Salesforce Experience Cloud for Financial Services | Complete Knowledge Base
Salesforce Experience Cloud, previously called Community Cloud, allows financial service teams to build custom online communities and portals branded to their unique web project requirements.
When financial firms or banks create these types of projects, they provide seamless and connected content across all communication channels, which clients learn to trust.
Web portals created with Salesforce Experience Cloud ensure that everyone interacting with your brand can engage in seamless financial self-service and access relevant resources from anywhere in the world.
So, if your financial firm is looking to extend digital experiences with portals or web projects that have self-service, customer support, knowledge bases, and other client engagement options, follow our guide below. We explore Experience Cloud and the leading alternatives to Salesforce Experience Cloud in the financial services market.
What is Experience Cloud in Salesforce Financial Services Cloud?
It’s a cloud-based customer experience platform, previously known as Salesforce Community Cloud. Integrating seamlessly with Salesforce Financial Services Cloud, Experience Cloud helps financial organizations with creating secure online portals and communities for its clients to visit.
Financial firms can securely display and share all the content they want about products and services to clients, employees, and even partners with Experience Cloud at their disposal.
There are many reasons why you might want to take this approach too and a common one for many financial firms is that articles, guides, and forums hosted on portals help clients troubleshoot any product or service issues that arise immediately and independently.
Since Experience Cloud is a premium Salesforce product, you can also trust that it integrates exceptionally well with your Customer Relationship Management (CRM) platform to enjoy all your usual tech benefits.
The Difference between Experience Cloud and Salesforce Site for Financial Service Admins
If you need financial service projects that do not require clients to log into a portal with a username and password to access content, then you need a Salesforce Site.
With Salesforce Site, a financial service admin can build public websites or apps for any visitor to access without a username or password. As Salesforce Site is a product of Salesforce, you can trust that it integrates well with your CRM platform and the other products provided in the system.
Many financial firms use Salesforce Site to create branded websites that display content they want to share with the public.
Exploring Salesforce Community Cloud Limitations in Financial Services
And now it’s time for an explanation of Experience Cloud Vs. Community Cloud. Before it became Experience Cloud, this product was known as Salesforce Community Cloud.
Salesforce Community enabled financial firms to create online communities for their products. While this was a great way for financial firms to offer personalized recommendations, resolve cases, collaborate with their community, and offer branded experiences, this product was still limited.
The biggest restriction was that Salesforce Community Cloud didn’t encompass a full range of digital capabilities, namely empowering financial firms to build web apps and portals. Here are a few more examples:
- Although Community Cloud provides pre-built templates to start working on your web projects immediately, understand that you don’t get very many, and they do not cater to every financial service use case.
- If you are not using coding languages to develop financial service web projects, then you will find you do not have real-time input validations. This means that you must click on the Save button in your projects.
- The biggest con of Community Cloud is that it only enables you to build online communities. This software doesn’t permit the creation of custom web apps and self-service portals for financial services.
- Full customization of communities is impossible without coding and development. This puts strain on the go-to-market dates and budget of financial firms.
- To overcome some of these issues, Community Cloud was rebranded as Experience Cloud in the Spring ’21 Salesforce Release.
Features of Salesforce Experience Cloud Relevant to Financial Services
Let’s check out some of the most powerful Experience Cloud features that are most beneficial to financial firms:
- Lightning Bolt solutions are available on the Salesforce AppExchange marketplace. Some of them are even FREE to use!
- It plays well with other third-party applications and digital cloud tools on the Salesforce AppExchange.
- Financial firms get to access Customer 360 Salesforce data to integrate into their Experience Cloud web projects.
- Access to pre-built templates so you don’t have to start designing your projects from scratch.
- Use Experience Cloud’s drag-and-drop builder to create and customize web projects with no code.
- Experience Cloud has custom theme options for you to create a design that matches the brand of your financial firm.
- Experience Cloud has version management capabilities to track the progress of your web projects.
- You can deploy your web projects on mobile devices.
