August 2021 - Nuvolar

Salesforce Pardot: the B2B Marketing Automation Solution

Posted on August 25, 2021 by dev_nuvolar

Salesforce Pardot: the B2B Marketing Automation Solution

Pardot is the B2B marketing automation solution for Salesforce CRM. Although it is one of the leading applications in this field, it is also a fundamental tool for lead management. Today, Pardot is part of the Salesforce suite of options. However, this was not always the case.

The origin of this tool dates back to 2007 when it was developed by the company Atalanta. From the beginning, the tool could be integrated with various CRMs, among them Salesforce.

The story between Pardot and Salesforce begins in 2012 when another company, ExactTarget, bought Pardot. Later, it would be Salesforce who would buy ExactTarget. Of course, Pardot was included in the package, and for this reason, we know it as Salesforce Pardot today.

After this brief history of Salesforce Pardot, you may be wondering how exactly it works. It is normal to wonder about its advantages and important functions. In the following sections, we will answer all your questions about this add-on for Salesforce CRM.

How Salesforce Pardot works

Salesforce Pardot is a tool that helps to improve sales within a business area. It has several features that aim to support the company’s sales and marketing teams, granting them greater control throughout the conversion funnel.

Salesforce Pardot’s technology is based on intelligent automation, facilitating lead management and inbound marketing.

But that’s not all. Salesforce is also a leading platform for email marketing automation.

Therefore, Salesforce is able to generate complete reports, allowing businesses to optimize their campaigns and conversion processes.

Marketing Automation: the core of Salesforce Pardot

To fully understand how Salesforce Pardot works, it is important to clarify what automation means within B2B marketing.

Simply put, it is the ability to perform certain processes without user intervention. For example, it is possible to classify leads automatically, helping make the marketing and sales teams more efficient.

The main benefits of marketing automation are threefold: it can improve conversions, allows us to expand the sales field without investing in resources, and helps to predict customer behaviour and needs, facilitating the creation of more effective marketing campaigns.

The features and benefits of Salesforce Pardot

Salesforce Pardot’s features are diverse.

In this section, we’ll review some of the most important features so you can see why Salesforce Pardot can be considered a complete tool.

Inbound marketing with Salesforces Pardot

Inbound marketing is a process that brings together various marketing techniques.

Its main objective is to maintain contact with the customer from the beginning to the end through non-intrusive advertising.

In other words, from the first contact with a brand or product until they make a purchase. Inbound marketing involves adapting materials to each user profile or buyer persona.

Inbound marketing also makes it easier to achieve customer loyalty.

Salesforce Pardot helps with inbound marketing with its Engagement Studio. After a customer has provided their email address, the sales and marketing team can automate the sending of campaigns.

The application takes into account certain variables, such as whether the user clicked on a particular button, and can also apply automated rules based on whether the user consumed specific content.

Without a doubt, Salesforce Pardot is a very complete tool when it comes to inbound marketing.

Marketing automation for customer acquisition

At the end of the day, lead management inevitably requires lead acquisition. Afterwards, it is much easier to complete the process of converting those leads into customers.

Therefore, customer attraction is the first step for any marketing team. Pardot marketing automation supports the creation of landing pages where specific content can be displayed and any user actions on pages recorded.

Simpler lead management

Similarly, Salesforce Pardot marketing automation has some advantages related to lead management.

Its powerful system can identify potential customers and give them a score based on their interactions. This makes it easier to know who is showing real interest.

As you would expect, all of this translates into greater efficiency in finding the right customers.

B2B marketing and artificial intelligence

Salesforce artificial intelligence integrates into Pardot with Pardot Einstein.

First, there is Einstein Behaviour Scoring, which is capable of identifying behaviours that indicate if a user is ready to buy.

Secondly, Einstein Campaign Insights provides information on how a campaign is working.

Finally, Salesforce Pardot offers Einstein Lead Scoring, which helps the marketing and sales teams prioritize their lead generation efforts.

Salesforce Pardot’s Einstein tools are available with the Advanced license.

The proven power of Salesforce Pardot

After this overview of some of Salesforce Pardot’s most important features and benefits, it’s clear that it’s a powerful and indispensable tool for B2B marketing.

Salesforce takes marketing automation to the next level, enabling more efficient lead management and much more.

