What Do a Database and a Basement Closet Have In Common? Here’s how to know when it’s time for an Oracle Eloqua Health Check

What do a database and a basement closet have in common?! To explain, I'll take you on a tour of my home and discuss the similarities.

First, let's walk into my bedroom closet. I have organized my closet by clothing type and color coordination, my jewelry is neatly hung on hooks, and my shoes are perfectly organized by style. Next, let's venture down to my basement and open the storage closet. This storage space is on the opposite end of the organization spectrum. I mean, it's so cluttered that you would need to take a friend to make sure you make it out of there safely. Belongings are stacked like a game of Tetris, including Christmas decorations, sports equipment, bags to go to charity, a box of old chords, and electronic parts. I could throw away a good chunk of these items, but who has time to clean out a storage closet? Every time I need to use my basement closet, I vow to get it cleaned out and organized one day.

So, what does my chaotic closet have to do with a database? If your Oracle Eloqua database is more than three years old, chances are your database looks like my storage closet. Do any of the following points resonate with you when you think about your database?

• Although active assets were created by an employee who left your company years ago, they still appear in your database.
• There is a flurry of cloud apps you no longer use and outdated emails with designs from old brand guides.
• You are unsure how contacts are flowing through campaigns or what missed opportunities may exist to improve your marketing performance and use of the tech.

Sounds familiar? If your answer is yes, stay with us - because it's time for an Oracle Eloqua Health Check!

Health checks are my specialty, and I'm happy to chat.

The top three reasons for performing an Eloqua Health Check are comprised of the following:

1. Identify areas of "issue" or concern and recommendations
2. Determine areas for growth and quick wins
3. Guiding advice for optimizing your martech stack (Oracle Eloqua included)

The overall process of a health check is to look at your marketing technology stack and your marketing ops approach to meeting business objectives. Many aspects of Eloqua are initially set up and then left to run, but do you know how well they are operating? With new Eloqua releases quarterly, feature changes, employee turnover, and, my favorite, what you don't know that you don't know, must be considered as they occur. The key components of a health check include:

• Sending Domain Configuration
• Email Deliverability
• Users & Security
• Website & Email Tracking
• Privacy & Consent
• Integrations
• Asset Configuration
• Data Health
• Audience Engagement
• Data Flow & Connectedness
• Lead Management Tracking & Process

Think of a Health Check as visiting your doctor annually for your physical; comparably, performing an Eloqua Health Check is vital for the longevity of your database. Imagine sitting on the examination table. A nurse takes a blood sample, and the doctor calls you a week later to talk about your results, pointing out early warning signs and offering some preventative tips to keep you healthy. It is the same idea, only this time you are protecting the health of your database. Luckily, there are no needles to worry about in this instance!

Some key identifiers that it's time for an Eloqua Health Check can include experiencing low lead flow, mismatched data, an inability to segment on specific fields, or questioning the overall efficiency of your Eloqua instance. If this sounds like you, an Eloqua Health Check will put you back on the right foot towards an organized and seamlessly functioning database.

So is now the right time for a health check? Ask yourself these three questions:

1. Have you been using Eloqua for more than 18 months? Now that you have gotten your feet wet, now is the right time to strengthen your usage of Oracle Eloqua.
2. Are you ready to move to the next stage in the modern marketing journey? If your marketing team has mastered the basics but you've identified opportunities to enhance your marketing efforts, a health check supplies you with a roadmap for growth.
3. Have you had recent turnover within your marketing team? If your organization is changing, a health check enables you to understand change and identify areas for improvement and optimization.

It's About Your Continued Success
Like your yearly physical, your Eloqua instance needs a check-up too! Building periodic checkpoints ensures that your operations are running efficiently, imperative to your overall marketing success.

Typically, after the Tegrita team performs a Health Check, we sit down with you to walk you through the findings and recommendations. The outcome of most Health Checks helps to uncover "quick wins," easy steps to improvement, increased automation, and improved reporting capabilities.

For more information on how to assess your marketing operations model and to find out if it’s time to perform an Eloqua Health Check, head over to Tegrita’s P15 Marketing Maturity Assessment & Roadmap.

Cheers to a healthy and happy Eloqua instance!

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About the Author

Brandi Starr is a marketing powerhouse with over 20 years of experience shaking up B2B and B2B2C companies. As COO at Tegrita, a consultancy that unlocks the power of email, she's all about transforming processes, enhancing go-to-market strategies, and ensuring smooth customer experiences. Named one of the Top 50 Women in MarTech, Brandi blends strategic vision with operational savvy. She's also the co-author of "CMO to CRO" and the host of the Revenue Rehab podcast, known for turning ideas into action and inspiring others in the marketing world.

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