Marketing today isn’t just about sending emails or running ads. Customers are moving across channels faster than ever. They expect brands to remember their preferences, respond instantly and deliver relevant experiences every time. Traditional marketing tools — even the popular ones — often fall short.

That’s exactly where Dynamics 365 Customer Insights – Journeys steps in. It’s Microsoft’s flagship real-time marketing automation and customer journey orchestration platform built for businesses that want to create connected, data-driven and personalised customer experiences.

Whether you’re in retail, manufacturing, professional services, financial services, or B2B SaaS, this guide will give you a deep understanding of how Customer Insights – Journeys works, why it’s different, and how you can use it to elevate your marketing performance.

1. What Is Dynamics 365 Customer Insights – Journeys?

Dynamics 365 Customer Insights – Journeys (formerly Dynamics 365 Marketing) is a modern, AI-powered platform designed to help organisations create personalised customer journeys, unify data, automate engagement and drive conversions in real time.

It combines three critical marketing capabilities:

✔ Customer Journey Orchestration (real-time marketing)

Create dynamic journeys based on customer behaviour, signals and preferences.

✔ Unified Customer Profiles

Integrate data from CRM, ERP, eCommerce, web, email, surveys, events and more.

✔ AI-Powered Engagement through Copilot

Generate content, build segments, predict customer behaviour and drive smarter decisions.

Where many tools send bulk messages based on static segments, Customer Insights – Journeys uses real-time engagement to interact with customers exactly when they’re ready.

2. Why Customer Insights – Journeys Matters in 2025-26

Marketing is no longer linear. Journeys now look like this:

Website visit → Abandoned cart → Social media interaction → Email click → Chat → Purchase → Feedback → Upsell → Re-engagement

Companies need a platform that can track, interpret and respond to these behaviours instantly. Dynamics 365 Customer Insights – Journeys gives marketers this capability — without needing developers or multiple tools.

Here are the key reasons businesses are adopting it:

A. Real-Time Customer Engagement

Unlike traditional marketing platforms, Customer Insights – Journeys listens for signals like:

• Page views
• Link clicks
• Email opens
• Form submissions
• Product views
• Abandoned carts
• CRM stage updates

These signals instantly trigger personalised journeys, making engagement timely and relevant.

B. Unified Customer Data for a 360° View

Microsoft’s Customer Insights platform unifies customer data from:

• Dynamics 365 Sales
• Dynamics 365 Customer Service
• Dynamics 365 Business Central
• Websites
• Email interactions
• E-commerce systems
• Loyalty programs
• Surveys (like Dynamics 365 Customer Voice)

This creates a true 360-degree unified customer profile, enabling better segmentation and personalisation.

C. Copilot in Dynamics 365 Customer Insights – Journeys

AI is no longer optional — it’s the new engine behind modern marketing.

Copilot assists with:

• Generating email content
• Creating customer segments
• Predicting next-best actions
• Recommending journey steps
• Improving deliverability
• Analysing customer behaviour patterns

It reduces manual work and improves creativity, consistency, and campaign efficiency.

D. Cross-Channel Customer Journey Orchestration

You can design journeys across:

• Email
• SMS
• WhatsApp
• Push notifications
• Custom events
• Web personalisation
• LinkedIn integration
• Event marketing (webinars, in-person events)

All channels work together in real-time — no delays, no disconnect.

3. Key Features of Dynamics 365 Customer Insights – Journeys

Let’s break down the features marketers love the most.

A. Journey Builder (Drag and Drop)

This is where marketers build automated workflows that respond to customer actions.

Examples:

• Welcome journeys
• Lead nurturing
• Repeat purchase journeys
• Demo follow-ups
• Cart abandonment recovery
• Event invitation and reminder journeys
• Customer onboarding
• Subscription renewal reminders

The builder includes triggers, conditions, actions, time delays and real-time analytics.

B. Advanced Segmentation

With unified profiles, segmentation becomes powerful.

You can segment using:

• Demographics
• Purchase patterns
• Behavioural signals
• Engagement history
• Custom attributes
• Predictive scoring
• AI suggestions
• Product interactions
• CRM opportunity stages

This helps marketers target the right audience with pinpoint accuracy.

C. Real-Time Marketing Rules

Real-time rules enable immediate automated responses.

For example:

• When a customer views the pricing page twice → send a trial offer
• When a lead completes a form → notify sales immediately
• When a customer abandons a cart → send a personalised reminder
• When a VIP customer visits the store → alert account manager

It blends marketing automation with real-time intelligence.

D. Content Personalisation at Scale

Dynamic content options include:

• Personalised names
• Product recommendations
• Behaviour-triggered images
• Conditional content sections
• Dynamic offers
• Loyalty details
• Preferred channels
• Regional preferences

Personalised experiences significantly increase engagement and conversion rates.

E. Compliance & Consent Management

GDPR compliance is built-in:

• Consent tracking
• Subscription centres
• Double opt-in
• Preferences management
• Regional compliance rules

This is essential for UK and EU businesses.

