A way to transform Sales and Marketing with Eloqua provides an efficient and leading marketing automation and revenue performance solution. The CRM Integration is a great feature of two-way synchronization, which is a bi-synchronous relationship between the CRM system and Eloqua databasesfor the data captured through uploads and forms also in terms of activities like email opens, click-through, form submissions, and website visits. With this integration, we can build and manage the Eloqua database effectively by using marketing scores and can route the leads to Sales agents. Additionally, it measures marketing’s impact on business.
Methods of Syncing Data between Eloqua and CRM:
There are two ways to sync data in Eloqua:
- a) Inbound data
- b) Outbound data
Eloqua will capture all new and modified records in your CRM system through an Inbound data flow process. Additionally, any new or updated records in Eloqua like form submissions or list uploads will get synchronized with your CRM system by an Outbound data flow process. Let us look into the some additional details of the synchronization process.
Inbound Synchronization:
Inbound synchronization refers to the newly created Lead, Contact, Account records or modified records from the CRM system written to the Eloqua Database. It is a scheduled action to be configured and data is pulled into Eloqua.
Outbound Synchronization:
Outbound synchronization refers to the newly created or modified records from Eloqua database to the CRM system. This process is achieved by Program builder module with the logic and timing.
Different ways of Integrating Eloqua with CRM:
There are four ways of integrating Eloqua with CRM system:
1) Native Connectors – Native connectors in Eloqua are used for leading CRM and SFA applications to automate the integration process.
2) The Eloqua AppCloud – Eloqua AppCloud is the simplest way to integrate native extensions and third party tools with the marketing platform.
3) SOAP API – Eloqua’s webservices enables standards based information exchange.
4) Flat File Integration – Flat file integration is often the quickest and easiest way to integrate data into and out of data sources.
CRM Updates:
There are two methods of CRM Updates:
Unique/Hybrid Method:
We will first examine the Create Unique Logic method. In this method a new Lead record is created ONLY if there is no Contact or Lead record with the same email address already existing in the CRM system.
Point of Interest:
The second method is Point of Interest. In this method, a new lead record is created, if a lead record with the same email address does not currently exist in the CRM system. Additionally, a new lead is created even if there is an existing Contact record with the same email address.
Integration Terminology:
Integration involves various aspects for data transfer to and from the two systems.
External Call:
External call is a transfer of data to and from the CRM system. It is used in Auto sync, internal events and integration events.
Integration Event:
An integration event holds the group of External Calls used within an Integration Rule. In Program Builder, an Integration Event is the program step that triggers an Internal Event which contains an External call.
Internal Event:
Internal event manages the sequence of External calls to be executed based on the triggering actions in Eloqua. It can be triggered on Form processing step, program builder and behavioral activity like email clicks, send.
Auto sync:
Auto sync is a scheduled retrieval of data from the CRM system.
Synchronization Flow
Data Source:
Data source identifies the source of data. The data sources include .CSV and .XLS files, as well as External (API) Calls
Integration Rules:
Integration rules is a collection of Integration events and group of criteria that determine how and when the Lead/Contact will be updated in the CRM system.
Inbound Synchronization Flow:
The inbound synchronization defines the data to be pushed into Eloqua.
Outbound Synchronization Flow:
Outbound synchronization determines the data pulled from Eloqua and updated in the CRM system.
External Calls: Retrieve Data
- Get Leads (Active, Converted, Deleted)
- Get Contacts (Active and Deleted)
- Get Accounts
External call initiates the objects (Accounts, Leads and Contacts) to be pulled with the fields. It allows filtering for pull back only the relevant fields and not all records. Whenever an Eloqua record is modified, it should be pushed to the CRM system to ensure consistent data flow between the two systems. External call is used in Auto Syncs, Internal Events and Integration Events.
External Calls: Send Data
- Create Leads
- Update Leads/Contacts
- Associate Leads/Contacts with Campaign
The External calls “Send data” are sending data to those objects which is an activity based data or directly mapping of fields. The CRM update program manage calls like creating and updating leads, contacts and campaign associated with the leads and contacts. Behavioral activities such as email click throughs, website visits, form submissions, opt out, and bouncebacks are captured in Eloqua and also written in your CRM system.
Tour of the Integration process:
First, we need to log into Eloqua using the login URL with the Credentials.
Go to Setting->Setup->Integration. Select the “Inbound” tab and create a data source with External call under the dropdown of “Create Data Sources”.
Some external calls are already available by default in Eloqua. We can modify the existing external calls or create a new one.
The CRM Integration User configuration setting:
The transfer of information between the CRM and Eloqua databases is completely safe and secure. The security is implemented by using a combination of a User Name and a Password. The CRM system provides login credentials that can be saved in the Eloqua application. Each time the information needs to be transferred, Eloqua provides the login credentials to execute the transaction.
Get Contacts External Call:
Get contacts external call retrieve the contacts data from the CRM to Eloqua. It includes the filter and field mapping with these systems.
Fields selection from CRM to Eloqua for retrieval data:
The fields which are marked in the ‘Field Selection’ page are transferred from Salesforce to Eloqua.
Update Contacts:
Update contact external call sends the data to be updated in CRM system. It includes the fields selected to be synced with CRM.
Update contacts has Field selection:
Selection of Eloqua fields (as below) mapped with the Salesforce fields for updating the contact in Salesforce.
Deployment Status:
Integration status can be monitored and maintained by CRM Eloqua integration. For monitoring, we can use the Integration Status tab that provides a visual representation of integration status. The status provides the Pending updates, Completed updates and Successfully imported records from CRM and failed updates that have occurred in a specific time period. By hovering over any of these items you can drill down to get more details on any of these items. Each Integration point on the Status has different options to allow you to drill down the data.
Example: View by External Call, View All, or View All by Error.
Conclusion
Eloqua can be integrated with Salesforce to extend our marketing and sales visibility to customers and prospects easily, and it provides a holistic understanding of improving the marketing automation.
