Velocity Scripting in Marketo: A Pain-free Intro, Methodology, Use Cases

Email personalization has come a long way from simply inserting first names into subject lines. In today’s competitive landscape, brands must leverage sophisticated personalization tactics to craft dynamic, meaningful content that truly connects with their audience. 

Adobe Marketo Engage empowers marketers to do just that. Among its most powerful capabilities is Velocity scripting, a feature that allows for advanced personalization through dynamic tokens, enabling highly tailored experiences at scale.

With over a decade of experience in email development and personalization, Mavlers has helped brands, agencies, and email marketers leverage Velocity Scripting in Marketo Engage to create data-driven email campaigns. Today’s guide explores how Velocity Scripting works, practical use cases, and best practices.

What is Velocity scripting?

Marketo Velocity script examples

Velocity Tokens in Marketo

Practical use cases

Velocity best practices

What is Velocity scripting?

Velocity is a Java-based scripting language designed to customize content with greater flexibility and precision. Within Marketo, marketers can harness this language by creating script tokens that are embedded directly into email assets. What sets Velocity apart is its ability to pull data not only from contact fields but from Opportunities and Custom Objects as well. 

For example, Velocity can access data such as deal name, journey stage, amount, close data, etc. Based on these Opportunities, you can create highly relevant experiences for customers. Similarly, with access to data within Custom Objects, like product preferences, purchase history, and subscription details, Velocity can offer behavior-level insights, allowing you to create tailored content. 

You can create dynamic content in Marketo using the editor’s built-in feature for that. But for advanced personalization in Marketo, Velocity is the real treat. 

Having used it for a number of our clients to achieve surprise results, you can take our word for it. 

But to begin with, take a look at this super-basic Velocity script. It uses a conditional statement to check whether the lead’s first name is available or not. 

#if( $lead.FirstName )
  Hello $lead.FirstName,
#else
  Hello,
#end
Thank you for your interest!

Going forward, you’ll see how even complex scripts are based on conditional logic. Speaking of, let’s get started with a few Marketo Velocity script examples. 

Marketo Velocity script examples

1. Dynamic Email Customization

Velocity enables developers to craft personalized HTML emails by inserting placeholders that automatically populate with individual lead data from the Marketo database. When previewed, the content dynamically reflects the user-specific information. 

2. Automated Promo Code Creation

With built-in support for random number generation, Velocity can be used to automatically produce unique promotional codes. These scripts can also incorporate logic to display relevant metadata, such as expiration dates or usage guidelines for each recipient.

3. Data-Driven Transactional Messaging

Velocity powers the automation of transactional emails, such as order confirmations or purchase summaries. This is achieved by leveraging two types of custom objects in Marketo:

• Product Objects, which detail all available items in the catalog.
• Order Objects, which store individual customer purchase data.

4. Event Communications

Based on a lead’s registration details, and any other related custom data, Velocity can customize email communications with attendees. 

Before learning how to use Velocity scripting in Marketo, it’s essential to understand what Velocity script tokens are, and how they work. 

Velocity Tokens in Marketo

With respect to email personalization in Marketo, a Script Token is nothing but a placeholder for inserting dynamic content. 

Velocity Script Tokens are particularly useful when email personalization needs go beyond simple field merges and demand more nuanced logic. For instance, when crafting greetings or tailored messages that rely on several contact fields, Velocity enables you to dynamically merge and format this information with ease.

Again, if your campaign involves showing or hiding specific sections of an email depending on user preferences, demographics, or geographic location, Velocity scripts provide the flexibility to build those conditional rules directly into your email templates. 

Finally, for complex scenarios that would otherwise require multiple segments, dynamic content blocks, or numerous snippets, Velocity offers a cleaner and more scalable approach. For instance, consider the following Velocity email script. 

(You don’t have to understand the code, just take a quick glance.)

#set( $industry = $lead.Industry )
#set( $engagementScore = $lead.Engagement Score )
#set( $greeting = "" )
#set( $productRecommendation = "" )

#if( $industry == "Technology" )
  #if( $engagementScore > 75 )
    #set( $greeting = "Hi Tech Enthusiast!" )
    #set( $productRecommendation = "Check out our latest cloud solutions." )
  #elseif( $engagementScore > 50 )
    #set( $greeting = "Hello Tech Professional," )
    #set( $productRecommendation = "Explore our innovative software integrations." )
  #else
    #set( $greeting = "Welcome to the world of tech!" )
    #set( $productRecommendation = "Learn about our foundational technology services." )
  #end
#elseif( $industry == "Healthcare" )
  #if( $engagementScore > 75 )
    #set( $greeting = "Dear Healthcare Leader," )
    #set( $productRecommendation = "Discover our advanced patient management systems." )
  #elseif( $engagementScore > 50 )
    #set( $greeting = "Greetings Healthcare Innovator," )
    #set( $productRecommendation = "See how our analytics can improve patient outcomes." )
  #else
    #set( $greeting = "Welcome to our healthcare community!" )
    #set( $productRecommendation = "Explore our introductory healthcare solutions." )
  #end
#else
  #set( $greeting = "Hello Valued Customer," )
  #set( $productRecommendation = "Discover our wide range of solutions." )
#end
${greeting}
Based on your interest and engagement, we recommend: ${productRecommendation}

Rather than create multiple segments and dynamic content rules, the above script uses conditional logic to set up the various triggers—all in one place. 

But how does this work for real? How is it executed with respect to your emails?

So when an email containing the above script is sent, the script searches the lead’s industry and engagement score. Based on that information, the script determines which greeting and product recommendations to display for the lead. 

Remember, the script will iterate through each lead in a segment, so your emails will be personalized for each recipient according to their industry and engagement score. In essence, the entire set-up revolves around conditional logic. 