Experience Cloud Pricing for Financial Service Budgeting
While Experience Cloud is an innovative product, it does come with a considerable price tag:
Self-service:
- Customer Community, which starts at $2 per login or $5 per member.
- Customer Community Plus, which starts at $6 per login or $15 per member.
Partner Relationship Management:
- This edition starts at $10 per login or $25 per member.
External Apps:
- This edition starts at $15 per login or $35 per member.
Salesforce Content Management System:
- This solution is included in Experience Cloud purchases. Quotes are customized and you will need to reach out to Salesforce directly for more information.
As you can see, the cost of Experience Cloud can add up quickly depending on how many logins or members your financial firm needs for its portal. Before purchasing this product, make sure you have the budget to scale up.
For example, if you need 300 members of Customer Community Plus, this will cost you $4500. If you are a larger financial services enterprise, this will nowhere near cover the number of members you need. Imagine paying $30,000 for 2000 members of the same portal. This is a serious expense.
Salesforce Experience Cloud Examples for Financial Service Use Cases
Now that we know the limitations and features of Experience Cloud, it’s time to kick off with some financial service use cases. Whether you work at a business-to-consumer (B2C) or a business-to-business (B2B) financial service institution, many use cases can be explored to see how Experience Cloud can be maximized to improve client experiences and interactions.
Customer Community for Salesforce Financial Services Cloud
Many financial service firms create portals with Experience Cloud to get a customer community solution. These client portals empower users to conveniently access self-service options 24/7.
Almost any financial service organization can benefit from a client portal. Common business types that already have customer portals include banks, investment firms, and insurance providers.
Financial Services: Online Banking Portals
Online banking portals are like customer self-service portals and can be created with Salesforce Experience Cloud.
A Salesforce online banking portal is a solid choice if you want to provide clients with self-service options that include access to managing accounts, transferring money, and the option to pay their bills, to name a few.
Partner Portals for Financial Firms
Many financial firms collaborate on joint projects to reach a broader target audience and increase revenue. Creating a partner portal with Salesforce is super beneficial to successfully transfer information and keep all parties up to date. A Salesforce partner portal allows your employees and partners to collaborate seamlessly on ventures and instantly share data related to leads, opportunities, and other client-related information.
Having access to the latest Salesforce data at all times helps financial advisors be more confident with clients, especially when they need to make decisions in real-time. We are all aware that market conditions are constantly changing, therefore it is very beneficial for financial advisors to view Salesforce data 24/7. This feature alone empowers them to adjust their strategies when required.
Financial Services: Employee Experience Platform
You can also use Experience Cloud for internal business projects, such as building an employee portal.
An employee portal is an excellent tool for workers to access and update their details independently when they change. Financial firms could also supply payroll information on the employee portal to make it easier for staff to track and print out pay slips.
Many financial firms use employee portals to track leave and ask their workers to submit requests through the system. More than just the basics, you could revamp your employee portal. Try displaying your financial firm’s documents on the portal or add a Salesforce collaboration group for employees to engage and participate in training programs.
Salesforce Knowledge Management: Financial Services Knowledge Base Portal
A Salesforce knowledge base portal is an excellent space to upload any documentation, resources, or information related to the products and services of your financial firm.
Financial institutions often upload articles, tutorials, how-to guides, and troubleshooting content to their Salesforce knowledge base. Clients can then easily access these resources to learn more about a product or service and use them to resolve issues independently.
Another solution for allowing clients to quickly access your support and services can be achieved through a Salesforce Help Portal. You can create this solution with the support of Experience Cloud.
Salesforce Event and Training Management for Financial Firms
Experience Cloud can be used to create portals for Salesforce event management. Adding groups to a portal with Salesforce for event management helps organizers streamline financial service processes that include registering guests, creating schedules, or managing communication channels that discuss guest requirements for training sessions, conferences, and other types of occasions.
Salesforce Feedback and Ideas Exchange for Financial Services Cloud
Financial firms that need feedback from employees, customers, or partners will find creating a feedback and ideas exchange portal quite valuable. The portal can be used as a Salesforce feedback management solution to upload surveys if required.
