Sitecore CDP and Salesforce

We are excited to be working with Sitecore CDP and congratulate those who had the vision to integrate Boxever technology into the Sitecore ecosystem. The improved flexibility that CDP (or Customer Data Platform) provides will benefit many. In terms of Sitecore to Salesforce integration, we have dozens of customers looking to upgrade to Sitecore CDP so we've released CDP4S, a complementary product to S4S, our Sitecore to Salesforce integration.  In this post, I will show how the flow of information between S4S and Salesforce changes with the adoption of Sitecore CDP. 

S4S

S4S maps Sitecore form fields to Salesforce records. When a form is submitted, S4S reads the form field values and injects them into a Salesforce lead or contact record. If the xDB database is available (as with Sitecore XP), the Sitecore analytics can also be pushed to the Salesforce record. S4S also works with Sitecore XM but, since there is no xDB, only the form data is processed.

The Sitecore analytics and visitor behavior in Salesforce inform the sales team about what the visitor has been doing on the website. In the other direction, any changes the sales team makes in Salesforce get sent to xDB and, from this, Sitecore individually personalizes the experience of each visitor. This changes if an S4S customer upgrades to Sitecore CDP because S4S will no longer be able to access the analytics from the xDB database. Note that S4S forms will continue to submit to Salesforce. 

Sitecore CDP

Sitecore CDP customers use client-side JavaScript tags and other techniques to send prospect behaviors directly to Sitecore CDP usually independent to form submission. Tagging works for traditional, hybrid, or headless architectures. and allows companies that have multiple websites and devices running different technologies to stream their behavioral data to Sitecore CDP. If you need to learn more about Sitecore CDP it's hard to imagine a more informative and entertaining article than from Elizabeth Spranzani from Verndale.

The behavior data in Sitecore CDP is of significant value to the sales team so a solution is required to stream this information into Salesforce.  

CDP4S

CDP4S is a Salesforce package that transacts directly with Sitecore CDP and has no functionality in Sitecore. The following process is typical after a visitor (guest) arrives on the website: 

• Guest behavior (or analytics) is pushed to Sitecore CDP using tags
• The guest submits a web form. S4S updates or creates a new Salesforce lead (or contact)
• Sitecore sends an Identity event to Sitecore CDP. It contains the identifier (usually email address)
• In Sitecore CDP the guest is converted to a customer
• CPD4S uplifts analytics to Salesforce immediately or as a part of a flow execution 
• In Salesforce, the FuseIT custom CDP4S package accepts and processes the CDP data
• The customer's website behavior is now available in Salesforce

If the customer returns to the website at any time, the Salesforce analytics data is updated when their visit ends. If Sitecore personalization from Salesforce is required, you need only change the value of the lead or contact in Salesforce. The CDP4S integration ensures these changes flow through to CDP, and when the matching customer revisits the website they receive a personalized experience.  

Exchanging data with CDP4S is flexible, customizable, and can happen in real-time. CDP4S will soon be available as a standalone product (that does not require Sitecore CMS) or as a module for S4S.  

Conclusion

To conclude, CDP4S enables Salesforce agents to see the website analytics in Salesforce and personalize an individual's experience in real-time.

Sitecore CDP can capture the browsing behavior of any website and collate it into a form that reveals a single view of each customer. This data can be used in three key ways:

• Email automation systems use it to personalize outbound emails or other interactions
• CRM agents use it to gain a better understanding of the person they are dealing with
• During the sales cycle, CRM agents change the data and feed it back to the website to personalize the individual's experience

By capturing the behavior in Salesforce, CDP4S is essential in all three areas. Because the behavioral data is available in Salesforce, it can be mapped to Salesforce Marketing Cloud, Pardot, or other email automation systems. It is also available to Salesforce agents as a source of sales intelligence, and CDP4S can drive any changes back to Sitecore for real-time personalization.

FuseIT specializes in Sitecore to CRM integration. Our enterprise S4S and S4D integrations enable the real-time exchange of data between Sitecore and Salesforce and Sitecore and Microsoft Dynamics 365. Please contact us for more information or to see a demo of these in action.