New Features Archives - The Spot https://thespotforpardot.com/category/new-features/ A home for marketers on Salesforce to shape the future together Wed, 16 Apr 2025 15:33:47 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.7.1 https://thespotforpardot.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/circle-150x150.png New Features Archives - The Spot https://thespotforpardot.com/category/new-features/ 32 32 238606145 Step-by-Step Guide: Creating Marketing Cloud on Core Form-Triggered Flows with Autoresponder Emails https://thespotforpardot.com/2025/04/16/step-by-step-guide-creating-marketing-cloud-on-core-form-triggered-flows-with-autoresponder-emails/ https://thespotforpardot.com/2025/04/16/step-by-step-guide-creating-marketing-cloud-on-core-form-triggered-flows-with-autoresponder-emails/#respond Wed, 16 Apr 2025 13:07:21 +0000 https://thespotforpardot.com/?p=7853 Boats on the Indian Ocean

Marketing Cloud on Core (aka Growth and Advanced Edition) offers simple out-of-the-box form-triggered flows that are great for lead generation and straightforward scenarios, but today we’re going to dive into something more complex! In this post, I’ll walk you through the process of building a flow that checks for existing contacts and leads before creating […]

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Boats on the Indian Ocean

Marketing Cloud on Core (aka Growth and Advanced Edition) offers simple out-of-the-box form-triggered flows that are great for lead generation and straightforward scenarios, but today we’re going to dive into something more complex! In this post, I’ll walk you through the process of building a flow that checks for existing contacts and leads before creating a new lead, creates consent records, and sends an autoresponder email. Let’s get started.

Setup Notes

All testing was conducted after the Spring ‘25 release in a demo org. The standard lead duplicate rule was active and configured to allow the creation of duplicate records with alerts.

OOTB Form-Triggered Flows

Before we begin customizing the out-of-the-box flow, it’s important to understand the capabilities and limitations of Form-Triggered Flows. This helps guide decisions concerning when customization is necessary.

OOTB Form-Triggered Flow without Lead Matching

This is the most basic flow and is what’s automatically generated when the Signup Form template is selected during the campaign creation process. No modifications were made to the flow, outside of configuring the “CreateConsent” element.

Test Results 

ScenarioResult
Submitted by new personNew Lead Created
Submitted by existing leadNew Lead Created
Submitted by existing contactNew Lead Created

Summary 

In all three test scenarios, a new lead record was created leading to duplicates in Salesforce. 

OOTB Form-Triggered Flow with Lead Matching

In this test, a very slight, but important, modification was made to the flow—the “Check for Matching Records” option was enabled in the “LeadCreation” element.

Test Results 

ScenarioResult
Submitted by new personNew Lead Created
Submitted by existing leadExisting Lead Updated
Submitted by existing contactNew Lead Created


Summary 

This small update made a significant improvement. The flow now prevents the creation of duplicate leads when an existing lead submits the form. However, a new lead record is still being created when an existing contact submits the form.

This occurs because flows are object-specific, and the OOTB flow only references the lead object. It lacks visibility into the contact object, so it creates a new lead if an existing lead is not found. In short, the flow is performing exactly as it’s designed to.

OOTB Form-Triggered Flows Summary

The OOTB Form-Triggered flows support simple use cases, but it’s important to be aware of the potential for duplicate record creation. These flows are intended as a starting point for marketers and should be customized to meet more specific requirements.

Form-Triggered Flows with Autoresponder Emails

Use Case

Your company just released its latest white paper, which is expected to have great appeal to potential and existing customers alike. The marketing team is posting the white paper on the website as a gated asset. In addition to redirecting users to a “Thank You” page, marketing also wants to send an autoresponder email. The autoresponder not only provides the recipient with easy access to the white paper should they want to view it again later but also serves as a way to validate the email address that was provided.

Why do we need to customize the OOTB flow?

Since the white paper will “appeal to potential and existing customers,” we know that the form will be submitted by new visitors, existing leads, and existing contacts. If we simply added a “Send Email Message” element to the OOTB flow, we could send the autoresponder email, but we would create new leads in Salesforce if an existing contact submitted the form.

The flow needs to be customized to check for existing contacts, in addition to existing leads, before creating a new lead and sending the autoresponder email.

The Finished Product

Before we walk through the build of the flow, let’s first take a look at the finished product. Then, we’ll review each element, discuss its function, and why it’s needed.

CreateProspect 

Function: Creates a new record on the prospect object for each form submission.
Reason: Flows using the “Send Email Message” element are required to have a “Create Records” element directly after the Start element. The “Create Records” element must create a record on the Contact, Lead, or Prospect object.

If we created records on the Lead object, we would be in the exact same situation as the OOTB flow: we would create duplicate leads when contacts submitted the form. If we created records on the Contact object, we would bypass the Lead object, and submissions from new visitors would be created as contacts.

The Prospect object was introduced as part of the Spring ‘25 release and is designed to keep unqualified prospects unassigned until they meet your organization’s agreed-upon lead requirements. We can satisfy the flow requirement by creating a record on this object without involving the sales team or triggering automations.

GetContacts 

Function: Retrieves all contacts who match the form submission based on the provided email address and last name.
Reason: Before we can check if a form submission is an existing contact, we must first give the flow visibility into contact records so that we have something to compare against in the “Decision” element.

Contact Match 

Function: This “Decision” element is used to check if the form submission is an existing contact. If a match is found, the existing contact record is updated. If a match is not found, the existing lead record is updated (if one is found), or a new lead record will be created.
Reason: Prevent the creation of duplicate leads when existing contacts submit the form.

UpdateContact 

Function: Update existing contact records based on data included in the form submission.

Reason: Update the contact record with the most current data.

LeadCreation 

Function: Create new lead records or update existing lead records based on data included in the form.

  • Important: Make sure “Check for Matching Records” is enabled. 

Reason: Create/update lead record with the most current data.

CreateConsent 

Function: Creates a consent record based on the contact point for the selected channel and subscription.
Reason: Consent records are required for sending promotional emails from Marketing Cloud on Core.

TransactionalEmail 

Function: Transactional emails are non-promotional, immediate, and automated communications sent in response to a user’s action or interaction.
Reason: In this use case, the transactional email is used to send the ungated link to the white paper for future reference. Transactional emails can be used as long as they contain no promotional elements.

DeleteProspect 

Function: Deletes the prospect record created by the first element.
Reason: This step is optional but recommended. Since a prospect record was created solely to satisfy the requirement of having a “Create Records” element first, deleting the record helps keep the org clean. If you are using the prospect record for purposes beyond fulfilling this requirement, you can skip this step.

Other Use Cases & Next Steps

This structure can be applied and adapted to other use cases where there is a need to send autoresponder emails to leads and contacts without creating duplicate records. Examples include flows that create tasks or campaign member records in addition to sending autoresponders. 

Flows might seem challenging at first, but marketers will love them once they gain more experience. The key takeaway is to get hands-on, test, and don’t hesitate to ask for help if needed. Personally, I can say that I received a lot of support from my friends at Sercante when I was starting out, and I still do today!

Original article: Step-by-Step Guide: Creating Marketing Cloud on Core Form-Triggered Flows with Autoresponder Emails

©2025 The Spot. All Rights Reserved.

The post Step-by-Step Guide: Creating Marketing Cloud on Core Form-Triggered Flows with Autoresponder Emails appeared first on The Spot.

