Salesforce Marketing Cloud - Interactive Email Form Block
Back in March, the new Interactive Email Form Block live on the Marketing Cloud. With this feature, forms can be integrated directly into emails. The advantage of the block is obvious: It creates an interactive element with which the email recipient can, for example, supplement profile data, submit reviews or participate in surveys. The hurdle of filling out the form is much lower than when redirected to a landing page, because the recipient doesn't have to leave the email client.
That sounds like a great new feature that not only allows you to generate attention, but also easily get feedback from your email recipients.
We wanted to know how well the block worked and tested it extensively:
We tested the block for functionality and usability, reliable data transfer and presentation in various clients.
Scope of functionality and ease of use
Before you create the block, you must first create a cloud page. This collects the entered data and also functions as a thank-you page.
Then it goes to the Content Builder, where you drag and drop an email form block into the existing email. With the new block, not only can forms be created, there are also various survey and rating options (radio buttons, stars, etc.) available.
The design options here are heavily linked to the block's requirements, e.g. only the stars defined by SFMC are available for reviews; it is not possible to upload your own icons.
As far as usability is concerned, there are two main things to consider when creating the block:
- 1. You need a data extension into which the form data flows. You can either create them beforehand or have them created automatically. The decisive factor here is that you have thought about beforehand which data is required there and may have to be transmitted as hidden fields, and that you correctly map form field names and data extension fields.
- 2. The stylings in the email form block generally comply with Marketing Cloud standards. If you use a custom template, the (template) stylings must be manually incorporated into each email form block. To do this, every team member who wants to build emails and use this block must be aware of these design guidelines.
Data transfer to the target data extension
In cases where we were able to submit the form, the data transfer to the target data extension worked perfectly.
Presentation of the email form in various email clients
According to Salesforce documentation, the Interactive Email Form Block only supports a handful of clients: Apple Mail and iPhones/iPads, Gmail app and webmail, as well as Yahoo and AOL webmail.
A fallback block must be created for clients in which the form is not displayed. Please note that this is displayed as a “block in a block” and therefore the stylings must match those of the form so that display errors do not occur.
We tested the block live in various clients to verify where it actually works and how it is presented in the supported clients. As expected, we came to the conclusion that the fallback block is displayed in all other clients except the ones mentioned above. Unfortunately, this also applies (in Germany) to frequently used clients such as Outlook, T-Online or the United Internet ESPs.
In our opinion, the presentation of the form is generally okay, but we think it's a shame that the form input fields always run across the entire width of the form. Anyone who has high standards when it comes to designing their own emails will certainly complain about this.
Our conclusion:
We think the new Interactive Email Form Block is an exciting new feature — if some basic requirements are met.
First of all, it always takes a certain amount of effort to use the new block. This includes not only creating a cloud page, but also intensive live testing of what the created block looks like in different clients. Strictly speaking, this testing must be repeated for every block created. Manually editing the stylings requires a certain amount of routine and thoroughness when using the Content Builder: The block simply cannot be dragged into the email “just like any other template block.”
An understanding of how to collect data in data extensions is also required.
Our recommendation is to first analyze which clients are primarily used by your own recipients. If recipients have a significant number of supported clients, we think it's worth the effort to create Interactive Email Form Blocks; after all, this opens up completely new opportunities for the recipient to interact directly in the email. The willingness to submit an evaluation, share additional profile data or preferences, or provide other feedback is therefore likely to increase.
In this context, an A/B test would be interesting, which compares the uplift compared to a redirection to a landing page.
If you want to learn more about the Interactive Email Form Block, you can find detailed information about it in the documentation.
