Month: November 2023

How to Use Salesforce OmniStudio for LWC Development on Experience Cloud

Posted on by Anna Babur

Salesforce OmniStudio is gaining a lot of popularity among Salesforce admins and developers who deal with Experience Cloud. Being available on different clouds like Nonprofit and Education Cloud and powered by great tools, it really simplifies the development and customization processes, making it much easier and faster to customize and implement UX/UI into the Experience Cloud site, delivering experiences that customers truly expect. In this article, we’ll discuss OmniStudio from an admin’s point of view, sharing useful tips and examples on how to use this tool and its components on your Experience Cloud site. We’ll also share our experience of taking the Salesforce OmniStudio Consultant exam and provide you with some things to consider and resources to review before you start your exam.

What is OmniStudio and what does it offer?

OmniStudio represents a set of components aimed at simplifying the creation of branded experiences on Salesforce. Offering a no-code and drag-and-drop approach to designing dynamic digital experiences, it allows for building pre-built cloud components that are pixel-perfect and totally tailored to the customer’s branding needs. Used in Experience Cloud, this is the tool that makes Lightning Web Component (LWC) development a breeze for those without a technical background and Apex or JSON knowledge, making it an ideal solution for admins who don’t want to dive deep into the technical part of the development processes in Salesforce.

Salesforce Screen Flows VS OmniStudio

People often compare OmniStudio with Salesforce Screen Flows. The main difference between them lies in the visual appeal of the solutions built with the help of these two tools. Screen Flows offer simple visual solutions with precise styling, while OmniStudio provides enhanced UI/UX capabilities, allowing for the creation of flows that can be visually customized and look stunning, delivering better experiences. This makes OmniStudio the best choice for creating components for external sharing via an Experience Cloud site.

In the table below, we’ve compiled some key differences that make OmniStudio stand out as the go-to tool for effortless LWC development.

Salesforce Omnistudio

OmniStudio components and their purposes:

  • FlexCards – display contextual information and actions in an at-a-glance format
  • OmniScript – provides a guided path to complete a business process
  • DataRaptor – services for retrieving, transforming, and updating data
  • Integration Procedure – server-side processes that execute multiple actions in a single server call.
  • + some other tools for developers like Workbench, OmniOut, etc.

What you can do with OmniStudio and Experience Cloud:

  • Easily and quickly create good-looking, user-friendly LWC components and add them to your Experience Cloud site to meet your client’s specific needs—no need for any coding, just drag and drop.
  • Customize and brand your components exactly the way you want.
  • Download the code of the component you made without writing any code yourself. Just use the ‘Download off-platform LWC’ option, and OmniStudio takes care of the code for you! Use the code over and over, tweak it if necessary, and place it on other Experience Cloud sites in a different org with the minimal assistance of dev tools. With OmniOut, you can even use the code externally on various cloud platforms outside Salesforce.
salesforce omnistudio use cases

Example of using Salesforce OmniStudio on Experience Cloud

Let me give you an example of how we used Salesforce OmniStudio on Experience Cloud. We wanted a custom event registration on our site. So, first, we turned off the regular registration button that comes with the Advanced Communities’ AC Events Enterprise app for Experience Cloud. Then, we used OmniStudio to create a new OmniScript, providing the exact steps users needed to follow for registration. 

Note!

The registration can be customized whenever you want. You can add more fields, actions, or change the look, all from OmniStudio with clicks – no coding required!

In our custom registration, we included package options, choices for attendees, sizes for T-shirts, and even departure options linked up with Google Places. OmniStudio made it possible for us to integrate maps and add images – something Salesforce Screen Flows can’t do. Another handy feature is that OmniStudio lets users save their registration progress and come back to it later. You can’t do that with Screen Flows.

salesforce omnistudio

Before you dive into using OmniStudio, here’s what’s crucial to bear in consideration:

  • Test it out! To get the most out of OmniStudio and its components, start by testing it. Use any Experience Cloud solution you already have and see what OmniStudio can do. Just the way we did by creating a custom registration with our AC Events Enterprise.

