Foundations of Marketo Engage: Nurturing

Join us for an in-depth session designed to elevate your nurturing strategy in Marketo. Whether you're just getting started or looking to refine your approach.

Our featured speaker this month is:
Amanda Thomas - Senior Marketing Operations Manager: Iron Horse
Alysha Khan - Director of Client Services: Intrisphere

This session will cover the essentials and beyond:

Strategic Nurturing: Learn how to design nurture programs that align with your audience’s journey and business goals.

Engagement Programs: Discover how to structure and automate engagement programs that drive consistent interaction.

Deliverability Considerations: Understand the key factors that impact email deliverability and how to optimize for inbox success.

Dynamic Content & Snippets: Explore how to personalize nurture streams using dynamic content and snippets to boost relevance and engagement.

Performance Measurement: Gain insights into how to track, analyze, and optimize the performance of your nurture campaigns.

This session is perfect for marketers looking to build a strong foundation in Marketo and drive measurable results through smarter nurturing.

1. Foundations of Marketo Engage: Nurturing August 2025

2. Notice: This User Group Meeting is being Recorded. To ensure that we are abiding by the Adobe User Group Code of Conduct, we are informing all user group attendees at Marketo Foundational MUG meeting on June 19th 3pm EST that this meeting will be recorded and posted on the Adobe User Group YouTube Channel to promote training, education, and future learning.  If you do not wish to participate in a LIVE recorded session , please feel free to watch the recording at a later time, which will be linked after the meeting concludes.  Send us any questions you may have to [email protected] .  

3. Stay connected with our Marketo Foundational User chapter! Sign up for Bevy – the space where User Group leaders and members connect! Step 1:  Navigate to https://mugs.marketo.com/foundational-marketo-user-group/ Step 2: Create an account using the email associated with your Adobe Experience Manager user account Once you’ve joined the chapter, you’ll receive notifications and reminders about new events that the chapter has posted! 

4. Adobe User Group House Rules To ensure our Adobe User Groups stay user-focused and a safe space for members to learn, network, and problem solve, we ask that all Adobe User Group session attendees follow these rules: No self-promotion or pitching of any kind is permitted at Adobe User Group events Don’t contact people outside of the User Group without their consent If User Group members share their use case at the User Group, please don’t share that information without their consent

5. 2026 Adobe Experience Maker Awards Spotlight on spectacular. Submissions are now open for the 2026 Adobe Experience Maker Awards , celebrating the innovators who are reimagining customer experiences. Apply in up to three of ten categories , including The Groundbreaker (new) —celebrating customers laying the foundation for increasingly personalized experiences. Finalist companies will receive two complimentary passe s to Adobe Summit and two invitations to the Awards gala.      ⏳ Submissions close October 17, 2025.   Apply now

6. Speakers Alysha Khan Director of Client Services @ Intrisphere Amanda Thomas Senior Marketing Operations Manager @ Iron Horse

7. Agenda What is Nurture? Nurture Components Engagement Programs in Marketo Basic Marketo Build Components Elevating Your Nurtures Reporting Basics Advanced Nurture Strategies Final Takeaways

8. What is a Nurture?

9. Nurture does not mean just sending out emails

10. An email drip ≠ an email nurture

11. Email Drip vs. Email Nurture Email Drip Campaign Definition: A drip is a pre-scheduled, linear sequence of emails that go out on a fixed cadence (e.g., Day 1, Day 5, Day 10). Logic: Time-based only — the emails go out regardless of what the recipient does. Email Nurture Campaign Definition: A nurture is a behavior-driven program that adapts to how the recipient engages. Logic: Based on actions, attributes, or triggers (e.g., opened an email, clicked a link, visited a pricing page, downloaded a whitepaper).

12. Email Drip vs. Email Nurture Email Drip Campaign Goal: Push a set message or series that is independent of the recipient's actions Example: Onboarding flow, training series, etc. Email Nurture Campaign Goal: Guide prospects through the buyer’s journey by sending them content based on their actions in order to move them closer to a conversion Example: If the recipient clicks a “Case Study” link → send them more industry-specific proof points. If they ignore the first two emails → slow down cadence or move them into a re-engagement stream.

13. Drips = copy + calendar Nurtures = strategy + content + data + logic + reporting

14. Nurture Components

15. Nurture Components Strategy & Framework Goal Definition : What’s the nurture’s purpose? (e.g., move MQLs to SQLs, re-engage cold leads, onboard new customers). Audience Segmentation : Who will enter the nurture? Define entry criteria (form fill, lead status, lifecycle stage, etc.). Content Mapping : Align content to the buyer’s journey (awareness → consideration → decision)

16. Nurture Components Content Assets Email Content : Copy, subject lines, and CTAs aligned to audience pain points. Supporting Assets : Whitepapers, case studies, webinars, blog posts, product guides to link out to.

17. Nurture Components Operational Marketo Setup : Engagement program with smart lists, smart campaigns and content programs Streams or Paths : Define the nurture tracks (e.g., industry-based, product-interest-based). Cadence Rules : Decide how often emails send (weekly, bi-weekly, etc.).

18. Nurture Components Data Entry Criteria : Who qualifies for nurture i.e. do you have the data in your system to correctly identify your audience? How they get added i.e. is the data structured in such a way that you can accurately listen for changes to the data in order to qualify people for your nurture? Exit Criteria : Same as above but focused on disqualification criteria (i.e. becomes an opportunity, unsubscribes, reaches a scoring threshold, etc.)

19. Nurture Components Reporting Success Metrics : Engagement (open, click, conversion), pipeline influenced, velocity through lifecycle, conversions A/B Testing : Subject lines, CTAs, content types, etc. Attribution Setup : Make sure nurture touches flow into your attribution model

20. Engagement Programs in Marketo

21. Basic Marketo Build Components

22. Smart Campaigns Add to Nurture Pause Nurture Resume Nurture Exit Nurture Responded to Nurture Transition Streams

23. Add to Nurture Add to Engagement Program Program Cadence = Normal Change Program Status Pause Nurture Program Cadence = Paused Resume Nurture Program Cadence = Normal Smart Campaigns

24. Exit Nurture Program Cadence = Paused Add to Static List Responded to Nurture Comes from Nurture Cast Program Change Program Status Transition Streams Smart Campaigns

25. Smart Lists Handy to have pre-built for easy reporting and reference

26. Nested Nurture Cast Programs Keeps your nurture modular and reusable (same program can be used in multiple streams or campaigns). Enables deeper reporting at the program level (success, membership, period cost). The nested program contains: Email asset(s) Smart campaign(s) to control sends & logging Channel/tag setup for tracking

27. Nested Nurture Cast Programs

28. Nested Nurture Cast Programs

29. Intermediate Nurture Features

30. Fast & Slow Lanes Use Transition Rules to move records that engage with your emails to a faster-pace stream

31. Personalization - Tokens

32. Personalization – Dynamic Content

33. Personalization - Snippets

34. Advanced Nurture Features

35. Skip Logic Smart campaigns that force nurture cast program membership When the stream casts, it will skip over programs in which the record is a member and will call on the send campaign in the next nurture cast program. Skip for any reason!

36. Traffic Director A centralized program that manages nurture prioritization & a simple segmentation Ensures a record is only in 1 nurture at a time Contains audience criteria for all nurtures

37. Nurture Reporting

38. Engagement Program Reporting – Out of the Box Engagement Stream Performance Categorizes all email performance metrics in to streams Email Link Performance Active Members smart list (Cadence = Normal) Engagement Score - engagement vs. unsubscribe, last 3 stream casts

39. Engagement Program Reporting – Using Custom Fields

40. Thank You!