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Masterclass in Marketing Cloud Account Scoring: Spring ’25 Edition https://thespotforpardot.com/2025/04/08/masterclass-in-marketing-cloud-account-scoring-spring-25-edition/ https://thespotforpardot.com/2025/04/08/masterclass-in-marketing-cloud-account-scoring-spring-25-edition/#respond Tue, 08 Apr 2025 18:14:58 +0000 https://thespotforpardot.com/?p=7845 Tuscany landscape

Welcome to your Masterclass in Account Scoring – where we take your Salesforce skills from good to guru-level! With the Spring ‘25 release, Salesforce introduces Account Scoring, a smart, customizable, and easy-to-manage scoring solution within Marketing Cloud Growth and Advanced Editions (aka “Marketing Cloud on Core” or just “Marketing Cloud”). So, grab your virtual whiteboard, […]

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Tuscany landscape

Welcome to your Masterclass in Account Scoring – where we take your Salesforce skills from good to guru-level! With the Spring ‘25 release, Salesforce introduces Account Scoring, a smart, customizable, and easy-to-manage scoring solution within Marketing Cloud Growth and Advanced Editions (aka “Marketing Cloud on Core” or just “Marketing Cloud”). So, grab your virtual whiteboard, and let’s dive in!

Account Scoring 101: The Fundamentals

Account Scoring is a brand-new feature in Marketing Cloud on Core, designed to give businesses deeper insights into which accounts are most likely to convert. Unlike People Scoring, which evaluates individual leads and contacts based on engagement and fit, Account Scoring takes a broader approach, analyzing entire organizations. This is especially valuable for Account-Based Marketing (ABM) strategies, where sales and marketing teams focus on targeting high-value accounts rather than individual leads.

How Does Account Scoring Differ from People Scoring?

  • People Scoring is focused on individual engagement and fit. Individuals are scored based on how well they fit your ideal persona and how often they engage with your Marketing initiatives.
  • Account Scoring aggregates data from all contacts within an organization, providing a more holistic view of an account’s likelihood to convert.
  • Intent Scoring (optional in Account Scoring) identifies buying signals, making it easier to target accounts actively considering a purchase.

Account Scoring is a game-changer for ABM-focused campaigns, where teams need to evaluate an entire company rather than just a single decision-maker. With this new feature, marketing and sales teams can prioritize high-value accounts, personalize outreach at the account level, and drive stronger conversion rates.

Let’s break down the core curriculum of Account Scoring in Marketing Cloud on Core:

  1. Engagement Scoring – Think of this like a participation grade. The more someone interacts (emails, website visits, messages), the higher the score.
  2. Fit Scoring: This is your compatibility test. Does the account match your ideal customer profile? If so, your points will increase.
  3. Intent Scoring – This one’s all about purchase signals. If an account drops hints they are ready to buy, the score reflects that.

Now let’s discuss how to elevate your Account Scoring skills to an expert level.

Take Control of Calculated Insights

Previously, once you published scoring rules, the system would auto-refresh Calculated Insights every six hours – whether you wanted it or not. With Spring ‘25, Salesforce has introduced the power to unschedule or reschedule Calculated Insights. Now, you control when and how often your scores refresh, ensuring you’re optimizing Data Cloud service credits and keeping your system running efficiently.

Customize Your Scoring Model Like a Pro

Say goodbye to one-size-fits-all scoring. Account Scoring allows you to adjust the weighting of Engagement, Fit, and Intent Scores to align with your business strategy and ensure the scoring model fits your unique needs. 

  • Need Engagement to weigh 70% instead of 50%? You got it.
  • Want Intent to be the biggest factor? Done.
  • Would you prefer Fit to lead the charge? No problem.

Activating Account Scoring

To start using Account Scoring:

  1. Create a Unified Account Identity ruleset
    1. Account Identity rulesets allow you to target contacts related to accounts as well as segments based on Account attributes.
  2. Enable Account Scoring
    • You can also enable Intent Scoring at this stage if you wish to use this feature.

3. Customize your scoring rules and your score ratio. Don’t forget to republish your rules once your changes are saved.

    Smarter Rule Management and Publishing

    No more accidental rule mishaps! Now, when you tweak your scoring rules, you’ll need to publish them again for the changes to take effect. Here’s your checklist for success:

    • uncheckedCustomize Fit and Engagement Scoring under Setup > Scoring Rules.
    • uncheckedFine-tune Account Scoring under the Account tab.
    • uncheckedRepublish once all your changes are set.
    • uncheckedRemember, once published, rules cannot be unpublished – only modified.
    • uncheckedKeep case sensitivity in mind (“Example” ≄ “example”)

    Time to Put Your Skills to the Test

    Congratulations, you’ve just completed your Spring ‘25 Account Scoring Masterclass! Now, it’s time to put your knowledge to work. Whether refining your scoring model or just getting started, these updates give you everything you need to optimize and win more deals. 

    Want expert guidance? The Sercante team is here to help. Contact us, and let’s make your scoring strategy a success!

    Original article: Masterclass in Marketing Cloud Account Scoring: Spring ’25 Edition

    ©2025 The Spot. All Rights Reserved.

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    Salesforce’s New Marketing Intelligence: As Seen by a Datorama Enthusiast https://thespotforpardot.com/2025/03/18/salesforces-new-marketing-intelligence-as-seen-by-a-datorama-enthusiast/ https://thespotforpardot.com/2025/03/18/salesforces-new-marketing-intelligence-as-seen-by-a-datorama-enthusiast/#respond Tue, 18 Mar 2025 18:08:46 +0000 https://thespotforpardot.com/?p=7824 Bavarian thanksgiving parade in Rosenheim

    For the last seven years, I’ve been enamored by a marketing analytics tool (who among us hasn’t, I’m sure), Datorama, or Salesforce Marketing Cloud Intelligence. MCI, as we’ve come to call it, is the most seamless way my customers have found to join their data across multiple sources, built by marketers and for marketers. MCI […]

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    Bavarian thanksgiving parade in Rosenheim

    For the last seven years, I’ve been enamored by a marketing analytics tool (who among us hasn’t, I’m sure), Datorama, or Salesforce Marketing Cloud Intelligence. MCI, as we’ve come to call it, is the most seamless way my customers have found to join their data across multiple sources, built by marketers and for marketers. MCI allows users to join data together and easily create reports and dashboards using plain language from the pre-built data models. This allows for easy-to-populate smart lens dashboards, or deeply complex automated reporting triggered by specific events. 

    To my delight, and to the happiness of marketers, Salesforce just announced on March 18, 2025, a new version of the tool, Marketing Intelligence (MI),  built on the Salesforce Platform. This new version takes the best features of existing MCI and layers them into the functionality of Data Cloud’s unified platform, while taking users to the future with agentic features that will provide down-to-earth insights with conversational agents. So without any further ado, let’s dive into this new tool, Marketing Intelligence! 

    What is Marketing Intelligence? 

    Marketing Intelligence (or MI) is a new application on the Salesforce platform designed to simplify marketing data management, deliver trustworthy, out-of-the-box insights that marketers can instantly act on, and deliver better return on investment for marketing spend. Being built on Data Cloud and connected to the Salesforce platform allows it to be fully extensible, with a toolbox for marketers at the ready- it’s everything you need to build robust, effective, and meaningful dashboards with minimal lift. 

    Data Cloud for Marketers Made Easy 

    One of the processes I have been spoiled by in Marketing Cloud Intelligence is data mapping that auto-populates based on past usage and logical guesses by the platform’s artificial intelligence. Additionally, certain APIs come with prebuilt models and mapping to build off of rather than user-defined settings. These features have helped get marketers streamlined into the world of data models and dashboarding with less lift than throwing them into a database or asking them to join various tables. 

    All of that, to my delight, is back in full form with Marketing Intelligence. You have the option to upload a TotalConnect file (a non-standard API, flat file of your choosing), or to use an existing API connection, with some rolled out at launch and more coming in the year ahead. Choosing a connection like Google Ads allows you to seamlessly grab that data, formatted and ready for quick mapping, and load the data you need into a dashboard in just 3 clicks. 

    Clean and Easy Dashboards 

    The dashboards look sharp and load with ease. These dashboards come prebuilt, with options to customize, and also have a key new feature compared to the existing Marketing Cloud Intelligence: generative AI summaries of your campaigns, including what’s working and what might not be. This elevates, to me, the future of dashboarding—being able not only to look at quick and easy data points and trends but also being told in plain language for what to take away or dig into. This can help marketers ask questions and dive in further, and even ask their agent to take action on what recommendations surface.