Salesforce Event Management Guide: Tips & Best Practices to Improve Event Management with Experience Cloud

Event planning can truly be stress-free and comprehensive with Salesforce Experience Cloud. In our blog, you will learn the basics of event management with Experience Cloud and the top 7 tips for successful event management.
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  • Know the backend. Even though OmniStudio is all about the front-end for external users, it’s super important to grasp the backend processes and integration steps before you jump into FlexCards and OmniScript to build anything. Think about the behind-the-scenes logic in your LWC component — what data you’re extracting, transferring, and saving, where it’s going, what filters you’re using, and so on.
  • Get friendly with data. Understand how OmniStudio handles data to make sure you’re using and mapping it the way you want in your OmniStudio component.

Salesforce OmniStudio Consultant exam: what to expect and how to pass it successfully?

Salesforce OmniStudio Consultant credential is designed for individuals with experience in consulting on cloud application development using OmniStudio tools in a customer-facing role. As a candidate, you should be able to explain the purpose of OmniStudio tools and design solutions that meet customer business requirements.

The Salesforce certification exam covers various tools like FlexCards, OmniScripts, Integration Procedures, DataRaptors, Expression Sets & Decision Matrices. It’s important to understand the benefits and limitations of these tools and be able to customize and implement UX/UI to meet customer requirements. The exam format includes 60 multiple-choice/multiple-select questions with a passing score of 63%. 

Important thing to bear in mind is the length of the questions. Expect fairly lengthy questions that showcase real-life situations with the only two possible answers. You might have to go through them a couple of times to grasp the content and provide the correct response.

Resources to successfully pass the exam:

Good luck on your Salesforce certification exam!

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    Unlocking the Power of Alumni Engagement: A Convergence of Corporate and University Strategies

    Posted on by Rebekah Hunter

    Why is alumni relations important? In our interconnected world, the value of alumni engagement is taking center stage, transcending traditional roles to become a cornerstone of organizational growth and success. Whether in the corporate realm or within educational institutions, the realization is growing that alumni are more than just former employees or graduates; they are dynamic contributors—ambassadors, advocates, potential clients, and a rich resource pool driving development and outreach.

    Building Bridges: Convergence in Corporate and University Alumni Management

    At the heart of corporate and university alumni programs lies the shared objective of nurturing relationships with individuals who have significantly impacted their communities. Whether a seasoned professional climbing the corporate ladder or a recent graduate launching a startup, these individuals carry with them the values, culture, and identity of their alma mater or previous employers.

    The intrinsic importance of engaging with alumni lies in the multifaceted benefits they bring. Engaged university alumni are more likely to contribute as mentors, project partners, employers, guest lecturers, or donors, enhancing the current student experience. Similarly, corporations fostering relationships with former employees tap into a valuable network for business development opportunities, rehiring, and brand reinforcement.

    Engagement is not a one-off campaign but a continuous effort to instill a sense of belonging and loyalty. Alumni who feel valued and connected are more likely to advocate for and contribute to the institution that shaped their personal and professional journey. This lifelong engagement transforms a loose network into a tight-knit community.

    Similar Business Models: Alumni Management and Successful Clubs

    The business model underpinning successful clubs and membership-based businesses aligns seamlessly with alumni management by offering:

    • Community. Both corporate and university alumni networks provide a platform for members to connect, share experiences, and support one another, mirroring the community-building seen in successful membership organizations.
    • Recognition. Creating a sense of prestige and selectiveness through recognition appeals to the human desire for acknowledgment. Alumni networks can emulate this feeling by highlighting achievements and special connections.
    • Continual Engagement. Clubs and membership businesses thrive on keeping members engaged through events, communications, and benefits. Regular engagement with alumni, facilitated by newsletters, reunions, webinars, and networking events, keeps the community active and connected.
    • Benefit. Offering continued learning opportunities, career services, or discounts on products and services mirrors the value proposition that helps membership-based businesses retain their clientele.

    Activating Your Alumni Network: Leveraging Advanced Communities’ AC MemberSmart Software

    The potential of alumni networks is vast and largely untapped. Educational institutions and corporations investing in alumni management platforms and community-building software position themselves to unlock this potential. In an upcoming webinar on November 29th at 10 am AEST, discover how Advanced Communities’ alumni engagement software for Experience Cloud ACMemberSmart, built on Salesforce, can help manage dynamic alumni databases and deliver a spectrum of activities and events. Join us to explore the tools and capabilities contributing to a vibrant alumni community and efficient Salesforce alumni management.

    WEBINAR

    Wed, Nov 29, 2023 at 10:00 AM AEDT

    Don’t miss the opportunity to transform your alumni network into a thriving community. Register for the webinar and unlock the power of engagement with Advanced Communities.

