Salesforce Consultant

5-ian-cosgrove

Ian Cosgrove

for-everyone

For Everyone

AI is inescapable in 2026. Everyone is betting on it, and Salesforce certainly is with [Agentforce](https://www.salesforce.com/agentforce/). Salesforce first launched Agentforce at [Dreamforce](https://www.salesforce.com/dreamforce/) 24 to much fanfare, with integrations in Salesforce, Slack, and Mulesoft products. One of the big promises was adding autonomous AI to the platform, allowing it to work without input from staff, serving customers.

Since then, they have introduced 2.0, and at Dreamforce 25, Salesforce announced their newest version of Agentforce, with even more intelligence, better guardrails, and a [new voice mode](https://www.salesforce.com/agentforce/what-is-new/). In this article, we’ll take a look at how Agentforce has changed in the short time that it has been alive, and how realistic the promises Salesforce makes actually are.

## From Einstein to Agentforce: A Quick History

Agentforce isn’t Salesforce’s first venture into artificial intelligence. Salesforce’s first foray into AI was with the launch of Einstein in 2016. In its early days, Einstein offered limited but powerful capabilities, including predictive analytics, Lead Scoring, Opportunity Insights, and Forecasting.

By 2017, Salesforce expanded its AI offerings with Einstein Bots for Service Cloud, enabling automated responses to basic inquiries, intelligent escalation of complex cases, and record updates. The following year, 2018, saw the introduction of Einstein Prediction Builder, empowering administrators to create predictive models without coding, allowing them to forecast churn, identify upsell opportunities, and predict payment delays.

Salesforce leveled up its AI integration in 2023 with the introduction of Einstein GPT. This innovation combined the power of public LLMs with proprietary Salesforce CRM data, enabling users to generate custom and personalized emails, call summaries, marketing copy, and knowledge articles. This shift from purely predictive to generative AI was a significant game-changer.

However, generative AI’s true potential is unlocked through interaction, which is where Einstein Copilot, released in 2024, came into play. Copilot serves as the conversational layer, allowing users to interact with the AI, such as asking it to display opportunities based on specific criteria or generate comprehensive reports. Essentially, Einstein GPT acts as the brain, while Copilot provides the voice and hands, making it accessible and actionable.

Now, Agentforce is core to the Salesforce strategy. It is a key part of their messaging, even renaming the platform to Agentforce 360 and embedding Agentforce in everything from developer tools to user-specific solutions, as well as letting people build their own agents. If you’re confused by what Agentforce “is,” you are not alone, since the name is now on many of the Salesforce products. When determining your agent strategy, make sure you’re clear on your business goals, *then* choose the right set of tools.

### **Salesforce AI Evolution at a Glance**

| Layer | Einstein GPT | Einstein Copilot | Agentforce |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Role | Generative AI | Conversation Assistant | Autonomous Agent Platform. |
| Launch | 2023 | 2024 | 2024 (1.0) |
| Focus | Produces content, predictions, insights | Natural-langauge, Q&amp;A, guided actions | Executes workflows, resolves cases, orchestrates across systems |
| User Interaction | Mostly behind the scenes | Direct, user-facing | Often background, monitored via Command Center |
| Strength | The brain | The interface | The operators |
| Example | Drafts a personalized sales email | Allows a rep to ask “draft a thank-you email” | Agent sends the email, updates the record, schedules a follow-up |

Yet, Salesforce wasn’t content with the user still being actively involved in every step. The vision was to go further: to have AI act autonomously, within defined guardrails, to execute insights automatically.

## **Inside the Agent Builder: How Agentforce Actually Works**

This ambition is precisely where Agentforce steps in, leveraging all the data within an organization to power its actions. So how do these agents actually work? The process begins in the Agentforce Builder, where the first step is to define the agent’s purpose. For instance, let’s consider creating a Sales agent to assist customers in purchasing generators at our hypothetical solar company. To get started, we would build a new topic, which we’ll simply call “Sales.”

![](/uploads/wordpress/2026/02/image-8-1024x785.png)

The Agent Builder is a fully-featured environment, allowing for the setting of detailed descriptions and precise scoping of the agent’s operational boundaries. In the initial setup, simply providing “Sales” as the topic prompted Agentforce to automatically complete almost all of the information needed. We can then add specific training data, such as details about generators, to further enhance its understanding.

Every step of this process is customizable, enabling you to fine-tune the agent to perform only what you define and to adhere to specified parameters strictly. This level of granular control is a core strength of Agentforce, ensuring that the autonomous AI functions not as an opaque “black box,” but as a carefully calibrated extension of your business logic.

