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Writer's pictureIryna Yamborska

Overview of Experience Cloud: Part 2

Here is the second part of the article about Experience Cloud. Please follow the link if you haven't read the first part yet. In this article, we'll focus on exploring the details of Experience Cloud in greater depth.


Advanced Features in Experience Cloud


Advanced Features in Experience Cloud - Sparkybit

  • Integration Capabilities:

    Experience Cloud enables seamless integration with other Salesforce products and external applications. This integration ensures a smooth data flow and a cohesive user experience. It works effortlessly with Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, and other Salesforce solutions, providing a unified source of truth for all customer interactions.

  • Analytics and Reporting:

    Built-in analytics tools allow for tracking the performance of communities and interactions. Real-time reporting supports quick responses to changes in customer behavior, enabling data-driven decision-making.

  • Mobile Responsiveness:

    Experience Cloud supports responsive design, ensuring a user-friendly experience on mobile devices. The platform enhances accessibility and improves the user experience across various devices. Users can interact with the platform anytime, anywhere, with full mobile support. A good example here is the page template available in Experience Builder.


Mobile Responsiveness in Salesforce Experience Cloud - Sparkybit

Here is the same page displayed in mobile format. Without any additional adjustments, the page is automatically optimized for mobile devices.


Salesforce Experience Cloud mobile format - Sparkybit


Personalization and AI


The platform leverages user behavior data to deliver personalized features. AI usage allows for the provision of content recommendations and the gaining of valuable user insights.

AI-Driven Insights and Analytics

Artificial intelligence not only processes data intelligently but also identifies patterns within it. Salesforce harnesses this capability to deliver critical insights and analytics. Experience Cloud employs AI to predict future trends, enabling businesses to make more informed decisions.

  • Predictive Analytics: Utilizing machine learning algorithms to forecast future events based on historical data.

  • Pattern Recognition: Identifying patterns and trends within large datasets to provide actionable insights.

  • Real-Time Data Processing: Analyzing data in real-time to deliver relevant analytics.


Personalization Features in Experience Cloud


Salesforce Experience Cloud harnesses AI to craft a unique experience for every user. It sets up content recommendations based on individual preferences and needs, ensuring that both employees and customers feel valued.

  • User Profiling: Building detailed user profiles based on behavior and preferences.

  • Personalized Recommendations: Delivering tailored content and service suggestions based on individual user data.

  • Dynamic Content Delivery: Automatically providing relevant content based on user needs and interests.


Benefits of AI and Personalization

Enhanced User Experience: Simplifying tasks leads to happier employees. Imagine having tools designed just for you — AI personalizes dashboards, quick links, and notifications, acting like a virtual assistant for every team member.

  • Customized Dashboards: Tailored dashboards display only relevant data for each user.

  • Adaptive User Interfaces: Interfaces dynamically adjust to individual user needs and preferences.

  • Automated Notifications: Instant notifications about important events and updates help users stay informed.


Enhanced Productivity: Productivity is the workplace superhero, and AI is its trusty sidekick. Salesforce Experience Cloud's AI algorithms analyze how employees work, identify patterns, and suggest shortcuts. 

  • Task Automation: Automates repetitive tasks, reducing employee workload and freeing up time for more critical activities.

  • Workflow Optimization: Streamlines workflows to enhance efficiency and accelerate task completion.

  • Intelligent Task Recommendations: Offers prioritized task suggestions based on analyzing work patterns, ensuring employees focus on what matters most.


Streamlined Communication: Effective workplace communication acts as the lifeblood of efficient operations. Salesforce Experience Cloud enhances communication by using AI to streamline data sharing. Employees remain well-informed without experiencing information overload through personalized communication channels and focused messaging. AI ensures that crucial updates reach the right individuals at the right moment, fostering collaboration and minimizing misunderstandings.

  • Personalized Communication Channels: Custom communication pathways designed to minimize noise and enhance clarity.

  • Targeted Messaging: Targeted messages delivered to specific users or groups.

  • Real-Time Updates: Real-time updates to ensure information is relevant.


Real-Time Feedback and Adaptability: Feedback is like a compass, guiding employees in the right direction, and AI in Salesforce Experience Cloud ensures its precision. Traditional annual performance reviews are becoming obsolete. AI prioritizes real-time feedback, fostering continuous improvement. The AI capabilities in Salesforce Experience Cloud provide valuable insights into strengths and areas for growth. This adaptability benefits both employees and managers, enabling personalized support and coaching.

  • Real-Time Performance Tracking: Tracks performance in real-time to provide timely feedback.

  • Adaptive Learning Systems: Learning systems that automatically adjust to meet employee needs.

  • Personalized Coaching Recommendations: Tailored coaching and skill development suggestions.


Guided Setup: This tool helps users quickly and efficiently set up their communities and portals. It provides a step-by-step process that covers all key aspects of the setup, from creating a new community to configuring the appearance, functionality, and access permissions.

