Marketers want to show what campaigns drive revenue.  Sounds simple, right?

But not always as easy as it seems.

 

The Problem: Missing Data Ruins the Ability to Run ROI & Campaign Influence Reporting

If you’re a marketer, maybe you can relate to this scenario:

You’ve asked politely.  You’ve put together training guides. You’ve sent it up the chain of command.

But still… your sales people aren’t adding freaking Contact Roles to their Opportunities. This ruins your ability to link revenue with your marketing Campaigns using standard Campaign Influence and marketing attribution reports/dashboards.

 

The Solution: Automated Opportunity Contact Roles, Now Available on the AppExchange

We’ve seen the above scenario scenario play out time and time again.  So we built an app to address this issue and add Contact Roles automatically to opportunities.

Rather than waiting for sales to add contact roles (spoiler alert: they won’t), our app allows you to automate the process by creating business logic for when to automatically add Contact Roles to Opportunities.

You can set intelligent criteria for when to link targeted Contacts, ensuring your Campaigns finally get the sourced and influenced revenue credit they deserve.

No manual data entry for sales, no fuss, and you get the data you need for better reporting.

 

How the App for Automated Opportunity Contact Roles Works

Our Automated Opportunity Contact Roles app is extremely simple to install and use.  The highlights:

• Choose top contacts to link to an Opportunity — based on Salesforce Last Activity Date, Salesforce Last Modified Date, or Pardot Last Activity Date.
• Get granular: Apply your rules across all Opportunities and Accounts, or limit it to certain Opportunity owners and/or types of Contacts (with clicks, not code!)
• Buy licenses for all of your sales reps, or just the ones that are extra bad at updating data busy
• To take it to the NEXT LEVEL, you can even call our app’s functionality from Flows and Process Builder!

Here’s a video walk through to show you how it works:

 

How the Get the App 

Visit the AppExchange to learn more about the app or download to your org.  License pricing starts at $5 per user per month — a small price compared to all of the time you’ll save with manual data entry and missed opportunities to optimize your marketing campaigns without the data you need for ROI reporting.

Questions?  Reach out to [email protected], or give us a shout in the comments!

Last week marked the end of the Accelerate Build program, and looking back it has been quite the journey. We not only learned a bunch about building apps with Salesforce, we also learned a lot about how to work with various teams in Salesforce.  We’re really grateful to Salesforce and the AppExchange team (particularly Mike Kreaden, Emilie Jessula, and Hana Mandapat) for the opportunity to participate in this program and look forward to sharing more about our app soon.

A bit more about the Accelerate Build program

The Salesforce Accelerate Build program is an incubator that supports companies from idea to app, fast-tracking their journey to AppExchange.  Sercante participated in Cohort 7 for North America, along with these other amazing companies:

Starting in October, we had monthly workshops in San Francisco where all 10 companies in the program got together to  do hands on exercises as well as learn from speakers from both within Salesforce and partners in the AppExchange community. In between the monthly workshops, each week there were 2 webinars covering both business and technical topics.

Overall, there was a ton of information and it did feel like it was like drinking from a fire hose (in the best possible way). Luckily all the content was recorded so that we can revisit as needed.

A new product was born

We came into the Accelerate Build program with a product idea in mind, and 50% of the build complete.  In our November workshop, we had a lightbulb moment around a second product idea related to the reporting challenges Marketers face for ROI calculations.  After discussing and evaluating with some of the tools we were introduced to in the program, we decided to make this the first product to pursue.  We submitted the app for Security Review over the winter holidays and we hope to get word on it fairly soon.

A sneak peek at the product: Automated Opportunity Contact Roles

Rather than waiting for sales to add contact roles (spoiler alert: they won’t), our app allows you to automate the process by creating business logic for when to automatically add Contact Roles to Opportunities.

You can set intelligent criteria for when to link targeted Contacts, ensuring your Campaigns finally get the sourced and influenced revenue credit they deserve. No manual data entry for sales, no fuss, and you get the data you need for better reporting.

More to come on this soon…

Want to learn more about Accelerate? 

The Accelerate program is currently recruiting for its next cohort.  Learn more about the program on the FAQs page.

Update: As of February 3, 2020, our first product is live on the AppExchange!  Read more about it here.

 

 

Sercante is proud to share that we’ve been recognized as a Certified Navigator for Salesforce.org customers using Nonprofit Cloud and Education Cloud. 

We are excited by this recognition and look forward to opportunities to continue helping Nonprofits and Higher Education institutions be successful on the Salesforce platform. 

What has Sercante done to grow its Nonprofit & Higher Ed team?

