Have you ever wanted to add a Countdown Timer to your marketing emails? I WISH this feature existed in Customer Insights – Journeys, maybe one day we will get it. For now, you CAN still do this using a really cool 3rd party bit of functionality that I found thanks to a wonderful person I worked with on a project a few years ago. We can add timers to emails to count up or down to dates, and pull in those dates dynamically, perfect for birthdays, anniversaries or upcoming events. So if you are curious, take a look. Note that this post is not in any way affiliated with the 3rd party, I just think it’s really cool so wanted to share.

After writing about using a countdown timer functionality in Customer Insights – Journeys by utilising the 3rd party Nifty Images, I started digging through more of their options. Depending on the data you want to show in your emails, the various chart options could be interesting. This post, again not affiliated with Nifty Images (just showing some appreciation), shows a couple of scenarios where you could use a chart.

I’ve written a couple of different posts over the years to find ways of handling email bounces, but then Microsoft changes things and those ways don’t work any more so we need new ways. Thankfully, Amey Holden has come up with a new way of handling bounces and getting a full overview on a Lead or Contact record when bounces occur. Definitely check out this one!

If you need/want to use Double Opt-In for your marketing forms, and you want a way to customise things, Pauline has come to the rescue. Her post looks at how you can customise the default email that is sent out. Check it out for some tips and ideas.

In this post from Renée , she highlights a way to use ‘linked’ compliance profiles and shares the various use cases of when to use it and when not to. Do you have multiple languages, or variable consent options, or even multiple physical addresses? Check out this post, it might just help you resolve an issue.

Have you ever struggled to find the right release items for Microsoft Power Platform and Microsoft Dynamics 365 products when using the official Release Planner website?  Did you ever get frustrated when Microsoft decided to categorize the release items in a non-intuitive way? Ever wished there was a quick way to see the most recently updated items on the release plans? Well thankfully, Jukka Niiranen has created a wonderful alternative.

Although this isn’t to be used as a ‘how to’ in terms of setting things up, it does provide information about GDPR and managing customer rights, so might be a good high level overview in terms of how it relates to Customer Insights – Journeys.

A wonderful community project by Merill Fernando, a Product Manager at Microsoft. Although not affiliated with Microsoft in any way, this allows you to verify your identity to show a verification badge on Bluesky profiles. So if you are an MVP, or work for Microsoft, you can use it to verify yourself. If not, it’s a great list of people to follow that might be sharing the kind of content you are interested in.

Looking ahead to 2025, what should marketers expect? One thing remains a near certainty: Data collection isn’t slowing down anytime soon. Data is the key to the future, but it can be difficult to get the most out of it. In this post from Resonate, they discuss some best practices you should focus on to maximize your data—and your marketing campaigns—in 2025.