    REGISTER HERE

    Customer Story

    Discover how Salesforce Experience Cloud, coupled with AC MemberSmart, transformed alumni engagement for Geneva Graduate Institute. 

    read

    Essential Things to Think About Before Setting Up a Member Portal on Experience Cloud

    Posted on by Anna Babur

    Most associations and member organizations that use Salesforce as a CRM system eventually consider creating an online membership portal on the Experience Cloud because it’s the best way to centralize all membership management in one place. If your organization is among them, then this article is for you. We’ll guide you through the essential initial considerations you need to keep in mind before you start setting up your member portal in Salesforce. These insights will assist you in creating a membership site that truly meets the needs of both your organization and your member community, helping you maximize the benefits of your membership management.

    Understanding Experience Cloud member portals

    Experience Cloud is a Salesforce DXP platform that allows for building full-fledged portals connected to Salesforce data for various business needs, including PRM partner portals, customer service portals, online communities, member portals, and more. With Experience Cloud, you can create sites easily and quickly by using its pre-built templates and customizing them using the drag-and-drop functionality of the Experience Builder – a no-code tool used for building sites on Experience Cloud.

    Membership site platforms built on Experience Cloud serve as spaces where members can access information, collaborate, donate, subscribe to events, and interact with each other and the membership company. Out of the box, Experience Cloud doesn’t provide enough functionality to meet most membership organizations’ needs for efficient membership management in Salesforce. However, Experience Cloud is a flexible platform that allows easy customization with the help of third-party applications that enhance the out-of-the-box capabilities of the platform. That’s where AC MemberSmart membership management software comes into play. AC MemberSmart was specifically designed for associations and member organizations to help them organize efficient membership management on their Experience Cloud member portals. With features like Member Directory, Job Board, Events, E-Commerce, Payments & Donations, it helps in creating a dedicated and interactive space for members to network, share resources, access exclusive content, register for events, and participate in fundraising and discussions – everything both members and member organizations need for success.

    More information about our ultimate nonprofit membership management software AC MemberSmart below.

    AC MemberSmart

     

    see product details

    Key factors for a successful member portal deployment in Salesforce

    When it comes to launching a member portal in Salesforce, a few things can make or break it. Before you start setting up your portal, there are some essential questions that need answers to make sure everything goes smoothly. These important things to think about will be your roadmap to a successful launch of your site.

    Note!

    The following list of questions/considerations is based on our own extensive experience in building member portals in Salesforce.

    Define your needs and goals

    Think about your member organization. How many members do you have? Are your members organizations or individuals, or both? What value do you provide to your members? What’s the main idea behind creating a member portal? What goals do you want to achieve with it?

    Answering these questions will help you understand your organization and its needs, allowing you to create an experience that truly resonates with your goals and your audience.

    Transition to Salesforce

    Do you currently use Salesforce, or are you planning to transition to Salesforce? If you haven’t used Salesforce before and are now considering the move to centralize all member management in one place, you’ll need to import data into Salesforce from the external platforms you used previously. This migration process may take a significant amount of time, and sometimes things might not go as planned. The best solution here is to leave the migration work to professionals like Advanced Communities. We have extensive experience in migrating to Salesforce from various external platforms and are well-versed in every aspect of this process. By the way, you can download our Unofficial Salesforce Experience Cloud Migration Guide to see how you can migrate your business to Salesforce pain-free.

    Customer Story

    Explore how we helped Greenpeace streamline their work processes by merging their five regional Experience Cloud sites into one international space and handling all the content migration work.

    read now

    Design and customization

    As you proceed with your member portal project, consider whether the development team should handle design to match your brand and website or if you plan to provide your own designs. Evaluate your portal requirements and necessary assets, and don’t worry if you don’t have them, as a good implementation partner can assist. To streamline the process, share a complete list of the required community pages and their features with the development team. It’s also important to provide wireframes, mockups, designs, and any existing user stories or process flow documentation (of course, if you have them). 

    Security measures

    For your member site setup, you have a few options: you can make it completely private, mostly open to the public, or have a mix where some pages are public, and others are for logged-in users only. If the latter is your preference, please share the specific pages and access details with the development team. 

    The implementation partner may also ask about the Salesforce Experience Cloud licenses you currently have – whether it’s Customer Community, Customer Community Plus, Nonprofit Experience Cloud licenses. Make sure you have this information in place. 