But keep in mind that Script tokens don’t allow nesting of other tokens—whether they’re standard program tokens or other script tokens. They are limited to referencing fields from lead records or associated custom objects directly. Also, you can’t embed Velocity Script Tokens inside Snippets or Dynamic Content areas. These tokens are designed to operate within the main body of the email asset and won’t function correctly if placed inside these specialized content sections.

Practical use cases in Velocity scripting

Below, we consider a few practical use cases of Velocity Scripting in Marketo. 

1. Personalized greetings 

Instead of a static greeting using only the first name token, Velocity allows fallback logic to personalize greetings for all recipients.

#if(${lead.MarketoSocialGender} == "Male")
Dear Mr. $lead.FirstName, 
#elseif(${lead.MarketoSocialGender} == "Female")
Dear Mrs. $lead.LastName,
#else
Dear Mr/Mrs. $lead.LastName,
#end

This ensures that if a lead’s first name is missing, the email will default to “Hello Valued Customer” instead of showing a blank space.

2. Dynamic content based on user preferences 

If a company offers multiple services or products, Velocity can dynamically adjust email content based on the recipient’s interests.

#set( $interest = $lead.Product_Interest )
#if( $interest == "Software" )
   Discover our latest software updates.
#elseif( $interest == "Hardware" )
   Check out our newest hardware solutions.
#else
   Explore our full range of innovative solutions.
#end

This ensures that each recipient sees content tailored to their preferences without requiring separate emails.

3. Product recommendations based on purchase history 

For e-commerce brands, Velocity can recommend products based on a customer’s last purchase.

#set( $lastPurchase = $lead.Last_Purchased_Category )
#if( $lastPurchase == "Running Shoes" )
   Based on your interest in running, check out our latest high-performance shoes.
#elseif( $lastPurchase == "Casual Wear" )
   Discover our newest collection of casual outfits.
#else
   See what's trending in your favorite categories.
#end

This approach improves engagement and conversion rates by ensuring that product recommendations are relevant.

4. Personalized CTA buttons 

For a SaaS business, CTA buttons can dynamically change based on whether a lead has already booked a demo or is still in the awareness stage.

#set( $demoStatus = $lead.Demo_Booked )
#if( $demoStatus == "Yes" )
   Ready to move forward? Speak with our sales team.
#else
   Book your free demo today.
#end

This eliminates unnecessary steps for engaged users and directs them toward the next logical action.

5. Step completion 

This is something we’re currently working on. So the idea is that with every step completed by a user, the email template will update dynamically. For instance, consider the following hero sections we’ve designed for one of our Marketo clients. 

The two emails capture the two scenarios. So, once a member completes the last  step, the second email will be triggered for that member. 

With the help of custom fields, program statuses, and tags in Marketo, you can track user behavior. Within a Marketo email template, you then apply conditional logic to check the values of your tracking fields, program status, and tags. Based on these, you display the relevant content for the member. 

So far, so good. But there’s always room for error, you see. We’ve had to un-mess a lot of Marketo scripts across our 750+ campaigns so far. Therefore, it is essential to stick to a set of best practices while working in Velocity, and indeed, with respect to all campaign-length operations. 

Best practices for using Velocity scripting

1. Test before deployment 

Marketo Engage does not provide a built-in debugger for Velocity scripts, so it is crucial to test scripts with sample data before sending emails to a live audience.

To verify that your Velocity token behaves as expected, you can approach testing in a couple of ways. One method is to create test lead records and adjust their attributes to either meet or intentionally fail the logic defined in your script. You can also add actual leads to a static list and use the email preview feature to see how the content renders for each individual based on their data.

2. Use fallbacks to preempt errors

Since email databases often contain incomplete data, every script should include fallback values to avoid broken emails or missing content.

3. Optimize & simplify scripts

While Velocity allows complex logic, scripts should remain efficient to prevent performance issues in email rendering. Avoid unnecessary calculations or deeply nested logic that could slow down processing.

4. Be patient with the Editor

When opening the Marketo Editor, allow a few seconds for the integration pane on the right side to fully load before making any changes to your token script. Jumping into edits too soon can disrupt the backend processes, potentially causing all integrations to reset silently, which in turn can break your token functionality. So to avoid this, simply wait for the pane to finish loading before you begin working.

5. Work with Marketo pros 

This bit is particularly important. Implementing Velocity Scripting requires expertise in Marketo Engage, data structuring, and Java-based scripting. 

Errors in scripting can disrupt entire email campaigns. Therefore, it’s highly recommended that you work with certified Marketo developers and designers. In fact, unless you’re not an expert and want to use Marketo, you should consider outsourcing your requirements, rather than launching a messed-up email campaign, only to regret later and scramble to mop up the blood. 

How Mavlers helps brands with Adobe Marketo Engage

For over ten years, Mavlers has partnered with brands to deliver sophisticated, results-driven email marketing strategies. Our team of dedicated Marketo Engage professionals brings deep expertise across a range of specialized services. We craft responsive, high-precision HTML emails built specifically for Marketo’s platform. Our personalization approach goes far beyond the basics—leveraging Velocity Scripting and dynamic tokens to deliver content that truly connects.

We also design bespoke email templates and modular components, tailored to work seamlessly within Marketo Engage’s ecosystem. Whether it’s guiding clients through a smooth ESP migration or building out robust automation workflows, we ensure every detail is handled with precision. And before any campaign goes live, our quality assurance process guarantees flawless performance across devices and inboxes. 

Our six-tier email marketing framework has been used for all our Marketo clients. If you need help with implementing dynamic email content in Marketo Engage, or any other Marketo-related deliverable, get in touch with our Marketo team!