The ability to customize every detail, from topics to the data it is trained on, to the actions it is allowed to take, is what makes it so powerful. With this new “Sales” Agent we have created, it can interact with a customer, taking their shipping information, answering product-based questions, and processing payments all from a chat window. This enables sales teams to increase volume and allows the highly skilled salespeople to maximize their productivity and profits in ways never seen before.

Setting up an Agent seems incredibly straightforward and downright, almost foolproof, but how do they perform in the real world? Let’s go ahead and use Salesforce’s example to see if an agent provided with the proper information can book me a dinner for two.

![](blob:https://cloudanswers.com/1f032f83-70e2-462b-9efb-3548a58ab1dc)

This agent is going to help our user Jim Halpert book a farm-to-table cooking class.

![](/uploads/wordpress/2026/02/image-9-1024x767.png)

As you can see, the agent is following its instructions by asking for both the member Id and email before proceeding with the conversation. Once I provided that information and said yes, it booked the class for me. However, as you can see, it is not perfect; it failed to provide the cost information to me after explicitly asking for it. The booking does successfully show on the customer record.

On the customer record, we are able to specify the Experience Interests, which Agentforce can use to recommend related events that it thinks the user will like.

![](/uploads/wordpress/2026/02/image-7-1024x920.png)

Using this information, let’s try another test with the Agent, seeing if it can recommend an experience for the customer and book it, using the customer’s interests.

![](/uploads/wordpress/2026/02/image-10-1024x675.png)

As you can see here, the Agent knows that the customer enjoys Cultural Tours and Workshops, Dining Experiences, and Spa &amp; Wellness. Using this information, it was able to suggest a handful of experiences that the customer would be interested in. Once I selected the Spa Retreat, it booked it for me and added that booking to the contact record.

Agentforce Agents are capable, but not perfect; they still need a lot of guidelines and training. As you saw from the first example, it did not pull in the price data, even though I had asked it to.

The reason it failed was that in the instructions, I did not tell it that it had to share pricing information if asked. It’s a great start; ideally, it would be smart enough to do that on its own, but situations like that are things to consider when building out and deploying your own autonomous agents. Another thing to consider is the cost of the agents.

Agentforce’s advertised cost is $125-$550 per user per month, on top of the Data Cloud and implementation costs, which puts you at 50k on the low end for existing users, and well into the 6 figures for new users.

Compare that to the possible cost of implementing your own solution, using APIs and prompt engineering to send data back and forth to an external LLM, and it makes you stop to think about whether the value is really there yet, and if it aligns with the cost.

## **The Verdict: Powerful, Promising, and Still Maturing**

Agentforce represents a genuine leap forward in what’s possible with autonomous AI in the enterprise. The Agent Builder is intuitive, the customization options are extensive, and when properly configured, agents can deliver impressive results.

But “properly configured” is doing a lot of heavy lifting in that sentence. These agents don’t think for themselves—they execute what you explicitly define. Miss an instruction, and you’ll have gaps in functionality and a poor user experience.

The pricing model has improved with Flex Credits, but costs can still climb quickly for enterprise deployments. Make sure you model realistic usage scenarios before committing.

Is Agentforce worth the hype? For the right use cases, absolutely. For others, it might still be an expensive work in progress. The key is understanding exactly what you need and testing thoroughly before going live.

Whether you’re evaluating Agentforce, optimizing your existing Salesforce environment, or need help building out automation,[CloudAnswers can help](/contact). We’ve been a Salesforce partner since 2008, helping clients get more out of their platform through[consulting, apps, and custom development](/products).


Salesforce’s vision for autonomous AI has been years in the making, but Agentforce 360 represents its boldest step yet. From defining agent behavior in the Buil

agentforce-worth-all-of-the-fanfare

Agentforce: Worth all of the Fanfare?

President

1-james-sullivan

James Sullivan

uncategorized

Uncategorized

As we celebrate Report Sender’s **10th anniversary**, we’re thrilled to unveil its most significant upgrade — **[Report Sender Version 2](https://appexchange.salesforce.com/appxListingDetail?listingId=a0N3A00000EJdlFUAT&utm_source=cloudanswers_website&utm_content=blog_rs2_features)**. Designed to streamline your Salesforce reporting process, this new version introduces powerful features like Dynamic Filtering, a Lightning Component, enhanced log files, preview capabilities, and new file format options. Let’s dive into these exciting enhancements and discover how they can save you hours of work and simplify your workflow.