Guided Setup - Salesforce Experience Cloud - Sparkybit

Use Cases and Benefits

Self-Service Support: Experience Cloud enables the creation of knowledge bases and FAQs, allowing users to find solutions on their own. Users can resolve issues independently, reducing the workload on support teams.

Knowledge Base Articles are detailed documents that provide answers to frequently asked questions, instructions, and helpful tips for users. They can include text, images, videos, and other multimedia elements for a more comprehensive and clear presentation of information.


  • Content Creation: Create articles using an intuitive editor that supports text formatting, image insertion, and video embedding.

  • Categorization and Tagging: Classify articles into categories and use tags to make searching and navigation easier.

  • Version Control: Manage article versions to track changes and ensure information stays up to date.

  • Search Functionality: A powerful search engine that allows users to quickly find the articles they need.

  • Access Control: Set permissions for different user groups to control access to articles.


Use Case Examples HealthCare: A medical clinic can use a Knowledge Base to provide patients with information on preparing for procedures, post-procedure care, and answers to frequently asked questions about diagnostics and treatments. FinTech: A bank can create a Knowledge Base with detailed instructions on opening accounts, setting up online banking, managing credit cards, and other services. This allows customers to quickly access the information they need and reduces waiting times for support assistance.

FAQs are organized in a question-and-answer format, allowing users to quickly find the information they need without having to read long texts.

  • Structured Format: Organizing questions and answers in a structured format for easy viewing.

  • Dynamic FAQs: Automatically updating and adapting the FAQ section based on new user questions.

  • Linking to Articles: Providing links to detailed knowledge base articles for more in-depth information.

  • User Feedback: Integrating user feedback to improve and update the FAQ section.

  • SEO Optimization: Optimizing the FAQ section for search engines, helping users find answers quickly through Google or other search engines.


Use Case Examples E-commerce: An online store creates an FAQ section where customers can find information about payment methods, delivery timelines, return procedures, and how to use promo codes. This helps provide quick answers to common customer questions, enhancing their shopping experience. Education: A university sets up an FAQ section for students, featuring answers to questions about course registration, using the learning platform, receiving academic support, and information on scholarships. This assists students in navigating the academic process more efficiently.

Customer Support Bots are integrated tools that use AI to automate responses to user inquiries. They can integrate with Knowledge Base Articles and FAQs, enabling fast delivery of relevant information.


  • Natural Language Processing (NLP): The use of NLP technology to understand user queries.

  • Contextual Responses: Providing responses based on the analysis of previous queries and available knowledge base articles.

  • Seamless Integration: Easy integration with existing Salesforce systems to ensure smooth operation.


Use Case Examples HealthCare: A medical clinic uses a chatbot to assist patients. The bot can schedule appointments with doctors, provide information on preparation for procedures, answer common medical questions, or direct patients to the appropriate specialists for more complex queries. FinTech: A bank uses a chatbot to support customers, helping them check account balances, explain loan terms, provide information on bank products, and assist with online banking setup. The bot can also enhance security by verifying the customer's identity before sharing personal information.

Seamless Integration: The platform integrates with other Salesforce products and external applications, providing a unified user experience. A smooth flow of data facilitates an integrated environment for the user.


  • Unified Customer Data: Integration of Salesforce Experience Cloud with external systems enables companies to maintain a unified view of their customers. This consolidated data explains customer interactions, preferences, and history, allowing teams to deliver a more personalized and targeted experience.


  • Enhanced Collaboration: A key advantage lies in the improved collaboration between Salesforce Experience Cloud and external systems. Teams can access real-time data across various platforms, promoting better communication and coordination. This ensures that every department stays well-informed, leading to more efficient and cohesive operations.

  • Scalability and Adaptability: Integration supports scalability as the business grows. Adding new features or adapting to changing business requirements becomes seamless, ensuring that Salesforce Experience Cloud remains a dynamic, evolving solution for customer engagement.


  • Efficient Workflows: Streamlined workflows are a direct result of integration. By connecting Salesforce Experience Cloud with external systems, businesses can automate processes, reduce manual effort, and optimize overall efficiency. This, in turn, allows teams to focus on strategic tasks that drive organizational growth.

Personalized User Experience: Experience Cloud enables the customization of the user experience based on behavior and preferences. The use of artificial intelligence provides personalized content recommendations, optimizing user engagement.


Audience Targeting: Audience Targeting allows you to segment users based on various attributes such as demographics, website behavior, and other criteria.

  • Create Audiences: You can create audiences based on specific rules, such as users who visited a particular page or performed certain actions.

  • Personalized Content: For each audience, you can create personalized content displayed exclusively to that group of users.


Use Case Examples E-commerce: An online store uses Audience Targeting to show different categories of products and promotions based on customers' interests and previous purchases. For example, customers who have previously bought sports equipment may see recommendations for new sports products on the homepage, as well as special offers available in their region. Education: An educational institution uses Audience Targeting to provide different content for students and faculty. Students can access learning materials, class schedules, and task instructions, while teachers can access course management tools, teaching resources, and grading systems.