    The idea of clear and plain insights especially comes up in implementations of the current dashboard tools I work in. Users looking at a dashboard want to know different information, and for dozens of users looking at a single page, the questions they’re asking are going to be different depending on needs. The option to ask your agent to recommend optimizations, and then act on it will save marketers a lot of time and headache. With Marketing Intelligence,  you just need the data ready for an agent to help your end users get what they need from the data you’ve put in place. 

    Tidied Data Across Channels 

    Of course, the core goal of any marketer looking for a tool like Data Cloud, Marketing Cloud Intelligence, or this new version of Marketing Intelligence, is to tie data together across channels to tell meaningful stories they can act on. In addition to the standardized API mapping, MI creates value by uniformly harmonizing these fields across datasets and allows for a semantic model to be used on the backend to tie data together in ways that are common sense (campaign name ties across all of your channels, for instance), such as tying your campaign from paid media to your campaigns from your CRM or other tools, even when names are not exactly aligned (more on this in a moment). 

    I’m an existing Datorama/MCI User: What’s Worthwhile Here? 

    If you have been reading up to this point, you know what was probably on my mind when I first saw this tool: can I love a changed version of my favorite software of all time? (And yes, I have a favorite software of all time.) Put simply, I’m ready to love. Let’s dissect the butterflies in my stomach. (And if your heart skips a beat when you hear about normalization, semantic modeling, and ROI, there’s enough of this platform for us to share). 

    One Word: Normalization 

    When I lead implementations with clients on MCI, we talk about the ways in which their data joins. Sometimes it’s super straightforward, sometimes it’s messy. More often than not, we can devise ways to join the messy and the clean together, such as by breaking out parts of campaigns to equal full campaign names in other channels, or by using the numerous formulas Marketing Cloud Intelligence offers out of the box.

    In MI, this is no longer necessary. One of my favorite surprises is seen below: you can classify and normalize data with Einstein AI, so instead of working to modify and standardize all of your data either in the platform of origin or in Intelligence, you can instead have Einstein help you set standardization of your data. This is a fantastic path forward in joining datasets together for synchronized cross-channel reporting.

    Two Words: Semantic Modeling 

    Though users will have an out-of-the-box paid media data model ready to go, users will have free range beyond the world of pre-defined data models in MCI. In MI, you can set up a semantic model that joins datasets together across multiple objects. While you may miss some of the standardization of having ads, conversion, and web analytics data models, among countless others in MCI, you will get seamless back-end loading of data together, along with seamless joins to standard Salesforce object data. This also means that you can add fields and relationships with full customization as your datasets evolve, or as you update back-end nomenclature to more cleanly join fields from one connection to another.

     Three Words: Return on Investment 

    Speaking of Salesforce data, what elevates a good MCI implementation to a great one, in my books, is the joining of cost/engagement data to tangible ROI and meaningful dollar results. With the new integration to the semantic model and the ease of connecting standard objects from Sales Cloud, users can handily create and easily visualize ROI metrics in MI wherever data cleanly intersects, which is now made much easier with Einstein normalization and semantic modeling.

    Additionally, attribution is a more straightforward possibility with MI than in current MCI, with the framework to capture website events within Data Cloud data model objects, providing marketers end-to-end visibility into touchpoints where ads have been seen by end users. This will include attribution models for first and last touch for users, and can further be a method to validate ROI and pinpoint specific interactions with customers.

    I’ve Never Used MCI or Datorama-Why Should I Explore Marketing Intelligence? 

    The Tool for Data Harmonization 

    MCI has long been the gold standard for harmonizing marketing data. When clients come to me looking for data solutions, if the core users (front and back-end) are marketers, MCI is always what I recommend. Now with MI, you have the power of what current MCI can do to enable marketers to aggregate and act on data in the same platform as your CRM and marketing data, with the added benefits of generative and agentic AI, 3 click data setup, Data Cloud, and embedded Tableau Next visualizations.

    The Tool for Visualization 

    Current Marketing Cloud Intelligence has some great visualization options, but the two big enhancements I’ve always wanted and have tried to build guardrails for on my own are: 

    1. Faster load optimization for dashboards 

    2. Plain language recommendations for end users 

    With MI, you get both of those with minimal lifting. Data is smoothly joined together using Data Cloud and back-end semantic modeling, with minimal loading for calculated fields and other computing intensive processes in current MCI. Additionally, with generative AI suggestions and an agent to help you pause underperforming ads, end-users are no longer limited to looking at charts and figuring out what it means,—because actions are ready and available to springboard from on the page.

    The Tool for Marketing Customization 

    Have you ever wanted to redefine your campaign names in reporting by extracting certain parts of your campaign names from across systems? Have you wanted to group different Google Analytics traffic sources and merge them against ad spending from the respective paid media platforms on an automated basis? What about renaming and grouping a set of campaigns based on criteria only you and your team know and then dynamically filtering for a handful of those campaigns? 

    That’s the sort of fun I love to explore with clients, and it’s back in full force in MI with processes like patterns to extract data points from various fields, calculated fields in the semantic layer, and the normalization processes Einstein brings to the table.

    A New Era 

    Marketing Intelligence launched on March 18th (with Data Cloud and MI licenses required). Talk to your account executive to explore this new product. Marketing Intelligence is going to be the gateway into a new world of dashboarding intelligently (no pun intended) and is sure to streamline data for marketers in ways that have only been hinted at by Marketing Cloud Intelligence previously. I know I’m excited to take this ride, and I hope you’ll join me!

    Original article: Salesforce’s New Marketing Intelligence: As Seen by a Datorama Enthusiast

    ©2025 The Spot. All Rights Reserved.

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    Cracking the Code: How Opportunity Influence Connects Marketing to Revenue https://thespotforpardot.com/2025/02/17/cracking-the-code-how-opportunity-influence-connects-marketing-to-revenue/ https://thespotforpardot.com/2025/02/17/cracking-the-code-how-opportunity-influence-connects-marketing-to-revenue/#respond Mon, 17 Feb 2025 21:59:49 +0000 https://thespotforpardot.com/?p=7802

    Marketing Cloud on Core (also known as Marketing Cloud Growth or Advanced Edition) can now track how marketing efforts contribute to revenue! With the Spring ‘25 release, Salesforce introduced Opportunity Influence, helping businesses connect marketing engagement to pipeline and revenue. But how does it work, and what’s the difference between Opportunity Influence and Campaign Influence? […]

    The post Cracking the Code: How Opportunity Influence Connects Marketing to Revenue appeared first on The Spot.

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    Marketing Cloud on Core (also known as Marketing Cloud Growth or Advanced Edition) can now track how marketing efforts contribute to revenue! With the Spring ‘25 release, Salesforce introduced Opportunity Influence, helping businesses connect marketing engagement to pipeline and revenue. But how does it work, and what’s the difference between Opportunity Influence and Campaign Influence? Let’s dive in!

    Opportunity Influence vs. Campaign Influence: What’s the Real Deal?

    Before we break down how to customize and report on Opportunity Influence, let’s clarify how it differs from Marketing Cloud Account Engagement’s Customizable Campaign Influence. While both models aim to connect marketing efforts to revenue, they function in distinct ways and serve different use cases. 

    FeatureOpportunity InfluenceCampaign Influence
    Data SourceMarketing Cloud Engagement (emails, ads, automation, etc.)Salesforce Campaign Membership
    Influence ScopeTracks engagement across multiple touchpointsTracks Leads/Contacts who are Salesforce Campaign Members
    IntegrationSyncs Marketing Cloud engagement data to Salesforce OpportunitiesWorks within Salesforce CRM using Campaigns and Opportunities
    Attribution ModelsMulti-touch attribution (first-touch, last-touch, even-distribution)Campaign Influence and Customized Models
    Reporting & InsightsMeasures marketing-driven revenue impactMeasure campaign-driven revenue impact

    🚨 Important Note for Account Engagement Users 🚨

    You cannot use Opportunity Influence alongside Customizable Campaign Influence. If your team already relies on Account Engagement’s Campaign Influence Models, keep this in mind when deciding which model to use.