Report Sender Premium is the newest edition of our popular Salesforce application that automates the scheduling and emailing of Salesforce reports. Built with power users in mind, this version offers advanced functionalities that reduce complexity and increase efficiency in managing your reports.

### Dynamic Filtering (Premium Edition)

![](/uploads/wordpress/2024/11/cloudanswers-report-sender-dynamic-filters-1024x576.png)

**Dynamic Filtering** is a game-changing feature that allows you to create multiple customized reports from a single master report. By applying dynamic filters, you can tailor reports for different recipients without the need to create separate reports for each one.

**How It Works:**

- **Apply Any Filter**: Use any filter from your source report to customize the output.
- **Personalized Reports**: For example, filter by Contact Name so each contact receives a report specific to them.
- **Reduce Complexity**: Minimize the number of reports and schedules you need to manage.

**Use Cases:**

- **Client Reporting**: Provide clients with personalized updates without manual intervention.
- **Sales Teams**: Send individual performance reports from one master report to each salesperson.
- **Regional Managers**: Distribute region-specific data without creating multiple reports.

[Install Now](https://appexchange.salesforce.com/appxListingDetail?listingId=a0N3A00000EJdlFUAT&utm_source=cloudanswers_website&utm_content=blog_rs2_features)

### **2. Lightning Component*****(Premium Customers Only)***

![](/uploads/wordpress/2024/11/report-sender-blog-graphic-for-lightning-component-1024x576.png)

The new **Report Sender Lightning Component** integrates seamlessly with **any record page** for objects used as a recipient. This means you (or your end users) can view, add, or remove dynamically filtered schedules directly from a record page without navigating away from your current workflow.

**Benefits:**

- **Quick Access**: Manage report schedules from the Account, Contact, or any custom object page.
- **Efficiency**: Save time by not switching between different parts of Salesforce.
- **Real-Time Updates**: Instantly add stakeholders to report schedules as you review records.

[Install Now](https://appexchange.salesforce.com/appxListingDetail?listingId=a0N3A00000EJdlFUAT&utm_source=cloudanswers_website&utm_content=blog_rs2_features)

### **3. Enhanced Log Files*****(All Users)***

Understanding what’s happening behind the scenes is crucial. We’ve overhauled the logging system to make it more accessible and informative.

![](/uploads/wordpress/2024/11/report-sender-v2-blog-log-files-1024x576.png)

**What’s New:**

- **Dashboard Viewing**: Logs are now viewable directly from the dashboard.
- **Critical Information**: See Status, Error Messages, and Log File Names at a glance.
- **File Storage**: Log details are now stored in Files, following Salesforce’s recommendation to move away from Attachments.

[Install Now](https://appexchange.salesforce.com/appxListingDetail?listingId=a0N3A00000EJdlFUAT&utm_source=cloudanswers_website&utm_content=blog_rs2_features)

### **4. Preview Report Schedules*****(All Users)***

No more adjusting recipients just to test your report schedules. The new preview feature allows you to send test reports to any email address.

![](/uploads/wordpress/2024/11/report-sender-v2-blog-preview-send-1024x576.png)

**Advantages:**

- **Easy Testing**: Verify that your reports look correct before sending them out.
- **Dynamic Filtering Verification**: Ensure that your dynamic filters are set up properly and recipients receive the correct data.
- **Confidence**: Reduce errors by previewing reports in real-world scenarios.

[Install Now](https://appexchange.salesforce.com/appxListingDetail?listingId=a0N3A00000EJdlFUAT&utm_source=cloudanswers_website&utm_content=blog_rs2_features)

### **5. New File Format Options*****(Plus and Premium Users)***

V2 includes added support for new file formats to give you more flexibility in how you present your data.

![](/uploads/wordpress/2024/11/report-sender-v2-blog-log-files-1-1024x576.png)

#### **Additions:**

- **Details Only XLSX**: Leverage Salesforce’s new API format for cleaner, more detailed Excel reports.
- **International and legacy system support**: Change file encoding directly from the report schedule to support special characters, multiple languages, and file formats used by old legacy systems who have not updated to UTF-8.