4. How Customer Insights – Journeys Integrates with Dynamics 365 and Microsoft

Because it’s part of the Microsoft ecosystem, the integration benefits are huge.

It integrates natively with:

• Dynamics 365 Sales CRM
• Dynamics 365 Customer Service
• Dynamics 365 Business Central
• Power BI
• Power Automate
• Teams
• Microsoft Fabric

This creates a connected customer lifecycle ecosystem, from marketing → sales → customer service → retention.

5. Real Use Cases of Customer Insights – Journeys

These examples show how real businesses benefit.

A. Lead Nurturing for B2B Teams

Imagine a prospect downloads a whitepaper.

Customer Insights – Journeys can:

• Send a personalised email
• Track engagement
• Assign lead score
• Notify sales when score surpasses threshold
• Trigger next journey based on CRM updates

B. Customer Retention for Retail / eCommerce

When a returning customer hasn’t purchased in 45 days:

• Send personalised recommendations
• Offer discount
• Trigger reminder on WhatsApp or email
• Alert CRM if churn risk increases

C. Event Automation for Professional Services

For webinars or in-person events:

• Promote event
• Automate registrations
• Send reminders
• Trigger follow-up journeys
• Add attendees to CRM campaigns

D. Post-Purchase Onboarding

For high-value products:

• Send onboarding guides
• Share tutorials
• Offer 30-day check-in
• Collect feedback via surveys
• Trigger upsell journeys

6. Customer Insights – Journeys vs HubSpot vs Salesforce Marketing Cloud

Customer Insights – Journeys wins particularly for organisations using Dynamics 365 CRM or Business Central.

7. Building Your First Customer Journey (Step-by-Step)

Here’s how to get started.

Step 1: Define Your Segment

Use unified customer profiles to segment by:

• Geography
• Past purchases
• Industry
• Website behaviour
• Engagement score
• Lifecycle stage

Step 2: Build the Journey with Drag-and-Drop

Select a trigger:

• Email opened
• Form completed
• Web page visited
• SMS clicked
• CRM field updated
• Copilot-suggested triggers

Add branches, goals, actions and delays.

Step 3: Add Personalisation

Use dynamic text, images and conditional content.

Step 4: Connect Channels

Attach:

• Email
• SMS
• WhatsApp
• Push notifications
• Event registration

Step 5: Test the Journey

Use the test mode to verify:

• Triggers
• Conditions
• Personalisation fields
• Delivery rules

Step 6: Publish and Optimise

Monitor:

• Engagement
• Conversion
• Bounce rate
• Time to goal
• Suggested improvements from Copilot

8. Pricing Overview

Microsoft offers different pricing models based on capacity, business size and required modules. Pricing typically includes:

• Customer Insights Data
• Customer Insights – Journeys
• Additional messages/interaction units

Notes:

Prices do not include VAT.

• “Unified People” = unique individuals from unified data sources.
• “Interacted People” = Dataverse contacts (like leads/accounts) who are engaged via interactions.
• For the “Attach” plan, you need a minimum of 10 users of certain qualifying Dynamics 365 apps (e.g., Dynamics 365 Sales, Customer Service, etc.).

For more details UK organisations, working with a Microsoft Partner like Dynamics Square UK helps align the best model.

9. Why Choose Dynamics 365 Customer Insights – Journeys Over Other Tools?

✔ Real-time journey automation

✔ Unified customer profiles

✔ AI-powered Copilot assistance

✔ Deep integration with Dynamics 365

✔ Cross-channel orchestration

✔ Scales from SMB to Enterprise

✔ Ideal for complex B2B and B2C environments

10. Why Choose Dynamics Square UK?

As a leading Microsoft Partner in the UK, Dynamics Square UK provides:

• Expert implementation
• Custom journey design
• Data integration support
• CRM alignment
• Ongoing optimisation
• Training & support
• Industry-specific configurations

Businesses trust Dynamics Square UK to deploy Customer Insights effectively and drive measurable ROI.

11. Frequently Asked Questions

1. Is Dynamics 365 Customer Insights – Journeys the same as Dynamics 365 Marketing?

Yes. The module was renamed and enhanced with new AI and real-time capabilities.

2. Does it support real-time customer journeys?

Absolutely — it’s built for real-time engagement.

3. Can it integrate with Dynamics 365 Sales CRM?

Yes. The integration is native and seamless.

4. Does it support WhatsApp and SMS marketing?

Yes. Multiple messaging channels are supported.

5. Can Copilot create marketing content?

Yes — Copilot helps generate emails, segments, triggers and insights.

Final Thoughts

Dynamics 365 Customer Insights – Journeys is one of the most advanced marketing automation platforms available today — especially for organisations that want to unify data, personalise engagement and automate journeys across the full customer lifecycle.

It brings together real-time engagement, AI-powered Copilot capabilities, unified customer profiles and cross-channel orchestration into one system designed for modern marketing.

If your organisation wants to unlock deeper insights, improve customer experiences and drive higher conversions, Customer Insights – Journeys is a powerful foundation to build on.

Contact Dynamics Square UK

For implementation, demo or consultation, reach out to the experts at Dynamics Square UK.