Clients, employees, or partners logged into the feedback and ideas exchange portal can fill out the surveys with their opinions and submit them back to the financial firm.
Financial firms could also add a group to the Salesforce idea exchange and feedback portal to gather innovative ideas from employees. It is a good way to let logged-in users join conversations and share thoughts on raised topics.
Salesforce Case Management for Financial Services
A client management portal can be created as a solution for Salesforce case management in the financial services industry.
If your financial firm were to implement a client management portal, your support teams would be able to track queries that are logged from the portal directly in Salesforce.
Additionally, financial service managers can track the resolution times of client queries through the portal, which can then be analyzed to improve case management and Salesforce strategies.
Financial Services: Customer Onboarding
Financial firms that want their new clients to have positive experiences focus on Salesforce customer onboarding strategies. One of the strategies to start with is to create a Salesforce portal to streamline all the processes during onboarding, such as registering clients to schemes or allowing them to submit documents online.
Experience Cloud for Sales Enablement in Financial Services
A Salesforce sales enablement portal serves your sales team in a financial firm the most. It can help by providing a digital space to host your resources, tools, or any information that can help your sales agents interact with leads and clients. These resources are vital since they can be referenced anytime during the sales process.
A portal for sales enablement in Salesforce can also help as a central location for training, onboarding, and certifications for your sales staff. And these resources don’t have to be uploaded as documents. With Salesforce Experience Cloud, you can upload quizzes and training videos to engage your sales staff in the latest selling skills.
Salesforce Financial Services Cloud: E-commerce Integration
To make the most out of client data, financial firms could establish a Salesforce e-commerce integration to their portal.
A customer portal designed for financial services can allow logged-in users to view their personal details, check out financial statements, purchase insurance policies, and pay for financial products.
Creating an e-commerce integration with Salesforce from your customer portal will ensure that all edits from clients are pushed to Salesforce automatically to eliminate any manual data entry for your employees.
Salesforce Customer Experience Platform Alternatives for Financial Firms
As outstanding as Experience Cloud is at providing Salesforce Financial Service Cloud solutions that meet client expectations for the latest and most current content that is available 24/7, it is not the only platform that exists to offer these benefits.
We earlier discussed the limitations of the cloud experience as a customer experience portal solution, and these may resonate with your financial service teams.
If you are interested in finding out about other reliable platforms on the market that can help you engage with your clients while integrating with Salesforce data, join us below.
Wix
First on the list is Wix. It’s a popular cloud-based platform focused on developing websites. Wix customers use the platform to create and manage websites without coding knowledge.
Are they captivating enough for your financial service requirements? Let’s take an objective look at their pros and cons.
Pros
- This reliable platform was founded in 2006 and is still going strong.
- The UI is popular as it’s easy to use.
- Provides a variety of customizable templates.
Cons
- There is no direct integration available for Wix and Salesforce.
- You need to use a third-party tool or start building a custom solution to gain a Wix and Salesforce integration.
- Wix has design limitations related to layout, elements, and styling options if you want a super custom financial services website.
Skuid
Next on the list is the software platform Skuid. Financial firms employ Skuid to design and launch custom user interfaces for data-driven applications. Do they have unique Salesforce solutions for your user experiences?
Let’s dive into their pros and cons.
Pros
- Non-technical users can enjoy creating user interfaces with no code.
- Works well with REST APIs and web services to connect to financial service data.
- Skuid and Salesforce integrate well together.
Cons
- Skuid licensing fees and subscriptions can become costly for large financial service projects and start-up teams.
- Even though the software does not require code to operate, there is a learning curve for using Skuid.
- Building applications on Skuid means that your financial service projects are dependent on the software. If your financial firm plans to change project tools and platforms, it might run into hurdles when migrating the application in the future.
WordPress
Over 800 million websites use WordPress! Released in 2003, it is an open-source content management system (CMS) platform popular for designing and managing websites. WordPress provides a platform accessible to everyone from bloggers to large financial firms, but do they have custom solutions that meet your specific Salesforce requirements?
