Companies have some form of relationship—ranging anywhere from traumatic to spectacular—with every single customer and prospective buyer. The more focus businesses place on developing meaningful relationships with consumers, the more profitable and reputable they’ll become.
Close to 80 percent of consumers in the US say convenience, speed, friendly service, and knowledgeable help are the most important contributors to a positive customer experience.
Customer experience is quickly becoming the top brand differentiator for thriving and growing businesses, topping pricing and quality product and service delivery. 86 percent of buyers say they’re willing to spend more if they have an outstanding customer experience.
How do companies provide exceptional experiences for customers? They do it through personalization. The majority of consumers today expect companies to understand their needs. That’s where Salesforce Marketing Cloud (SFMC) comes in.
What Is Salesforce Marketing Cloud?
Salesforce Marketing Cloud is a customer relationship management (CRM) tool that empowers marketers to create authentic, personalized journeys for their customers. It enables users to develop and deliver the right marketing messages to consumers at relevant times throughout the buyer’s journey.
SFMC equips marketing teams with the right tools to grab the customers’ attention, communicate with them intelligently and effectively, and empower them to make successful purchases. These can all be achieved through personalization.
What Is Salesforce Marketing Cloud Used For?
80 percent of consumers will more likely purchase from a brand that offers them personalized experiences.
SFMC helps companies engage with their clients and customers intentionally. Companies can build targeted campaigns and send engaging content to consumers on the right channels at optimal times. This kind of marketing precision helps brands develop more authentic and more memorable relationships with customers.
SFMC’s predictive intelligence capabilities also enable users to predict future trends and behaviors and deliver tailored information and campaigns to consumers.
SFMC integrates each of the following channels for marketers:
- Mobile
- Social media
- Website personalization
- Customer journey management
- Advertising
- Content creation
- Content management
- Data analysis
Who Should Use SFMC?
Companies of all shapes and sizes can take advantage of everything SFMC has to offer. SFMC is useful for large and small B2B, B2C, and nonprofit organizations. Any company that wants a 360-degree view of their customers to create focused, intentional engagement and individual experiences should consider investing in Salesforce Marketing Cloud.
What Are Salesforce Marketing Cloud’s Main Features?
SFMC users should take full advantage of all of the powerful features the platform offers.
- Cloud-based technology. Instead of delivering data and app functionality via on-premises technology (e.g., hard drive or desktop), SFMC provides solutions via the cloud. Having access to everything online makes sharing data and collaborating on projects faster and more convenient for cross-departmental teams and individual users.
- 360-degree view of the customer. According to Salesforce, 84 percent of customers value brands that treat them like human beings, rather than numbers or metrics. If they have a negative experience with retailers, they’ll likely take their business elsewhere.
Salesforce Marketing Cloud gives users a comprehensive view of the customer by connecting various interactions across multiple channels. With a unified view, marketers can engage with customers intelligently and one to one. They can also anticipate future customer needs to deliver smart content that moves individuals further along their unique journeys.
The platform pulls data from marketing, sales, and service departments to enable companies to personalize experiences for every customer. Contact records are updated in real time based on consumer behavior, conversations, and other touchpoints.
SFMC is a core element of Salesforce Customer 360—along with Sales Cloud, Community Cloud, Service Cloud, Analytics Cloud, and App Cloud – that enables companies to create a connected and enjoyable experience for every customer.
- Excellent support. SFMC users can take advantage of Salesforce’s 24-hour technical support team, as well as their client solutions support team during regular business hours. Users can also request free SFMC demos online to learn how to set up, manage, optimize, publish, and automate campaigns.
What really makes support for this platform stand out—along with every other Salesforce platform—is Trailhead and the Trailblazer Community. Users can watch tutorials and live or on-demand videos. They can also connect with the massive Trailblazer Community for quick advice, in-depth answers to hard questions, networking, and inspiration. They can learn valuable skills directly from experts on the platform as well and earn resume-ready credentials.
Trailhead allows users to familiarize themselves with SFMC by learning how to successfully administer, develop for, and manage the platform. - Artificial intelligence. SFMC’s “intelligent marketing automation” capability enables companies to send personalized messages to customers at the best times for engagement. Einstein AI is the platform’s built-in intelligence (“brain”) that powers machine-learning algorithms in Salesforce.
SFMC’s predictive intelligence—encompassing predictive analysis and predictive modeling—allows users to understand customer preferences and predict future behavior. SFMC can then tailor web, social, and email content for individuals and deliver it across ideal channels. - Integrated marketing tools. SFMC comes with several unique features to help marketers effectively reach their customers right where they are and deepen their relationships with them.
- Journey Builder: Build connected, personalized, multi-channel customer journeys.
- Audience Studio: Capture and activate data from various sources from one platform.
- Social Studio: Interact with customers with targeted content across various social media channels.
- Mobile Studio: Personalize SMS, chat messages, and push notifications on mobile devices.
- Email Studio: Craft personalized email campaigns.
- Data Studio: Use data to develop robust marketing strategies.
- Datorama: Track all marketing data, KPIs, investments, and decisions in one place.
- Interaction Studio: Visualize, measure, and manage customer interactions in real time to drive further engagement.
- Advertising Studio: Attract and engage customers via one-to-one advertising.
- Google Analytics 360: Pull insights from Google Analytics into SFMC to drive intelligent interactions.
- Customer 360 Audiences: Unify, analyze, and segment essential customer data.
- Pardot: Bring marketing and sales together to automate B2B marketing efforts.
Ready to Personalize Customer Interactions with Salesforce Marketing Cloud?
Astound can implement Salesforce Marketing Cloud to help you enhance customer experiences and grow your business in 2021 and beyond. With more than 15 years of Salesforce experience, Astound is well equipped to help you excel at ecommerce marketing.