By: Rayhan Dahod
In the Forbes article, “Salesforce Marketing Cloud CEO Urges Marketers to Assert Their Role in the Total Customer Experience,” John Ellett discusses an interview with Salesforce CEO Scott Mcorkle, who talks about how marketers can assert their role in total customer experience by using the marketing cloud to achieve and measure customer satisfaction, as well to generate customer loyalty. Ellett talks about how the marketing technology industry is growing and how it is making it easier for us to be able to analyze customer trends, such as whether they liked a product or whether this promotion was attractive and if it is affecting our target industry.
We see examples of how marketing technology is affecting how we collect information on our customers thanks to CRM analytical tools like Salesforce. It helps collect and sort the information we gather from other analytical tools like Eloqua, which reports the data of how many people open an email, as well as what they collect on the email, so we can use that information to provide a satisfying experience that will enhance our customer loyalty.
Mcorkle discusses how marketers have to stretch their boundaries across the company in order to accomplish a polished view of the company that helps to generate customer loyalty as well create value for the marketing position in the company. Mcorkle explains that this is an issue, as is connecting marketing and sales with the service team and linking them all together. He believes that the marketing hub will allow all these points to connect and help to create transparency between the systems. He also goes into detail on how a marketing system is much different compared to an HR system that does not need to be touched after it is completed; a marketing system needs to be open to change since it is ever-changing, since customers’ needs can change, and the way we analyze this information may change as well depending on what type of media the customers use. As Ellett looks more at the challenges that Scott Mcorkle and Salesforce are trying to address, he sees that there is a problem of organization in a majority of companies. He also asks about their new product: the Journey builder. Mcorkle answers by saying that their new product helped create a way to integrate any event or activity a company performs related to customer experience, and explains how we are touching the customer, which events or activities are working, and how they help enhance the customers’ experience.
After reading this article, I thought about how Salesforce has helped revolutionize the way we can organize and collect data from online networks (emails, Facebook etc.). Thinking about my experiences in using Salesforce in industry I understand what they are talking about on how we can analyze and map the customer’s experience from the events or activities they have attended and whether this affected customer loyalty or not. For an example of this type of marketing, if we have a webinar and we email people that have attended before, when they attend something similar we label them with the appropriate segment in the system and put them in the related group so that we understand to send them content related to or similar to the webinar they attended so we can get them to be a returning customer. Now, if we look at the example of someone who received an email by forwarding when they choose to attend the webinar, we get a record of them forwarding the email and that we know that this person also likes something similar where we can send him an email inviting him to attend other webinars. I believe that CRM analytical tools like Salesforce are essential in tracking and understanding what customers are experiencing and whether or not it is creating customer loyalty.
Work cited
Ellett, John. “Salesforce Marketing Cloud CEO Urges Marketers to Assert Their Role In The Total Customer Experience.” Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 14 Sept. 2014. Web. 27 Oct. 2015.
Marketing Discussions 
My company uses Salesforce currently. I think that it is a great way for companies to be able to track their customers. I also think this is a very useful tool for both the company and consumer. Salesforce helps keep track of the interests of the consumer, which means that the company can send relevant information to the consumer. The consumer will not be bothered with emails/promos/news that might not be necessarily relevant to them.
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I think that in any business, no matter how big or small, that customer service is extremely important. From all the jobs I had in my life the most important rule is that the customer is always right. Meeting the needs of your customers is crucial in having a successful business. I think Salesforce should be considered for all businesses because it is an easy way to take care of your customer as well as create customer loyalty. It is a direct way to meet their customers needs which will benefit them in the long run. Since there are so many online users today, businesses will expect to get a lot of feed back from customers using Salesforce. This will give them the chance to react accordingly.
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I have used sales force in jobs that I have worked at, for example when i was a sales associate at Bath and Body Works. Using this, we were able to get daily numbers on making segments in a two hour time span, making the quote of the day sales and see what other stores in your district are making as well. This is also a great tool because you can put your customer’s information right into the system by email and phone number. This is a key tool for marketing to the customers because they are able to send promotional coupons out for them to come back to the store and use again.