Personalized Recommendations: Using Einstein AI, personalized recommendations can be provided based on a user's past interactions with content.

  • Einstein Recommendations: Artificial intelligence is used to offer recommendations for products, articles, or other content.

  • Behavior Tracking: Tracking user behavior to improve the accuracy of recommendations.

Use Case Example FinTech: A bank uses Personalized Recommendations to offer clients relevant financial products, such as credit cards, savings accounts, or investment services. For example, customers who frequently use a credit card might be offered personalized recommendations to increase their credit limit or enroll in cashback programs that match their spending habits.

Dynamic Content: Enables the creation of dynamic content that changes based on user attributes.


  • Rule-based Content: Uses rules to display different content to different users.

  • Content Variations: Creates different variations of content for testing and optimization.


Use Case Examples Education: An educational platform uses Dynamic Content to provide a personalized experience for students. For example, students enrolled in a specific course might be offered additional learning materials or resources to deepen their understanding of the topics they are studying. Instructors may see tools and resources for course management.

Personalized Search: Provides more relevant search results based on user interaction history and preferences.

  • Einstein Search: Utilizes AI to enhance search results.

  • Custom Search Results: Customizes search results to display more relevant content.


Use Case Examples FinTech: A bank uses Personalized Search to help clients quickly find information about financial products and services that best meet their needs. For example, suppose a client frequently searches for information on credit products. In that case, the search system can display relevant loan offers, articles on financial planning, or tools for comparing different types of loans at the top of the search results.

Customer and Partner Portals

Experience Cloud allows the creation of dedicated portals for customers and partners. The content and functionality of the portal can be customized to meet the specific needs of each user group.

Set up guide

Step 1: Create a Salesforce Experience Cloud Account

  1. Log in to your Salesforce admin account.

  2. Go to the App Launcher and search for "Experience Builder."

  3. Click on "Experience Builder" to launch the setup wizard.

  4. Follow the instructions to create the community, choose a template, define the name, and configure the community settings.

  5. Review and save the settings.


Step 2: Configure Salesforce Experience Cloud Settings

  1. Define User Roles:

  2. In Setup, go to Users and select the user account with the System Administrator profile.

  3. Enable Permissions:

  4. To enable the "Manage External Users" permission for the user, go to Setup > Users > Permission Sets, select the user, then under App Permissions, check the box for Manage External Users.


Step 3: Activate Digital Experiences

  1. Enhanced Domains Enabled:

  2. If your organization uses enhanced domains, your digital experience domain will appear in the format:

  3. http://YourDomainName.yoursite.com (for production orgs).

  4. Enhanced Domains Disabled:

  5. If not, select a new domain name and click Check Availability to ensure it's not already in use. You can set a custom domain later on the page:

  6. Setup > User Interfaces > Sites and Domains > Domains.


Step 4: Configure Workspace

Access the Site Creation Wizard:

  • In Salesforce settings, go to Digital Experiences and select All Sites.

  • Click New to open the Site Creation Wizard.

Choose a Template:

  • The wizard will display various template options to help you quickly start designing your site.

  • For example, select the Salesforce Tabs + Visualforce template if you need a combination of Salesforce tabs and custom Visualforce pages.


Start Creating Your Site

  1. Click "Get Started" to continue working with the selected template.

  2. Enter a name for your site and click Create.

Manage Workspace Permissions

  1. You will be automatically redirected to the site in Preview Mode.

  2. To manage user access, go to the Administration section from the My Workspaces list.


Assigning User Roles

  1. In the Members section, drag the External Apps User profile to the Selected Profiles list. This grants basic access to users for your Experience Cloud site.

  2. Depending on your organization's needs, additional profiles may be available in the Available Profiles list.

  3. Assign the necessary profiles.

Grant Administrative Permissions

From the Available Permission Sets list, drag the InCountry Admin permission set to the Selected Permission Sets list. This grants administrative capabilities for managing the site within your region (optional, configure according to your needs).

Save Your Configuration

Click Save to complete the initial setup of your Experience Cloud site with the selected user roles and permissions.


Conclusion


Experience Cloud offers an incredibly broad and diverse set of features. The tools described above enable the creation of unique portals tailored to specific user needs. Integration capabilities ensure seamless interaction with other systems, simplifying data and process management. Mobile adaptability allows users to access the platform from any device, enhancing convenience and productivity. Personalization and artificial intelligence create unique, customized experiences for users, driving customer engagement and satisfaction.


Below are helpful links that will provide further insights into this topic: - Build and Customize Your Experience Cloud Site - Help And Training Community1 - Experience Cloud documentation - Help And Training Community1 - Create an Experience Cloud Site - Help And Training Community1

 

Alexey Nayda, CEO at Sparkybit
Alexey Nayda, CEO at Sparkybit


Salesforce is a powerful tool for process management and cost optimization for various industries. We are here to consult you on technology strategy and Salesforce development.






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