    User experience

    Do you expect that all users have the same access and the same user experience or different types of users have access to specific data or areas of the community? If so, think about each user type and what they should or should not be able to access in the community. In case you want to provide a different experience for different types of users, think about using Salesforce Experience Cloud personalization capabilities. This way, different groups of users will see only relevant content on the site specifically tailored to their interests.

    5 Challenges Faced by Member Organizations And How AC MemberSmart Can Help

    In addition to an effective membership engagement strategy, every membership organization requires a robust system to manage its members and deliver the desired experience. In this article, we will explore five common challenges faced by member organizations and introduce a solution that effectively addresses them all.
    Post image

    Member registration process

    There are a few common ways: 

    • They sign up on the portal by themselves
    • You add them manually
    • They apply for membership, and your admins approve/deny every registration. 
    • Or you’d prefer something else?

    You may also be interested in having a member admin users that manage other users in their account. 

    Social functionality

    Are you planning to use the social features in the community, such as Chatter feed, Topics, and Chatter groups? It’s essential to consider all the social features you want to implement in advance and share the list of all the groups you’d like to have on your member portal with the development team.

    Gamification

    Do you want to use gamification features like leaderboards, statuses, reputation points, badges, and missions? These features let members earn points or badges by sharing knowledge, helping others, and collaborating. If you want to encourage engagement and motivate members to interact with your portal regularly, gamification is the way to go.

    Access to files or Salesforce Libraries

    Do you need access to files or Salesforce Libraries? Keep in mind that Libraries offer more features and control but require Customer Community Plus or Partner Community licenses. You can find your community license type in Salesforce by heading to Setup > Company Information.

    Event management

    If you’re considering an event management system for your portal, think about the events you host and their ticket prices. If you plan to organize various events, both virtual and in-person with different pricing packages, and need a robust system to simplify the whole process, from registration and ticketing to marketing and post-event analysis, then AC Events Enterprise, a Salesforce-native event management solution, is your top pick.

    AC Events Enterprise

     

    see product details

    Member/Organization Directory functionality

    Do you want a Member Directory on your site so that users can connect with each other? And do you need an Organization Directory to help users find a list of organizations, whether they’re members or partners? These features will help you increase member engagement and facilitate effective interactions among members and partners, whether related to donations, charities, or NGO properties.

    Job Board 

    The Job Board is a fantastic tool for volunteering and more. With this feature, you can post job offers or volunteer opportunities directly on your member portal. It makes it simple for members interested in volunteering to apply for these opportunities and for you to find supporters for your mission.

    Blog/News 

    If you want to share updates, news, and informative content with your members, keeping them informed about important initiatives, events, or resources, then consider adding a Blog/News functionality to your membership site. 

    Mobile Publisher

    Do you need a mobile app for your community? Experience Cloud works on web browsers, both on computers and mobile devices, but if you want a mobile app experience, you can consider using Mobile Publisher, a product by Salesforce that offers this feature (requires Salesforce licensing).

    Memberships/subscriptions management in Salesforce

    For the implementation team it’s important to understand how you manage subscriptions in your organization, and what pricing and payment options for members you offer. 

    Keep in mind the following:

    • Do you offer different membership packages, like Standard and Premium, and what sets them apart? 
    • How do members pay – is it a one-time yearly payment, monthly, or quarterly? 
    • Is the membership period based on the payment date or follows a specific calendar period, like from January 1st to December 31st? 
    • Which payment methods should be available for members, such as debit/credit cards, ACH, Direct Debit, Google Pay, PayPal, checks, or others? 
    • Are you currently using or planning to use a particular payment gateway like Stripe, Authorize.net, or Adyen?
    Note!

    Please note, most of the functionality listed in this guide is included in AC MemberSmart membership management app! Contact our team to request a demo and see all these features in action!

    How Advanced Communities can help

    Choosing the right expert in Salesforce Experience Cloud is crucial for setting up your membership management system smoothly. Your integration partner should be open to discussions and ready to answer all your questions in detail. When you work with Advanced Communities, you can trust that we listen to your concerns and understand your needs.

    We can schedule a one-hour session to cover all the details and guide you through the entire process of implementing your member portal and organizing your Salesforce membership management. Contact us today!