 After hiring several new team members with deep experience in the Salesforce.org ecosystem, we tuned our focus to upskilling our team.  7 team members have dug in, hit Trailhead, and earned the Nonprofit Cloud and Education Cloud Consultant certifications.

Our team also took on 5x more Salesforce.org clients in 2019 compared to previous year (and helped those clients see amazing results!).

What is the Salesforce Navigator Program?

The Navigator statuses help customers find the right partner for them based on a partner’s proven expertise in a Salesforce product. Based on expertise, product knowledge, and customer success, a partner can earn a status of Certified, Specialist, and Master Navigator. 

You can find Sercante’s Navigator statuses in Pardot, Sales Cloud, and Salesforce.org products on their AppExchange listing here. 

What’s next for Sercante with Salesforce.org?

Our team plans to double-down on our passion for the Salesforce.org community in 2020. We’ll be working hard to bring top-notch Pardot support to our Salesforce.org customers and the Power of Us community. 

We’ll be focusing on growing our team, digging deeper with our values, and leading the way for exceptional customer service. We have some exciting tools, upcoming Nonprofit and Higher Education success stories, and new Pardot-focused classes coming down the pipeline. 

Want to hear more about our work with Salesforce.org customers?

We’d love to chat about your needs and how we can help. Reach out to us at any time through our Contact Us form or in our Qualified chatbot on our website.

You’ve probably heard about conversational marketing or, at the very least, experienced it. It’s that chat window that pops up allowing you to have a real-time conversation with a company when you’re visiting their website.

At a recent Portland, OR B2B Marketers User Group, we dove into a deep discussion about conversational marketing. Many of the members have conversational marketing set up at their company to varying degrees.

We all took the stance of how we, as a prospect (not as the marketer), have engaged with a chat window on a company’s website. And we dug into why we engaged, to see how this could make us better marketers.

Conversational marketing: a doorway to personalized content and human interaction

Think back to the last time you engaged with a chatbot.

Most Portland user group members reported being mostly likely to engage when they feel there’s a real person behind it personalizing the experience, waiting for you to reply. It was also rare that we ran into these high-quality, engaging chat windows.

The more we dug into our experiences, we noticed the chat windows we have engaged with were heavily using personalization to draw us in. They called out what we’d seen on their website already and tailored their content to what they knew about us. And they assured us we could talk to a real person.

The role of trust in prospect interaction

My biggest takeaway from the user group discussion was most people began engaging with a chat window when they knew there was a human behind it, earning their trust. The idea of having to staff a chatbot can be a tough pill to swallow, but it immediately earns trust when there’s a real person waiting to talk.

And in 2019, not having trust with a company can be a deal-breaker.

According to the 2019 Edelman Trust Barometer Special Report, only one-third of consumers trust the brands they buy. And 81% of survey respondents said trust is a deal-breaker when considering a purchase.

But, Edelman says:

“Brands can build trust by communicating with consumers through various platforms and voices, not with advertising alone.”

Introducing Qualified for conversational marketing 

Our user group meeting discussion had actually been sparked by a demo of Qualified, a conversational marketing app built specifically for Pardot.

Even though many people in the room had a conversational marketing tool already, I was surprised to see multiple people shake their head or say “wow” to just how much Qualified could do.

Qualified showed us how the tool helped add personalized content to the chat and brought in a real human at the right moment. Through Qualified’s tight integration with Pardot and added data enrichment from Clearbit, whoever was behind the tool had all the data they needed to make the experience tailored to the prospect- without ever having to ask the prospect for all of this information first.

4 ways Qualified helps build trust

Let’s talk specifics on how Qualified builds prospect trust:

1) Moving beyond text with voice calls

No more waiting for a form fill or sending over a calendar invite. With Qualified, you (or the prospect) can instantly start a voice call or screen share right through the chat window- going from chat to online meeting. Your team is right there the moment they want to talk, helping them get the information they need.

2) Starting conversations at the right time

With Qualified, you can allow the prospect to navigate your website and orient themselves before you initiate a conversation. Not only can your team use their LiveView feature to see exactly where within your website the visitor is, but your team can use Qualified to wait to start the conversation until they’ve navigated specific pages like your products page or pricing guide. 

3) Tailoring your chat to engage your top leads

Nowadays, we all expect communications to be personalized to our online activities. But with Qualified you can not only personalize the experience, but you can also prioritize your chats with top prospects and immediately route them to a real person- giving them the concierge service. What a fantastic way to grow trust and create an engaging brand. 