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I believe this is all very essential because we need to understand what customers want and how they want it. We must continue selling products that benefit the consumer and the environment because it would be a waste of materials and resources not to. If we use CRM to identify what people want, we will be able to understand all aof the customer’s information to better integrate it into our products we market.
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Salesforce is an efficient way to get in touch with customers, it not only increases the company sales moreover it builds a healthy relation with the customers. Customers feedback will always helps the company to change according to their expectation.
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I agree with your idea “that CRM analytical tools like Salesforce are essential in tracking and understanding what customers are experiencing and whether or not it is creating customer loyalty.” I have had little experience with Salesforce, but I know from that little experience that it is so helpful. It’s crazy to think that we have the ability to type in one’s name and up comes their information that we might have (depending on the company) and what activities they have regarding an email sent to them, for example. Although tools such as Salesforce help with companies keeping organized, it can also cause a lot of overthinking in the workplace. We all overthink, but this can take it to the next level. We can start assuming that clicks, shares, and opens mean certain things, but we can never know for sure what people’s intended purposes are by taking part in these activities. Of course, assumptions are sometimes accurate, but not always. Because of this, it’s important that we know who our audiences are and what we can do for them.
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Nice summary and blog post. One aspect not mentioned was the integration Salesforce can provide across departments within an organization. All too often marketing is separate from finance, which is separate from operations, which is separate from administration. The key to progressing CRM within any organization is communication. Yes, understanding whether or not a customer is satisfied with a product is necessary, but this will not drive loyalty. Loyalty will be achievable once an organization is aligned from top to bottom with a unified vision and mission. All aspects of a company must be nimble and ready to react if a change is necessary. If a communication platform is integrated across a business (one where information is readily available), departments have a higher chance of working towards the same goal. For instance if a customer makes a purchase and is extremely dissatisfied a number of steps must take place. First the company should make a phone call or send an email inquiring about the problem within a 24 hour time frame. If it was a design flaw, this should be communicated to the design team who needs to rework the product. The customer should receive a refund or a new item sent free of charge. These types of occurrences need to be tracked so that administration and finance can make informed decisions about allocating resources. The marketing team should be made aware to verify that marketing material advertises the product correctly and is not misleading. All of this would not be possible in a timely manner if a real time CRM system is not in place.
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This is a very informative blog. I definitely think CRM is very important for all the business. Irrespective of the size of the business, Customer Relationship is at the center of all business.Today Salesforce is No. 1 CRM solution. Salesforce is effective tool for any business to grow revenue. Customers, analysts, and industry experts agree that Salesforce = ease of use. And ease of use is the most important out of all other benefits of salesforce which has helped salesforce to gain popularity.
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With today’s markets becoming more and more competitive, I think that CRM is definitely becoming a more important aspect of how companies conduct their business. It is becoming easier for companies to offer alternative products to their competitors as markets continue to grow, so I think the key factor that separates companies is how they handle customer satisfaction. By building a strong relationship with customers, companies are able to differentiate themselves from the competition in the most effective way possible. Although I don’t have any direct experience with Salesforce, I know how useful it can be to Marketing Managers in developing CRM. I think that with the use of Salesforce and a focus of CRM businesses are able to enhance consumer experience in the market place.
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You have provided good information about salesforce company and how the CRM analytical tool works. I have never heard about this company before, I think this cloud computing company will build relationship between the customer and the company. The company can produce what the customer needed and customer can obtain the exact product what they needed. By this software the sales of the company will be increased and also create loyalty in customers.
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I agree that CRM tools can be an extremely helpful tool in tracking consumer patterns. I work in college admissions and we use Salesforce to track student interest. We can see who opens emails, attends events, looks at our website, etc. All of this data is helpful in figuring out the most effective ways of reaching students and how we can improve our “touch points” for parts of the market where we have less success.
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There is no doubt that CRM tools are helpful in data analytics and tracking customer interest and activity. However, the value of the tool is only as good as the team/person doing the analytics and relaying those messages. If they are not using the data to its full potential, then the tool is not valuable, however if they are analyzing it properly and using it to their advantage, then it is an invaluable asset to the firm.
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