    Additionally, Account Engagement users cannot activate Opportunity Influence as it does not currently integrate with Account Engagement’s Campaign Influence model. If your organization currently tracks marketing-driven revenue using Campaign Influence reports, you’ll need to continue using that model. However, if you’re considering a shift to Marketing Cloud on Core, Opportunity Influence could offer enhanced multi-touch attribution and engagement tracking.

    Battle of Influences: Campaign vs. Opportunity – Which One Wins?

    Let’s say you’re running a B2B software company and you’ve executed multiple marketing campaigns using a variety of platforms, including ads, email, an e-book, and a webinar, to engage your prospects.

    • Campaign Influence: A prospect attends the webinar, clicks on an email, and downloads the e-book before being transitioned to sales as a marketing-qualified lead. These interactions are recorded under a Salesforce Campaign and can be manually associated with the Opportunity when created based on the Opportunity Contact Role and Campaign Member. You can assign influence weight based on your customized rules.
    • Opportunity Influence: Marketing Cloud on Core automatically tracks all marketing engagement, including the ad view and click, webinar attendance, and e-book download. These touchpoints are automatically associated to attribute influence based on the predefined model and associated to the Opportunity upon creation.

    If Campaign Influence were a fine-dining experience, it would be a chef-curated meal—meticulously crafted with manual customization to fit your exact taste. You decide which interactions get the most credit, but it requires hands-on effort. On the other hand, Opportunity Influence is like an all-you-can-eat buffet with an expert chef behind the scenes. It automatically dishes out credit across touchpoints, giving you a full spread of marketing influence with minimal effort. If you love precision and control, Campaign Influence is for you. But if you want a seamless, automated view of your entire marketing impact, Opportunity Influence takes the crown.

    How to Set Up Opportunity Influence

    Setting up Opportunity Influence requires configuration in Sales Cloud to ensure marketing engagement is properly attributed to revenue-generating activities. To fully connect marketing efforts with sales outcomes, ensure that contacts engaging with marketing campaigns are linked to Opportunities. This allows for accurate tracking of marketing interactions that influence deals.

    Enabling Opportunity Influence

    1. Navigate to Salesforce Setup > Opportunity Influence
    2. Enable Opportunity Influence
    3. Select an Attribution Model
      1. First-Touch: Gives full credit to the first marketing engagement that led to the opportunity. It’s ideal for understanding which top-of-funnel efforts drive initial interest.
      2. Last-Touch: Assigns full credit to the last marketing interaction before the opportunity was created. It helps measure the final push that converted a lead into an opportunity.
      3. Even-Distribution: Spreads credit evenly across all marketing interactions that occurred before opportunity creation, giving a balanced view of multi-touch engagement. This approach is ideal for businesses with long sales cycles and/or multiple high-value touchpoints.

    Going Beyond Activation

    Customization is key to maximizing Opportunity Influence. Marketers should align influence models with their sales cycle, ensuring critical marketing touchpoints, such as email engagements, paid ads, and automation journeys, are correctly captured. Because Opportunity Influence consumes Data Credits, it’s essential to be strategic when enabling multiple models to avoid unnecessary credit usage.

    Making Sense of Your Data: Reporting on Opportunity Influence

    Once Opportunity Influence is enabled and tracking data, you can start reporting on marketing’s impact. The key to unlocking valuable insights is leveraging Salesforce’s Reports & Dashboards to tell a clear story about how marketing drives revenue.

    Your Treasure Map to Salesforce Reports & Dashboards

    • Head over to Salesforce Reports and search for Opportunity Influence Reports. This is your go-to hub for seeing which marketing touchpoints are helping close deals.
    • Get specific with your insights! Use filters to refine reports by timeframe, campaign, or opportunity. Want to know which emails led to the most revenue? Adjust your filters to see the impact.
    • Create Salesforce Dashboards to visualize Opportunity Influence. Need a quick snapshot for your leadership team? Build an easy-to-read chart that shows exactly how marketing is fueling revenue.

    The Ultimate Guide to Opportunity Influence Report Types

    Salesforce provides several built-in report types to help you analyze how marketing efforts contribute to revenue. Here are the key report types you can use:

    • Opportunity Influence Summary Report – This high-level report shows how marketing engagements are influencing revenue across all opportunities. Use it to track overall marketing impact.
    • Opportunity Influence Detail Report – A more granular report that breaks down individual touchpoints per opportunity, allowing you to analyze which specific marketing interactions played a role in closing deals.
    • Influence Attribution Model Comparison Chart – Compare first-touch, last-touch, and even-distribution models side by side to see which one provides the best insights for your marketing strategy.
    • Marketing Touchpoint Analysis Report – Identifies which marketing channels (email, ads, website visits, etc.) are contributing the most to opportunity creation and pipeline growth.

    By setting up and analyzing Opportunity Influence reports, marketing teams can gain deeper insights into which touchpoints matter most, optimize their strategies accordingly, and confidently demonstrate their return on investment.

    Why Opportunity Influence is a Game-Changer

    Opportunity Influence is a must-have tool for any marketing team looking to measure true revenue impact. No more guessing which emails, ads, or landing pages are driving pipeline – Opportunity Influence connects the dots, giving you a clear picture of how marketing fuels business growth. With built-in attribution models, you can customize insights based on what matters most to your strategy.

    Whether you’re aiming to prove marketing ROI, optimize your campaigns, or align better with sales, Opportunity Influence provides automated, data-driven attribution that simplifies reporting and enhances decision-making. If you want better visibility into marketing’s role in revenue generation, this feature is your new best friend!

    💡Next Steps:

    1. Check your org to see if the new update is available.
    2. Test Opportunity Influence tracking before rolling it out company-wide.
    3. Monitor data service credit usage if you’re using multiple attribution models.

    📣 Want to learn more? Check out the full Spring ‘25 release highlights or dive into the official release notes.

    🚀 What are your thoughts on Opportunity Influence? Drop a comment below, and let’s discuss!

    Original article: Cracking the Code: How Opportunity Influence Connects Marketing to Revenue

    ©2025 The Spot. All Rights Reserved.

    The post Cracking the Code: How Opportunity Influence Connects Marketing to Revenue appeared first on The Spot.

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    Salesforce Spring ‘25 Highlights: Marketing Cloud Account Engagement https://thespotforpardot.com/2025/01/10/salesforce-spring-25-highlights-marketing-cloud-account-engagement/ https://thespotforpardot.com/2025/01/10/salesforce-spring-25-highlights-marketing-cloud-account-engagement/#respond Fri, 10 Jan 2025 20:24:36 +0000 https://thespotforpardot.com/?p=7786 Salesforce Spring ‘25 Highlights: Marketing Cloud Account Engagement

    While we were all preparing for the New Year, Salesforce was busy getting the Spring ‘25 release notes posted! Let’s dive into what this release has in store for Marketing Cloud Account Engagement (f.k.a Pardot) users.  Support for the Enhanced Email Builder is Being Phased Out Support for the Enhanced Email Experience, aka the Account […]

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    Salesforce Spring ‘25 Highlights: Marketing Cloud Account Engagement

    While we were all preparing for the New Year, Salesforce was busy getting the Spring ‘25 release notes posted! Let’s dive into what this release has in store for Marketing Cloud Account Engagement (f.k.a Pardot) users. 

    Support for the Enhanced Email Builder is Being Phased Out

    Support for the Enhanced Email Experience, aka the Account Engagement Lightning Email Builder or the Drag-and-drop builder, is being phased out—meaning that Salesforce is only committed to fixing significant issues going forward, the builder will still be available for use. 

    If you saw the release notes right after they were published, they did say that the Enhanced Email Builder was going to be fully retired, but this retirement has since been put on hold.

