The latest Salesforce release is out, and with it a ton of new features and functionality.  Don’t have time to plug through a two-and-a-half-hour-long module?  No problem!  We’ve got the recap right here.

Sales

Einstein Enhancements

Salesforce continues to delve further into the AI world with Einstein Insights and Analytics.  Two new additions include Pipeline Inspection Enhancements and Einstein Conversation Insight Enhancements.  The former uses AI to make a more accurate prediction of sales opportunities in the pipeline using intelligence gained from historical sales.  This is very useful for managers to determine where they are on a good trajectory and where they need to put more emphasis.

Conversation Insights literally tie phone and video calls directly to opportunities, giving managers in-depth detail behind each opp – won or lost.

Territory Planning Enhancements

The pandemic forced everyone to adjust how they do business, and sales teams are no different.  Some folks are returning to the office . . . even if their office means rolling down the interstate, living out of hotels, and taking conference calls from the airport terminal.  Salesforce is helping to adapt to the “new reality” of the hybrid-workspace.  Some companies and individuals are conducting business face-to-face while others remain remote.  Enhancements to Territory Planning allow companies to account for this mix of personnel.

Multiple Variant Testing

This is an extremely useful way to A/B test different sales approaches in High Velocity Sales.  As the example below shows, you can see which email template generates the best result.  Salesforce automatically assigns the different templates proportionally based on the desired split and tracks the variant used with the results.

Service

Incident Management

Three new objects allow customer services team to provide fast and thorough resolution to issues when they arise.  The Incident object is used to create and track incidents for issues impacting service.  Second, the Problem object is created to dive into the cause of the issue, incorporating the right individuals into the conversation.  Once the root cause is identified, the Change Request object is used to deploy a fix, restore services, and resolve the issue.

Appointment Assistant

This feature enables Self-Service Scheduling to set up real-time appointments with updates and flexibility to reschedule.  This allows the customers to adjust appointments directly without having to interface with a call center or office representative.  This installed package makes it easy to set up everything and minimize no-shows.

Einstein Bot

The Einstein Bot feature allow us to create a mini-app to assist customer to handle the most common requests and steps.  This reduces the workload for live contact centers and chat teams.  The latest enhancements make it even easier to get started and get an Einstein Bot out the door.

Service Cloud Voice

Like many Salesforce features, this now has a step-by-step prescriptive setup that walks users through the process to get onboarded with Service Cloud Voice.  This will make it simple to set up a contact center as well as partner telephony.

Marketing, Loyalty Management, Commerce, and Experience Cloud

Customer Data Platform Enhancements

Customer Data Management is a huge part of creating a personalized experience for customers.  Salesforce CDP is the perfect way to ingest and harmonize data as well as managing consent.  This feature serves as a single source of truth, while allowing us to segment the data, explore, and visualize in actionable ways.  Integrations with Tableau, Datorama, and Interaction Studio make this a hub between some of the best Customer Data management and analytics apps out there.

One of these connections – Datorama – has created Datorama Reports for Marketing Cloud.  The analytics and reporting tool is especially tailored to Marketing Cloud Email, Mobile, and Journey Builder.  This app combines the data management and automation of Salesforce CDP with industry standard and advanced reporting and visualization of marketing activities.

CDP now also has a native integration with Commerce Cloud.  That means that it is no-code, point-and-click set-up to get the same segmentation, analytics, reporting, and insight to give a complete view of our customers.  

Loyalty Program Points Escrow and Pooled Accounts

For Loyalty Programs, this is a great new feature.  Let’s say a customer earns Loyalty Points from a purchase they make online.  These points might be used for a free item or discount.  However, there is a risk of fraud if the customer earns points from a purchase, uses the points, and then returns the items (thereby getting points for free).  The Escrow Account provides a simple way to hold the points in escrow so they can’t be used until the return date period has passed.

