Picture credit: Salesforce
Cloudy software provider Salesforce has released Salesforce Marketing Cloud Predictive Decisions, a feature set which aims to fuse marketing and CRM data with contextual data and predictive intelligence to increase conversions and engagement.
The move follows a piece of research conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Salesforce in August, whereby 42% of respondents admitted they had difficulty analysing data from all customer interactions.
Salesforce says marketers will be able to harness data science to scale personalised campaign execution, utilising sophisticated algorithms to make predictions about the best content, product or offer and tie it in accordingly for clients.
“With the launch of Predictive Decisions, we’re placing data science in the hands of marketers to help them drive better results,” said Salesforce Marketing Cloud CEO Scott McCorkle in a statement. “With Salesforce Marketing Cloud, marketers have a single platform that blends CRM and marketing data with contextual information, so they can deploy accurate, predictive programs that turn casual browsers into buyers.”
A key theme of Salesforce’s message is simplicity in marketing. Jeremy Waite, Salesforce Marketing Cloud EMEA head of digital strategy, recently wrote in a company blog post the importance of keeping things simple, in the age of data-driven marketing, a plethora of customer journeys, and speaking to customers at scale.
“The more I think about it though, the more I think that the job of a marketer doesn’t have to be that complicated at all,” he wrote. “In my experience, the most successful marketers are the ones who simplify things enough to be able to make quick decisions and communicate them efficiently, but not so simple that they overlook important insights.”
Waite was speaking about the new Journey Builder product released by Salesforce, but the key themes remain here. A report from Act-on Software earlier in March found too many B2B organisations still view the customer lifecycle as a series of handoffs between marketing, sales and service, instead of treating it as a continual process.
Predictive Decisions will be available as part of the Marketing Cloud Pro edition in May, with prices starting at $1,250 per month.
