I’ll be one of the first to admit that the marketing jargon – especially when it comes to technology – can be a little much. We like to throw out lots of talk of digital transformation, omnichannel experiences, and AI-powered MarTech solutions, as just a few of the many examples. This all sounds great (who doesn’t want to transform?) but the conversation can’t stop there.
That’s the challenge. So often, we stop before getting into the weeds of how it all works or what you need to be successful. I’ve noticed this when talking to companies around Salesforce Data Cloud. Data Cloud is relatively new and has a wide swath of features and use cases. When all you’re hearing is jargon, that combination will make it nearly impossible to wrap your head around what it can actually do for you. Not to mention the added component of focusing on data, which is complex and layered, itself.
This is a problem, because Salesforce has figured it out with Data Cloud in terms of creating a solution that enhances its platforms in critical ways. But if marketers can’t get below the jargon, then they’re not going to use it because they won’t truly know how it will help them. And “helping you transform” isn’t a good enough answer.
So let’s try to capture a better understanding of Data Cloud’s capabilities and functionality in the everyday world by walking through a use case using another complex and data-heavy channel: commerce.
We too often think of commerce as the point of sale, but that scope is much too narrow. When thinking about commerce, you have to consider every touchpoint leading up to and following a transaction. A promotional email that gets a consumer onto the site, recommendations and content during the consideration stage, and shipping notifications are all key parts of the commerce experience.
A company’s ecommerce site is the hub of its marketing and sales efforts, where everything flows to and through, but a commerce strategy has to incorporate so many other channels and data points. That’s where Data Cloud comes in. You’re going to likely have a handful of sources where data is coming in from and potentially even more channels in which you’re pushing data out. Clean, centralized, and actionable data is a must for customers to shop (read: discover, choose from, and buy products) how they expect.
Again, these are not the only ways you should be considering using Data Cloud for commerce, but they will give you an idea of what the platform is capable of and why it’s useful.
One of the biggest ways Data Cloud can help enhance the experience is through dynamic product recommendations. Taking preference and behavioral data on what the consumer has searched for or purchased in the past, you can serve up similar products based on those insights.
This concept can be carried through checkout. Based on the items in the cart, you can upsell by serving up other products that go with their main purchase. If the customer is buying a chair, you can show lamps and side tables that are also in the set. Or if it’s a new phone, make sure that a case, screen protector, and wireless charger are just a click away.
Data Cloud can pull commerce and CRM data to create actionable analysis on an individual account level, showing everything from order frequency and average cart size to the consumers’ engagement level and likelihood to make another purchase based on previous engagement behaviors.
So, what do you do with that? If you know an account is highly engaged and likely to make a purchase for a specific product – with a quantity based on previous purchases and estimates – in the next few weeks, you can send a personalized promotion or target a specific message to capitalize on the timing. Similarly, for those on the verge of leaving, you can tailor messaging to keep them engaged and win them back.
Salesforce’s Einstein AI tool can both save time and create better engagement. And with Data Cloud, Einstein goes even further. Along with writing product descriptions on your site, you could use Data Cloud to pull browsing history and ask Einstein to write an email to the consumer with the recommendations and include a link to buy. Or, Data Cloud can pull customer service information and use AI to write a response or automate the creation of a ticket.
What would otherwise be tedious manual processes (and a bit of a shot in the dark) can now be done in a matter of minutes with just a couple moves of the mouse.
Data Cloud’s value prop is that it doesn’t sit within just one platform, which means it can be leveraged across your tech stack. So if commerce benefits aren’t as important for you as, say, creating a better customer profile or shoring up your order management, we’ve got answers there, too.
We just launched a new ebook, Four Use Cases for Success with Salesforce Data Cloud, that helps companies get a better understanding of where to start or what to do and dives deep into these various use cases.
