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Salesforce Automation Game-Changer: Einstein GPT and Data Cloud Capabilities for Flow

In a move that extends beyond the chatbots used to formulate interview questions or write email subject lines, Salesforce is expanding automation capabilities by integrating Einstein GPT and Data Cloud with Salesforce Flow.

So, what does the announcement from Salesforce mean for marketers?

Bringing Einstein GPT and Data Cloud capabilities into Salesforce Flow means marketers can use the automations to create impressive real-time experiences for customers. And they’ll accomplish that using clicks rather than coding skills.

It’s something that will make the tools easily scalable for Salesforce customers at every growth stage.

How and when can Salesforce customers access it?

The announcement actually involves two initiatives Salesforce is launching. The first is a tighter integration between Salesforce Data Cloud and Flow. And the second is the integration of Einstein GPT and Flow.

According to John Kucera, senior vice president of product management at Salesforce, customers can use Flow currently with Salesforce database data. The integration updates between Data Cloud and Salesforce Flow are opening up the possibilities, and incorporating Einstein GPT is adding an efficiency edge to the technology.

Kucera said the Einstein GPT capabilities will be available on an early adopter basis in early fall as part of the Salesforce Winter ‘24 release. He went on to say that the Data Cloud integration will probably be offered as part of a standard Salesforce subscription, and Einstein GPT for Flow may carry an additional charge once those details are worked out.

Einstein GPT and Data Cloud Capabilities

Salesforce introduced Einstein GPT in March 2023 as the world’s first generative AI CRM technology, which infuses proprietary Salesforce AI models with generative AI models from OpenAI and other large AI models. And Data Cloud takes customer data from any source inside or outside the Salesforce platform and harmonizes it in real time.

So what in the world does that mean for marketers?

That means marketers can use information from Data Cloud to generate content and build workflows via Einstein GPT. Since Data Cloud reacts to data changes in real time, marketers can serve content that adapts dynamically and creates personalized experiences every time.

For example, a marketer could use Einstein GPT to generate an email with dynamic content blocks that update in real time when a Data Cloud field updates based on customer activity.

John Kucera said to SiliconANGLE, “You can give it a prompt such as ‘I want to create a guided workflow for a new customer or create a rule to follow up with an email to customers who haven’t responded in five days.”

Infusing Einstein GPT and Data Cloud with Salesforce Flow

The new integrations are going to turn things up a notch for marketers. Here’s what happens when we incorporate Salesforce Flow into the Einstein GPT and Data Cloud mix.

What is Salesforce Flow?

Salesforce Flow is a declarative automation tool. It allows you to create complex automations inside the platform using clicks rather than code, so users can get in there without the need for developer skills.

Marketers use Salesforce Flow for things like managing campaign activations, automating customer onboarding steps, or creating a custom task series for sales teams.

How can marketers use Salesforce Flow with Einstein GPT and Data Cloud?

Using the Einstein GPT and Data Cloud integration alongside Salesforce Flow is changing the game for marketers who use the platform. That’s because marketers will be able to use conversational chatbots to automate complex workflows and trigger actions in real time.

Users and admins can describe the type of flow they want to build, and then they’ll sit back and watch the chatbot complete the tasks. Or, it can be used to build formulas or search for functions. It removes much of the manual and tedious work that goes into creating complex flows and automations.

Source: Salesforce

For example, a field in Marketing Cloud Engagement detects that a customer added items to their shopping cart, but they left the page without completing the purchase. That triggers an immediate email notification, created via generative AI, that goes to the customer and offers a discount code for them to complete the purchase.

In summary, the three benefits to marketers include:

Reduced flow build time
Access to more options to automate with flow
Improved real-time personalization for customer interactions

Get ready for generative AI inside your Salesforce org

We’re on the edge of our seats with anticipation for combining Einstein GPT with Salesforce Flow and Data Cloud capabilities.

These technologies make us feel like we have a front row to the future of CRM and marketing automation. So, in the meantime, we’ll be thinking about all the ways we can use conversational AI to do all the things us busy marketers do.

Have any aha use cases you’d like to share? How do you think Einstein GPT, Data Cloud, and Flow are going to work together in your org? Let us know in the comments!

You can also drop us a line if you’re wondering how you can incorporate these tools into your marketing operations strategy.

Original article: Salesforce Automation Game-Changer: Einstein GPT and Data Cloud Capabilities for Flow

The post Salesforce Automation Game-Changer: Einstein GPT and Data Cloud Capabilities for Flow appeared first on The Spot.

By Ambre Juryea-Amole|2023-04-19T21:08:10+00:00April 19th, 2023|Categories: Automations, Industry News, New Features, Release Notes|

Those of you who have been followers of The Spot for a few years now know that we have shared our favorite Marketing Cloud Account Engagement (Pardot) Ideas from the Salesforce IdeaExchange either in blog posts or the Pardashians Slack group.

This tradition started in 2017 with Andrea’s initial post highlighting 8 ideas on the IdeaExchange that Pardot admins should upvote. We’ve seen great features come to life in the most recent Salesforce releases (looking at Conditional Options for Completion Actions), and we’re hoping you can help prioritize ideas for future releases.

Salesforce has three releases throughout the year and uses their IdeaExchange to help drive which features are prioritized in future releases. As a marketer, you have most likely entered a situation where your team is requesting a solution that is currently not available in Marketing Cloud Engagement or Marketing Cloud Account Engagement as a feature.

Your first stop is to see if this feature/solution has been mentioned or resolved via the IdeaExchange. Checking there first is going to help you understand how others have solved it, and then you can add in your own vote to the idea.

