Salesforce Connections 23: Key Insights

Salesforce Connections’23 just got over in Chicago, but the energy is still lingering.

Salesforce events are always a blast and have something unique that spells magic and collaboration staying true to the core values of Salesforce Ohana.

HIC Global Solutions was in attendance and witnessed two amazing days of fun, learning, and ambitious innovations.

This year, the spotlight was on AI, particularly generative AI, as Salesforce brings its power to every cloud.

The future looks promising as generative AI takes center stage and the significance of generative AI in the marketing realm is clearly evident from data collected in Salesforce’s Generative AI Snapshot Research Series.

Salesforce shapes up the Future of Generative AI

According to the finding of the Salesforce research,

51%of the respondents are currently using generative AI, with an additional 22% planning to adopt it soon.
53% of marketers believe generative AI is a game-changer.
71% believe it will eliminate mundane tasks and free up time for more strategic work

but still, 34% do not know to utilize AI in their work while 39% of marketers are unsure about the safe utilization of generative AI.

At Connection, Salesforce announced that it aims to enable every brand, company, and user to easily embrace and adapt to these transformative technologies.

Key Takeaways from Connections 23

Though there were many engaging breakout sessions and hands-on workshops that provided industry insights and strategies, the real highlights were the opening keynote session and the announcements that followed.

Here is a quick glimpse of the key highlights of the event

Keynote session

The opening keynote at Salesforce Connections ’23 was delivered by Sarah Franklin, EVP and GM of Platform, Trailhead, and AppExchange at Salesforce.

During the keynote, Franklin emphasized the importance of AI in the future of marketing, stating that “AI is the new UI.” She discussed how AI can help marketers create more personalized and engaging experiences for their customers, and how Salesforce is leveraging AI to help marketers achieve their goals.

Simply put, the keynote highlighted the role of AI in the future of marketing and how Salesforce is leading the way in this area.

Marketing Cloud Announcements

Salesforce announced Marketing GPT, a speedy AI assistant for marketers to create emails, build campaigns and create personalized moments across every touch point with the power of generative AI.

Some of the key new features of Marketing GPT include:

1. Faster Segment Creation:

Data Cloud’s prompts in natural language and recommendations driven by AI allow marketers to quickly create audience segments and this boost targeting.

2. Automate Email Content generation:

This feature can generate personalized emails automatically for better testing and engagement, reducing the writing workload for marketers.

3. Segment Intelligence for Data Cloud

With this feature, marketers are able to get a more comprehensive view of audience engagement, including revenue data, social media data, and third-party paid media data.

4. Faster Identification of Resolution, Segmentation, and Engagement:

With the automatic resolution of customer identities and refreshing segments in Data Cloudmarkertes can send the right message to the customer just at the apt time.

5. Typeface’s generative AI content platform:

Based on a definite brand voice, style guides, and messaging, marketers can create relevant visual assets for campaigns running on multi-channel within Marketing GPT.

Announcements for Commerce Cloud

Announcing Commerce GPT, Salesforce made five major innovations for Commerce Cloud at Connections 2023, combining the power of AI, data, and CRM.

Here’s a breakdown of the key features:

1. Data Cloud for Commerce

From online and in-store sources, this feature automates data mapping of product, order, fulfillment, and customer information.

2. Einstein GPT for Commerce

Under this umbrella, there are three features:

Einstein GPT Product Descriptions
Einstein GPT Promotions
Einstein GPT Commerce Concierge.

3. Embedded commerce apps for CRM

CRM interactions are transformed into commerce opportunities by these features. They include:

Reorder Portal
Order Support
Pay Now

4. Composable Commerce and Hybrid Templates:

The Composable Storefront package has been upgraded with improved Page Designer support and version 3.0 of the PWA Kit, making it more efficient for developers.

5. Social Commerce

TikTok, Snapchat, Google, and Instagram are just a few of the social commerce platforms integrating Salesforce solutions to boost sales and enhance loyalty. Social Commerce integration for Google is already accessible.