    Again, users of the Enhanced Email Experience can continue to use this builder, but users also have the option to use the New Email Experience (aka the Marketing Cloud Builder). Salesforce has provided a comparison of the three builders here. Keep in mind that the New Email Experience will continue to get updates every release. 

    Once this new release is available I will do a deeper dive into using the New Email Experience as an Account Engagement User, so keep an eye out for more info!

    Einstein Generative AI supports additional languages

    Einstein Gen AI, aka Einstein Assistant, has been expanded to support five new languages: French, German, Japanese, Portuguese (Brazil), and Spanish. Einstein Assistant helps users create landing pages, forms, and email copy and is available to users with Advanced or Premium Editions of Account Engagement.

    A screenshot of the Einstein Generative AI assistant.

    Easily Enable Marketing Cloud from within the Account Engagement Optimizer

    During Dreamforce ‘24, Salesforce announced that all Account Engagement orgs with a current edition (Growth, Plus, Advanced, or Premium) can get access to Marketing Cloud Growth or Advanced Edition at no additional cost. This new platform runs on Data Cloud and can be used alongside Account Engagement to bring more features and functionalities to the Marketing tech stack. The Spring ‘25 release introduces a streamlined setup process for Account Engagement orgs, enabling them to deploy Marketing Cloud Growth or Advanced Edition via the Account Engagement Optimizer

    Additional Visibility into Email Send Issues

    It’s always frustrating when an Account Engagement email fails to send to a prospect and the error message is vague at best. With the Spring release, List Email will provide more reasons on why a send fails and will help point you to configuration issues that can help prevent additional failures. The new Failed Email Sends table will be available in the Account Engagement Optimizer and will display the Prospect’s name, company, failure reason, and other details. 

    Additional Updates

    Which Spring’ 25 Account Engagement features are you most excited about? Which features do you want to know more about? Let us know in the comments!

    Original article: Salesforce Spring ‘25 Highlights: Marketing Cloud Account Engagement

    ©2025 The Spot. All Rights Reserved.

    The post Salesforce Spring ‘25 Highlights: Marketing Cloud Account Engagement appeared first on The Spot.

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    Salesforce Spring ‘25 Highlights: Marketing Cloud Edition https://thespotforpardot.com/2025/01/09/salesforce-spring-25-highlights-marketing-cloud-edition/ https://thespotforpardot.com/2025/01/09/salesforce-spring-25-highlights-marketing-cloud-edition/#respond Thu, 09 Jan 2025 20:08:35 +0000 https://thespotforpardot.com/?p=7772 Hikers walking to a campsite on the top of Mount Andog, Central Java, Indonesia

    Spring has sprung at Salesforce, and it comes in the form of the Salesforce Spring ‘25 Release Notes! Whether you’re a seasoned pro or a budding marketer, this release is packed with goodies that will make your campaigns bloom brighter than ever. Let’s dive into the highlights for Marketing Cloud Growth and Advanced Edition! Take […]

    The post Salesforce Spring ‘25 Highlights: Marketing Cloud Edition appeared first on The Spot.

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    Hikers walking to a campsite on the top of Mount Andog, Central Java, Indonesia

    Spring has sprung at Salesforce, and it comes in the form of the Salesforce Spring ‘25 Release Notes! Whether you’re a seasoned pro or a budding marketer, this release is packed with goodies that will make your campaigns bloom brighter than ever. Let’s dive into the highlights for Marketing Cloud Growth and Advanced Edition!

    Take Your Marketing Global 

    WhatsApp Logo

    Marketing Cloud is getting a boost with a WhatsApp integration, making it easier to incorporate this channel into your marketing strategy. Whether you share updates, promotions, or ongoing support, WhatsApp helps you connect with your customers worldwide. The integration includes a campaign template, communication subscription support, and a default Email Preference Center. In addition, it supports 2-way conversations, and the message builder supports audio, video, and file sharing.

    WhatsApp is not the only feature going global this Spring; SMS is joining the fun! With sending capabilities expanding to more than 50 countries, your messages can reach more customers. The new update includes identity validation to enhance trust and effectiveness and ensure reliable delivery. Additionally, blackout windows for SMS and WhatsApp allow you to respect your audience’s downtime, ensuring your messages land at the right time.


    AI: Your Marketing Superpower

    Salesforce is supercharging your marketing strategy with expanded AI capabilities, bringing unparalleled efficiency and creativity to your campaigns. With Agentforce, you can generate landing pages and email content in seconds, freeing time for more strategic tasks. Need to plan a campaign? Agentforce also crafts detailed campaign briefs, ensuring you start with a strong foundation. For Marketing Cloud Advanced Edition users, the Agentforce Campaign Designer (Beta) takes it even further, providing a single interface to edit and refine your campaign strategies, multi-channel flows, and content. These tools empower you to create more innovative, impactful campaigns.

    A screenshot of a prompt in Salesforce Agentforce to create an email campaign.

    Spring into Smarter Campaigns and Content

    Marketing Cloud’s Spring ‘25 Release is focused on making campaigns smarter and your content work harder. From reusable personalization tools to seamless flows, Salesforce has designed the release to help marketers craft successful campaigns from start to finish.

    Personalization That Packs a Punch

    Stop spinning your wheels! Simplify your workflow and create tailored campaigns effortlessly with reusable content and personalization points. These features save you time and help you connect more deeply with your audience. Reusing merge fields with Expressions across campaigns will keep your messaging sharp, consistent, and right on target—making every interaction count.

    Smarter Segmentation for Better Results

    Segmentation is getting a makeover! The Spring ‘25 release features new tools that filter attributes—like new leads—right from the Campaign record, saving you time and speeding up your campaign’s delivery. Plus, you can preview up to 1,000 segment members before activating your campaign flow, giving you confidence in your targeting strategy.

    Meet the CRM Prospect Object

    Say hello to your new best friend: the CRM Prospect Object. It’s here to help you manage prospects like a pro. Create prospects with forms, nurture them automatically, and convert them into loyal customers. With account scoring based on engagement, fit, and intent, you can prioritize the leads most likely to convert.

    Forms That Go Where Your Customers Are

    Why make your customers come to you when you can bring the form to them? With the new ability to embed forms on external sites, you can deliver them to your hosted web page. After a quick setup in Salesforce and your external site, grab the form’s code block from its detail page and drop it into your site’s HTML. It’s as simple as copy-paste! (Just make sure your site supports iframes, is secure, and uses HTTPS.)

    Flow Like a Pro

    Managing Flows is easier and more intuitive than ever. You can handle more of the process directly from the Campaign record, track flow statuses in the new Marketing Calendar (fully integrated with the Sales Calendar), and view flow versions and failures to provide quicker, seamless resolutions. The new Campaign Stage field offers insight into the current campaign and keeps your team updated. Need a little extra customization? Add custom fields to your campaign briefs to make them truly yours.

    Content Updates That Shine

    Marketing Cloud is releasing new content creation features. With a new “Processing” content status, you’ll always know when landing pages, forms, and branding updates are pending publication. While changes can’t be made during this time, you can relax knowing your updates are locked in. Need to duplicate content? Cloned content is easier to manage by saving it in a shared workspace, keeping your team aligned. Consistent branding has never been more straightforward—assign default branding to your workspace to ensure emails, landing pages, and forms all have the same polished look. Ensure brand consistency across all your forms by assigning a brand, with forms automatically adapting to reflect your workspace, landing page, or external site branding.

    And More!

    • Connect External Web Tracking to a Campaign allows existing customers to install new data kits and deploy new data streams.
    • Tracking and Source Information for Consent helps you comply with global laws and regulations to review the source and consent status change via the Consent Audit Trail in Data Explorer.
    • Setup Enhancements aim to save users time. They include tracking setup progress, installing or updating the Sales Data Kit, a guided experience for authenticating domains, and the ability to autogenerate an Identity Resolution Ruleset.

    Original article: Salesforce Spring ‘25 Highlights: Marketing Cloud Edition

    ©2025 The Spot. All Rights Reserved.