What is the Salesforce IdeaExchange anyway?

Back in 2006, the Salesforce #Ideaexchange was born as a way to involve its customers (big and small) in a modern effort to crowdsource ideas for its product roadmap. This ensures the community gets a platform to contribute their ideas and wishes — you know, a place where the margods can go for inspiration if you will as they build the world of tomorrow.

How does one enter their idea into the Salesforce IdeaExchange?

Come up with an idea and submit it to the exchange
You then get trapped and spend 2-4 hours going through other people’s ideas (definitely optional, but highly encouraged).
If your idea gets enough votes (10+ points for you) then a product manager gets involved
The idea is developed and then delivered, and we all cheer!

Need more details? We wrote a little about the history of the AppExchange.

Top Salesforce IdeaExchange items for marketers

As Salesforce continues to work on improving their marketing automation platforms, our team has put together a list of ideas that we recommend you upvoting and adding to your wish list in hopes of getting them added to the top of the prioritization list.

Here is our current list of Salesforce IdeaExchange items that marketers should check out and upvote.

Salesforce

Ability to Customize Campaign Member Status Values for all Campaigns

This feature would help with needing to update campaign member statuses for each individual campaign. We wrote about how to fix this with Protected Campaign Member Statuses.

Upvote >>

Marketing Cloud Engagement

Access to a Marketing Cloud Engagement Developer Edition

This feature would help trailblazers gain hands-on experience working within Marketing Cloud Engagement without being a customer.

Upvote >>

Include Dynamic Links in Engagement Split Activity

This feature would ensure Journey Builder engagement splits based on clicks can monitor the clicks on any dynamic link as well as static links.

Upvote >>

Access to a Recycle Bin in Marketing Cloud Engagement

This feature would give Marketing Cloud Engagement admins the same abilities as the Marketing Cloud Account Engagement recycle bin.

Upvote >>

Include the “De-Duplicate by Email Address” Feature in Journey Builder

This feature would give users the same abilities they have when sending a normal email through Marketing Cloud Engagement.

Upvote >>

Allow Data Extensions as Suppression Lists in Journey Builder

This feature would allow marketers to use data extensions for suppression lists in Journey Builder instead of lists.

Upvote >>

Marketing Cloud Account Engagement

Track and Record Direct Replies to an Email Sent from Marketing Cloud Account Engagement

This feature would provide an additional, much needed KPI for marketers to be able to determine which CTAs are working for their emails that do not go directly to links or forms.

Upvote >>

Reduce Errors Post-Sending Email

This feature would allow you to either recall or edit emails that have not been opened yet after an email is sent with an error.

Upvote >>

Allow or Operational Email Sending in Engagement Programs

This feature would bring the operational email checkbox to the entire Engagement Program or individual Email steps to ensure those who need to receive these emails still are even when in an Engagement Program.

Upvote >>

Audit changes to Marketing Cloud Account Engagement Assets

This feature would bring a tool similar to what Salesforce Admins have available to them to be able to view all changes made to lists and assets throughout Marketing Cloud Account Engagement.

Upvote >>

Allow Variable Fields in SFDC Tasks

This feature would allow for more variability and customization when creating a Salesforce Task from within Marketing Cloud Account Engagement.

Upvote >>

Notifications for SFDC Connector Errors

This feature would bring forth a notification system for your team to understand when there are Connector errors between Salesforce and Marketing Cloud Account Engagement.

Upvote >>

BRING BACK “PARDOT”

This feature needs no explanation as many people are hoping we can reverse the name rebrand and move back to calling the tool “Pardot” at some point in the future.

Upvote >>

Analytics

Ability to Include Cross Filters in Report Filter Logic

This feature would allow users to be able to use standard filters and cross filters together in a report with filter logic.

Upvote >>

Reporting on Email Activity from Salesforce Inbox or Standard Inbox Integrations

This feature would bring email activity into the Activity records to allow for reporting between emails and other activities.

Upvote >>

Allow Reference Lines on Dashboard Components

This feature would bring an amazing reporting feature to dashboards so marketers can include reference lines on any report chart within a dashboard.

Upvote >>

We Want to Hear From You!

While some Pardot admin recommendations get picked up and implemented faster than others, it all depends on community participation and perceived need from the Marketing Cloud product team. In fact, to help drive ideas, Salesforce created a prioritization system where you can see top feature suggestions across the ecosystem battle it out!

Are there any features or functionality you wish you could see? If so, let us know below. With a little bit of luck and support from your Salesforce Ohana, you might also uncover the secrets of the IdeaExchange and get your idea on the scoreboard.Don’t forget to vote for these ideas, submit your own and chat with us on Twitter, LinkedIn or simply subscribe to the blog.

Original article: Marketing Goodies from the Salesforce IdeaExchange: Spring ‘23

The post Marketing Goodies from the Salesforce IdeaExchange: Spring ‘23 appeared first on The Spot.

By Jordyn Jaffer|2023-04-05T20:02:21+00:00April 5th, 2023|Categories: Community, New Features, Release Notes|

The Salesforce Spring ’23 Release Notes are out and we’ve been combing through them to see how these changes will affect our clients and readers.

In this blog post, we’ll share the Salesforce Spring ’23 Release things you should know if you’re a Marketing Cloud Account Engagement (Pardot) admin or user.

Engagement Optimizer BETA

An easier way to monitor and clean up your org? Yes, please! This new feature helps you:

Improve email send times
Keep visitor tracking running smoothly
Keep an eye on the overall status for your business unit
Pause and prioritize actions

This feature is in BETA for all editions of Account Engagement, so if you want to go ahead and start using it, opt in by going to Account Engagement Settings and selecting Optimizer (Beta) from the left menu.

Once you enable the Optimizer, you’ll instantly see areas of your instance that can be cleaned up. The listed actions will include:

Reason for Alert
Priority
Feature Area
Recommendation

Domain Validation Changes

Account Engagement is also making some changes to sending domain validation. This only affects domains validated after the Spring ‘23 release, so don’t worry about your existing Domains!

Validating a new domain now requires proof of ownership via a validation key that you’ll need your IT team to paste into the DNS. The DomainKey Policy section of the Domain page has also been retired as this is no longer required.

These changes should make validating new sending domains a bit easier going forward!

Old View

New View

New Pardot Org Defaults

If you create a new Account Engagement Business Unit after the Spring ‘23 release there are new defaults that you’ll want to take note of.

First Party Tracking is enabled
Force HTTPS is enabled
The Honor Do Not Track (DNT Header) option is enabled
Request opt-in from all visitors is enabled
The Max Tracking Cookie Duration setting is set to 365 days

These defaults aim to protect your Prospect’s privacy, but they can be overwritten by an Account Engagement Administrator, if desired. These settings can be found under Account Engagement Settings > Edit.

External Actions Monitoring

With the Spring ‘23 release, you can now keep an eye on External Actions.

External Action Errors will now be available in a new report under Account Engagement Settings > External Action Errors and you can monitor External Action usage under your Account’s Usage and Limits report.

Retirements

Several connectors and one feature were retired this release:

Not in the new release, but…

These two changes were not in the new release notes but they’re important to point out.

Opt Out Field Changes

This is happening on February 26th so make sure you’ve chosen your syncing system of record or your Opt Out field will stop syncing with Salesforce!

Check out the Preparing for Pardot Opt Out Field Sync Changes blog for guidance on this change.

Pardot Files Now Open in a New Tab

I don’t know why Salesforce didn’t shout this one from the rooftops, this is a long needed feature that will make a lot of marketers happy.

As of January 23rd, files stored in Account Engagement will open in a new tab when clicked rather than automatically download (hello white paper and case study hosting!).

This only affects files uploaded on/after January 23rd. But you can reupload your file over your existing one to get the new behavior.

Keep it Going

Spring ‘23 Salesforce Release: Platform Highlights
Brian Roff shared all the things that caught his attention from a Salesforce platform perspective in this blog post. Read it here.

Reach out to 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 Spring ‘23 Release.

Original article: Marketing Cloud Account Engagement Spring ‘23: New Release Features

The post Marketing Cloud Account Engagement Spring ‘23: New Release Features appeared first on The Spot.

By Erin Duncan|2023-02-17T18:16:12+00:00February 17th, 2023|Categories: New Features, Pardot, Release Notes|

The Salesforce Spring ’23 Release Notes are out, and they include important features for Salesforce administrators and marketers who are on the platform.

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

So, if you’re a Salesforce Admin or if you’re managing marketing operations for your company or organization and want to know more about Salesforce CRM, then you’re in the right place. We’re going to cover everything you need to know about the Salesforce Spring ‘23 Release if you’re an admin or a marketer who uses Salesforce.

14 Platform Highlights from the Salesforce Spring ‘23 Release

The theme I see in this release is about efficiency and clarity. Whether it is for users working in Salesforce or administrators building declarative solutions. If our teams can quickly get the right information at the right time, the whole organization will benefit. With that, here are 14 highlights.

Highlight #1: Create Personalized Report Filters

The addition of relative filtering for Owner fields in reports will allow admins and managers to build one report for their teams to see the records they are related to. Any field that relates to a user can use this feature. Think things like “Show me Cases where I was the last person to Modify” or “Show me Opportunities that I don’t own but Created”

This will also reduce technical debt built up by workarounds (i.e. custom formula checkbox fields to show logged in users). I dream of a day that we can find this feature on List Views, too.

Highlight #2: Subscribe to More Reports and Dashboards

As soon as customers see the power of report and dashboard subscriptions, they crave more. For companies with Unlimited edition, users will be able to schedule 15 reports and dashboards. The previous limit was 7 reports and 7 dashboards. That’s a 53% increase!

Highlight #3: Track Field History for Activities

Finally in Spring ‘23, we’ll be able to track field history on Activities and Tasks. This has been a pain point for many admins that left them scratching their heads and wondering WHY can’t I see all of the people who passed the assignment of this Task around? Sadly there is a limit of 6 fields for tracking. Note, once activated, the Task History related list is added by default to the standard Task and Activity page layouts but needs to be manually added to any custom layouts.

Highlight #4: See More Records in Dynamic Related Lists

Dynamic related lists are truly an amazing enhancement to related lists in Lightning which allow admins to set dynamic conditions on what appears in a related list. The latest enhancement bring parity with standard related lists with the introduction of the View All link so users can see all related records rather than the current limit of just 30 on screen. Kudos to the development team for bringing this Idea to life!

Highlight #5:Convert Processes to Flows with the Migrate to Flow Tool

Admins will have a new tool in their toolbox to help with the migration of old Processes built with Process Builder over to Flows. This is great news for orgs that have many vital processes, but don’t forget that when Salesforce deprecates a feature, it is a chance to take a step back and determine if those old automations still make sense for the business today. Don’t just lift and shift!

Highlight #6: Capture Inclusive Data with Gender Identity and Pronouns Fields

Any time Salesforce takes a step towards greater inclusivity and representation, I am all for it. Spring 23 will introduce new Pronouns and Gender Identity fields as optional picklist fields on the Lead, Contact, and Person Account objects. Just update the field visibility settings and add them to the layouts to start.

Highlight #7: Prevent Duplicate Cases with Lightning Threading in Email-To-Case

Lightning threading is a new Email-to-Case threading approach that matches incoming emails to cases using a combination of token- and header-based threading. What’s great about this new technology is it helps with a major pain point that Support teams and admins face with duplicate cases on incoming emails. Previously with the Case thread-id when a customer removed the unique thread I’d from their reply, a new Case would be created.

Highlight #8: Shrink Outgoing Emails and Include Only New Content

Any support rep will know what a great improvement this is. When sending emails from Salesforce Cases, we will no longer reach size limits for outgoing emails (if they include new content only). It’s as simple as your admin checking a new box in the Email-to-Case setup.

Highlight #9: See Element Descriptions on the Flow Canvas

Sometimes Flows can get big and yes, confusing. The next release will see a great “quality of life” improvement with the new Element Descriptions. Flow developers will no longer have to click in and open up an element to see the description. We all know it is best practice to fill out the description when given the chance and this might give more incentive to do that!

Highlight #10: Select a Value from a List of Choices with the Choice Lookup Component (Beta)

For those jumping in on this Beta, they will see a set of features in this new Screen Flow component that is part “type ahead” functionality and part filter. Essentially you can set up a collection of choices for certain fields (picklists, record lookups) which will become searchable as a user interacts with the Screen. Will be very useful in cases where there are many values in a picklist but only a handful are relevant to the Flow at hand.

Highlight #11: Collaborative Forecast Modernization

I’m really excited that Salesforce is giving Collaborative forecasts some love in this release. There are 2 items to note.

Experience a Modern Forecasts Page

There is a reimagining of the whole Forecast experience that is designed to make navigating and reviewing the Forecast more intuitive for Sales leaders and sales people.

Build Custom Forecasts Pages That Work for Your Business
Here we will see the Forecast Lightning page gain the ability to customize with components similar to other object Lightning pages using the Lightning App Builder interface. A great step forward!

Highlight #12: Take Action More Quickly in the Dynamic Activity Composer

Sticking with the theme of greater access to key information and actions, the Dynamic Activity Composer packs features in each of the tabs in this new interface. For example, for those that have multiple email fields on Contact, the email tab allows more choices for which email to send to. Another cool addition is the ability to add to a To Do list Task from the Email and Call tabs.

Highlight #13: DevOps Center (Generally Available)

With the general release of Salesforce DevOps Center admins will have a robust set of dev ops tools for release management. Key features include automatic change tracking with source control, easy to migrate changes with clicks and enhanced environment management with sandbox swapping.

Highlight #14: Enhance Case and Lead Record Pages with Dynamic Forms

Here’s another great push into accessibility of Dynamic Forms for standard objects with the introduction of this feature for Cases and Leads (joining Accounts, Contacts, Person Accounts, and Opportunities). Dynamic Forms allow individual fields to be placed in a field section component anywhere on the Lightning Page for a highly customized experience. Those sections can be access controlled with filter rules. With this update, admins will be able to fine tune their Case and Lead pages for better efficiency and visibility of key information.

Salesforce is getting bigger and better all the time

Salesforce Administrators and B2B marketers who come to Salesforce are usually looking to scale their efforts and grow in a way that makes sense. Additionally, they want to make the experience of the users frictionless. These latest enhancements from the Salesforce Spring ‘23 Release get admins and marketers 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 Spring ‘23 Release.

Original article: Salesforce Spring ‘23 Release: Platform Highlights

The post Salesforce Spring ‘23 Release: Platform Highlights appeared first on The Spot.

By Brian Roff|2023-01-12T20:41:00+00:00January 12th, 2023|Categories: New Features, Release Notes|

If you’re like me, you hate spending half your life looking for things that have been filed already. I have reports in CRM Analytics and Salesforce, and it feels like a waste of time to have to look in two places.

I also hate having to “guess” what previous reports/ dashboard might already exist before I add to the fray by creating a new one. On top of that, in Salesforce I have to use up to 2 navigation tabs if I frequent both Reports and Dashboards often, using up valuable visual real estate…

Well, your “search” for a solution is over! In the Salesforce Winter ‘23 Release, you now have access to a really cool way to see ALL your reports and dashboards through a single pane of glass.

Introducing… The Unified Experience For Analytics Home.

How will Unified Analytics change my life?

While it might not be life altering, the Unified Analytics experience is magical on many levels and will give you back precious moments throughout your day!

How, you ask? A few examples:

Filter by Dashboard or reports (or lenses or Apps or Components) and see BOTH Salesforce AND CRM Analytics assets

Explore all reporting assets by date, type, modified date, created date creator

Search across all analytics assets to find what you need with a single search

Turning on Unified Analytics

You can turn on Unified Analytics in a few simple steps:

Go To Setup > Analytics > Setting
Check the box for “Enable the Unified Experience for Analytics Home”

That’s it!

Some Important notes

You need an Analytics CRM license to use this new feature
Once enabled, the experience will be available on Salesforce apps and through the browser
Collections can be created or accessed from apps or through the browser

There are tons of tidbits in the Winter ‘23 release. This one might be small, but if your organization is one of those with lots of reporting assets (and lots of people writing reports), then this little nugget might just be the gold you’ve been looking for.

Onto the next adventure.

Learn more about Unified Analytics and Salesforce reporting

Original article: Unified Analytics: Find Reports and Dashboards Faster in Analytics Home

The post Unified Analytics: Find Reports and Dashboards Faster in Analytics Home appeared first on The Spot.