[Install Now](https://appexchange.salesforce.com/appxListingDetail?listingId=a0N3A00000EJdlFUAT&utm_source=cloudanswers_website&utm_content=blog_rs2_features)

### **Why Upgrade to Report Sender Premium?**

Upgrading to Report Sender Premium means unlocking features that significantly enhance your reporting capabilities:

- **Save Time**: Dynamic Filtering and the Lightning Component streamline your workflow.
- **Reduce Complexity**: Manage fewer reports and schedules while delivering more personalized content.
- **Enhance Communication**: New file formats and encoding options make your reports more accessible and professional.
- **Improve Oversight**: Enhanced logs and preview features give you better control over your reporting process.

### **Getting Started with Report Sender Premium**

1. **Start Your Free Trial**: We offer a 30-day free trial with no credit card required.
2. **Install the App**: Visit the Salesforce AppExchange to install Report Sender Premium. Existing users can try it out in a sandbox.
3. **Configure Your Settings**: Set up dynamic filters, schedule reports, and customize your preferences.
4. **Integrate the Lightning Component**: Add the component to your record pages for easy access.
5. **Preview and Launch**: Test your reports with the new preview feature before rolling them out.

[Install Now](https://appexchange.salesforce.com/appxListingDetail?listingId=a0N3A00000EJdlFUAT&utm_source=cloudanswers_website&utm_content=blog_rs2_features)

### **That’s All, Folks!**

[Report Sender Premium](https://appexchange.salesforce.com/appxListingDetail?listingId=a0N3A00000EJdlFUAT&utm_source=cloudanswers_website&utm_content=blog_rs2_features) is our most powerful and user-friendly version yet. Whether you’re a sales manager needing individualized reports for your team or a global company requiring multi-language support, this upgrade is designed to revolutionize your reporting process.

**Don’t miss out on this opportunity to elevate your workflow. Try [Report Sender Premium](https://appexchange.salesforce.com/appxListingDetail?listingId=a0N3A00000EJdlFUAT&utm_source=cloudanswers_website&utm_content=blog_rs2_features) today and experience the future of Salesforce reporting.**

**If you’re an existing user and want to learn more or upgrade,**[**schedule a time with us**](https://cloudanswers.dev/meetings/cloudanswers/cloudanswers-sales)**to discuss your needs and get a quote.**

---

*For more information,*[*contact us*](/contact)*or*[*schedule a time to talk*](https://cloudanswers.dev/meetings/cloudanswers/cloudanswers-sales)*.*


As we celebrate Report Sender’s 10th anniversary, we’re thrilled to unveil its…

report-sender-version-2-a-major-upgrade-for-salesforce-users

Report Sender Version 2: A Major Upgrade for Salesforce Users

cloudanswers

CloudAnswers

**Marketing** is about establishing objectives and delivering tangible outcomes, not simply flashy advertising and amusing commercials. A campaign may provide quantifiable indications of such results, but only if it is well-designed. The initial step is to define a set of objectives.

Some important reasons for creating campaigns are attracting new consumers, improving brand loyalty and repeat business, boosting average sales, or offering new products and services to your customer.

Determine what you can do to advance your company and set specific objectives based on your findings. The more precise you can be (rather than, say, declaring a goal to improve profit), the easier it will be to quantify, initiate, and track the campaign's performance

Planning a marketing campaign may be daunting. However, delivering a consistent message across various platforms to reach your target demographic could even be more tasking. The truth is that without a well-thought-out plan and established procedures, it may rapidly devolve into a disorganized jumble. But it does not have to go that way. Here are some simple tactics to make it easier.

## **Decide what you're going to promote**.

Every marketing effort promotes a product or service. You don't have to scratch your brain to come up with a marketing strategy since you can work something out with the team.

Businesses often conduct **marketing campaigns** to promote a new product, feature, or service, as well as a resource (such as a blog post, webinar, or video) or a brand message. It's the most straightforward aspect of your marketing strategy, but it's also the most crucial.

## **Create a campaign concept or theme - brainstorm ideas with your team.**

Your **marketing strategy** should have an overall theme that binds everything together, even if you know what you're advertising. How do you come up with a campaign theme or a campaign idea? Make sure you know what you're going to promote.

* What message will your campaign go out into the world?
* Is there a new feature in the product?
* Is there a new subscription pricing plan in the works?

Use the checklist to ensure you don't forget anything throughout the preparation phase.

Consider your target audience's interests and problems. What issues do they have, and what would pique their interest?

## **Create Marketing Channels - Make a list of what you'll need to make for each channel.**

You have a clearer picture of what you aim to accomplish at this point. You've identified the consumers you want to target and created a message to appeal to them. It would be best if you now chose how and where your marketing messages will be delivered.

In real life, this involves understanding where to produce and distribute information so that your target audience can see it.

