Personalizing Sitecore from Salesforce

Last week someone asked, "What does that even mean?" Wow! We've been personalizing Sitecore content from Salesforce for so many years this question was a worry! After all, they say that for every customer who complains, 26 remain silent. What if that statistic applied to people's understanding of Sitecore personalization. This post reaches out to the silent 26.

Website Personalization

Without personalization, your website lacks expression when sales reps need it to reflect the conversation they are having with the visitor. We need to unmask the website and deliver content that supports the sales process. 

We all know Sitecore personalization works very well! Each visitor sees page content personalized according to what Sitecore already knows about them. This prior knowledge (or analytics) can be accrued from previous visits, what the visitor did during the current visit, or gleaned from a multitude of other sources. In pursuit of perfect personalization Sitecore builds up a comprehensive profile of the visitor. This includes visit count, visit durations, pages visited, goals attained, and much more. 

Personalizing a website increases engagement making it more likely the visitor will respond to a call to action resulting in a new Salesforce record. The action might be to buy a product, submit a web form, register for a webinar or event, or download an e-book.

Enter the CRM

Sales reps need intelligence to prepare for sales calls and it does not get much better than visitor browsing behavior. When this intelligence is in Salesforce, the invaluable insights help reps to:

• Quickly gauge the visitor's
  • specific product interests 
  • state of mind
  • level of engagement and enthusiasm
  • level of knowledge
  • possible budget
• Research the visitor's specific interests and call with greater confidence 
• Discover fringe interests for potential up-sell or cross-sell opportunities 
• See what the visitor did not see – so the rep can highlight these
• Identify the language and culture
• Prioritize calls based on the activity
• Determine the effectiveness of the website and marketing approach

Real-time integrations, like S4S, can easily surface Sitecore analytics in Salesforce but why would we need to personalize Sitecore from Salesforce?

Personalizing Sitecore from Salesforce

Now, the problem! Sales reps usually have no control over the website yet the website is the face of the company during the entire sales process! Reps are continuously communicating with leads as they advance them through the sales funnel, and this messaging should be mirrored on the website. 

Consider when a Sitecore visitor submits a web form and becomes a Salesforce lead. In Salesforce the rep can use the lead status field to track the progress of the lead as they are moved towards conversion to a customer. By mapping the lead status value, and other fields to Sitecore facets, we can then use Sitecore rules-based personalization to personalize web content. 

Let's look at some lead status values and what matching content we can show on the Sitecore website:

1. Salesforce Lead Status is Open

This status is assigned to a new lead (data is not yet validated). In Sitecore:

• Promote cross-sell items related to the product e.g. product extensions, consumables, etc. 
• Promote up-sell products that visualize the value a lead will get by ordering a higher-priced item  
• Add messages such as:
  • "Your application is being processed. Tony will contact you soon"
  • "Thank you for selecting one of our products. We will contact you shortly"

2. Salesforce Lead Status is Contacted

The lead data has been validated and a sales rep has opened a dialogue. In Sitecore:

• Promote:
  • A special offer if the purchase is made before a specified date
  • Financing options to make the purchase easier
  • Other products that the lead is interested in    
• Add messages such as:
  • "Thank you for taking our call. We look forward to the next steps"
  • "Great to chat. Call me if you need more info. Tony at 202-555-0035"

3. Salesforce Lead Status is Working

Active engagement is in process. More is becoming known so in Sitecore:

• Promote:
  • Content that better reflects the rep knows this person
  • Endorsements and testimonials of satisfied customers who purchased the product
  • Warranty and insurance details 
  • Personalized incentives to close the deal faster
• Add messages such as:
  • "Great to chat Kadie. Call me when you have decided on a color! Tony at 202-555-0035"

4. Salesforce Lead Status is Disqualified

The sales rep has reached a dead end so in Sitecore:

• Promote:
  • Popup offers for special deals on future visits (to win back the lost opportunity)
• Add messages such as:
  • "Love to chat again Kadie. Tony at 202-555-0035"

5. Salesforce Lead Status is Converted/Qualified

The lead has been converted to a contact and is now a customer. In Sitecore:

• Promote:
  • Access to a customer portal for product registration and support
  • A free giveaway if the visitor recommends the product to a friend
• Add messages such as:
  • "Welcome back Kadie. We encourage you to call our helpline if you have questions about your new widget"
  • A date triggered reminder the product is due for servicing or renewal

Conclusion

Using the lead status field is only one way to personalize Sitecore from Salesforce. Other common lead and contact fields include Title, City/State/Country, Phone, Annual Revenue, Campaign, Industry, Lead Source, Last Modified Date, No. of Employees, Rating, Zip, or any custom field.

The S4S integration allows sales reps to tweak the website during the sales cycle to increase engagement and trust. The personalizations can be explicit messaging, such as, "We miss you, come back", page content changes that focus on visitor interests, or simply targeted promotions based on what we know about them. Beyond field value personalization, sales reps can also personalize Sitecore from Salesforce in real-time based using Sitecore pattern cards and values. And then there is S4S Now ...

If you need help or need to learn more about how to add value to your business in this way please contact us for more information.