By Dominique Beaudin|2022-11-28T21:01:00+00:00November 28th, 2022|Categories: Analytics & Reporting, New Features, Release Notes|

Well, your “search” for a solution is over! In the Salesforce Winter ‘23 Release, you now have access to a really cool way to see ALL your reports and dashboards through a single pane of glass.

Introducing… The Unified Experience For Analytics Home.

How will Unified Analytics change my life?

While it might not be life altering, the Unified Analytics experience is magical on many levels and will give you back precious moments throughout your day!

How, you ask? A few examples:

Filter by Dashboard or reports (or lenses or Apps or Components) and see BOTH Salesforce AND CRM Analytics assets

Explore all reporting assets by date, type, modified date, created date creator

Search across all analytics assets to find what you need with a single search

Turning on Unified Analytics

You can turn on Unified Analytics in a few simple steps:

Go To Setup > Analytics > Setting
Check the box for “Enable the Unified Experience for Analytics Home”

That’s it!

Some Important notes

You need an Analytics CRM license to use this new feature
Once enabled, the experience will be available on Salesforce apps and through the browser
Collections can be created or accessed from apps or through the browser

Onto the next adventure.

Learn more about Unified Analytics and Salesforce reporting

Original article: Unified Analytics: Find Reports and Dashboards Faster in Analytics Home

The post Unified Analytics: Find Reports and Dashboards Faster in Analytics Home appeared first on The Spot.

By Dominique Beaudin|2022-11-28T21:01:00+00:00November 28th, 2022|Categories: Analytics & Reporting, New Features, Release Notes|

Alas, Salesforce External Actions for Pardot is finally here.

Until now, our options to have Marketing Cloud Account Engagement (Pardot) trigger a third-party system have been limited to either: pre-existing connectors or syncing to Salesforce and relying on a Salesforce-side integration.

With the Salesforce Winter ‘23 release, External Actions gives us the capability to integrate into any third-party system and do cool things. It’s a far cry from having true webhooks. Though, it is a step in the right direction.

(We’ve built something to fill in the gap. Drop us a line — we’re happy to talk details with you).

Note: This feature is available to Plus, Advanced, and Premium editions of Pardot.

The Lowdown on External Actions for Pardot

External Action allows Pardot to do things like:

Send an SMS message via Twilio or MogliSMS
Create a new Salesforce record (such as Lead, Opportunity, any Object!)
Send information to your favorite Star Wars API
Register a Prospect in another system
and whatever else you dream up!

While there are some considerations (detailed later in this post), External Actions are a great way to plow through the barriers that have prevented you from automating your entire workflow.

It’s important to note that there’s a similarly named feature called External Activities.  With Pardot External Activities, you can receive data from third-party systems to use in Pardot. With External Actions, you can send data to third-party systems so they can do cool things.

How does a Pardot External Action work?

Once an External Action is built, it will appear as an Action option in an Engagement Studio Program. Depending on the action, you may need to provide additional information through text inputs. You can use HML Merge Tags here, too!

When the Engagement Studio Program is running and hits your action, Pardot will call into Salesforce (via API behind the scenes), and call the functionality. It does this in a “fire and forget” manner, so there’s no error handling inside your Engagement Studio Program. It is also not “bulkified,” meaning it will make an API call for EACH Prospect. So, you may need to take the API limits of Salesforce AND your external system into consideration.

For this blog post, we built an External Action that tracks Favorite Color.

Once you pick “Track Favorite Color” you have the ability to provide a value. In the screenshot below, we are using HML to pull this value from a Prospect’s record, though you can also provide static text if you want to say everyone’s favorite color is Sercante Green.

How can I set up a Pardot External Action?

To set up an External Action, there are 2 key pieces:

You need something in Salesforce that can “do the thing” you want. It can be any of the following:
- Autolaunched Flow
- External Service
- APEX InvocableMethod
Marketing App Extensions have been configured inside Salesforce Setup

No-code options to configure Pardot External Actions

If you are looking to integrate with a third-party system, you might luck out on #1 and be able to leverage something built by that third-party in their Salesforce package. This could be your quickest way to being able to use an External Action.

If this isn’t available for you, first look at seeing if you can make an Autolaunched Flow that can meet your needs. This option is also great for creating Salesforce Records of any object type (keeping in mind you are limited to text input types in Pardot).

When working with another API, and if that API supports the OpenAPI protocol, you can use Salesforce External Services to hook things up. That will give you everything you need.

The Trailhead Module on External Services is a great way to learn how to get started.

Code option to get started with Pardot External Actions

If the above aren’t an option, it’s time to break out your development skills (or work with someone who has them). We’ve got a sample APEX class here that gives you all the structural ingredients you need to make this work, you just have to fill in what you want it to actually do.

public class MyNewExternalAction {

    // Classes to be used by the Flow Designer
    public class FlowRequest {
        @InvocableVariable(label='Prospect Email')
        public String email;
        @InvocableVariable(label='Favorite Color')
        public String favColor;
        // add any other String or number-based attributes you need
    }

    // If you are calling an External API, this would be a great
    // place to put Classes to represent the response
    public class ApiResponse {

    }
    
    @InvocableMethod(callout=true label='My New External Action')
    public static void performActions(List<FlowRequest> flowRequests) {
        System.debug('Start performActions');
        // at time of writing, Pardot DOES NOT BATCH these, it's always 1
        // per batch
        FlowRequest flowRequest = flowRequests.get(0);
        System.Http http = new System.Http();

        try {
            // This is where you put what you want to do!
            // you can call another API, call other APEX
            // read & write Salesforce Objects.. Whatever you want

        } catch (Exception e) {
            System.debug('There was an issue executing the request');
            System.debug(e.getMessage());
            throw e;
        }
        System.debug('Done performActions');
    }
}

Once you have the functionality ready, you need to tell Pardot about it. This is done by configuring Marketing App Extensions inside Salesforce Setup.

