If you’re not on the *Signature Success Plan, it is solely your responsibility to monitor errors and act upon them. If you are running high volume, fast paced campaigns then this can look like a full time job. While working with a 12 business unit (BU) retail client sending millions of emails daily, I saw firsthand how errors don’t just cost time, but also money. That’s why early detection and a solid plan of action are crucial. 

Whether you are the end-user or consultant, I will walk you through basic out-of-the-box notifications, some ideas for custom ones, and how to make them actionable within your existing team and process.

Framework

1. What needs to be monitored?

If your BU consists of automations feeding journeys, then heavily consider keeping a close eye on the following:

1. All active automation details
2. Automation status (including pause status)
3. Automation complete
4. Automation error/skip
5. Data extension import
6. Email send error
7. SMS send Error

2. Individual and holistic view -> OOB or Custom Notification?

Now that you have figured out that you want the above monitored, identify the Marketing Cloud Engagement out of the box (OOB) error notifications that will cover those items.

OOB

1. Automation run complete
2. Automation run error/skip
3. Data extension import
4. Email job error (Alert Manager)

It is suggested that you use a email address alias rather than an individual’s in the case of out of offices.

For those not covered by OOB, start designing custom error notification solutions. 

Custom

1. All active automation details
2. Automation status (including pause status)
3. SMS send Error

Unfortunately, Marketing Cloud Engagement does not notify when automations are paused which commonly happens inadvertently when editing automations due to the nature of Automation Studio. Nor does it offer a notification that provides a snapshot of all active automations and their details without logging in. 

Inspired by the book, “Automating Salesforce Marketing Cloud” co-authored by fellow Salesforce Marketing Champs, Greg Gifford and Jason Hanshaw – I handled these two errors by setting up a daily automation with a sender initiated send linking to a SSJS CloudPage. The CloudPage renders the automation name, status, modified date, last run date, step count, type, last run date, duration. It ultimately acts as a dashboard. There’s lots of iterations and considerations so let your unique use cases be the driver. 

Lastly, no OOB notification covers SMS sends errors. In response, we notated SMS send errors that were potentially fixable on our side and created a daily automation. It began with a SQL query looking at the SMSMessageTracking data view for the particular errors. It then rendered those errors accompanied by troubleshooting directions in a dynamic email using AMPscript.

3. Operationalize with Process and Team

You receive the error notification email and now what? Wish it away? – Nope simply follow the escalation plan.

Escalation plan components: 

• Figure out the players – Someone who is close to the campaigns and has the skill set to resolve most of them.
• Diagram a decision tree – There are lots of scenarios to consider depending on your team structure. This visual will eliminate any confusion and promotes transparency.

Add an error notification template to your ticketing system. Here’s a sample template:

• Purpose: When a error notification occurs, this ticket template should be copied, sections filled out and checklist completed.
  
• Impact:
  
• Troubleshooting Steps Taken:
  
• Solution:
  
• Solution Status:
  
• Anticipated Solution Date:
• Severity:
  
• Train: Get buy-in from the team, especially the players, and train them on error resolution and scenarios. 

Takeaways: 

1. Identify what is mission critical and needs to be monitored.
2. Figure out what can be covered by OOB error notification while determining what needs a custom solution.
3. Operationalize your error notifications by integrating them into your bigger processes and assign a primary contact to be responsible. 
4. In no time, you will have tons of archived error tickets that can be used as a starting point, and the time it takes to resolve errors will decrease significantly.

Errors are inevitable so take a proactive approach rather than a reactive approach where confusion and possible revenue loss ensues. This framework allows you to set-it-and-forget minus the unwelcome surprises of finding out a SMS wasn’t going out for months due to a fixable error. 

(*If you do have the Signature Success plan make sure Proactive Monitoring is turned on)