4) Using data enrichment to tailor your messages

Just like Pardot, Qualified uses GeoIP information to guess the location and even the company the prospect works for. Paired with just a prospect’s email address, you could unlock information on the prospect’s role in the company and company information. All of this data can help your team tailor their messages to speak the language of the prospect and their industry- quickly gaining their trust that you know their industry and could be a valuable asset to their business. 

Building better marketing that earns trust and drives growth 

In 2018, the average marketer has 20+ products in their martech stack. It’s overwhelming to consider owning and managing all of the data and tools at our fingertips. 

And that’s why using a tool like Qualified (or any conversational marketing product) should be a team effort. While one person will need to own it (like any of your marketing tools), it’s meant to help your team get in front of prospects the moment they come to you (or rather, your website). 

You and your team are doing the work to bring in qualified prospects to your site. Now your team can meet them when they arrive, building trust immediately through tailored messaging, personalized content recommendations, and a full stack of online meeting tools. 

What’s your experience with chatbots and conversational marketing? We’d love to learn how you’re using the tool to see growth and build trust.

If you’re sold on ethical marketing and ready to get started, then here’s what you’re looking for. 

I’ve outlined 9 ways you can define your brand and use of Pardot in a more ethical manner.

1. Make sure your privacy policy is on your landing pages

For some businesses, it’s required by law to have and enforce a privacy policy when collecting data.  If you aren’t putting a visible link to your policies (or don’t have them) on your landing pages, you should start here. 

 

2. Don’t buy lists

Yes, of course, you shouldn’t do this. We all know that. But getting your boss or others on board with this idea can be really difficult in some spaces or organizations.

Here are the cut-and-dry points you can make to help you make the case against buying prospect lists:

• You might be breaking the law (see GDPR, CCPA, or CASL) because those people did *not* give you explicit consent to start emailing them. 
• You might damage your sender reputation and sender score, meaning you might be marked as a spammer and never see an inbox again.  
• Your Pardot contract could be ended by Pardot due to violating its Permission Based Marketing Policy. We definitely don’t want that.

Can’t quit cold turkey? Pardot has a couple of alternatives to buying lists that will help wean your team off purchased lists. 

 

3. Learn to love AMPSEA

If you’re not familiar with the term AMPSEA, it stands for “Allowing Multiple Prospects with the Same Email Address.”

It’s the age-old argument of #teamampsea vs. #teamnoampsea. I’m staunchly Team AMPSEA. I know not everyone is, since it can cause messy data.

I’m Team AMPSEA because I believe ethical marketing means allowing your prospects to tell you who they are. I don’t believe ethical marketing happens when we get to decide that. 

AMPSEA not only allows for your prospects to control their preferences more, but it also allows for flexibility. This is really helpful in organizations that are not straight forward B2B (friendly reminder that all types of organizations use Pardot).

Finally, with AMPSEA, Pardot is aligning itself to Salesforce by allowing for multiple records with the same email. Obviously, this isn’t going away. And for other platforms and different types of clients (like nonprofits), this is long overdue. Streamlining platforms will make the work easier, the data better, and hopefully, allow for more Pardot growth.

 

4. Use and stick to your Email Preference Centers

Who doesn’t love transparency?! 

The people trying to hide things. 

Email Preference Centers (EPCs) are a godsend for those who want to create strong ethical marketing practices. The hardest part is not creating them, but sticking to emailing those lists on them.

One of my favorite activities with organizations looking to create ethical marketing processes with Pardot is to overhaul their use of Email Preference Centers. 

I see three main benefits to using them:

• You’ll set clear expectations for your prospects. By allowing them to see what email lists they are on and why, you can build trust and loyalty. 
• You’ll set clear expectations for your team. While you might be on board with ethical marketing, you might need more time to understand and practice it. EPCs can help them get started by outlining the lists they should email, rather than the brand new ones they just created.
• They truly allow your prospects to opt-in and opt-out. EPCs put the power back into the hands of your prospects. Through your proper use of them, prospects can own their consent and you might even find some good insights from this to further personalize and tailor your content. 

With a little extra planning, you can create a strong list of email communications your prospects can expect and easily manage. And a clear set of expectations for your internal team as well. 

 

5. Put the email footer area to good use

My best advice for any email marketer is to use open and honest language to state why someone is getting an email in an email footer. Here’s some copy to get you started:

“You’re receiving this email because…” 

“You joined our lists on MM/DD/YY when you signed up for X”

“Have you been forwarded this email? You can subscribe yourself here.”

Here’s an excellent example (and the replies to this are worth checking out as well.

