Blog.

The Launch of “FinWise” – A Financial Advisory Service

By Cornelia EyraudPublished On: June 22nd, 2025Categories: Features Marketing Cloud

The problem we’re solving

FinWise, a new financial advisory service aimed at helping individuals manage their investments, is preparing to launch its services. The marketing team wants to engage potential clients effectively by inviting them to a special webinar that outlines their services and investment strategies. They plan to use a data extension to store client contacts and a list to store internal marketers who will test the journey before it goes live.

The key question: How to include internal Marketers into a specific journey within customers contacts?

The Challenge with the current process

All the journeys don’t include the marketing team in charge of the testing of the marketing campaigns.
The marketing team can not be re-active in case something going wrong within the journey and in meantime experiment the real campaign launch.

This creates stress, confusion, and operational inefficiencies when it comes to troubleshooting when any issues pop up.

What a better communication approach looks like

What if only the testing marketing team received all communication include in the journey?

Image this:

The Marketing team will receive all the communications
All communication are timely analyse and improve through the journey
Journey Builder is used to create a clean, automated experience.

This provides clarity and control for your Marketing team.

Show me the implementation

Setting Up the Data Extension and List:

Data Extension: The data extension will contain details of potential clients who have signed up for financial advice through the FinWise website. The fields include:
- Email
- First Name
- Last Name
- Investment Interest (e.g., Stocks, Bonds, Real Estate)
- Signup Date

Sample Data for Data Extension:

List: The list will contain internal marketers who are responsible for testing the journey. This list is essential to ensure that the messaging is effective and that the journey works as intended.

Sample Data for List:

Creating the Journey

Journey Overview: The journey will invite both potential clients and internal marketers to the webinar and provide them with valuable insights into FinWise’s services.

Step 1: Entry Source Setup

Primary Entry Source: Use the data extension as the primary entry source for potential clients.
Secondary Entry Source: Use the list to allow internal marketers to enter the journey for testing purposes.

Step 2: Automation Studio Query

To combine contacts from the list and data extension into a new data extension for the journey, the marketing team creates a SQL query in Automation Studio.

Sample SQL Query:

SELECT

s.EmailAddress,

s.SubscriberKey,

s.LastName,

Null As Investment_Interest

WHERE s.ListID=4867

FROM

_ListSubscribers s

UNION

SELECT

c.EmailAddress,

c.SubscriberKey,

c.Investment_Interest,

NULL AS Investment_Interest

FROM

USBClients c

Step 3: Sample Data Output from the Query

After running the query, the new data extension will look like this:

Step 4: Journey Activities

Email Activity: Send an invitation email to the contacts in the new data extension, inviting them to the webinar.
- Subject: “Join Us for an Exclusive Webinar on Smart Investing!”
- Content: Details about the webinar, registration link, and topics to be covered.

Wait Activity: Allow a wait time of 2 days to let contacts register for the webinar.

Decision Split: Check who registered for the webinar and segment them into two paths – registrants and non-registrants.
- Registrants Path: Send a confirmation email with the webinar details and a calendar invite.
- Non-Registrants Path: Send a follow-up email reminding them about the webinar and encouraging them to register.

Step 5: Activate the Journey

Once everything is set up and tested, the marketing team activates the journey to engage both potential clients and internal marketers.

Conclusion

Through this strategic approach, FinWise effectively utilizes both a data extension for potential clients and a list for internal marketers. This ensures that the journey not only tests the effectiveness of their messaging but also engages potential clients, leading to a successful webinar launch and future client relationships.