Configuring the Marketing App Extensions

This is the “glue” that ties everything together and makes External Actions usable by Pardot. There are a few easy things to configure to make this “glue” work.

First, we need the Top-Level Marketing App Extension. Be careful with these, as you cannot delete them once created (so don’t go making a bunch of test records!).

In Salesforce Setup, search for Marketing App Extensions
If you don’t have one, create New
- Provide an Extension Name and an API Name, as well as check “Active in Automations”
- Click Save

Next, we need to enable this for Business Unit(s).

With the Extension still open, go to the Related tab
Click New beside Business Unit Assignments
Add an assignment for each Business Unit you want this extension to be available for

Now we can create the External Action.

With the Extension still open, go to the Related tab
Click New beside Actions
Provide an Action Name (this will be the name visible when selecting it from Engagement Studio)
Provide an API Name (this does not auto-fill like you may be used to)
(Recommended) Provide a description of what this Action does, since you might not remember in three months
Search for your functionality. Once selected, the Action Schema will auto fill with JSON that you need to review and likely modify
Review & Modify the Action Schema
- Properties – this contains details about the parameters/values that you want to provide to the Automation.
  - type: currently can only be “string” and “number”
  - title: the Label of the input when viewing in Engagement Studio
  - value: Allows you to provide a default value. You can use HML merge tags here!
  - Note: Sometimes when working with Flows, you might have properties that are not relevant (like flow interview id). You should remove them from Properties (assuming they aren’t an input variable that your flow requires to function)
- View Components – this allows you to specify which properties you want to provide inputs for in Engagement Studio. Currently, definition should always be “lightning/control” and “scope” should always point to one of the properties
- Required – a list of properties that would be required from within Engagement Studio
Action Params auto fills, no changes needed
When you are ready to have this available in Pardot, check the Active in Automations box.

Here’s what it would look like for our sample APEX class above. Note that we’ve chosen to only display the favorite color field in the Engagement Studio, though we are passing the Prospect’s email behind the scenes.

Save the Action and, after a few moments, it will be available for testing!

Can I use an External Action to do things in Pardot?

Imagine being able to take action on another Prospect record from an Engagement Studio Program! While not natively available within the platform, you could build this when combining External Actions with our Free package Flow Actions for Pardot. After setting up the package, you would only need to configure the Marketing App Extension to have any of our Flow Actions available as an External Action.

Create Unified Experiences with Pardot External Activities

External Actions are available with the Winter ‘23 release. These Actions, as well as External Activities, allow Marketers to automate across platforms for a more unified experience.

How do you plan on using these features to better automate your processes? Tell us in the comments!

Original article: External Actions: The Long-Awaited Pardot Feature

The post External Actions: The Long-Awaited Pardot Feature appeared first on The Spot.

By Adam Erstelle|2022-10-13T14:36:51+00:00October 13th, 2022|Categories: API & Integration, Automations, New Features, Release Notes|

The Salesforce Winter ’23 release is bringing some changes to the Marketing Cloud Account Engagement (Pardot) “Opted Out” field. After this release, the sync options will change and “Use most recently updated” will no longer be an option for this field.

Pardot Admins must choose between “Use Salesforce’s Value” or “Use Pardot’s Value” before February 26th, 2023 or this field will stop syncing with Salesforce. All Pardot Orgs created after August 26th, 2022 will default to use Pardot’s Value.

So, how do you keep Pardot and Salesforce Opt Outs in sync between the two systems after this change? Well, it all depends on where your emails are coming from.

If you are only sending emails from Pardot

If you are only sending emails from Pardot, then Pardot being the system of record should not cause any issues.

Before you change your Opt Out sync behavior in Pardot, check the permissions of your “Email Opt Out” field on the Lead and Contact Objects. You will want to ensure only the Pardot to Salesforce connector user’s profile can edit this field so Salesforce users don’t incorrectly think they can opt out Leads/Contacts from the Salesforce side.

In Salesforce navigate to Setup > Object Manager > Lead > Fields & Relationships
Locate and open the Email Opt Out field
Select Set Field-Level Security
Ensure Read-Only is selected for any profiles who have visibility to this field except for the connector user’s profile (this will be the “B2BMA Integration User” profile if you are using the B2BMA integration user as your connector user)

Select Save
Repeat steps 1-5 for the Contact Object

Next, change your Pardot Opted Out field to use Pardot’s Value and voila! You are ready for this update.