Let’s take a look at its pros and cons:
Pros
- The source code is free to the public, as WordPress is an open-source software. This means that there is always new functionality provided by developers who are passionate about the platform.
- You can build, edit, and manage your financial services content on WordPress with limited coding experience.
- Your financial services content can include blog posts, web pages, images, videos, and more.
Cons
- A WordPress Salesforce integration is complex and may need custom development or a third-party plugin to connect the two platforms.
- It is a pricey setup if you start to count the custom development for Salesforce integration, plugin licenses, and constant maintenance of the platforms.
- Your financial firm needs to commit to ongoing maintenance from updates that are released from both of these platforms. Over time, software evolves, so you need to keep up to date and prepare for incompatibility.
Adobe Experience Manager
If you opt for a CMS platform like Adobe Experience Manager, you get to create and manage your digital experiences for various distribution channels. Many financial firms use this platform to deliver their products via web, mobile, email, and social media platforms. There are numerous perks to choosing Adobe Experience Manager, but is it the right Salesforce solution for your financial firm?
Let’s dive into the pros and cons of an Adobe Experience Manager Salesforce integration:
Pros
- Financial service teams get robust features to help build and manage online content.
- Adobe Experience Manager has a user-friendly interface that is popular amongst non-technical users.
- Financial service teams can store and work with web project assets, such as images, videos, documents, and other media files.
Cons
- Managing the flow of data between the two platforms is not easy. Financial service teams will need to make sure that data is current in both systems.
- Salesforce admins must possess technical skills to manage a Salesforce and Adobe Experience Manager integration.
- This integration has known performance issues, especially when your web projects involve high volumes of data or must be updated regularly.
Jitterbit
Jitterbit provides software solutions for integrations and API management. Founded in 2003, Jitterbit is used by many organizations to connect the different applications and data sources that they have in their work systems.
Before your financial firm gives Jitterbit and Salesforce a chance, let’s take a look at its pros and cons:
Pros
- Jitterbit will sync data in batches into Salesforce in real-time.
- You can automate financial service processes and eliminate any manual data entry across your different platforms.
- Your Salesforce data will be more enriched as you can pull information from multiple applications with a Jitterbit integration.
Cons
- Data is not synced to Salesforce during downtime or technical issues.
- There are more security concerns to address for your sensitive and confidential data as you start integrating more systems.
- Jitterbit has limited customization options for highly customized Salesforce systems.
Sitecore Experience Platform
Sitecore is another CMS platform on our list that you could use to create digital experiences in the financial services industry. Sitecore is popular amongst organizations that need to manage websites, mobile applications, or e-commerce platforms across various channels. Is a Sitecore Salesforce integration your best option? Let’s explore the pros and cons of this duo:
Pros
- Financial firms get machine learning from Sitecore to create personalized content and experiences from client data.
- Sitecore gathers customer data from websites to enrich Salesforce data.
- Financial service teams can deliver content to multiple digital channels, such as websites, mobile applications, and social media platforms.
Cons
- You need to cater for downtime and extensions to your financial service projects since employees will require training to learn how to work with the different platforms.
- Your web projects will become dependent on Sitecore and Salesforce. This means you also need to consider the feature changes and roadmaps of these two platforms. Discontinuation of a feature could be a hurdle for your financial services web project.
- Your financial service operations can be disrupted when there are technical issues from either platform due to scheduled downtime or bug fixing.
Magentrix
Many organizations choose Magentrix for their partner relationship management and Salesforce customer experience cloud solutions. If you need a solution to manage relationships with resellers, distributors, vendors, or customers, then Magentrix is a solid cloud-based software platform, but are they the best option for your Salesforce and financial service needs? Let’s take a look at its pros and cons:
Pros
- Magentrix has features for managing partner onboarding, registrations, lead distributions, training, certifications, and collaborating on sales processes.
- Financial service teams can build a customer portal with self-service options to elevate user experiences.