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      SEO Optimization for Salesforce Experience Cloud Sites

      Posted on by Anna Babur

      Salesforce Experience Cloud offers a robust platform for creating engaging online spaces for various business purposes, but ensuring that your community is discoverable by search engines is crucial. This article delves into the world of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for Salesforce Experience Cloud sites, shedding light on the best SEO strategies for Salesforce communities to make your site shine in the search engine spotlight.

      Salesforce Experience Cloud SEO: essential concepts to remember

      Publicly available sites

      SEO is supported on production orgs for Experience Cloud sites that are public or have some public pages. It’s worth noting that SEO isn’t supported on Developer Edition, sandbox, or trial orgs. Once you make your site public, search engines can index its public pages, and the SEO settings tab in Experience Builder becomes accessible for further optimization.

      Location of your Experience Cloud site

      For search engines to find your site, it must be at the root level. If your site is not at the root level, meaning it has a URL prefix, you need to create a root site and submit the sitemap accordingly. This is crucial for proper indexing. Please note, The address for a root-level site has the format https://site_URL.

      The robots.txt file

      The robots.txt file serves as a set of guidelines for search engine spiders and bots, determining which areas of your site to index. It is automatically generated and allows your entire site to be indexed. Make sure to check the file to ensure it aligns with your SEO goals.

      The sitemap

      The sitemap.xml file lists the public pages and objects with read access in the guest user profile. Search engines use this as a starting point to discover and index important content on your site. To guarantee your Knowledge articles are included in the sitemap, assign at least one navigational, featured, or content topic to each article.

      Page indexing

      Once your site is public, search engines can index its pages. However, you have the flexibility to make specific pages private, use the noindex meta tag, or create a custom robots.txt file to control the visibility on search engines of pages. Keep in mind that objects displayed on a page are private by default.

      Key Considerations Before Implementing a Partner Portal on Experience Cloud

      This guide is designed specifically for companies that want to build a Salesforce partner community but may be unsure of where to begin. It covers essential aspects of setting up and customizing a PRM portal, ensuring that it meets the unique partner needs. We hope this piece will help you understand your and your partners’ requirements, needs and goals.
      Post image

      How to get your Experience Cloud site ready for search engines? 

      Getting your Experience Builder site ready for search engines involves a series of steps you do both in Salesforce and on the site.

      1. If you have more than one domain, pick the one you prefer. You can do this by going to General settings in Experience Builder. Check out the instructions here. 
      2. Make your site visible to the public. Remember, the SEO settings tab in Experience Builder is only accessible when your site is public. 
      3. Define the SEO details (like titles and descriptions) for each page. 
      4. To have control over what parts of your site get indexed, you should make a custom robots.txt file. 
      5. If you want the data stored in objects to show up on search engines, ensure those objects and their related fields are set to readable.
      6. Activate your site and publish it to make the changes you’ve made go live.

      Community SEO: best practices for Experience Cloud site optimization

      With the foundational knowledge in place, let’s explore some best practices to enhance SEO in your Salesforce Experience Cloud community:

      • Root-level sites. Ensure your site is at the root level for better search engine visibility.
      • Identified preferred domain. Identify your preferred domain before making your site accessible to the public. If the site is publicized without a specified preferred domain, the URLs with *.force.com or *.my.site.com will also be included in the index, and it may require some time to remove them from search results.
      • Knowledge articles. Assign relevant topics to Knowledge articles to enhance their visibility in search results.
      • Multilingual support. If your organization supports multilingual Knowledge articles, keep the same URL as the base language article.
      • Optimize page titles and descriptions. Craft descriptive titles and meta descriptions to improve search results and help users find the information they need.
      • URL structure. Maintain clean and readable URLs, avoiding non-standard pages with query string parameters for better crawlability.
      • Use proper URL generation. When creating custom components, use lightning:navigation for Aura components and lightning-navigation for Lightning web components to generate proper links.
      • Implement 301 redirects. Set up redirects to ensure users and search engines are directed to the correct page.
      • Canonical tags. Use <link rel=”canonical”> tags to indicate duplicate pages, directing search engines to the canonical version.
      • Sitemaps and robots.txt. Avoid creating custom sitemaps for LWR or Aura sites, and ensure your robots.txt file includes the paths to all sitemaps for the domain.
      • Guest user access. Before activating your site, verify the guest user profile to confirm that the appropriate objects have read access. Following this best practice helps manage the range of your sitemap.xml file and maintains the security of your site.
      • Data security. Regularly review and update object and record access to control the scope of your sitemap and ensure data security.

