Velocity scripting in Marketo is a powerful tool that enables marketers to take email personalization and automation to the next level. With Velocity scripting, you can dynamically generate personalized and customized email content based on various data sources and conditions. 

Velocity scripting is a scripting language based on Apache Velocity, specifically designed for dynamic content generation in Marketo. It allows you to access and manipulate data (including data stored in Opportunities and Custom Objects), perform calculations, and create conditional logic within your email templates. With Velocity scripting, you have access to a wide range of functions and tools to dynamically populate email content based on lead attributes, behavior, and external data sources. Use Email Scripting Tokens to add Velocity script in your emails.

Leveraging conditional statements

While regular tokens provide a powerful method for personalising email content, they are tied to stored, static values. Velocity scripting allows you to use conditional statements such as if-else to create dynamic content variations based on specific lead attributes or segmentation criteria. This opens up possibilities for advanced personalisation.

Manipulating data and formatting

Velocity scripting provides a wide range of functions and tools to manipulate and format data. You can perform calculations, string manipulations, date formatting, and more within your email templates. For instance, you can calculate a lead's purchase history, format currency values, or display dynamic countdown timers based on a specific event or deadline. See the Apache-provided Velocity Tools for more details.

Integrating external data sources

One of the key advantages of Velocity scripting is the ability to integrate external data sources into your email campaigns. By connecting with external APIs, databases, or other systems, you can pull real-time data to populate your emails dynamically. For example, you can fetch product information from your eCommerce platform to showcase personalized recommendations or display live inventory levels. This integration allows you to provide up-to-date and relevant information to your recipients, enhancing engagement and conversion rates.

Velocity scripting in Marketo provides technical marketers with a powerful toolset to achieve advanced personalization and automation in email campaigns. By leveraging variables, conditional statements, data manipulation, and external data integrations, you can create highly dynamic and personalised email content that engages your audience. Test, optimise, and continuously refine your code to enhance email performance and achieve marketing success.