    The post Salesforce Spring ‘25 Highlights: Marketing Cloud Edition appeared first on The Spot.

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    Five Tips for Getting Started with Salesforce Agentforce https://thespotforpardot.com/2024/12/16/five-tips-for-getting-started-with-salesforce-agentforce/ https://thespotforpardot.com/2024/12/16/five-tips-for-getting-started-with-salesforce-agentforce/#respond Mon, 16 Dec 2024 15:40:50 +0000 https://thespotforpardot.com/?p=7736

    Autonomous AI is transforming the way organizations operate, and Salesforce’s Agentforce is at the forefront of this revolution. The product was made generally available by Salesforce in October 2024. Whether you want to streamline case management, enhance lead nurturing, or delight customers, Agentforce empowers businesses to accomplish more with fewer resources. In this post, we’ll […]

    The post Five Tips for Getting Started with Salesforce Agentforce appeared first on The Spot.

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    Autonomous AI is transforming the way organizations operate, and Salesforce’s Agentforce is at the forefront of this revolution. The product was made generally available by Salesforce in October 2024. Whether you want to streamline case management, enhance lead nurturing, or delight customers, Agentforce empowers businesses to accomplish more with fewer resources. In this post, we’ll share five practical tips to help you successfully implement and use Agentforce. 

    Feeling anxious about diving all in with Agentforce? Contact the Sercante team for an Agentforce readiness assessment. That way, you can be sure you’re getting set up for success before you implement Agentforce in your org.

    Understanding Agentforce

    Before diving into the tips, let’s take a closer look at what Agentforce is.

    Agentforce enables autonomous AI agents to perform tasks without human intervention, acting as digital workers within Salesforce or external customer channels. These agents enhance productivity by automating routine tasks and assisting with complex ones. With tools like Agent Builder, you can customize agents using pre-built topics and actions or create entirely new ones tailored to your organization’s needs.

    Agentforce integrates seamlessly across the Salesforce platform, leveraging Data Cloud for reasoning and learning. Out-of-the-box agents include Service Agents for case deflection, with more capabilities to be released in December 2024, such as SDR and sales coaching agents.

    Unleashing the Power of Agentforce: Five Steps to Get Started

    Follow these five steps to get started on the right foot when you dive into Agentforce.

    Tip 1: Identify Use Cases

    Start by identifying where Agentforce can deliver the most value in your organization. Ask yourself:

    • How are you using your CRM today?
    • What are the current pain points in your processes?
    • Are there routine tasks that could be automated to free up team capacity?
    • Are there new processes you’ve avoided due to resource constraints?

    Examples of use cases include automating FAQ responses for service teams, generating campaign briefs for marketing, or assisting sales reps with lead prioritization and moving deals faster.

    Then for each use case, think about what would be needed to transition to an agent:

    • What job should they do?
    • What actions will they need to take?
    • What actions should they NOT take?  (This is just as if not more important to make sure you have defined the lane where an agent should operate within that use case)

    Your responses to those questions are going to help you to understand the level of effort involved in use case. This in turn is going to help you to prioritize based on the level of effort and potential value

    Tip 2: Define Success Metrics

    To gauge the success of your Agentforce implementation, establish clear goals and KPIs. 

    Questions you can ask:

    • What does success mean? How will we know we have addressed our problem? 
    • What metrics are we tracking today that we want to see improvement on?
    • Are there additional metrics that will let us know we are seeing success?

    For example:

    • Reducing average case handling time by 20%
    • Improving lead response times
    • Increasing campaign ROI by automating content creation

    Ensure you have baseline data for comparison and that the necessary measurement tools are in place to help you track success.

    Tip 3: Assess Your Data

    Your AI agents are only as good as the data they access. For the use cases identified, evaluate your data readiness:

    • What data do need? 
    • Where is it located? Is it in your CRM, Data Cloud, or other external systems?
    • Is it accessible from your CRM? If it’s stored in an external system, do you have APIs in place to get that information?
    • Is the data clean, accurate, and up-to-date?
      • Follow this blog post for tips on how to keep your imported Pardot prospect data clean.
    • Do you have a single view of the customer across systems?
    • Lastly, are knowledge bases and metadata structured for easy access? 
      • Agents need knowledge to inform how they will operate and answer questions. This is all of the background configurations your agents actions will rely on — flows, prompts, and Apex for example — they need to also be clearly identifiable and accessible. 
      • When you add actions to your topics, it uses the descriptions to help fuel the instructions. The naming conventions of your resources will also make it easier to determine what the inputs and outputs need to be.

    Data and metadata are the backbone of AI performance, so this is an important area to pay attention to.

    Tip 4: Start Small

    After completing the previous steps, you may have more than one great use case to start with. Here’s where you ask yourself: What are the quick wins that we can get started on that can move the needle and that we can expand on as we mature?

    It’s really easy to get caught up on how this can solve ALL the things. There are many challenges to starting a complex process all at once. If a lot of effort is required to get the data in place or to get the actions set up, it will be more difficult to roll out, not to mention making it potentially disruptive and prone to issues 

    Avoid the temptation to tackle complex processes right away. Instead, focus on a simple, high-impact use case to pilot Agentforce. There are many out-of-the-box topics and actions that make getting started easier. For example, automating a single FAQ response or generating summaries for sales reps.

    Starting small helps build confidence, momentum, and organizational buy-in, and it also reduces the risk of missteps.

    Tip 5: Nail Down Clear Instructions

    When designing agents, clarity is key. Use the Agent Builder to create and test well-defined topics and actions:

    • Topics – Include precise instructions for classifying user requests, setting guardrails, and outlining scope.
    • Actions – Clearly define what the agent should do, including required inputs and expected outputs.

    Salesforce Agentforce Topic Instruction Best Practices

    Instructions are the foundation for grounding how agents perform. They set the guardrails for how the agent should behave and give the agent the context it needs to do its job. 

    Here are a few best practices for writing Agentforce topic instructions:

    • Start simple
      • Start with the main use case first to ensure the agent is performing as expected. Then, add in more detail to address edge cases. Be sure to test existing instructions for any conflict. You don’t want to confuse the agent! 
    • Use plain language
      • Use concise natural language to describe what your action does. Keep it to 1-3 sentences, and it can include the goal of the action, any use cases, and the objects or records it uses or modifies. 
      • In general, the more relevant detail you include in your instructions, the easier it is for the agent to differentiate between actions. Also, be sure to vary the words you use. For example, use a mix of “Get,” “Find,” “Retrieve,” or “Identify” for actions that will query records.
    • Avoid industry or company jargon
      • Write like you are instructing someone who doesn’t know your business. Even terms like ‘qualified lead’ could mean something different from one organization to another. Give context where necessary, and reference clear criteria using the data it will have access to. 
      • For example, instead of vague terms like “qualify lead,” specify conditions such as “lead status equals MQL.” 
      • The agent isn’t not going to know your business processes either, so be explicit about the sequence of instructions or any conditions a conversation must meet for an agent to apply an action.
    • Think of all the paths
      • You want to go through every possible permutation to determine the actions required. For example: a customer reaches out because they didn’t receive their order. 
      • First think about the order status ( Order Shipped, Delayed, Not Found, Processing). If the status is Shipped then there could be different tracking statuses (In Transit or Delivered for example). If the order is showing as Delivered, was it delivered to the customer’s correct address? Was it stolen? …and so on.
    • Remember the Guardrails
      • Keep the Agent in its lane by providing clear instructions on what the agent should not do to prevent unwanted responses. In cases where the agent is customer-facing, be sure to also give clear direction on when an interaction should be routed to a human.

    Test these instructions thoroughly in the Agent Builder’s testing environment to ensure your agents behave as expected.

    Ready to Explore Agentforce?

    Agentforce offers an exciting opportunity to enhance productivity and streamline operations. By identifying the right use cases, preparing your data, and starting with manageable projects, you can set your organization up for success.

