Velocity Script vs built-in Dynamic Content

[patty_p]

Hi there, I'm new to the community but thought I'd reach out for some help. 

I'm looking to understand if there are advantages to using Marketo's built-in Dynamic Content over using Velocity script in emails (outside of potentially ease of use when creating the emails). 

For example, would reporting capabilities be any different if I make content dynamic using the built-in functionality instead of scripting?  

Thank you!

[Michael_Florin]

There certainly are. Making Snippets or modules for emails and landing pages dynamic based on segmentations is a very accessible and solid way to make assets dynamic. And as the word "Email Script" already implies: Velocity is only for emails.

On the other hand: Some things can only be achieved with Velocity. Access to Custom Object data e.g. 

So I'd say this is not a one-or-the-other-forever distinction. Both have their use cases. So as always: "It depends..." 🙂

[patty_p]

Thank you Michael! I appreciate your insight here. 

[SanfordWhiteman]

Very difficult to answer without real use cases. There are many things that can only be done using Velocity, so the advantages are infinite in those cases!

Reporting-wise — that is, an Email Performance Report — Marketo doesn’t know/care what you did in Velocity. But Marketo doesn’t usually know/care what you did at the granular content level anyway. For example, an EPR can be grouped by segment. But that doesn’t directly tell you what each segment received (whether you used Dynamic Content™ or Velocity-powered dynamic content).

[patty_p]

Thanks Sanford. I'm not very familiar with Marketo yet. Am I correct in understanding that EPR groupings are independent from the content altogether?

As a simple real use case example. If I have an email that I want to show a different header image for two different segments (eg. US/Rest of World). 

Once the email is created and is in a program, is there any real difference with whether Dynamic Content™ or Velocity-powered dynamic content was used in achieving that?

[SanfordWhiteman]

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Thanks Sanford. I'm not very familiar with Marketo yet. Am I correct in understanding that EPR groupings are independent from the content altogether?

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Yes.

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As a simple real use case example. If I have an email that I want to show a different header image for two different segments (eg. US/Rest of World). 

Once the email is created and is in a program, is there any real difference with whether Dynamic Content™ or Velocity-powered dynamic content was used in achieving that?

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Nope, not for this case.