Another Loyalty-related feature is the concept of Pooled Member Accounts.  This is especially useful for families where multiple members of a household are each individual members of the program.  For example, two spouses might both be frequent flyer members on an airline loyalty program, but they are earning points separately.  This allows these points to be pooled in a joint loyalty account.  This could also be good for a company where all of the employees’ loyalty points roll up to the company as a whole.

Commerce Cloud Enhancements

For companies in the Insurance, Communications, and Healthcare and Life Sciences sectors, there are new features that will definitely come in handy.  The Insurance Toolkit grows distribution, and acquires and converts rate-shoppers with a direct digital channel connected to Salesforce Industries.  The process does a great job of retaining potential customers by providing additional information both to the customer and to the org at the points where it is most likely to lose them (i.e. quote summary page).  Communications Demo Assets supercharge subscriber sales with AI-powered commerce and integrated catalog management from Salesforce Industries.  Lastly HIPAA certification is here for B2C and OMS, opening a whole industry to utilize the Commerce Cloud.

Microsites

A great landing page is always critical to maximizing results.  When the time comes to pop up a new landing page, event page, blog, promotion, and other templates, Salesforce Microsites work in conjunction with Lightning Web Runtime (LWR) to submit data to lead records that then copy over to Marketing Cloud.

Platforms, Apps, Integration, and Analytics

Feedback Management

Salesforce Surveys have been enhanced with new options for the customer to provide feedback on the platform that works best for them, including SMS, Facebook, and Whatsup, directly integrating back to Service Cloud.

In-App Guidance Enhancements

This makes it even easier to provide specific and actionable guidance by utilizing record types to ensure that the guidance is in line with the actual page layout, as well as point to specific elements on a page through prompts to high-level components.  This can also be use don Setup User Interfaces.

Functions and SQL

Two new extensions and interaction of existing tools.  Salesforce Functions enable Developers to create pieces of reusable code that can be deployed in process automation such as Flows.  Also SQL Querying can be used for Tableau CRM.  This is in addition to SAQL, the native query option.

Tableau, MuleSoft Composer, MuleSoft Anypoint Connectors

Integrations can be one of the greatest challenges to admins still finding their way in the Salesforce ecosystem.  Two of Salesforce’s newest acquisitions have now made it even easier to work between systems.  Tableau CRM can now easily be shared over to Tableau Online with a simple connector.  It basically creates a unified feel and set of insights across Salesforce, Tableau Online, and Tableau CRM.  Meanwhile, the master of integrations Mulesoft Composer for Salesforce adds new connectors for ServiceNow, Gmail, Trello, Box, and more.  Likewise Mulesoft Anypoint makes it easy to connect with data warehouses like Snowflake and Redshift.

Quip – Slack Enhancements and Template Library

Two other Salesforce acquisitions are working together even more than before.  This makes it easier to use Quip’s spreadsheets, documents, and comment notifications all from right within the Slack channel.

Quip out-of-the-box templates have also been added to the expanded Template Library, which can be added to existing documents that we as users can upload and designate as a template to be used.

Other New Features

Non-Profit and Salesforce.org Enhancements

There are a handful of updates in Winter ’22 in these areas.  First Marketing Cloud is available with a simplified set-up to utilize the benefits of the system to outreach to donors or volunteers or any other potential customers/participants.  Elevate has added enhancements to make donations easier for the donor to set up, including recurring payments with various frequencies and integrates directly with Marketing Cloud, too.  This goes hand-in-hand with Matching Gifts.  This is a feature of Philanthropy Cloud, where donations can be made through the site and admins can easily set up parameters of when and how the gifts will be designated for matching.

Trailblazer Community and GO Enhancements

The community has been completely redesigned with a common feel across Groups, Topics and Members with integrated recommendations.  This makes it quick to ask questions, get answers, and check out trailhead modules or groups that may help with the situation.  The Trailhead GO app also added features such as inbox push notifications, advanced filtering, and feed enhancements.  Admins can also streamline content to users through the myTrailhead feature by leveraging permission sets right in the org.

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