    Want to learn more? Check out Salesforce’s Agentforce Trailhead and virtual workshops to get hands-on experience. Need expert guidance? Contact the Sercante team for an Agentforce readiness assessment.

    Original article: Five Tips for Getting Started with Salesforce Agentforce

    ©2025 The Spot. All Rights Reserved.

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    Salesforce Winter ‘25 Release: Platform Highlights https://thespotforpardot.com/2024/11/19/salesforce-winter-25-release-platform-highlights/ https://thespotforpardot.com/2024/11/19/salesforce-winter-25-release-platform-highlights/#respond Tue, 19 Nov 2024 23:49:49 +0000 https://thespotforpardot.com/?p=7663

    The Salesforce Winter ’25 Release Notes are out, and they include important features for trailblazers who are on the Salesforce platform.  We get three major releases from Salesforce each year — Spring, Summer and Winter. Each Salesforce release includes upgrades and enhancements that affect Salesforce orgs in different ways.  Each release contains a substantial amount […]

    The post Salesforce Winter ‘25 Release: Platform Highlights appeared first on The Spot.

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    The Salesforce Winter ’25 Release Notes are out, and they include important features for trailblazers who are on the Salesforce platform. 

    We get three major releases from Salesforce each year — Spring, Summer and Winter. Each Salesforce release includes upgrades and enhancements that affect Salesforce orgs in different ways. 

    Each release contains a substantial amount of information on a variety of products so it can often be daunting for admins or other trailblazers to find the features that are important to them and their organization.  Our team reviewed the notes for you and highlighted the following platform features as those for you to keep your eyes on the lookout when the release hits your Salesforce environments in the coming months.

    Platform Highlights from the Salesforce Winter ‘25 Release

    Those who use the Salesforce platform are getting lots of attention from the Salesforce Winter ‘25 Release. 

    Some updates are changing the way we work to meet evolving technology demands. Others are saving us time by connecting the dots in a logical way.  Our team will guide you through these features so you will know how to take action on them before the release hits your Production org.

    Highlight #1: Verifications Needed to Continue Sending Emails From Salesforce

    The Winter ‘25 release will require customers to Create and Verify Your Default No-Reply Organization-Wide Email Address to Send Email and Verify Your Return Email Address for Sender Verification in order to continue allowing Users and/or automations to send emails from Salesforce.

    If you Users do utilize any email functionality within Salesforce it will be important to instruct them to visit their ‘My Email Settings’ so they can verify the email address associated with their User account.  Similarly, overall as an organization, you will need to ensure there is a customer-defined Default No-Reply Organization-Wide Email Address moving forward.

    Although the Default No-Reply Organization-Wide Email Address feature will be enforced this release, the individual Return Email Address verification will not be enforced until Spring ‘25.

    Highlight #2: Salesforce Archive (Pilot)

    Salesforce recently announced their acquisition of Own Company, currently known as the most credible Salesforce archive and backup third-party tool, however, they have also announced a pilot of their own Archive product.  If your team needs assistance with archival management of your data but either cannot afford a third-party tool or do not have time/resources to implement one of those tools, Salesforce Archive might be a solution to consider.

    When Salesforce Archive becomes generally available, you can use it in production and sandbox environments, however the product is available in sandboxes as a pilot right now and can be requested to be enabled by your AE.  The product will become available to production orgs on a rolling basis starting in November 2024, but when it’s released for production use, it will need to be purchased as an add-on license.

    Highlight #3: New Salesforce Platform Login License

    The Salesforce Platform Login license allows you to assign access to custom apps built on Platform for internal users without the requirement to buy a seat-based license. With the Salesforce Platform Login license, you can pay per daily unique login for users who need infrequent or occasional access. 

    This new license will become available starting October 15th for customers on Enterprise, Performance, Unlimited, and Developer editions.  Contact your AE to learn more about pricing details for these new licenses and to determine if they’re a right fit for your organization.

    Highlight #4: User Permissions Updates

    Improvement #1: See How Object Access Is Granted in Object Manager

    The Winter ‘25 release continues with updates to ensure Salesforce Administrators are able to troubleshoot their User’s access and permission issues easier. One of these new features is the ability to use the Object Access Summary in Object Manager to quickly check object permissions when troubleshooting, completing reviews, or determining how to grant user access.

    Improvement #2: Get Insight into How a User’s Permissions Are Granted

    Last release we were able to access a Summary of an individual’s access and permissions directly from the user details record.  This enabled you to see what a user had access to without having to spend multiple clicks checking each profile, permission set, public group, or queue.

    The Winter ‘25 release expands on that feature by including an additional feature to allow you to see what grants the User that particular permissions (i.e. via Profile or Permission Set) in case you need to revoke those permissions.

    Highlight #5: Salesforce Flow Updates

    You may have heard the phrase “Flow is the future” in Salesforce messaging over the past few years. This is because Salesforce is consistently releasing new Flow features to support the retirement of Process Builder and Workflow Rules in recent years. 

    Here are some of our favorites from this release.

    Improvement #1: New Errors and Warnings Pane in Flow Builder

    The new Errors and Warnings pane lists issues that prevent you from saving and activating your flow as you work in an easy to scan format. This feature will be automatically available when trying to activate a Flow with errors following the release.

    Improvement #2: Flow Design Tips

    Another new feature within the Winter ‘25 release is the inclusion of new tips in Flow Builder to help you identify designs that can slow down your flows and increase the risk of reaching Apex governor limits.  This may not seem like much to some of us that have been building Flows for a couple years now, but this is a game changer for new Flow builders who are uncomfortable with the tool at first.

    Improvement #3: Create or Update Records Efficiently with the Create Records Element

    Last release we saw the beginning of an upsert feature within Flow Builder through the release of a new way to check against duplicates for a single record.  Well the Winter ‘25 releases further enhances this feature by enabling the upsert functionality against multiple records at once.  You’re able to compare against existing records with a Salesforce Id, External Id, or other field on the object.  

    The Create Records element makes the process of saving records easier and faster, as you no longer check separately for existing records because the create and update elements are now merged into one element.  Admins can now configure and maintain flows more easily while reducing potential errors from separate operations.

    Improvement #4: Send Email Action Expanded

    Two new enhancements have come to the ‘Send Email’ Action within Flow Builder. First, you are now able to include email addresses to include as cc or bcc on the email that is sent via the Flow. Any address entered in the CC field receives a copy of the email, and those in the BCC field also receive a copy, but their email addresses are hidden from all recipients. Secondly, there is an increase of the number of recipients you can include from originally 5 to now 150 recipients.

    Highlight #6: Conditional Formatting on Record Pages

    As Salesforce continues to push customers from Page Layouts to Lightning Record Pages, they continue to release new features in the Lightning App Builder to excite customers into the move.  Now customers will be able to give fields on Dynamic Forms-enabled pages custom icons and colors that can appear, disappear, and change color based on the criteria and rules that you define.  This can be a game changer for those of us who have previously created formula fields to manage or provide this functionality in the past.

    Highlight #7: Account Plans

    This feature is one our team is very interested in learning more about as new information is released as it can be a huge game changer for Sales teams.  The Account Plans feature provides a new UX providing a complete picture of the account with information such as metrics, objectives with actionable metrics, and tabs on growth and development, all from one repository within Salesforce.  

    This feature will become available in Production on a rolling basis after the Winter ’25 release is complete and available to all customers in mid- to late November 2024.  Customers available to receive this feature are those with Enterprise, Performance, or Unlimited editions.

    Once the feature becomes available in your Production org, go to the new Account Plans page in Setup and turn on Account Plans. Then, configure the Account Plans object in the Object Manager, add the Account Plans related list to the Account object, and optionally set up Relationship Maps.

    Highlight #8: Marketing Cloud Account Engagement (Pardot) Updates

    Please check out my colleague Erin Duncan’s blog post on all things Pardot from the Winter ’25 release.