* Are there any media outlets where you've had a lot of success in the past Examine previous data and go to locations where you know your folks are.
* Do you have any channels where you need to grow your audience? It may be beneficial to design campaigns around weak channels with great potential to develop better resources for your brand.
* Are there any resource or time constraints? Suppose you don't have a budget for a TV commercial, a social media campaign, or a magazine ad. In that case, you'll have to limit your options. Keep both your human and financial budgets in check.

## **Set campaign goals**

Creating content just for the sake of creating it is a waste of time and money. Suppose you want your business to maintain a positive cash flow. In that case, you need to demonstrate that your efforts are producing measurable results. The best way is to meet or exceed campaign goals.

## **Use a marketing calendar to plan out the execution of your campaign.**

There are plenty of essential elements in a marketing effort. If you depend on your mental capacity to keep track of what's going on, you'll never be able to keep up. Consider it your all-in-one project management solution for developing, planning, and executing marketing campaigns, and not only.

It is vital to note that the [**Salesforce**](http://www.salesforce.com) CMS, which is a part of Marketing Cloud, may come in handy when you use a marketing calendar for your campaign. Salesforce CMS serves as the respiratory organ of your business, making it easier for multiple team members to access any file you need for the campaign.

![](/uploads/schedule-table-event-planner-concept.jpg)

The Salesforce Content Management System (CMS) is used to store and retrieve documents, pictures, videos, knowledge articles, and more. It's now integrated into many aspects of the Salesforce user experience, particularly in the **[Content **Builde**](https://trailhead.salesforce.com/en/content/learn/trails/create-compelling-content-with-content-builder)****r**Additionally, if you track the campaign start and end dates in Salesforce, we developed a tool that makes marketing teams easier **work with the** [**marketing calendar.**](https://appexchange.salesforce.com/appxListingDetail?listingId=a0N30000003Io4WEAS&utm_source=cloudanswers_website&utm_medium=blog&utm_campaign=marketing_campaigns_how_to) It's as if you're sharing your mind with your colleagues.

## **Creating campaign reports**

Now that you know how to reach your campaign goals, you should also know that creating campaign reports is part of the concept. A good campaign report provides all of the information you need to make an informed choice and take action. The quantity of data you have is typically less than the amount of information you need to make a choice. To put it in another way, there's no need to include everything in the report.

Luckily, since the [**marketing calendar**](/marketing-calendar/) gives an overview of your campaigns, you can get one planning report quickly. Then use other reports to create a method to visualize the data for easy understanding. Visualizing data usually entails converting raw data (numbers) into graphs or charts. Pictures tell a thousand stories, and diagrams make tons of points. You can put all these charts together into a dashboard to give you one place to go to understand campaign effectiveness - a great starting point when discussing campaigns in meetings.

These reports aim to give all of the data necessary to determine the effectiveness of campaigns in a timely way. You undermine the point of reporting in the first place if you spend hours each week producing and updating them. Your reporting procedure should, ideally, be as automatic as feasible. Even though your Salesforce generally comes with report types that make it easier, you may consider the [report sender app](https://appexchange.salesforce.com/appxListingDetail?listingId=a0N30000000pvspEAA&utm_source=cloudanswers_website&utm_medium=blog&utm_campaign=marketing_campaigns_how_to) for sharing the data with other team members. It allows you to send the report to Salesforce and non-Salesforce users in an excel file.

Marketing is about establishing objectives and delivering tangible outcomes, not simply flashy advertising and amusing commercials. A campaign may provide quantifiable indications of such results, but only if it is well-designed. The initial step is to define a set of objectives. 

marketing-campaigns-how-to-plan-execute-and-report

Marketing campaigns - how to plan, execute and report


Technology has changed the approach to daily living. One of the main areas it has significantly impacted is e-commerce across the globe. Business has moved from a more physical exchange of goods and services to online sales where you can summon any product at your fingertips, and get it delivered conveniently and reliably. 

According to a [recent study](https://blogs.adobe.com/digitaleurope/digital-marketing/the-adobe-2016-digital-trends-report/), many customers believe that the changes noted in the past few years have changed the history of eCommerce. Indeed, this transformation has taken a dramatic turn since Covid-19 hit the World. Even companies like [Defcon sauces and Kintec Finds](https://www.bigcommerce.com/blog/offline-to-online-business-advice-digital-transformation/#defcon-brings-the-heat-to-their-online-store) took to a digital transformation to expand their reach.