But Salesforce Users want to be able to Opt Out Leads/Contacts

If your Salesforce users need to maintain the ability to opt Leads/Contacts out of Pardot Email from the Salesforce side, they can use the “Do Not Email” field going forward. Make sure you go through the “If you are only sending emails from Pardot” steps above, as well as:

#1 – Create a “Do Not Email” field for Leads/Contacts

In Salesforce navigate to Setup > Object Manager > Lead > Fields & Relationships
Select New
Select the field type Checkbox, then Next
Name the field “Pardot: Do Not Email”
In the Help Text field, enter “Prevents this Lead/Contact from receive Marketing emails in Pardot”

Select Next
On the Establish field-level security screen, ensure all profiles that will need update this field have visibility to it especially the Connector user’s profile (this will be the “B2BMA Integration User” profile if you are using the B2BMA integration user as your connector user)
Select Next
Select the page layouts you’d like to add this field to, select Save
Repeat steps 1-9 for the Contact Object

# 2 – Map the “Pardot: Email Opt Out” field upon Conversion

In Salesforce navigate to Setup > Object Manager > Lead > Fields & Relationships
Select Map Lead Fields
Select the Contact tab
Locate the Pardot: Do Not Email field in the Lead Fields column and select the Pardot: Do Not Email field under the Contact Fields Column

Select Save

# 3 – Map the Pardot “Do Not Email” field to Salesforce

In the Pardot Lightning app, navigate to Pardot Settings > Prospect Fields > Default Fields > Do Not Email
Select Edit default Prospect field
In the salesforce.com Field Name drop down, select Pardot: Do Not Email
In the Sync Behavior field, select Use the most recently updated value

Select Save default field

If you’re sending email out of multiple systems

If you’re sending emails out of Pardot and Salesforce, Marketing Cloud, or various other systems, my recommendation would be to create an Opt Out field for each system then use a Salesforce flow to keep these checkboxes in line.

For instance, if a Lead/Contact opts out of Pardot emails, you likely want to also opt them out of Salesforce and Marketing Cloud emails coming from the same company or email domain, otherwise you’re likely to get some SPAM complaints.

Tell us how Pardot Opt Out Field Sync changes affect you

How are you handling the Pardot Opt Out field sync changes? Do you have any scenarios that are more complex than the examples above? Let us know in the comments!

Original article: Preparing for Pardot Opt Out Field Sync Changes

The post Preparing for Pardot Opt Out Field Sync Changes appeared first on The Spot.

By Erin Duncan|2022-10-05T14:06:00+00:00October 5th, 2022|Categories: Data Management, New Features, Release Notes|

Queue Sarah McLachlan’s “I will remember you,” because the Pardot Classic App in Salesforce is officially retiring on Monday, October 17, 2022.

Remain calm! The retirement of the Pardot Classic App is unrelated to the recent Pardot rebrand to “Marketing Cloud Account Engagement.”

The retiring of the Classic app was announced almost a year ago, in October 2021. Marketing Cloud Account Engagement (Pardot) will still be accessible at pi.pardot.com and through the Lightning App.

Check out this FAQ article for more information on what is changing with the retirement of the Pardot Classic App.

Pardot Classic App Retirement Implications

What does this mean? If you’re using the Pardot Classic App in Salesforce today, then you’re accessing the classic user interface (UI) via the “Pardot tab” in either your Salesforce Classic or Lightning experience.

On October 17, 2022, you’ll have two options to access Pardot moving forward:

Logging in at pi.pardot.com: This is Pardot’s legacy application with the same classic UI experience shared by the Pardot Classic App.
Enabling the Pardot Lightning App: This is the recommended application to continue using Pardot in Salesforce Lightning. The Pardot Lightning App also grants you access to the latest and greatest features not available in the Classic App or at pi.pardot.com.

Getting Salesforce Access for Pardot Users

But my Pardot users don’t have access to Salesforce!

That’s OK!

With the Winter ’23 release, users who do not require full access to Salesforce can now access the Pardot Lightning app with a new permission set. Read more about the Winter’ ’23 new release updates here.

Start Using the Pardot Lightning App

What’s the Pardot Lightning App?

I’m so glad you asked!

This app gives you access to all your favorite Pardot marketing automation features in an updated UI built on the Salesforce Platform. Check out this blog post on the benefits of using the Pardot Lightning App and the additions that come with it.

It’s Time to Switch to Pardot Lightning

Are you ready to make the switch? Check out The Salesforce Pardot Lightning Implementation Guide. Or get in touch with us for help.

Let us know how you feel about making the switch to Pardot Lightning in the comments!

Original article: Get Ready for Pardot Classic App Retirement

The post Get Ready for Pardot Classic App Retirement appeared first on The Spot.

By Erin Duncan|2022-10-03T13:44:00+00:00October 3rd, 2022|Categories: New Features, Release Notes|

The Salesforce Winter ’23 Release Notes are out, and they include important features for marketers 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.

So, if you’re using and managing marketing operations for your company or organization and want to know more about Salesforce CRM, then you’re in the right place. We’re going to cover everything you need to know about the Salesforce Winter ‘23 Release if you’re a marketer who uses Salesforce.

Marketing-Focused Platform Highlights from the Salesforce Winter ‘23 Release

Marketers who use the Salesforce platform are getting lots of attention from the Salesforce Winter ‘23 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.

All we know is, this release includes big updates for people in the marketing world.

Highlight #1: MFA Enhancement for Smaller Orgs

The Winter ‘23 release will enable multi-factor authentication (MFA) for direct logins to Salesforce for orgs with fewer than 100 active users. This update will then become enforced when the Spring ‘23 release comes around early next year.

If your Salesforce org falls under the 100 active user threshold, it’s best to make sure you are fully compliant with the MFA requirement now and make sure any MFA-exempt user types are prevented from being affected by this update.

Any Salesforce org that has more than 100 active users will experience this update in a future release.

Highlight #2: Dynamic Forms for Standard Objects

Dynamic Forms are now finally available for Accounts, Person Accounts, Contacts, and Opportunities! Dynamic Forms are components you can add to your Lightning Record Page to help customize your page layouts even more.

Instead of using the standard page layout component, you can add specific fields and sections to the Lightning Record Page and add visibility rules to show users only what they need at that time.

You can also automate the process of creating dynamic forms by migrating the Record Detail component to a Dynamic Form component with just one button.