Without a doubt, Salesforce Pardot is one of the company’s most popular products, and at Nuvolar, we can help you take full advantage of all the benefits of Salesforce Pardot.

What are CRM solutions and how can they help improve business efficiency?

Posted on August 18, 2021 by dev_nuvolar

What are CRM solutions and how can they help improve business efficiency?

It is common to associate the term “CRM solutions” with software tools that automate routine sales and customer management tasks. The truth is that experience is showing these resources go beyond this definition. In addition to expanding their competencies and allowing the necessary interaction with other areas of the company, they help to create a new approach to customer communication. All this, thanks to a broader knowledge provided by the data, both of potential and acquired customers.

Next, we will see how CRM solutions transcend their status as informational tools, to help create a strategy and even a philosophy of customer management.

What are CRM solutions?

In essence, CRM (Customer Relationship Management) solutions record a wide range of customer data. To begin with, they collect basic contact data: name, email, mobile and landline phone numbers, postal address, website, and social media profiles. Over the course of the relationship, they will add more valuable information derived from interactions. For example, responses to company communications and offers or content shared on social networks and mentions of the brand or competitors. They can also keep track of other vital data, such as purchases, complaints, support requests, and additional customer contacts with the company.

In addition, CRM solutions can gather important information such as recent company activities, legal regulations and internal procedural provisions, among others.

What do CRM solutions do with this data?

CRM software organizes all this information to provide a complete view of people and companies. In this way, it is possible to understand them in greater depth, based on their interactions over the course of the relationship. This comprehensive profile allows brands to improve customer management by personalizing communication, offers, and overall customer service. CRM software helps add value to interactions and strengthens customer loyalty and engagement.

How do CRM solutions help companies?

CRM solutions are traditionally perceived as a sales and marketing tool. However, this kind of software has evolved in such a way that it can cover other areas and aspects equally important to ensuring business profitability, such as customer support, supply chain management, and human talent management.

Here’s a look at how CRM benefits different departments.

Greater understanding of sales processes

With this type of CRM solution, sales managers or sales leaders have access to reliable data on the performance of each member of the sales team and whether or not they are achieving conversion goals. In particular, they can monitor the performance and efficiency of individual salespeople, campaigns, and products.

CRM solutions help the sales team save time by reducing the burden of routine administrative work. At the same time, they gain a detailed knowledge of the customer and a better understanding of their needs and expectations. The advantage is spending more time on sales and less on data entry.

More accurate forecasts to optimize marketing processes

CRM solutions help the marketing team obtain a broad and accurate view of each prospect and sales opportunity. The department can accurately map the buyer journey, as well as forecast and control the customer experience from awareness and research stages to the final purchase. This provides a more complete understanding of ongoing sales processes or future forecasts.

It is also possible to aggregate data related to the SSR activity of prospects and customers acquired. This information is critical to understand preferences, opinions, and experiences with brand products and services.

Omnichannel support and attention

For today’s hyper-connected customers, it is convenient to ask a question or complain on a company’s social media pages, website chat, and more to receive a response quickly.

A CRM solution provides a common platform for all interactions with customers. It is possible to get the most out of each customer interaction and receive feedback instantly from customers.

CRM streamlines HR management

Here’s what CRM software can do for your human resources department as well:

Streamline the hiring process.
Automate the analysis and verification of applicant information.
Identify the requirements of specific profiles and new skills to be acquired by the staff.
Help retain human talent.

More productive supply chain management

With CRM solutions, supply chain management departments can track all interactions with suppliers, formalize and archive requests, schedule process monitoring, and stay on top of subsequent steps.

Many CRM tools can generate reports that make it easier for companies to compare suppliers and manage the entire supply chain more effectively.

Other advantages of CRM solutions

More effective contact management. All calls, messages, inquiries, negotiations, and contact channels with acquired and potential customers are recorded. In addition, all these data are available to the different departments through a centralized management system.
Collaboration. The tool we analyzed Facilitates collaborative work among the members of the different departments, accelerating and improving results even more.
Analyzable information for sales. CRMs provide sales teams with real-time data to analyze the relationship with certain customers, assess business possibilities, and manage help from other departments, if necessary.
Comprehensive and reliable reports. Provide an overview of sales processes in order to identify potential problems and solve them as soon as possible. These reports present the information clearly and help to improve employee productivity.
Increased customer satisfaction and retention. Having a complete, up-to-date, and accessible record of interactions with each customer allows the company to anticipate potential problems and complaints and manage them in a timely and effective manner. As a result, the customer experience will be increasingly positive, since it avoids the hassle of transferring calls or contacts to other departments or channels.
Marketing ROI. Effective monitoring allows organizations to know which marketing activities and campaigns are effective for each type of customer in their database. This facilitates the work of marketing departments and helps them optimize their budgets for better ROI.