While this article provides valuable tips for effective online sales, here are some ways eCommerce is changing the World one website per time; 

## **Ecommerce strategy**

- **Mobile friendly purchase:** A recent study found that [mobile users](https://techcrunch.com/2017/03/03/u-s-consumers-now-spend-5-hours-per-day-on-mobile-devices/) spend an average of 5 hours daily on their phones. Therefore, they are more likely to use their phones for purchase instead of heading to a store. This approach provides accessibility and availability while allowing the consumer to browse through several products simultaneously.
- **Voice commerce**\- eCommerce has opened the door to voice interaction so that you can ask your digital assistant to make an order for you. Amazon Alexa, Google phones, and Microsoft Cortana are in this category.

## **Ecommerce software and tools**

In 2019, e-commerce hit $547 billion in the US alone. By [2020](https://www.census.gov/retail/mrts/www/data/pdf/ec_current.pdf), it reached $791.7 billion. There is no doubt that it is a lucrative venture. However, running an eCommerce business comes with much competition. For effective online sales, consider using e-commerce tools. 

These tools help automate and simplify every task about your business. They help your management time, customers, and yourself effectively.

## **What are the best e-commerce tools?**

1. ### **Customer Relationship Management software**
    

CRM ensures efficient interaction with customers and consumers to maximize profits. Since the tools in this category gather data from several channels, detailed purchase information helps you understand customer behavior.

[Salesforce](http://www.salesforce.com), a brand dedicated to bringing customers and businesses together through cloud-based solutions, has the tools that could help you.

2. ### **Online stores**
    

In a booming industry like eCommerce, several online eCommerce platforms are setting the pace. Since there are a number of platforms, it is essential to consider fees, technical skills, logistics, mobile-friendliness, and many other factors before you choose one.

- **Shopify:** an all-in-one solution for eCommerce startups. It is shopping made easy for everyone. Luckily they support third-party marketplaces, social media sales, and POS software. One of the reasons Shopify stands out is its versatility and accessibility on mobile devices. It has three payment plans; basic ($29 monthly), Shopify ($79 per month), and advanced ($299 per month). Again, with the BuildFire tool, you can build a Shopify mobile app for your business.
- **BigCommerce**: since its inception till date, this platform has processed over $25 billion in sales. It is presently used in over 120 countries in the World, and it comes with pre-loaded features. Furthermore, it has exceptional inventory management, SEO, and conversion tools. You are also sure of responsive customer support on a 24-hour basis. B2B favors the platform because it provides enterprise-grade solutions. With $29.95, $79.95, and $299.95 per month, you can enjoy the standard, plus, and pro plans, respectively.

3. ### **Delivery experience**
    

According to a report by [BizReport](http://www.bizreport.com/2015/06/77-of-online-shoppers-say-free-shipping-most-important-optio.html), 77% of online shoppers prefer to choose free shipping for their purchases. Therefore, it is clear that unreasonably high shipping costs may turn customers off, causing them to leave their carts. It may potentially reduce conversion rates. So, it is best if you considered low shipping costs, a good return policy, fast delivery, and periodical sales.

4. ### **Marketing**
    

- **SEO and SEM**\- online sellers never finish it all in their businesses. They continue to optimize things until its better. Therefore, you should consider this. You want to be sure your business is visible. The best way to ensure this is to have a solid content plan and employ SEO and SEM. 
- Build a trusted brand- a picture is worth a thousand words. It is valid for online sales. To provide value by staying true to what you promise. Consider testimonials and rewards for referrals.
- **Email marketing**\- marketing will always be vital for online businesses, so you want to stay with it. Email marketing is a personalized approach that helps you keep in touch with existing customers while providing them with information. Also, consider affiliate marketing with influencers on Social Media platforms. These guys get your active business engagement for the right price. You might consider featuring your brand in their posts too. 
- **User recommendation** (sharing buttons, testimonials on the website)- referrals and recommendations are a traditional but effective way to increase your online sales. Potential customers are more likely to trust you more when they have heard good things about you. Also, encouraging customers to click your sharing button on social media helps you reach more people. 
- **Ads-** ads increase visibility and help funnel your audience. They raise awareness of your product and ultimately improve the traffic on your website. These help sales and conversions. 
- **Study the data-** knowing what your audience thinks of your business goes a long way in improving their experience. Google Analytics and other available on the market analytic tools help you to keep optimizing your shopping experience. 

## **Wrapping it up**

There are several effective ways to improve your online sales. Technology has come to stay, and it will continue to make life easier for you and your customers.

