AMPscript Course for Marketers - Introduction

Can you imagine sending emails and SMS messages that feel like individual and unique conversations? With AMPscript, a scripting tool exclusive to Salesforce Marketing Cloud, this vision becomes a reality. AMPscript allows you to personalize your digital communications precisely and meaningfully, unlocking the potential of personalization.

AMPscript Course for Marketers

In what elements of Marketing Cloud can we include AMPscript?

AMPscript is versatile and can be applied in various areas and elements:

Emails: transform generic emails into personalized messages, displaying specific content for each recipient.
CloudPages - Landing Page: create landing pages that adapt to the visitor's profile and preferences or execute different codes that interact with Data Extensions.
SMS and PUSH: send personalized text messages through both push and SMS.

Common use cases for AMPscript

Thanks to the versatile use cases of a language like AMPscript, combined with a platform like Marketing Cloud and Salesforce CRM, which offers total flexibility with objects and infinite Data Extensions, you can do everything from the simplest personalization to complex web services. But if we focus on the most common uses, this could be a perfectly valid list:

Dynamic Content: you can adapt content to the contact, their preferences, their purchase history, etc.
Data Retrieval and Manipulation: access customer information stored in Data Extensions or Salesforce CRM and use it to personalize your messages.
Use of SOAP Web Service API: connect to external systems to retrieve and present real-time data.
Dynamic Landing Pages (CloudPages): create personalized web pages for each user, maximizing relevance.
Tracking and Analysis: obtain detailed information on how users interact with your communications.
Dynamic Subject Lines and Preheaders: personalize and capture attention with subject lines that adapt to the recipient's preferences.
Advanced Email Personalization: design highly targeted emails using specific data for each customer.

Personalization Options in Marketing Cloud

Within Marketing Cloud, you have several ways to personalize your communications:

Dynamic Content: display content based on rules and stored data.
Personalization Strings: insert individual subscriber details, such as their name.
AMPscript: this is where the real power comes into play. AMPscript gives you complete control to personalize and manipulate data in advanced ways.

The Ampscript Language: What You Need to Know

Although AMPscript resembles a programming language, it's more like a set of instructions that guide personalization. Some important key points:

Sequential Processing: Ampscript runs in a specific order, from top to bottom.

Case Insensitivity: Ampscript doesn't distinguish between uppercase and lowercase.

Comments: use /* to start a comment and */ to close it.

Text Strings: you can use double quotes " or single quotes ' to define text strings.

Avoiding Common Errors

To use AMPscript smoothly:

Parentheses: ensure that each opening parenthesis has a corresponding closing parenthesis.
Curly Quotes: avoid "curly" quotes; opt for straight quotes to prevent issues.
Conditional Syntax: use the correct syntax for conditions.
Mathematical Functions: use AMPscript functions for mathematical calculations.

Example of Using AMPscript

To provide context, let's say you want to send a personalized birthday email:

%%[
VAR @name, @age
SET @name= AttributeValue("name")
SET @age= AttributeValue("age")
]%%

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<body>
<p>Hello %%=ProperCase(@name)=%%,</p>
<p>Congratulations, you have turned %%=Add(@age, 1)=%% today. Have a great day!</p>
</body>
</html>

But if you want to see this information in much more detail, we invite you to do two things: first, watch our AMPscript course on YouTube; and second, download the support guide in the banner below:

Download our support ebook for the online course here:

In this example, AMPscript uses recipient data (name and age) to create a message that varies based on that information. AMPscript provides the ability to transform your marketing strategies, taking personalization to an unprecedented level.

Explore and experiment with AMPscript to create meaningful connections with your recipients!

If you enjoyed this chapter, you may be interested in reading the following chapters of the Ampscript Course for Marketers: