Annually, the Salesforce landscape sees an abundance of exciting updates tailored to please marketers. Amidst the dynamic developments, taking a moment to reflect is valuable.
In the realm of Marketing Cloud, enhancements in Account Engagement (Pardot), and innovations in Data Cloud, coupled with noteworthy additions such as the GA4 migration and advancements in artificial intelligence, here’s a recap of the essential updates that should linger in the minds of Salesforce Marketers from 2023.
2023: The Year of ‘GPT’
The rhyme is quite pleasant, isn’t it?
It’s fascinating to reflect on the rapid expansion of ChatGPT, which occurred just under a year ago, making a significant impact since its launch in November 2022. Speculations were circulating about Salesforce’s upcoming project, hinted by Benioff on Twitter/X earlier in the year.
Einstein GPT made its debut at TDX ’23 in March, illustrating how individuals across the organization could harness the capabilities of generative AI. It’s worth noting that Einstein GPT has been subsequently rebranded as Einstein 1.
Marketing GPT (“Phase 1”)
In the initial phase of TDX, a demonstration showcased the potential applications of GPT for marketers, utilizing an undisclosed technology to ignite creative thinking. Subsequently, during the Connections event a few months later, more concrete details emerged.
Marketing GPT, now referred to as Marketing for Einstein 1, is Salesforce’s initiative to provide marketers with an AI-connected interface. This interface is designed to enhance the process of campaign brief conception, audience/segment discovery, and content creation by leveraging the capabilities of artificial intelligence.
Marketing GPT (“Phase 2”)
Several months later, during Dreamforce ‘23, Salesforce introduced Einstein 1—a revamped version of the Salesforce platform aimed at establishing a trusted AI platform for confident use by Salesforce customers.
The announcement also outlined an ambitious roadmap featuring 26 generative AI capabilities slated for integration into Marketing Cloud and Commerce Cloud, with an additional 25+ capabilities expected to roll out by the end of 2024. These advancements will be developed on the foundation of Data Cloud, which forms the core of the Salesforce platform. While it’s impractical to list them all here, you can refer to the summary slide and the accompanying guide for a detailed breakdown of each capability.
The Marketing Keynote at Dreamforce ‘23, titled “Marketing in Generation AI,” showcased a plethora of innovative developments that the Marketing Cloud engineering teams diligently worked on, presented through engaging demos.
The session kicked off by delving into the concept of prompt engineering—a skill crucial for crafting prompts that yield the most optimal AI responses. This skill, virtually nonexistent 6-12 months ago, has become imperative for effective AI utilization.
Other noteworthy highlights from the keynote included Campaign Recommendations, where Einstein can suggest campaigns that users can choose to initiate in Marketing Cloud, as well as data-driven Campaign Briefs and Preview, Segment Intelligence for Data Cloud, and various other exciting features.
Commerce GPT
Salesforce has introduced Commerce for Einstein 1, aiming to provide an AI-connected interface that expedites the creation of new storefronts and offers guidance to merchandisers in achieving their goals. Unveiled at Connections ‘23, the highlights include Goals-Based Commerce, allowing businesses to establish targets and receive actionable insights and proactive recommendations to meet them. Additionally, Dynamic Product Descriptions and Commerce Concierge were featured as part of this initiative.
Account Engagement (Pardot)
Salesforce follows a release cycle of three major updates per year, including Account Engagement. However, when viewing the calendar year, it might feel like there are four releases, as the ‘Spring’ release notes for the next year typically emerge in late December.
Summarizing the key points and offering brief commentary on the significance of the release:
Account Engagement in Spring ’23:
This release can be characterized as a light update, primarily focused on enhancing the monitoring of account health. Additionally, it provides glimpses of forthcoming feature-packed releases.
1. Monitoring External Action Usage and Errors:
Administrators gain the ability to oversee and troubleshoot low-code integrations through the External Actions Usage table (providing insights into third-party app usage) and the External Action Errors table (identifying issues with External Action automations, steps, and actions).
2. Sending Domain Validation:
A new requirement for proof of ownership emerges through a validation key record (with DKIM), replacing the previous verification based on the DomainKey record. This change adds a layer of security to the sending domain validation process.
Summer ‘23 for Account Engagement
This release focused on enhancing existing functionalities, introducing features such as the Account Engagement Optimizer, external action improvements, and enhancements to data syncing.
1. Account Engagement Optimizer:
– Users can now view and manage a list of suggested actions in a table, prioritizing them accordingly.
– Jobs can be paused or canceled to prevent organizational processing overload.
– An overall account health score gauge chart provides a quick understanding.
– The prospect change monitor helps identify features causing the most prospect changes.
Note: This feature became generally available after its beta launch in Spring ’23.*
2. Completion Actions + External Actions:
– External actions can now be triggered not only via Engagement Studio but also with completion actions.
– For example, when a prospect completes a form, they can be immediately registered for a third-party platform-hosted webinar, such as Zoom.
3. Account Engagement Connector in Data Cloud:
– Personalization is improved by connecting Account Engagement with Data Cloud, considering all interactions a customer has with the organization.
4. Control Opted-Out Field Sync Behavior:
– Salesforce has introduced a source of truth approach, considering the “most recently updated record” field value during connector syncs.
These updates aim to streamline processes, provide more control, and enhance the overall user experience within the platform.
Winter ‘24 for Account Engagement
This release introduces a sought-after feature in Engagement Studio and enhancements to the API, empowering us to create solutions for Account Engagement and seamlessly deploy them through the standard sandbox to production workflow.
In Engagement Studio, there is now the capability to set wait times (in hours) for prospects in a program step, ranging from 2 to 8 hours. This provides a middle ground between the previous options of waiting for a specified number of days or proceeding immediately, addressing a long-standing user request.
Additionally, with the introduction of API Version 5 for Flow, users can now facilitate the promotion of changes between Account Engagement sandboxes to their production instance. Furthermore, this version allows for the copying of marketing assets between different business units using the same streamlined mechanism.
Marketing Cloud
According to Greg Gifford, a distinguished figure in Salesforce Marketing Cloud and recognized as a Marketing Champion and MVP, summarizing the key features of each release in 2023 proved to be a challenging task due to the significant developments in Marketing Cloud. Particularly noteworthy were the introduction of new Generation AI offerings reaching general availability (GA) and notable user interface (UI) enhancements, especially towards the end of the year. Below are Greg’s standout selections from the myriad of updates:
1. Recycle Bin for Content Builder and Contact Builder: An added feature that allows users to easily manage and recover deleted content in both Content Builder and Contact Builder.
2. WhatsApp Integration: A pivotal inclusion in the 2023 releases, enabling seamless integration with WhatsApp for enhanced communication and engagement strategies.
3. Typeface in Content Builder: A significant improvement in Content Builder, where users can now work with various typefaces, enhancing the creative and design aspects of marketing content.
4. BuildRowsetFromJSON(): A notable addition that provides users with an efficient method to construct rowsets from JSON data, streamlining data processing and manipulation within Marketing Cloud.
Spring ‘23 for Marketing Cloud
In Spring ’23, Marketing Cloud introduced several notable features, and Greg Gifford highlighted two that made a significant impact:
1. Collapsible Paths in Journey Builder: This feature is a game-changer for those working with intricate journeys. The ability to collapse unnecessary sections during the building process streamlines the view, making it a massive time-saver. It’s worth noting that this functionality was further refined in the subsequent Summer release, enhancing the user experience.
2. WhatsApp Messaging Experiences: With a massive global user base, especially in regions like APAC, Africa, and South America boasting adoption rates of over 80%, WhatsApp is a key player. Even in the US, despite not having the highest market share, it still ranks as the third-largest platform. Integrating WhatsApp with Marketing Cloud provides a powerful capability, catering to a widespread and diverse audience.
Summer '23 Release for Marketing Cloud
Greg Gifford notes ongoing improvements from the Spring release with three standout features:
1. Data Extensions (DE) Storage Details Report: Users can now check the server storage size occupied by their data extensions, providing insight into total usage. Salesforce is moving towards enforcing a GB limit on Marketing Cloud customer contracts, making it crucial for customers to monitor and manage their data extension storage to avoid extra costs.
2. Content Builder Recycle Bin: This feature allows users to restore deleted assets and objects within Content Builder, offering a solution for those moments of panic when a crucial element is accidentally deleted. With a few clicks, users can easily recover deleted items, minimizing disruptions in workflows.
3. BuildRowsetFromJSON(): A significant addition to AMPscript, this function aligns AMPscript with modern data storage standards by efficiently handling JSON content. The introduction of this function eliminates the need for using SSJS or GTL to manage JSON content, keeping everything within the AMPscript environment.
Winter '24 Release for Marketing Cloud
In this highly anticipated release, Greg Gifford highlights the General Availability (GA) release of Gen AI capabilities in the Marketing Cloud:
1. Einstein Gen AI Subject Line and Body Copy: Users can now seamlessly integrate the Gen AI capabilities built by Salesforce via Einstein into their subject lines and body copy. While it may currently be viewed as a novelty, it signifies the potential for future innovations.
2. Typeface Gen AI in Content Builder: Integrated into Marketing Cloud Engagement, Typeface allows marketers to generate unique and on-brand content, including images. Marketers interact with GPT through natural language, refining results until they achieve the desired outcome. Though currently more of a novelty, it opens the door to significant possibilities in the future.
3. Journey Builder Multi-Contact Entry in a Single Event: Addressing a long-standing throughput issue with Journey Builder, this release introduces a bulk entry option. Marketers can now have multiple contacts enter a journey simultaneously, streamlining the process that was previously time-consuming.
4. Contact Builder Recycle Bin: This feature provides users with the ability to restore deleted data extensions within Contact Builder, eliminating the anxiety of accidentally deleting a data extension referenced in critical reports or email sends. Users now have control and peace of mind, reducing reliance on support for such issues.
Bring Your Own Data Lake (BYOL)
To ensure the effective training of large language models (LLMs), extensive datasets are essential. Enterprises possessing vast data repositories often leverage a data lake for this purpose.
The Bring Your Own Lake (BYOL) solution facilitates the integration of customer data from Salesforce with external data housed in Snowflake. Snowflake, a widely acclaimed data lake, gained significant attention at Dreamforce ‘23 due to its zero-copy architecture linking seamlessly with Salesforce. This architecture allows Data Cloud to directly access information stored in Snowflake and vice versa, eliminating the need for data movement or duplication.
Google Cloud Partnership
The recent collaboration with Google Cloud enables organizations to seamlessly integrate data and large language models (LLMs) from Google into the Salesforce Data Cloud ecosystem.
This collaboration serves a dual purpose – streamlining the process of transferring data between platforms through zero-copy ETL between BigQuery and Data Cloud, and allowing users to incorporate their own AI models from Vertex AI. These integrations effectively minimize the expenses, potential risks, and intricacies associated with synchronizing data across different platforms.
Explore these insightful guides to demystify the recent waves of excitement surrounding Data Cloud:
1. Essential Skills for Your Team in Salesforce Data Cloud (CDP)
2. Assessing Your Readiness for Investment in Salesforce Data Cloud
3. Navigating the Evolution of Salesforce Data Cloud: Past, Present, and Future
Bonus Updates
GA4 Migration
In the summer of 2023, Google’s Universal Analytics (GA3) ceased processing new data, marking a pivotal moment for marketers. For us, this change took effect in mid-August. While the migration to GA4 was already a significant undertaking, aligning everything with the rest of our tech stack added an extra layer of complexity, making it a challenging yet insightful journey.
On a positive note, this migration provided an opportunity to reassess how we integrate Google Analytics with our Salesforce stack, with a particular focus on Sales Cloud. This evaluation aimed to enhance our ability to monitor lead conversion and other critical milestones in the customer lifecycle.
Social Media + AI
Harnessing social data is a crucial avenue for acquiring business intelligence. Neglecting social insights is akin to possessing only a 270-degree view of the customer. Barriers to effective social data utilization encompass time constraints, system integration gaps, and resource shortages.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) plays a pivotal role in the realm of social media management, encompassing tasks like crafting social content, pinpointing optimal posting times, identifying target customer segments, predicting customer behaviors, and refining pricing and product listings.
Following the discontinuation of Social Studio, Salesforce has endorsed Sprout Social as its recommended partner for social media management. Sprout Social has engineered a platform that surmounts many challenges and is presently delving into AI-driven social media marketing.
Summary
What an eventful year! Share your favorite update from 2023 in the comments below.
Meanwhile, we’re eagerly anticipating what 2024 has in store for us…
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