Salesforce Marketing Cloud Account Engagement Summer ‘23 Release Highlights

It’s that time of the year again!

The much-awaited Salesforce Summer ‘23 release notes are here!

The release is all about optimizing Salesforce Marketing Cloud Account Engagement (formerly known as Pardot) existing functionality.

From turbocharging external actions and embracing the Account Engagement Optimizer, to revamping lists and tackling the opted-out field, the Summer ‘23 release will take your Account Engagement operations to new heights.

Also, remember earlier this year when Pardot underwent a name change?

Well, Summer ‘23 release notes reinforce this shift by particularly mentioning “Account Engagement Settings” instead of “Pardot Settings”. So, make sure you’re up to speed with the name updates in your user interface.

In this article, we’ll discover the new features of Marketing Cloud Account Engagement and how it can assist you in revitalizing your marketing and sales operations, making them more efficient and organized.

Marketing Cloud Account Engagement Summer ‘23 Release Highlights

Salesforce Marketing Cloud Account Engagement Summer ‘23 release comes with a range of impressive upgrades aimed at enhancing user experience, fostering meaningful engagements, and building strong customer relationships. Furthermore, it will facilitate the seamless management of a healthy business unit.

Here are the top highlights of the Salesforce Account Engagement Summer ‘23 release.

Highlight #1 – Data Cloud (CDP)

Account Engagement admins can now leverage Salesforce’s Customer 360 Audiences, Salesforce CDP, Marketing Cloud Customer Data Platform, Genie, and Data Cloud. In Summer ’23, Data Cloud and Account Engagement will collaborate through the Account Engagement Connector, enabling the use of Account Engagement to nurture customers, send emails, and market to Data Cloud customers.

This integration enhances personalization by incorporating all customer interactions and enables the creation of dynamic lists based on Data Cloud segments for targeted marketing to Data Cloud customers.

Highlight #2 – Asset Sync

Are you tired of the manual hassle of sharing emails or nurturing programs with different teams? Salesforce Flow and the Account Engagement API are here to save the day!

With these two, you can now eliminate the hassle of manually syncing assets across multiple Account Engagement Business Units. Using Salesforce Flow, you can easily replicate custom fields, email templates, engagement studio programs, files, and custom redirects. Make teamwork a piece of cake!

Highlight #3 – Opted-Out Field Sync

The field, which previously allowed opting out, was limited to two options: “Use Pardot’s value” or “Use Salesforce’s value.” This alteration left administrators dissatisfied because they could no longer utilize the “Use the most recently updated record” option to determine the sync behavior between Account Engagement and Salesforce.

In response to user feedback, Salesforce reinstated the option to use the most recently updated field value. This allows users to effectively manage Account Engagement synchronization with Salesforce and improves their overall experience with the system.

Highlight #4 – External Actions + Completion Actions

Now you can seamlessly send data to third-party apps, register prospects for events, or even send them a text, leveraging External Actions in Completion Actions.

Completion actions are like mini superpowers that activate when prospects interact with emails, forms, or landing pages. With Salesforce’s new conditional completion actions, you have more control. Now, you can easily trigger actions within Engagement Studio and even perform external actions. This will empower you to optimize your engagement strategies and ensure a seamless customer journey. For example, let’s say you’re hosting an online webinar on Zoom. With this feature, when a prospect fills out a form, they will automatically be registered for the Zoom webinar. Additionally, you can also send them a quick SMS after they click on a specific link.

Highlight #5 – Account Engagement Optimizer

It’s official! Account Engagement Optimizer is out of beta and is now generally available. With Optimizer, you can easily clean up your Account Engagement org and identify potential issues.

Plus, it offers additional metrics in the beta version like:

• Prospect Change Monitor: Find out which features are causing the most changes in your potential customers.
• Configuration Issues: Identify and fix any setup problems that are preventing you from accessing certain features.
• Performance Improvement: Get a clear picture of what’s going well in your business unit, and what needs attention.

Highlight #6 – Prospect Change Monitor

In Account Engagement Optimizer, Salesforce has introduced the Prospect Change Monitor. It helps you stay on top of what’s causing shifts in your prospect data.

Ever wondered what’s slowing down your processing power? Are those dynamic lists becoming a burden with prospects constantly joining or leaving? And what about the number of prospects being handled by your automation rules? It’s time to find out and make adjustments to your automation and API integrations.

With the new time filter, you can easily see how things are going. Take a look at the snapshot below, where around 400 prospects are processed in 24 hours using dynamic lists. This accounts for more than 71% of our overall automation processing in the account.

Highlight #7 – Dynamic Lists to Static Lists

Dynamic lists automatically adjust based on changing data, which is beneficial for segmentation but consumes processing power. Converting dynamic lists to static lists is beneficial if constant updates are no longer needed. Static lists don’t add or remove prospects automatically based on criteria.

This is useful for Engagement Studio, as program membership depends on the starting list. Prospects can be manually added or removed from the list individually or through mass selection after conversion.

Highlight #8 – Salesforce Account Engagement API v5

New and updated objects available for API v5 are listed below.

• Bulk Action API: Perform actions on multiple items simultaneously.
• Object Folder Mapping: Organize your objects in a way that suits you best.
• Enhanced Prospect Query: Easily retrieve the Prospect ID by querying with email or Salesforce ID.
• New Engagement Studio Program Endpoint: Access a fresh endpoint for managing your Engagement Studio Programs.
• Import with a User ID or Owner ID: Assign specific user or owner IDs during the import process.
• V5 Permanent Deletion: Permanently delete items using the v5 version of the API.
• Copy Account Engagement Business Unit Assets: Duplicate your Business Unit Assets effortlessly.

Bonus Highlight – A Few More Exciting Updates from Summer Release ‘23

• Starting May 1, 2023, Account Engagement (Pardot) customers will receive updates on status.salesforce.com instead of trust.pardot.com.
• Salesforce no longer supports retrieving current and historical counts for Account Engagement. These fields are no longer available.
• Salesforce verifies domain alignment for sandbox clones, including Account Engagement sandboxes.
• Sales Engagement, an add-on to Sales Cloud, now features ‘Engagement History.’ It displays a chart of recent outbound and inbound activities, distinct from Account Engagement’s history.

Conclusion

Salesforce Marketing Cloud Account Engagement Summer ’23 release is packed with exciting innovations and time-saving tools that will supercharge your productivity. Additionally, it offers rock-solid security measures, smooth incident management, and even better email communication.

With these game-changing features, you can boost sales, streamline operations, and deliver unforgettable customer experiences.