Technology has changed the approach to daily living. One of the main areas it has significantly impacted is e-commerce across the globe.

tips-for-effective-online-sales

Tips for effective online sales

Following gut feeling is not the way to measure organization performance and it takes a lot more than that to run a successful business. What you need is a deep analysis of the sales, marketing, support, and financial results. And the only way to achieve it is to track **relevant operational metrics**.

The three departments that are most associated with the influence of [**CRM systems,**](https://www.salesforce.com/) utilize a whole range of different operational metrics to measure their related performance. By department, these include:

## SALES

- Number of prospects
- Number of new customers
- Number of retained customers
- Close rate
- Renewal rate
- Number of sales calls made
- Number of sales calls per opportunity
- Amount of new revenue
- Number of open opportunities
- Sales stage duration
- Sales cycle duration
- Number of proposals given

## MARKETING

- Number of campaigns
- Number of campaign responses
- Number of campaign purchases
- Revenue generated by the campaign
- Number of new customers acquired by campaign
- Number of customer referrals
- Number of web page views
- User goal completion rate on the web
- Time per website visit
- Customer lifetime value
- Cross-sell ratio
- Up-sell ratio
- Email list growth rate

## SERVICE

- Number of cases handled
- Number of cases closed the same day
- Average time to resolution
- The average number of service calls per day
- Complaint time to resolution
- Number of customer callbacks
- Average service cost per service interaction
- Percentage compliance with SLAs
- Calls lost before being answered
- Average call handling time

### **Operational metrics** are worth implementing in all areas.

In addition, to these more traditional operational metrics, recent years have seen businesses expand their measurements outside of the strict business metrics. These are specifically incorporating Voice of the Customer feedback like customer satisfaction net promoter score, customer loyalty, social media metrics like sentiment, influence, reach but also Project Management, Innovation and Leadership.

### **Because using data to evaluate what is working and what isn’t is a very valuable management process.**

And it is still a habit that is used too less. It can play a giant role in identifying and tracking the progress of organizational goals and identifying opportunities for improvement. That is an important step in formulating business direction and reducing declines in business performance.

Check also:

[How to calculate Annual Recurring Revenue and Monthly Recurring Revenue](https://cloudanswers.com/how-to-calculate-annual-reporting-revenue-and-monthly-reporting-revenue/)

#### Trusted and reliable Salesforce partner. Your support and help in Salesforce CRM implementation with all functions that your business requires. **Get in touch!**

Operational metrics are key performance indicators that display a measurable value that shows what's going on in the business in real-time.

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What operational metrics should you measure?

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For Administrators


Email: The easiest way to either a high marketing ROI or the easiest way to ruin someone’s day. [According to a survey ran by Crain BtoB Magazine](http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/survey-shows-many-marketers-are-behind-in-use-of-data-targeting-and-measurement-143303436.html), 59% of marketers say that email is the highest revenue generation channel in their company. However, over 50% of people who receive subscription based emails unsubscribe because they never expected communication from the company.

Even if you have a loyal subscriber list to your content, there may be other factors in the way of your email marketing. These other factors can be summarized into one general issue: technical optimization. Emails are much more than sending awesome copy and a great content offer, they have several other properties that affect how they are sent, where they will get sent, and even the first impression people make of them in their inbox!

Luckily, we have a prescription if you think you’re suffering from the ailments of poor technical email practices:

**Your Email Technical Prescription:**

1. One verified sender to email from — If you’re using a CRM or marketing automation software for email campaigns, that’s great! BUT… you have to make sure you have a verified sender in that software. Using the default sender tools in CRMs will insert a @company.image: /uploads/.com at the end of your sender line! Your recipients will immediately know that you’re sending an automated email, which can lead to unsubscribes and unopened emails. There is a cure though! Just make sure you have a dedicated email address, and verify it through your CRM! Not only will you agree to be compliant with CAN-SPAM law, but your subscribers will feel as if a person is sending over the content they love!
2. KISS: Keep it Sweet and Simple (for subject lines and preview text) — So you’ve made a killer subject line, your preview text does a great job describing your content, but when you send the email it cuts off. Generally, you want to aim for 50 or so characters when writing subject lines! Hopefully you tweet a lot because 140 characters is tough enough, but 50 is less than half of that! Meeting this challenge creates a simple but effective outcome: your subject lines and preview texts can be fully read without needing another click. This also ties into our next item…
3. Optimize for mobile devices always! — Did you know that almost 80% of email recipients open email on their mobile device! Yes, you’re reading that correctly! Over the last five years, email opens have greatly shifted from desktop to mobile! Hence why we say optimize your emails for mobile always! Those short but sweet subjects? Already optimized for mobile and desktop! CTAs? Make your CTA a square button to perfectly accommodate mobile screens! Always test your templates and see what they look like on phone screens. Apple Mail dominates mobile opens (over 55%!) because they integrate with every client. Now another nice transition (two for two) as clients are hugely important in technical optimization…
4. Make sure your emails are viewable in any email client! — There is an ongoing argument about HTML vs. plain text and which one is better. While most subscribers (people who have already dedicated their time to see your content) wish to see HTML emails from companies, colder leads are generally more inviting to plain-text. However, there are even people who still use basic clients that can ONLY VIEW PLAIN TEXT! So what do you do? Make an HTML and plain-text version of course! This increases not only how many emails you are able to send, but also allows “client-challenged” email users to view your content!