CRM can help define the core strategy and management approach

Today, the trend is for companies to focus their management more on the customer than on products. CRM solutions make it easier to connect sales and marketing with supply chain, human resources, administration, and other departments. As a result, all the information gathered and analyzed about customers helps to determine the actions of the entire company and meet their needs and expectations. In short, the performance of each of the company’s departments converges to strengthen the customer experience.

A CRM for any business

To get the most out of Customer Relationship Management solutions, it is essential to “customize” them. That is to say, adapt them to the characteristics and needs of each company. To do this, it is necessary to have a company specialized in the development of web solutions that understands the solution in-depth for a successful implementation.

At Nuvolar, we have more than twelve years of experience in Salesforce application development and customization, the leading CRM in the market. In addition, we are a certified SalesForce partner, and we have developed solutions for all types of businesses.

Apart from customizing Salesforce CRM, we also offer software design services, development and management of product implementation, and we are experts in UX (user experience) and UI (user interface) design criteria

Our staff of multidisciplinary professionals is capable of analyzing the requirements of any type of project to define a solution that perfectly meets your needs. We are the right technological partner that your organization needs.

Challenges when implementing CRM solutions

Posted on August 11, 2021 by dev_nuvolar

Challenges when implementing CRM solutions

Are you implementing a CRM in your company to promote a more agile customer relationship management system? Congratulations! You’re making an excellent decision. This indicates that your focus is set on improving the customer experience and building a stronger, long-term relationship with your customers.

However, if your company is new to CRM or decides to migrate to more advanced software, it is normal to face some challenges. Among them, the resistance to change, the complexity of the system, and the integration of tools. Even the adaptation of the sales team and the employees of other departments linked to the system can present challenges.

Perhaps some or all of the concerns we will address in this article are going through your head. Read on, and you will learn how to resolve these concerns.

Resistance to change is very common when implementing a CRM

When implementing a CRM in very traditional companies or companies with a low level of digitization, reactions are usually diverse. Salespeople with more technical skills and a desire to increase their revenue will see the addition of a CRM as a positive thing. But not all employees react in the same way. Some will assimilate the change favorably, and others will not.

More conservative marketers may not understand why software should be an intermediary between them and customers. Traditional marketers may perceive CRM as a tool that dehumanizes the relationship. They may even be uncomfortable that this solution will allow colleagues from the same department and other areas to view all customer information and sales processes. Worse, they may think that their portfolio is no longer as valuable if anyone can make use of it. Other business professionals with less digital skills may feel that they are not up to the new technology and will likely be afraid.

It is certainly not easy to influence the thinking of those who resist change and want to stay in their comfort zone. Even so, it is advisable to carry out a favorable campaign among employees before incorporating CRM.

On the other hand, it is advisable to let the members of the business team and the sales team know that the solution automates the most routine tasks. This will allow more customers to be served in less time and will help the team to focus on other more productive tasks.

In fact, everyone will have more time to devise new strategies to increase sales and build customer loyalty. Therefore, CRM does not replace personal contact with the customer, but can make it more satisfying for the buyer — and more productive for the company!

Training and education

Although CRM solutions, such as Salesforce are very intuitive, it is always necessary to train the personnel who will have access to them. This will reduce the pressure on less digitized employees and create an environment of trust and proactivity. This also applies to migrations to similar client management suites. Proper training facilitates the process of getting rid of old procedures and acquiring new ones.

It’s important to note that the Salesforce platform offers its users training and adaptation programs through its community of volunteer “Trailblazers” worldwide. In addition, at Nuvolar, we are specialists in Salesforce customization and offer consulting and support after the implementation of the solution.