Highlight #3: Salesforce Reports and Dashboards Updates

Salesforce continues to ensure that Reports and Dashboards get new updates with each release throughout the year.

Enhancement #1: Filter Custom Report Types by Salesforce Fields (Beta)

Salesforce continues to provide enhancements to help ensure users can pick the best report type for any use case. Users can now filter custom report types by specific fields to ensure that report type contains the fields needed for the report.

This feature is extremely useful for finding the right custom report type and allows users to filter by up to 20 fields that are required for the specific report they are building.

The "Create Report" modal, with an orange box around a "Filter" button to the right of the "Search Report Types..." bar. Below the filter button is a modal that reads "Show me report types with". In the modal are an unselected "Salesforce objects" radio button and a selected "Fields" radio button. Below the options are a "Select Object" text input and a "Search Fields" text input. Below that are two sample selected fields: "Account > Industry" and "Opportunity > Stage". Below that are "Cancel" and "Apply" buttons.

Enhancement #2: Review a Custom Report Type’s Structure During Report Creation

When getting ready to select a custom report type, users are now able to review the structure of that report type before moving forward with creating a new report.

The details panel for the custom report type will now include a section that shows the relationships between the joined objects and provides useful information on the outcomes of the joins that were set up for the report type.

Highlight #4: User Permissions Updates

Improvement #1: Manage Your Permission Assignments with the User Access and Permission Assistant

Previously known as the Permissions Helper, the User Access and Permissions Assistant is an app through the Salesforce AppExchange to help analyze and report on permission assignments.

Following the Salesforce best practice to approach user management by applying the principle of least privilege, this tool can help with monitoring and managing permissions across your org.

Some features available through this tool are:

Analyzing permissions by user, permission set, or permission set group to understand who has a particular permission.
Converting a profile to a permission set
Reporting on users, permission sets, or permission set groups to further understand who has what permissions.
- You can also report on permission dependency and visualize it so you can see everything that’s dependent on a specific permission.

Improvement #2: Set Field-Level Security for a Field on Permission Sets During Field Creation

As Salesforce moves its customers toward using Permission Sets over Profiles, it will continue to push out new updates for Permission Sets to become more powerful.

When creating new fields on an object, you will now have the ability to set field-level security on permission sets instead of profiles to help follow security best practices.

To use this new beta feature, you should enable it through the User Management Settings in your Salesforce Setup.

Highlight #5: Salesforce Flow Updates

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

You should anticipate seeing awesome features for Salesforce Flow being included in every release moving forward for a while.

Here are some of our favorites from this release.

Improvement #1: Cut and Paste Flow Elements

If you’ve ever had to move a Flow element from one section to another you know how frustrating it has been in the past. We were required to copy a component, paste in the new section, update any references to the old version of the component, and then delete the old component.

Salesforce has answered this frustration by providing a new feature where you can cut and paste a Flow element that eliminates all of the extra steps of cleaning up your Flow when you move an element.

Improvement #2: Specify Time Offsets in Months for Scheduled Paths

Before the Winter ‘23 release, Salesforce users were only able to set up scheduled paths by looking at the time since a trigger in minutes, hours, or days.

This new Salesforce feature now includes the ability to schedule your path to run on the same calendar day of another month.

Improvement #3: Use In and Not In Operations to Find Related Records

Flows are getting new operators that can be used in Get Records, Update Records, and Delete Records elements.

These new operators, In and Not In, can help users get related records without using a Loop element and reduce the number of SOQL queries and DML statements within the Flow.

Improvement #4: Select Multiple Records from a Table in a Screen Flow (Beta)

The new Data Table screen flow component is available to display a list of records on a flow screen. When building the screen flow, you can set the table to ready only or provide your users the ability to select multiple records to use later in the flow.

Improvement #5: Use Record-Triggered Flows to Update Related Records

The Winter ‘23 release brings a new feature where you can use record-triggered flows to update any record that is related to the record that originally triggers the Flow.

With this feature, users are also able to set filters to only update specific related records instead of all related records.

Improvement #6: Workflow Rule Creation will no longer be available

The Winter ‘23 Release will now block Salesforce users from creating any new Workflow Rules moving forward. This is the next big step toward retiring Workflow Rules entirely as Salesforce continues to push users to move toward Flows.

This update will not affect your current Workflow Rules as you will still be able to activate, deactivate, and edit your existing automations.

Check out our other blog post on migrating your current Workflow Rules and Process Builder to Flow through the new conversion to learn more about how you can prepare for the Workflow Rule retirement.

Highlight #6: Sales Cloud for Slack (Generally Available)

Since Salesforce purchased Slack in July 2021, they have been working hard to connect these two systems in a way that will improve Sales productivity.

This release brings a new feature where sales teams can access important information and get notifications about their accounts and opportunities directly in Slack. The new Sales Cloud for Slack app provides the ability for your sales team to collaborate in opportunity-focused channels and to automate record update notifications to be pushed into Slack directly from Salesforce.

Highlight #7: Marketing Cloud Account Engagement (Pardot) Updates

Please check out my colleague Erin Duncan’s blog post on all things Pardot from the Winter ’23 release.

Salesforce is getting bigger and better all the time

B2B marketers 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 ‘23 Release get marketers 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 ‘23 Release.

Original article: Salesforce Winter ‘23 Release: Platform Highlights for Marketers

The post Salesforce Winter ‘23 Release: Platform Highlights for Marketers appeared first on The Spot.

By Jordyn Jaffer|2022-09-30T19:50:00+00:00September 30th, 2022|Categories: New Features, Release Notes|

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