    Additional Highlight: Marketing Cloud Growth Updates

    Erin Duncan has also written posted on some exciting announcements coming to Salesforce’s newest marketing product:

    Salesforce is getting bigger and better all the time

    Trailblazers who come to Salesforce are usually looking to scale their efforts and grow in a way that makes sense. These latest enhancements from the Salesforce Winter ‘25 Release get everyone closer to those goals by saving them time and resources.

    Contact the team at Sercante to get help implementing these enhancements in your Salesforce org. And leave us a comment below to let us know what you think about the Winter ‘25 Release.

    Original article: Salesforce Winter ‘25 Release: Platform Highlights

    ©2025 The Spot. All Rights Reserved.

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    Announcing Marketing Cloud Advanced Edition https://thespotforpardot.com/2024/09/19/announcing-marketing-cloud-advanced-edition/ https://thespotforpardot.com/2024/09/19/announcing-marketing-cloud-advanced-edition/#respond Thu, 19 Sep 2024 18:23:56 +0000 https://thespotforpardot.com/?p=7608

    During the Marketing & Commerce Keynote at Dreamforce 2024, Salesforce announced the latest edition of Marketing Cloud built on Data Cloud  — Marketing Cloud Advanced Edition! Expected to be released in November 2024, this new edition expands the features and functionalities of Marketing Cloud Growth Edition, released in February of this year.  What Comes with […]

    The post Announcing Marketing Cloud Advanced Edition appeared first on The Spot.

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    During the Marketing & Commerce Keynote at Dreamforce 2024, Salesforce announced the latest edition of Marketing Cloud built on Data Cloud  — Marketing Cloud Advanced Edition! Expected to be released in November 2024, this new edition expands the features and functionalities of Marketing Cloud Growth Edition, released in February of this year. 

    What Comes with Advanced Edition?

    Let’s dive into what Marketing Cloud Advanced Edition brings to the table. 

    Path Experiment

    Path Experiment allows Marketers to maximize engagement with your audience through testing. This new feature allows marketers to test variations within marketing content, such as different subject lines, variations in channels, such as sending an SMS instead of an email, and even variations in cadence, such as sending an email in 3 days versus 1. Path experiment allows marketers to test up to 10 paths within a single experiment, customize the distribution percentage across the paths, and automatically randomize individuals between the paths to help ensure fair, unbiased results. There is no limit to the number of Path Experiments that can be included in one Flow. 

    Marketing Cloud Advanced Edition - Path Experiment

    Einstein Engagement Frequency 

    Einstein’s capabilities will also be expanded in Marketing Cloud Advanced Edition. First, we have Einstein Engagement Frequency which assists Marketers in sending the right number of messages to their audience. Einstein Engagement Frequency provides insights into the distribution of email sends and subscriber engagement, suggesting the optimal frequency to maximize engagement. This data can then be used to create segments, allowing marketers to suppress or target subscribers who are over or under-saturated. 

    Marketing Cloud Advanced Edition - Einstein Engagement Frequency 

    Einstein Engagement Scoring

    Next, we have Einstein Engagement Scoring, which helps predict how likely each subscriber is to open, click, and stay subscribed to an email communication. Einstein Engagement Scoring’s data can be used to create segments, send subscribers down different Flow paths, or even help personalize content more effectively. 

    Marketing Cloud Advanced Edition - Einstein Engagement Scoring

    Unified Conversations with SMS

    With the new Digital Engagement add-on, Marketing Cloud Advanced Edition enables marketers to transform one-way promotions into a conversation with their audience. Marketers can respond to messages in real time using the unified customer data within Data Cloud and automate interactions with connected chatbots. 

    Marketing Cloud Advanced Edition - Unified Conversations with SMS

    Looking Toward the Future

    What other features and functionality would you like to see Salesforce bring to Marketing Cloud Growth or Advanced Edition? Let us know in the comments!

    Original article: Announcing Marketing Cloud Advanced Edition

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    Salesforce Winter ‘25 Highlights: Marketing Cloud Account Engagement https://thespotforpardot.com/2024/08/16/salesforce-winter-25-highlights-marketing-cloud-account-engagement-pardot/ https://thespotforpardot.com/2024/08/16/salesforce-winter-25-highlights-marketing-cloud-account-engagement-pardot/#respond Fri, 16 Aug 2024 12:13:53 +0000 https://thespotforpardot.com/?p=7472

    The Salesforce Winter ‘25 release notes are out! Let’s dive into Winter ’25 highlights and what Account Engagement (f.k.a. Pardot) users can expect to see come October.  Duplicate Management! Back in 2021 we got the Email Uniqueness field that told us whether or not a Prospect’s email address was unique to the prospect. Although this […]

    The post Salesforce Winter ‘25 Highlights: Marketing Cloud Account Engagement appeared first on The Spot.

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    The Salesforce Winter ‘25 release notes are out! Let’s dive into Winter ’25 highlights and what Account Engagement (f.k.a. Pardot) users can expect to see come October. 

    Duplicate Management!

    Back in 2021 we got the Email Uniqueness field that told us whether or not a Prospect’s email address was unique to the prospect. Although this field is super handy, you can’t export its data and it only tells you if there is a duplicate email somewhere in the system. 

    Now, All Account Engagement editions are getting bonafide duplicate management capabilities. 

    As part of the Winter ‘25 release, Account Engagement Optimizer will help users keep their database squeaky clean by enabling them to view and merge duplicate prospect records.

    Default System Emails to Lightning App Links

    If you receive system notification emails from Account Engagement, for instance the Daily Prospect Activity report, then you know these emails typically include pi.pardot.com (a.k.a. Pardot Classic) links rather than the, now standard, Account Engagement Lightning App links. 

    Fortunately, with the Salesforce Winter ‘25 release, all orgs will be updated to have their Account Engagement system emails to use Lightning App links, directing users to the right app or prospect without having to log into pi.pardot.com.  

    Now the only link this update won’t fix is the “Account Engagement URL” field on Salesforce Leads and Contacts. This field will continue to have a pi.pardot.com link. However, you can create a Formula field on the Lead and Contact objects to display the Lightning link instead.

    Use the formula: 

    SUBSTITUTE( pi__url__c, “http://pi.pardot.com/prospect/read?id=”, “https://company.lightning.force.com/lightning/page/pardot/home?pardot__path=/prospect/read/id/” )

    Making sure you update the section in red with your own Salesforce URL. While the Pardot Classic App will forever hold a piece of my heart. I’m excited to see this last remaining vestige of the Classic interface go away. 

    Do More with Data Cloud

    Account Engagement and Data Cloud’s integration continues to grow with each release. Orgs will now be able to connect form, landing page, and tracked website engagement data to Data Cloud for personalized marketing efforts, calculated insights, and improved segmentation

    Speaking of Data Cloud Segments, Account Engagement can now have 25 Data Cloud segments per business unit (an increase from 5)! Currently the segment increase only applies to Account Engagement users with Growth or Plus edition. 

    Copy Forms and Emails to CMS 

    Building on the “Copy Images from Account Engagement to CMS” feature of Summer ‘24, All Account Engagement orgs can now also copy forms and emails to their CMS.

    PDF, MP4, and Zip file types are also now supported as part of this release. 

    Pause or Cancel Permanent Prospect Deletions

    One of the worst feelings as an admin of any system is accidentally deleting something you shouldn’t have. Even worse is when it is a permanent deletion. 

    Thankfully, Salesforce is helping you avoid that feeling of dread and doom but allowing for these table actions to be paused or outright canceled. Deletion requests can be paused/canceled in the Table Action Manager found within Account Engagement Optimizer. 

    Get help understanding the Salesforce Winter ‘25 release and how it affects Account Engagement orgs

    What questions do you have about the new features coming to Account Engagement? Let us know in the comments or reach out to the team at Sercante to start a conversation.

    Original article: Salesforce Winter ‘25 Highlights: Marketing Cloud Account Engagement

    ©2025 The Spot. All Rights Reserved.

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