Data importing: an important concern when implementing any CRM

Undoubtedly, customer data is one of the most valuable assets of companies. When implementing a CRM for the first time, or upgrading to a more advanced solution, being concerned about the integrity of this data is inevitable. During the migration of information to the new tool, there is a risk of loss, disorganization, or duplication. Such incidents involve a lengthy and costly clean-up process.

To reduce user apprehension in this regard, the most prestigious CRMs on the market include effective data import tools with a wide range of accepted formats. Generally, these CRMs have a simple interface and make it easy to avoid or manage data duplication.

Do you have the integrations we need?

Another question that often worries users before implementing a CRM has to do with its compatibility and integration with other platforms. Will it be easy to integrate with my ERP? Will it be compatible with my data sources? Will I be able to connect to applications, such as Google Drive, Gmail, or Microsoft’s Outlook email? Can I access mass mailing platforms or the WordPress CMS that manages my website from the CRM?

Indeed, a CRM is enriched by interconnecting customer management with marketing and allowing access to various data sources, as well as facilitating communication between teams through collaborative tools. Mobility is also key. It’s well-known that there can be increases of up to 50% in the productivity of employees with the use of CRMs that are accessible through mobile devices.

Therefore, the challenge is to define the applications and data sources that your company requires to complement the functionalities of your CRM solution. From there, it is possible to choose, among the various customer management solutions, the one that best meets this condition.

Management questions, customized CRM, and technology partner selection

Most of the time, it is not the sales people or other departments that are resistant to change. A more complicated source of resistance to the implementation of a CRM or other technology can be the management team itself. Some of the arguments that managers may express range from the justification of the investment to the complexity of the process.

There is nothing better in these cases than to support the implementation proposal with convincing figures. For example, according to Forrester Research, CRM can improve sales by 87%. On the other hand, it can increase customer satisfaction by 74%. CRM platforms can even improve business process efficiency by 73%.

In relation to costs, it is important to clarify that, like cloud computing technology, CRM SaaS (software as a service) is scalable. In other words, it is possible to invest in an application with basic functionalities and capabilities at the beginning. As business dynamics demand, it is feasible to incorporate new elements.

Is it possible to implement a customized CRM?

Settling for a generic CRM with limited functionality is a thing of the past. Advanced solutions like Salesforce are customizable to the point of adapting to the characteristics and needs of your business model. In particular, your sales, marketing, and customer support strategies.

For this reason, it is essential to have a certified Salesforce partner with a high level of expertise. This technology partner will apply tools such as Visualforce or Apex for workflows, the proper functionalities, and customized applications that fit the needs of the business.

Choosing a responsible and expert technology partner

Your company has probably had bad experiences with some technology providers. For many companies, it is a challenge to find a professional company that will provide and customize a CRM solution flawlessly and on time.

As mentioned above, CRM tools streamline customer management and, consequently, sales. However, the incorrect and untimely implementation of a CRM can have a negative impact on the achievement of the company’s goals.

Nuvolar is the technology partner you need to implement Salesforce CRM

At Nuvolar, we are able to support you with implementing the best CRM solutions for your company. We are closely linked to SalesForce and have been developing our applications in this environment for more than ten years; in fact, we are a certified Salesforce partner!

We know this customer management solution so well that we can fully customize it to meet your business requirements. We have a multidisciplinary team of professional developers to help understand your needs and objectives and implement a solution on time.

Social Studio, social media management, and Salesforce

Posted on August 3, 2021 by dev_nuvolar

Social Studio, social media management, and Salesforce

Social media management is one of the most important jobs for brands today. In order to connect with potential customers, companies must stay active on their various online profiles. To facilitate the management of social networks, Salesforce Marketing Cloud launched its new Social Studio solution.

Some of the functions included in this Salesforce module are designed to make social media marketing more efficient. In addition, this solution also allows you to obtain valuable social analytics and apply techniques such as social media listening.

In this article, we will take you on a tour of the main advantages of Social Studio in Salesforce Marketing Cloud. In addition, we will also talk about the features of this solution and how it can help you improve your business’ social media management.

Easy and efficient social network management with Social Studio

One of the main advantages of Social Studio is the possibility of managing several profiles in a comprehensive way from a single place. However, what makes it a truly attractive tool is that it includes some advanced features, such as those mentioned below.