If you use CRM software or similar tools, you should be in great shape to use technical features of email marketing to your advantage! And as always, make sure to double up on CloudAid prescriptions to supercharge your CRM/marketing automation!


Email: The easiest way to either a high marke...

the-four-technical-supplements-that-will-help-your-email-open-rates-reach-peak-performance

The four technical supplements that will help your email open rates reach peak performance


You operate or work within a medium-sized business. Over the last few months, you and the team have created some great marketing content. You’ve been sharing it and seeing conversions like crazy… at first. But now you notice that all these great inbound leads have started to disengage from your business. The content is still great. The pathways are still open, but it’s as if customers are “window shopping.”

Don’t fret! All this means is that your business is now ready for a shiny new Lead Management program.

Lead Management, or “Lead Nurturing,” is the process of qualifying inbound leads by educating them with resources, and building trust with them until they’re ready to buy. A lot of salespeople and marketers think that once a lead subscribes to a blog, or downloads a piece of content, they’re ready to buy. Not the case. In fact according to SiriusDecisions, 98% of Marketing Qualified Leads (MQLs) don’t result in a closed deal or business. This is where Lead Management/Nurturing comes in. Let your consumers and prospects teach themselves and get more comfortable with what you’re selling.

**Reported Symptoms of Effective Lead Management:**

- Leads who are effectively nurtured produce a 20% increase in sales opportunities. (Source: DemandGen)
- Effective lead nurturing generates 50% more sales-ready leads at a 33% lower cost. (Source: DemandGen)
- Nurtured leads make 47% larger purchases than non-nurtured leads. (Source: The Annuitas Group)
- Relevant emails drive 18 times more revenue than broadcast emails. (Source: Juniper Research)
- 82% of prospects say lead nurturing content targeted to their specific industry is more valuable. (Source: MarketingSherpa)

Before you break into a cold sweat thinking that Lead Management is unattainable, don't worry. Have comfort in knowing that anyone can build an effective Lead Management Program. Here is your CloudAnswers Prescription to get started:

**Your Lead Management Program Prescription:**

- A (single) designated strategy

Lead Nurturing begins with making sure you have a clear objective in mind. Are you looking to engage with new inbound leads through generally useful resources, or are you providing educational awareness about why your solution helps them? Make sure you define lead engagement and lead education. For example: if your business resonates with the story at the beginning, you’ll now start to educate your inbound leads.

- Content that is relevant to your Nurturing Strategy

You've decided on your strategy, awesome! Now it’s time to build content around that goal. Keep your content simple and easy to read. Especially if your leads are just learning about your brand and products. Keep content relevant and useful to whatever stage they’re at in the buying process. If you’re executing on an engagement strategy, make sure you’re resonating with the same ideas and interests as your leads.

- Organize and Analyze with Technology

You know what you’re trying to attain with your lead nurturing, you have the proper content, now you just need the tools to catalogue your leads and measure your inbound activity. This is where CRMs like Salesforce and Marketing Automation tools like Marketo or HubSpot come in. These help automate your marketing campaigns and identify behavioral trends of your inbound leads.

Once you’re read to launch your Lead Management operation, get your team on the same page. Make absolutely sure that Sales and Marketing are aligned. This is critical in identifying leads that are ready to consider purchasing decisions. Have an expert take a look at your CRM. Have that expert properly organize leads, and fully optimize marketing activities.

Implement Lead Nurturing to turn your Pipeline from sickly to sprightly. You’ll thank yourself later once you do it.


You operate or work within a medium-sized bus...

lead-nurturing-checklist

Lead Nurturing Checklist

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