With Magic Robot v3.32 (2017) we introduced two key features to how Magic Robot decides which Campaign Responses win First Response and Last Response:

 

  • Improved Precision of First Response and Last Response tie-breaking, based on Campaign Member Created DateTime

 

  • The ability to administratively rank/tie-break Campaign Responses to favor certain types of campaigns or contacts in the case of same-Response-Date ties

Whereas Salesforce only gives us a Date for “First Responded Date” there are myriad use cases that require more precision, including Time, especially when deciding questions like “which response happened first?” and “which response happened last?”  In most cases, it’s sufficient to simply use the Created DateTime of the Campaign Member.

Other scenarios require the administrator the ability to systematically break ties between responses for First Response Date and Last Response Date.  For example, Marketing Automation Platforms may be holding leads from Salesforce until such a time as they reach a high enough score to be written to Salesforce, say, as an MQL.  Unfortunately, at that time, the accrued history of held Campaign Responses written to Salesforce with the Lead insert will all have the same “First Responded Date” and arbitrary Campaign Member Created DateTimes.

If the Administrator or the Marketing team knows there will be a nurture campaign responses (again will all be written to salesforce on the same date for the same FirstRespondedDate), the Administrator now can, using this functionality, down-rank the nurture campaigns (and/or up-rank others), to enable Magic Robot to choose a much more accurate “First Response”.

How Magic Robot Sorts Responses:

 

Magic Robot sorts for First Response on the Campaign Member Field:
“z_MR: First Response Sequence Position”

Magic Robot sorts for Last Response on the Campaign Member Field:
“z_MR: Last Response Sequence Position”

 

Essentially it sorts them like this:

{ResponseDate}_{Tiebreaker Value, if any}_{Created DateTime}

              Example:
               2017-06-15_5_2017-06-15:19:15:55

               2017-06-15_0_2017-06-15:19:15:55 (wins First Response because of “0” in First Response Tie-Breaker)

Tiebreaker Fields

For each First Response and Last Response, you can enter tiebreaker numbers into fields — using both Apex Data Loader (legacy data) and Salesforce Workflow Rules (go-forward):

“z_Magic Robot First Response Tiebreaker”

Smaller numbers win. Fill this field with a number from 0-4 or 6-9 to favor and break a tie between campaign responses with the same First Responded Date for First Response model. You can set this with a workflow rule automatically.  Unfilled (i.e. default) values will be represented by a “5”.

“z_Magic Robot Last Response Tiebreaker”

Larger numbers win and will beat null values. Fill this field with a number from 0-4 or 6-9 to favor and break a tie between campaign responses with the same First Responded Date for Last Response model. You can set this with a workflow rule automatically.  Unfilled (i.e. default) values will be represented by a “5”.

Filling the Tiebreaker Fields

To fill the tiebreaker fields you will want to (a) fill legacy data prior to running Magic Robot and (b) set up a long term automated solution to keep those fields filled consistently go-forward.

We recommend:

  • Export a report to CSV and then use Apex Data Loader to set the tie-breaker values on your existing/legacy Campaign Members prior to activating Magic Robot
  • Set up Salesforce Workflow Rules to set the tie-breaker values automatically for go-forward Campaign Members
    • Alternatively you could research if your Marketing Automation solution allows for updating Salesforce Campaign Member Custom Fields and potentially build the automation there.

For more information about Apex Data Loader go here: https://developer.salesforce.com/page/Data_Loader

Note: Apex Data Loader requires the Campaign Member Id (to find the record in the database) so make sure whatever reports you build on Campaign Members to update the tie-breaker fields include the Campaign Member Id field.

For more information about using Salesforce Workflow Rules go here: https://developer.salesforce.com/page/Workflow_Rules

Fields Written to The Campaign Influence Split

In each case for First and Last Response sequencing, the values used for ranking will be recorded as a point in time to the Campaign Influence Split fields, so you can always make sense of how and why your results look the way they do:

“Sequence Position: First Response” & “First Response Tiebreaker if any”

“Sequence Position: Last Response” & “Last Response Tiebreaker if any”