We need to talk about... Dynamics 365 Release Wave 1 for 2025... Dynamics 365 Customer Insights Journeys

Next, in my blog series, I visit all of the new features and functionality that we can expect to see in Release Wave 1 of 2025 for Dynamics 365 and the Power Platform. Today, I will be discussing the updates in Dynamics 365 Customer Insights Journeys.

New features coming to Dynamics 365 Customer Insights Journeys and the key areas of focus in this set of updates appear to be enhancements around unifying the Sales and Marketing modules, along with introducing more and more Copilot functionality.

The Dynamics 365 Release Wave 1 for 2025 outlines all the new features that will be released between March 2025 through October 2025. You can either browse the release plan online or download the document as a PDF file. The PDF file also includes information about Power Apps, Power Automate, Power BI, Power Pages, Copilot Studio, Microsoft Dataverse, Microsoft Power Platform governance and administration, and data integration.

Download the 2025 release wave 1 PDF

The Microsoft Power Platform features coming in the 2025 release wave 1 have been summarized in a separate release plan as well as a downloadable PDF

Create journeys by using Copilot to describe them

Users can now describe their marketing objectives in plain language, and Copilot translates them into the workflow and steps needed. In the example below, I asked Copilot to "Create a journey that targets all contacts with an email address and send them a promotional email about a new warranty service we provide"

The copilot then offers suggested prompts and provides journey previews and summaries for review before creating the journey.

This approach accelerates a number of aspects, but mostly importantly it allows users to test and understand the structure of data and the building blocks of a customer journey. Other elements then improve such as, time-to-market, enhanced collaboration, and makes customer engagement more focused.

Get insights on email engagement with heatmap analytics

Microsoft's Dynamics 365 Customer Insights – Journeys introduces heatmap analytics to enhance email campaign effectiveness. This feature provides a visual representation of how recipients interact with email content, highlighting areas and links with varying engagement levels.

Marketers can assess metrics such as click-through rates, total clicks, and unique clicks to identify which elements resonate most with their audience. The heatmap can be filtered by email version, journey version, and date, offering detailed insights into user behavior.

To activate the heatmap, navigate to Settings > Feature switches > Email editor and enable the Email Clickmap toggle.

Streamline form-filling and event registration with form prefill

Microsoft have introduced a new pre-fill feature for the forms we publish to improve the user experience during event registrations and form submissions.

When users access these forms via links in Customer Insights emails, as part of a direct send or campaign, the users' previously stored/provided information is automatically populated, reducing redundancy and saving time.

This process not only helps registrations but also improves data accuracy and boosts conversion rates. The feature is available for both marketing and event registration forms.

Create event portals with event and registration details using Power Pages

Microsoft' has also introduced a new template "event portal" that allows for the creation of dedicated site for event information and registration. Power Pages users can deploy and customise this template to align with their branding and formatting.

The portals provide attendees with information and access to upcoming events, detailed summaries including session information and event description, alongside a set of integrated registration forms.

Set up and execute pre- and post-event communications

Alongside this new Event Portal template and set of features to help with pre-and post-event communications has also been released. This allows event teams to manage all event-related messaging within the event management interface, simplifying the process.

Key features include audience segmentation, event-specific templates with AI-assisted content creation via Copilot, multichannel journeys to aid pre-event engagement and attendance, and post-event satisfaction surveys for attendee feedback.

This feature aims to attract the right audience, increase registrations, boost ticket revenue, and deliver those personalised experiences.

Hope you all enjoyed this post on the release wave 1 updates for 2025 in Dynamics 365 Customer Insight Journeys. I will continue this series with some additional content specifically related to Dynamics 365 Field Service. Take Care, Speak Soon!