      Wrapping up

      Optimizing your Salesforce Experience Cloud site for search engines is a critical step in enhancing your online presence. By adhering to these SEO strategies and best practices, you can increase the visibility of your site, making it easier for customers, partners, and visitors to discover your valuable content and services through online search.

      The Advanced Communities team is here to help you with all your Experience Cloud implementation and configuration needs. As an official Salesforce SI and ISV partner, we know all aspects of creating engaging portals on Salesforce and delivering impactful Salesforce-native solutions ensuring your Experience Cloud success! 

      Contact us today!

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        Key Considerations Before Implementing a Partner Portal on Experience Cloud

        Posted on by Anna Babur

        Creating a successful partner portal on the Salesforce Experience Cloud requires careful planning and a clear understanding of goals. The first step in this process involves brainstorming and coming up with creative ideas, which is essential to kickstart the website development journey. To make this process easier, we’ve put together a set of important questions that you should think about before you start implementing your portal.
        This guide is designed specifically for companies that want to build a Salesforce partner community but may be unsure of where to begin. It covers essential aspects of setting up and customizing a PRM portal, ensuring that it meets the unique partner needs. We hope this piece will help you understand your and your partners’ requirements, needs and goals.

        Free PRM Playbook

        Learn how to boost channel sales and maximize the partner experience through PRM.

        download now

        Understanding Salesforce Experience Cloud and its PRM portals

        What is Salesforce Experience Cloud? Salesforce Experience Cloud, previously named Community Cloud, is a robust DXP platform for building and managing online communities and websites integrated with Salesforce. This includes partner portals, also referred to as Partner Relationship Management (PRM) portals, which are tailored to enhance collaboration and interaction between a business and its partners. 

        Salesforce Experience Cloud partner portals serve as a centralized hub where businesses can interact with their partners, which may include distributors, resellers, suppliers, or other external stakeholders. These portals are a fundamental component of an effective partner relationship strategy, providing several key features and benefits.

        Key Salesforce partner portal features and capabilities:

        • Experience Cloud allows businesses to create customized partner portals that align with their branding and offer a tailored experience by providing personalized content.
        • PRM portals come with robust access control mechanisms, allowing organizations to define user roles, permissions, and access levels, ensuring partners access only relevant information.
        • Salesforce partner portals help in encouraging teamwork and collaboration by offering features like real-time messaging, document sharing, and collaboration spaces for joint projects and discussions. 

        PRM for Slack App: Key Considerations

        The latest Salesforce Summer '23 update is here, and it's packed with fantastic features that will revolutionize how sales teams work! One of the highlights of this release is the game-changing PRM for Slack app. Read this article to learn more.
        Post image

        • Partner sites can be seamlessly integrated with other Salesforce solutions like Sales Cloud, Marketing Cloud, and Service Cloud, enabling the flow of data and information between systems.
        • Salesforce communities for partners offer reporting and analytics tools, helping organizations gain insights into partner engagement and performance. Partners can access personalized dashboards that display only relevant information and resources.
        • PRM portals often include training materials, documentation, and support channels to assist partners in their inquiries.

        Crucial considerations for successful PRM portal implementation in Salesforce

        Before diving into the implementation of a Salesforce partner management portal, there are important questions that need answers to ensure a smooth and effective process. These key considerations help guide the path to a successful PRM portal launch. 

        Note!

        The following list of questions/considerations is based on our own extensive experience in building partner portals in Salesforce.

        Think about your sales/deal management process involving partners. 

        Consider how you engage with your partners at various stages of the sales cycle, from lead generation to deal closure and post-sale support. This will help you customize your partner portal to align with your partner-driven sales strategy.

        Leads/opportunities considerations.

        When it comes to leads and opportunities, clarify your approach. Do you exclusively use opportunities, or do leads also have a role? Consider your use of different record types for leads and opportunities. Regarding partner engagement, can partners create both leads and opportunities, or is there a specific focus? Finally, do leads get distributed to partners, or do partners solely contribute leads to the system? These insights will help you tailor your partner solution to your sales strategy.

        Customization and branding. 

        Salesforce provides easily customizable site templates for crafting a partner portal within Experience Cloud. However, if you have particular design preferences and require a custom design, please ensure that you share your brand guidelines with the development team. This will guarantee that the new design aligns seamlessly with your brand identity and vision.

        Salesforce partner portal security measures. 