Credit: https://twitter.com/rutdawson/status/1168436817110216705

 

6. Enable Pardot’s Tracking Opt-In Preferences feature

I see this as the easiest win of the whole list. This feature is that box that pops up asking for you to allow the website to track your activity. 

Without this feature enabled, you are not allowing your prospects to own their data preferences.

I highly recommend you use it, customize it for your company’s tone, and make it honest. 

 

7. Create Accessibility Standards

Roughly 15% of the world’s population live with a disability. Regardless of your stance on ethical marketing, making your digital marketing accessible to all with internet access should be a priority.

The infamous Pardot MVP and CEO of Sercante Andrea Tarrell wrote an excellent post breaking down 8 basic ways you make your content more accessible. 

 

8. Be mindful with your image files

I’m not telling you to find stock photos that look perfectly balanced with people who visually look diverse. 

I am telling you to try your hardest to be honest and kind with your images. 

• No jokes at anyone’s expense
• Keep gifs from flashing too much (and by too much, I mean less than 3 times per second- which can trigger seizures)
• If you’re going to use stock images to portray your company, make it accurate. I still remember the email I received from a company that used rather diverse stock images, only to notice the company was comprised of all Caucasian men. 

 

9. Consider a double opt-in?

By no means do you have to do this, but if you want to give your prospects the ultimate control of their subscription, consider setting this up. It’s easier on other platforms but you can set this up in Pardot. 

Here’s a more in-depth article on the use cases for it and how to implement double opt-in with Pardot. 

 

When in doubt: communicate honestly

Not ready? Getting push back? Feeling overwhelmed?

Let’s take a step back and just think about how you can make small changes to make your communication with your prospects more transparent and honest.

 

More resources for creating your own ethical marketing standards

If you’re interested in this, I encourage you to learn more and form your own practices. Here are three digital resources you should check out. 

• B the Change– the official blog of B Lab, who runs the B Corporation movement
• Better Allies– run by Karen Catlin, an advocate for inclusivity, her newsletter and resources have expanded my marketing quite a bit. 
• Business Ethics Highlight– highlighting the good and the bad, this news sources rounds up the latest in ethics and business.

This is a question that motivates me:

How does your company make the world a better place through technology?

Asking this question is what lead me to start or join in on the philanthropic efforts at all of my previous employers. It’s led me to push hard for previous employers to adopt ethical marketing standards with their marketing automation. And it’s a conversation I regularly have with my Salesforce and Pardot clients.

To me, it’s a necessary question to ask before I launch any new marketing campaign. 

Ethical Marketing is my Driving Force: Could it be Yours?

Ethical marketing motives all that I do with marketing and marketing automation, like Pardot. It’s a reason I tweet, read, and give talks about ethical marketing for all kinds of organizations. As a consultant, and previously a Pardot admin, I’ve used this do-gooder lens to drive my decisions and better advise my clients. 

I believe ethical marketing is not just a way of the future or a passing trend. Ethical marketing is now a standard that many consumers look for when making a purchase. 

Whether they are marketers making a platform investment or a customer making a purchase — knowing that a company is going to take care of our data will drive us towards one company over another. 

So, What is “Ethical Marketing”?

..and how does this apply to Pardot, a B2B platform that’s pretty neutral?

I define ethical marketing as marketing that inherently tries to be good, just, and honest with their efforts while addressing their business’s needs. 

It’s a shift from solely helping your Sales team win, to honoring your prospect’s data while winning. 

First, let’s acknowledge this is tricky stuff. It can certainly be a grey area. And it’s different for every person and organization based on their values, use cases, and so many more factors. But this is where you and/or your organization can take a stance to make the world a better place. 

I really like this paragraph defining what ethical marketing is, from Dan Shewan,

“To put this another way, ethical marketing isn’t a strategy; it’s a philosophy. It includes everything from ensuring advertisements are honest and trustworthy, to building strong relationships with consumers through a set of shared values. Companies with a focus on ethical marketing evaluate their decisions from a business perspective (i.e. whether a particular marketing initiative will deliver the desired return) as well as a moral perspective (i.e. whether a decision is “right” or morally sound).”

What Does Salesforce Say About Ethical Marketing?

“We know that technology is not inherently good or bad; it’s what we do with it that matters. And that’s why we’re making the ethical and humane use of technology a strategic focus at Salesforce.” -MARC BENIOFF, CHAIRMAN AND CO-CEO, SALESFORCE

While I see Salesforce as putting the ball back in the court of their customers (rightfully so) to use their technology for good, they are also giving them the tools to do better through many of the best practices they teach on Trailhead.

Their actions and investments also speak volumes. You can see where their head is at through their formation departments like the Office of Ethical and Humane Use and the Office of Equality.