Scheduling and publication planning

Social Studio allows you to plan and schedule the content to be uploaded to your company’s social profiles. Undoubtedly, this is one of the most basic needs in any social media marketing strategy. Also, this solution is able to elaborate strategies and perform complete audits. Thanks to this matter, it is much easier to adapt campaigns.

Social media listening and social analytics in one place

This module, developed to be part of the Salesforce Marketing Cloud, helps you know what is being said about your brand on social networks. This technique, known as social media listening, includes monitoring the mentions and conversations generated around your company. However, it also encompasses other practices, such as monitoring competitors’ strategies. Thanks to this practice, it is possible to create campaigns or modify your approach to make them highly effective.

On the other hand, Social Studio is responsible for providing access to another pillar in the world of social media marketing, which is social analytics. The collection of data and its subsequent analysis will allow your business to have a greater amount of information to develop more efficient digital strategies. When it comes to the management of social networks, it is essential to have reliable data and to know how to interpret them. With them, you will have the ability to anticipate your competition when creating campaigns or adapt your business strategy depending on the circumstances.

Taking customer service to the next level

Managing social networks with Social Studio significantly improves customer service. It is no secret that more and more users expect to resolve incidents and doubts through official brand profiles. Most platforms include instant messaging and commenting systems; it is precisely in this kind of environment where users feel comfortable asking questions and receiving an answer.

Social Studio can create incidents based on comments and other social media interactions. In addition, it helps to analyze the extent to which an effective response to requests is given. Also, this solution displays very important statistics such as response time. This makes it easier to take appropriate action if customer service is excessively delayed.

Social Studio brings you closer to trends

Another advantage of Social Studio is that it allows you to search for topics and know their impact at that moment. What does this achieve? Because users’ needs are constantly changing, brands need to be informed about new trends and adapt to them. If there is a topic that has become a trend, your firm should be there. With this information in hand, it is easier to create more relevant campaigns. As the saying goes, information is power, and nothing is more empowering than knowing what your prospects and audience are interested in.

Social Studio’s social media management is cross-platform

Social Studio is completely cross-platform. As is already the case with the Salesforce Marketing Cloud, Social Studio has its own application. Thanks to this, it is possible to carry out important operations from any device. Implementing this type of solution in operating systems such as Android or iOS makes it possible to manage a brand’s profiles from anywhere. These are some of the most outstanding features of Social Studio’s mobile application:

Publication in the different profiles.
Content scheduling.
Visualization of the statistics of each publication.
Approval of content prior to publication.
Quick response to comments.
Interactions in all social networks, such as Like, Favorite, or Quote.
Social media listening.
Trend monitoring.
Keyword search.

These are just some of the features of Social Studio. Undoubtedly, having the full potential of this solution available anywhere will allow you to be aware of what is happening always on social networks and manage your profiles more efficiently.

The importance of knowing the impact of your campaigns

Finally, Social Studio offers a complete section where you can check the impact your marketing campaigns have had on social networks. Why is this section so important? It’s true that the rest of Social Studio’s tools make it easier for you to create better campaigns and help you take better advantage of trends. However, checking what is working and what is not in your publications is vital to managing your social networks in the best possible way.

On the other hand, knowing the interaction of your audience, or engagement, allows you to refine and innovate the content you publish. If you want to improve the response that users give to what you publish, you need the metrics offered by Social Studio.

The other advantage of Social Studio: ease of use

So far, we have focused on the various advantages, functions, and tools included in Social Studio. However, all the benefits of this new solution would be meaningless if it were an unwieldy environment. To simplify things, the Social Studio interface is divided into three main sections:

Publishing. This is where you will find all the functions related to content publishing. It is possible to upload content in real time or schedule it from the publish section. In order to make this last modality work properly, Social Studio provides a publication calendar that allows you to see the schedule for each profile.
Engagement. The engagement section shows the comments, replies, and other interactions that users make on your posts. It is possible to anchor up to 30 tabs with which to add columns. Each of them shows information related to one or more social accounts.
Analysis. In the analyze section, you can find all the metrics related to the management of your social networks. You will see statistics such as visitors’ location, the most popular keywords, or how users interact with your profiles. Clearly, it is a fundamental section to use social media listening and social analytics.

Social Studio for your social media strategy

Salesforce has managed to create a simple and complete social media marketing platform with Social Studio. By taking advantage of its full potential, you will achieve optimal social media management.