        Specify your community’s access preferences, whether it’s entirely behind a login or a combination of public and login-only pages. Providing comprehensive details will help the development team to tailor the security measures to your specific needs. 

        When it comes to data security and privacy for your partners, it’s crucial to address factors like user authentication and role-based access control. Consider whether partners should have the same level of access to all pages and data, or if different partner types should have access to specific data or areas within the PRM. 

        Partner onboarding.

        Do you want to implement a partner registration and onboarding process on your PRM site? If this is the case, think about specific details of the onboarding process to ensure the result aligns with your requirements. 

        Powering Up Your Partner Portal on the Salesforce Experience Cloud: Tips and Strategies

        Enhance your Partner Portal on the Salesforce Experience Cloud with customization options, collaboration features, user engagement, and data-driven insights for maximizing success.
        Post image

        Partner activation process. 

        Do you have any existing partners who need to be activated on PRM? There are a couple of activation options: it can be done manually through Salesforce, where users are marked as partner users, or a mass activation with email notifications can be performed.

        Marketing Development Funds (MDF). 

        Are you looking to utilize Marketing Development Funds functionality on your partner site? If yes, are you happy with Salesforce’s out-of-the-box offerings, or do you need a custom implementation?

        Hierarchies. 

        • In terms of security aspects and data access, it’s important to think about the hierarchies in your organization. There are two key aspects to keep in mind: 
        • Do you have a partner account hierarchy? 
        • Do you need a role hierarchy for partner users? Will there be partner managers who can access their agents’ leads and opportunities?

        Are you thinking about teaming up with your partners for co-branding? 

        Would you be interested in helping your partners create their marketing materials in line with your branding, using prebuilt marketing templates? Out-of-the-box, Salesforce Experience Cloud doesn’t offer co-branding functionality. However, you can explore implementing native Salesforce partner portal solutions for Experience Cloud. When it comes to co-branding within your partnerships, AC Partner Co-Branding is the ideal choice.

        Do you want a partner directory on your site? 

        This allows partners to list their services publicly to promote themselves and generate more leads. It can be achieved through implementation of the Salesforce partner portal solution AC Partner Marketplace application for Experience Cloud.

        AC Partner Marketplace

        see product details

        Are you currently using a Learning Management System (LMS)? 

        If you are, would you like this LMS to be integrated with the portal, or do you prefer to continue using an external platform for partner learning and onboarding? If you prefer integration, consider options like single sign-on (SSO) integration or a more comprehensive solution.

        Do you need Case management functionality on your partner portal, specifically designed for your partners? 

        Implementing Case management on your Salesforce PRM site will help you enhance partner support and improve the resolution of partner-related issues and inquiries, aiding in streamlining partner communication in the Salesforce portal and maintaining strong partner relationships.

        Salesforce partner portal analytics: reports & dashboards.

        Are you interested in having reports and dashboards on your portal? You can use either standard Salesforce reports or create custom reports highlighting specific information tailored to your partner needs. 

        Do you need to import any data into Salesforce for a PRM project? 

        This consideration is relevant to vendors who previously used other systems to manage partnerships and now aim to migrate all data to Salesforce for consistency and centralization. You may want to continue using external systems but require their integration with the Experience Cloud partner portal, a task our Advanced Communities development team can handle for you. We can also provide any Salesforce Experience Cloud services you may need, including migrations, portal development, web design, and implementation of Experience Cloud accelerators. 

        Customer Story

        Explore our latest case study to see how we enabled vendors’ partners to log in to the external partner management platform directly from the Experience Cloud partner portal homepage.

        read now

        Do you want to give your partners access to marketing materials, files, or documents through Resources? 

        You can make this process simple and efficient by using Salesforce Libraries. This way, your partners can easily find and download the latest information directly from your partner portal.

        Conclusion

        Addressing partner requirements, customization, data security, and collaboration features is imperative. A well-planned and comprehensive approach ensures that your Salesforce partner community serves as a user-friendly platform, fostering meaningful partnerships.

        Never go it alone with your Salesforce partner portal integration. Hiring a professional site development team is crucial for success. Advanced Communities is your best partner when it comes to the Experience Cloud development and implementation. As an official SI and ISV Salesforce partner with over 15 years of industry experience, we are well-versed in every aspect of creating Salesforce portals and integrating custom solutions, such as partner or member management software, to tailor projects to the specific needs of both you and your partners.

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