They speak a lot about “inclusive marketing”. I see ethical marketing and inclusive marketing as two different but highly aligned initiatives. 

Before I dive into how you can implement ethical marketing into your Salesforce and Pardot instances, let me introduce you to something I’ve read and shared a lot- a wonderful blog post on inclusive marketing written by Alexandra Legend Siegel, Head of Equality Content & Narrative at Salesforce. 

Ok, but Why Should I Consider Ethical Marketing?

Let’s start with this infographic from a Salesforce research survey from October 2018 that surveyed over 2000 American consumers:

Credit: https://www.salesforce.com/company/ethical-and-humane-use/

To me, the stat that speaks the most to the benefits of practicing ethical marketing is:

“69% of consumers say they spend more money with companies who demonstrate good ethics.”

It’s a simple equation of be good + do good = do more business. 

And to take this one step further, from that same survey 86% of consumers say they are more loyal to companies who demonstrate good ethics. 

Not only will ethical marketing help you earn more paying customers, but it can also help you earn their loyalty so they continue to be a paying customer. 

Want to learn more about putting this into action for your business?  Email me at [email protected] or subscribe to this blog at the bottom of the page — we’ll be posting several other blogs on this topic, including practical tips to get started.

Today is a special day.

Sercante is celebrating its second birthday.

What an amazing ride the last two years have been.

Our team has grown to 27 strong, with full-time team members in the US, UK, and Canada. Our clients come from equally diverse geographies – 23 US states and 10 countries.

I’m incredibly proud of the talent that has come together under one virtual roof, and so grateful for the people who have supported us since the earliest days – Nate Skinner at Pardot, Jill Carpenter at Cirrus Insight, Alan Littman at Agile Frameworks, to name a few of the very many people who have supported and encouraged our growth.

Because this is the Salesforce ecosystem and we are all particularly fond of forward looking statements… I’d like to share some of our plans for our third year in business. Here’s what’s next for the Sercante team in year 3:

• We are going to work on the gnarliest, geekiest client challenges on platform
• We will show up hard and bring brains, heart, and hustle to every client interaction
• We will passionately champion Pardot on platform and integrations with 3rd party tech
• We will embrace opportunities to add new value to the Pardot ecosystem — with apps, packaged solutions, training, and more
• We will continue building an amazing culture where our remote team is empowered to do their best work

Onward and upward!

P.S. — we’re hiring.

Sercante’s own Keisha Sethi will be cha cha’ing her way towards victory in the Strictly Tech Christmas Extravaganza this year!  Salesforce Partner Events is hosting a dance competition to raise money for Sports Traider in an evening of glitz and glamour on December 9.  Local tech talent are training together to compete for the Strictly Tech Dancing couple award.

Sports Traider is a charity which helps young people in local communities get into sports. Sports Traider uses the proceeds generated from used and discounted sports kit shops to fund coaching, access to facilities, and transportation to get young, less fortunate, talented individuals on the path to becoming aspiring athletes.

How It’s Going: An Update on the Grueling Preparation

Keisha Sethi, one of our London-based CRM & Marketing Automation Strategists, will be joining forces and dancing with Chris Harvey from Third Republic.

Here’s a little GIF of the practice – it’s serious business:

Here’s a quick update from Keisha:

“We have now learnt our group dance & all the main Cha Cha Cha steps.  We’ve chosen for our song for the night. Our dance is currently 1:20 long, and we still have to add in another 20.

I’d be lying to you if I said it was easy to remember all those steps. During those 4 hours of training, we recite the steps about 20 times and continuously add more.

After a whole day of working through Pardot imports, email builds and tech work though, it’s a wonderful way to end the night. We currently have two more lessons left before the big event!

I’ve got my dance shoes, the dress is still pending, but it will be an awesome night!”

Help Us Raise Money & Donate

The Sercante team are proud to have Keisha representing us to support this worthy cause.

Sports Traider is a wonderful charity that helps young, less fortunate children get on the right path towards their fitness and sports goals – a foundation which will serve them for life.

This is a cause near and dear to Keisha’s heart.  Keisha has been involved in fitness and helping others with their health and training efforts since the age of 15, and cites fitness as tool to help improve overall mindset, life journey, and physical skills.  Keisha hopes to raise money so Sports Traider can help the youth in local communities get into sports and productive activities in their spare time.

Please help us raise awareness and money for this amazing charity – the more the merrier!

Click here to sign up to attend to the event, and click here to donate and show your support.

Questions?  Inspirational tango tips?  Words of waltzing wisdom?  Let’s hear them in the comments!