Avochato for Marketing Cloud - Quickstart Guide
Install Avochato for Marketing Cloud and enable Avochato messages to be sent via Journey Builder.
Estimated setup time: 10 minutes
This guide walks you through installing Avochato for Marketing Cloud and enabling Avochato messages in Journey Builder.
Step 1: Install the Package
Avochato for Marketing Cloud is installed directly into your Marketing Cloud instance via our AppExchange listing.
- Go to the Avochato AppExchange listing.
- Click Get It Now.
- Follow the on-screen prompts and enter your Marketing Cloud login credentials to complete the installation.
Step 2: Share Your Marketing Cloud Account ID
To enable Avochato message sending in Journey Builder, your Avochato representative needs your Marketing Cloud Account ID.
- Navigate to Setup → Company Settings in Marketing Cloud, or use this direct link.
- Copy your Account ID.
- Send it to your Avochato representative, who will activate Marketing Cloud functionality on your Avochato account.
Step 3: Locate Your Avochato API Credentials
Each Avochato message activity is verified using your Avochato API credentials.
- Existing users: Locate your API credentials and keep them accessible for the next section.
- New users: Follow the steps below to generate a new set of API credentials.
Generating New API Credentials
- In Avochato, go to Settings, then select API Access.
- Select the user you'd like to create API credentials for. The accounts and inboxes that user can access in Avochato will determine their access when sending messages from Journey Builder.
- Click Generate Credentials.
- Your API credentials are now ready to use in the next section.
Save the Auth ID and Auth Secret somewhere safe. You’ll need to use them in your Avochato message activities in Journey Builder
Step 4: Add the Avochato Message Activity to a Journey
After installation, a new custom activity called Avochato Message will appear in Journey Builder, identified by the Avochato icon.
- Drag the Avochato Message activity into your journey wherever you'd like it to run.
- Click the activity to configure it. When prompted, enter your Avochato API credentials (Auth ID and Auth Secret), then click Find Accounts.
- Troubleshooting: If the page doesn't respond, verify that your Auth ID and Auth Secret values are correct.
- Once authenticated, configure the message settings:
- Select Account — the Avochato account and inbox to send from
- Select User — the user to send on behalf of
- Select Phone Field to Message — the contact field containing the recipient's phone number (e.g.,
Contact:MobilePhone) - Message — the text of the message to send
Step 5: Personalize Messages with Merge Fields
The Message text area supports several options for personalizing your messages.
Merge Fields from Marketing Cloud Entry Source Data
The same %% merge field notation used in Journey Builder email templates is fully supported in Avochato messages.
For example, to personalize a message with the contact's first name:
Hi %%Contact:FirstName%%, just a friendly reminder to drink another cup of water!
Merge fields can also reference richer data flowing into your journey, such as Salesforce order details:
Hi%%Contact:FirstName%%, enjoy your%%Order:Coffee__c.Name%%! Have an energized day.
Available Fields
Merge fields are based on the journey's Data Entry Event or Data Extension:
- Data Entry Event: Use the exact field names listed in the Entry Data section of the journey.
- Data Extension: Refer to the data extension definition to find the exact field names.
For example, if Contact:Owner:Email appears in the Entry Data, you can reference it with the syntax %%Contact:Owner:Email%%. Any field not included in the Entry Data will not be available as a merge field.
In the example data entry event above, the Contact Owner’s first name wasn’t included in the journey, so %%Contact:Owner:FirstName%% will show up blank as well.
Lastly, case is sensitive here, so firstName is not the same as FirstName. Follow exactly the field spelling and capitalization in the Data Entry source and you’re good to go!
Merge fields from Avochato contact data
You betcha! Use the Avochato $ notation to bring in captured data from Avochato, like standard contact information or even a survey response to your favorite ice cream:
Notice you can use both Marketing Cloud and Avochato data merging together in the same message! The joy!
Kick off a survey and record responses automatically
“Did you say survey response for ice cream flavors”? Yes! You can create surveys in Avochato and save responses into custom Avochato fields like $FAVORITE_ICE_CREAM (and even sync those automatically to Salesforce and to Marketing Cloud 👀 👀 ). Simply use the $ and survey name to start a message survey. See this article to learn more on how to set up and use Avochato Surveys.
Tag your messages
As you already know and love, Avochato tags are a great way to categorize your contacts in Avochato. Now you can also add different tags at every step of their Marketing Cloud Journeys!
Simply fill in a comma separated list of tags in the Avochato Tags (Optional) field, and we’ll apply those tags to the contacts that went through that part of the MC Journey.