- Teams get access to tools for collaboration with other departments, like sharing documents and discussion forums to facilitate communication.
Cons
- A financial firm must understand who owns the sensitive customer data with a Magentrix Salesforce integration. Remember to cater to the many industry regulations, such as GDPR and HIPAA, that state how data should be managed and stored.
- Integrating Magentrix into Salesforce can be complex if they have different data structures or APIs.
- This is a pricey integration as it has costs that quickly add up, such as licensing fees, maintenance costs, and custom development expenses.
Titan Web
Titan Web is a no-code platform that supercharges your experiences in Financial Services Cloud and Salesforce. Financial service teams use Titan Web to create and launch no-code websites, portals, surveys, and other projects. Titan is the only product on the market that integrates bi-directionally with Salesforce using zero code to guarantee that all data is in sync with your projects and CRM platform in real time.
Titan Web has intuitive drag-and-drop tools that give financial service teams a single solution to optimize all tasks, whether building a workflow that moves files to Salesforce or styling a survey!
It’s no wonder this powerful platform has a 4.96 out of 5-star rating from trailblazers on the Salesforce AppExchange marketplace.
Titan Web integrates natively with Salesforce Experience Cloud to bring you to market faster OR alternatively it empowers financial firms to build branded portals and web apps without an Experience Cloud license.
Another advantage is that Titan Web does not charge per member or log-in. Instead, you pay a flat rate when you buy the product!
Nowadays, no one wants to wait in a boring line at the bank to make a loan application or waste their day physically filing a service request. Leveraging Titan Web, you can build seamless digital experiences for your clients, enabling them to engage in a range of self-service options from anywhere in the world.
For a more in-depth look at what your financial firm can get from Titan Web, take a look at these pros and cons:
Pros
- Zero-code platform with an easy drag-and-drop interface to build any financial services web project.
- Real-time bi-directional integration with Salesforce Financial Services Cloud and full access to Customer 360.
- Titan Web is fully accessible and meets all requirements outlined in section 508.
- Titan Web integrates with Salesforce Experience Cloud and also functions as a versatile alternative.
- 100% flexible user experience with responsive designs for multiple devices.
- A multitude of styling options for fully branded financial service web projects.
- Add maps or schedulers to your financial service web projects to elevate user experiences.
- Our software has a mobile-first approach.
- The platform has offline capabilities to keep your firm’s operations running smoothly.
- Built-in third-party integrations with SAP, MS Word, Excel, Google Drive, Amazon S3, Slack, PayPal, GitHuB, and many more.
- Our platform has version management capabilities.
- Your financial service web projects will be completely safe and compliant with HIPAA, SOC 2, ISO, GDPR, and other regulations.
- Titan Web is so much more than a portal builder. It lets you quickly generate and sign pre-filled documents for end-to-end financial service processes in Salesforce.
- Titan Web can assist your business with all-in-one Salesforce solutions for any financial service process!
- Easy to onboard quickly via Titan’s comprehensive learning Academy!
- Titan can align your financial firm’s teams, customers, and partners every step of the way with complex approval flows, custom SSO portals for non-Salesforce users, and advanced 2FA security.
Cons
- Implementation times will depend on your custom Titan and Salesforce Financial Services Cloud requirements.
- This product is not designed for custom development. Besides some JavaScript and CSS, Titan Web tools are 100% codeless.
Wrapping Up Salesforce Experience Cloud for Financial Services
Thank you for taking the time to stop by and read our guide on Salesforce Experience Cloud for financial services. We understand how important it is to know all the benefits and limitations that your software contains so that you can choose the best Salesforce solution for your financial firm. We have also provided a comprehensive list of the most reliable software on the market to help you elevate your client experiences in Salesforce.
For full flexibility, faster go-to-market, and competitive pricing, Titan Web stands out as the market-leader in the financial services industry. If you are interested in learning more, book a demo today!
Disclaimer: The comparisons listed in this article are based on information provided by the companies online and online reviews from users. If you found a mistake, please contact us.
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