys and flows connected to event triggers will automatically run when a customer reaches the event tile within the journey – flows will run when a customer reaches certain tiles in a journey, so when an onboarding journey ends, they can be added to an ongoing nurture journey without added steps or busywork.

Journeys can also run when any of your Dynamics 365 applications note date changes – without needing any kind of additional development, coding, or complicated integrations. Yes, you read that correctly. New orders being placed, support tickets, cases, and more will all trigger a journey to start. Really, journeys can be created for whatever unique need you have, using any and every kind of data you’d like. And better yet, you’ll gain a unified view of customer activity across Sales, Marketing, and Customer Voice so you have all the information you need for informed interactions and personalized customer experiences – like real-time and outbound marketing activities.

We’re dedicated to keeping businesses ahead of the curve when it comes to the latest updates and cutting-edge features. If you’re interested in seeing how Dynamics 365 Marketing can elevate your marketing strategy, let us know. One of our skilled consultants will be in touch to answer all your questions with a free consultation and Discovery Call.