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Salesforce AppExchange 101: The Ultimate Guide

• September 9th, 2021

Salesforce AppExchange

According to TriFin Labs, 71 percent of Salesforce users leverage Salesforce AppExchange Apps on a regular basis. The Salesforce CRM platform will improve your business processes. Salesforce AppExchange speeds up the process of signing documents, closing deals faster, and simplifies the maintenance of permissions. Apps on the Salesforce AppExchange will fulfill all your above requirements.

This post will teach you more about Salesforce AppExchange and the advantages it can provide. You’ll also learn why businesses and developers create Apps for this marketplace. On Salesforce AppExchange, you may learn about the most popular apps, solutions, and consulting services. You’ll discover the secret behind Salesforce’s powerful AppExchange community. You’ll also receive step-by-step guidance on how to present your App on the Salesforce AppExchange.

Table of Contents

What is Salesforce AppExchange

Salesforce AppExchange - logo
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Marc Benioff, the CEO of Salesforce, had an inspiring chat with Steve Jobs in the early 2000s, during which he was asked to establish a Cloud Software Ecosystem. Years later, Marc Benioff had the idea to create a site where Salesforce platform developers from all over the world could showcase their Apps and any Salesforce user could access and download them.

As a result, the Salesforce store, AppStore, was introduced in 2006 as a Force.com plugin. It was the first App shop dedicated to selling and distributing Salesforce-based applications. The “App Store” trademark was owned by Marc Benioff. However, when Apple introduced the App Store in 2008, he opted to relinquish the trademark to the company and Apple received the domain name as a gift. The Salesforce marketplace was renamed AppExchange as a result.

For further information on Salesforce AppExchange, check out the official website here.

How Big is the Salesforce AppExchange Marketplace

Salesforce AppExchange is a full-featured enterprise marketplace for Cloud Computing Apps, Solutions, and Consultancy. There were 7.5 million installs, 4,000+ solutions, and 90,000 reviews on the website in 2019. In addition, new products are released every week. There are various Apps available, both free and paid, from which you can select the ones that are the best fit for your company. Apps and services on the Salesforce AppExchange are classified into four categories:

  • Industry Collection: Communications, education, government, media, retail, and other industries come under Industry Collections.
  • Product Collections: Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, Marketing Cloud, Commerce Cloud, Platform, Einstein Analytics, Financial Services Cloud, and more Product Collections are available.
  • Types of Solutions: Apps, Bolt Solutions, Flow Solutions, Lightning Data, and Components are the different types of Solutions.
  • Finance Solutions: Blackthorn Payments, Xero Integration with Salesforce, ChargeOn Payment Processing App are the top Finance Apps Available.
  • Top Categories: Human Resources, Enterprise Resource Planning, Sales, are among other Top Categories

Why Companies and Salesforce Developers Build Apps for Salesforce AppExchange

Top-notch Apps for Sales, Marketing, Analytics, Customer Service, and more are available on the Salesforce AppExchange Cloud marketplace. At least one Salesforce AppExchange software is used by 95 percent of Fortune 100 organizations.

Companies and Salesforce developers should both publish their Salesforce solutions on Salesforce AppExchange. You can enhance your yield by presenting your Salesforce extensions to a wide yet relevant professional market.

You can also join the Salesforce Partner Community and have access to the Partner Business Organization, which will allow you to manage the Sale and Distribution of your Apps as well as evolve with Salesforce.

You’ll be able to monitor Metrics for your Apps and browse other Apps thanks to the marketplace’s user-friendly layout. Salesforce can also include adverts for your App in its monthly Salesforce AppExchange Digest Mail, which will help you reach a Wider Audience.

Most Popular Apps on Salesforce AppExchange

The AppExchange marketplace has a wide range of apps that can match your business’s needs and help you grow. In the top categories, you’ll find the most popular apps:

  • Finance: Mobile Payments, PCI-compliant credit cards, and ACH payments, and Subscriptions via Stripe, Authorize.net, and PayPal are all processed by Blackthorn Payment.
  • Marketing: The Mailchimp Integration App allows you to Send, Automate, and Report on Mailchimp Campaigns from within your CRM.
  • Integration: Dataloader.io is a Cloud service that allows you to Import, Export, and Delete Salesforce data.
  • Salesforce Labs: In-App Guidance from Salesforce Labs is useful for user adoption of five major Salesforce features in the Lightning Experience.
  • Analytics: Analytics Rollup Helper is a tool that uses clicks rather than code to roll up any Salesforce data (sum, max, min, percent, etc.).
  • Sales: Trail Tracker is a free adventure game that teaches you how to use the Salesforce dashboard on Trailhead.
  • Customer Service: It is a category that encompasses a wide range of signing Documents and doing e-Signature for Salesforce. DocuSign is one such electronic signature solution that allows you to Send, Sign, Track, and Save documents.
  • IT & Administration: Element Catalyst is a useful solution for managing the entire Salesforce installation lifecycle, including capturing requirements and user stories, mapping business processes, documenting, and driving adoption.
  • Human Resource: The Recruiting Software is a simple app for keeping track of open vacancies and candidate information.
  • Enterprise Resource Planning: Inside Salesforce CRM, Zenkraft Multi-Carrier allows you to ship and track packages with 60+ shipping companies (FedEx, UPS, DHL, and others).

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Working with Salesforce AppExchange Solutions and Consultants

Salesforce AppExchange - solutions and consultants
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The Salesforce AppExchange marketplace offers more than just apps; it also offers ready-to-use solutions for extending Salesforce CRM’s functionality. They’re quick and simple to set up in your CRM. You’ll find the following options here:

1) Lighting Data

The Lightning Data Engine unifies your Salesforce account and a Third-Party data stream to create Lightning Data. Your data is updated in real-time and aids in the powering of critical sales and marketing operations.

2) Components 

In Lighting, Components are the basic building blocks for Making Apps, Bold Solutions, and Customizing Web Pages. You may use them to add functionality to your apps and pages without having to know how to code. Salesforce Developers and Salesforce partners produced some of the Salesforce AppExchange Components.

Are you having trouble deciding which Salesforce AppExchange solution is ideal for your company or you don’t want to waste time and money searching for and customizing Salesforce AppExchange products? Then you should seek out consultants who can assist, guide, and support you.

On AppExchange, there are over 1,000 Salesforce-Certified Consultants. Based on their industry knowledge and experience, they can propose the best-tailored solution. If you wish to construct a custom Salesforce Solution or Integration, experts can also help you design the requirements. You’ll be able to complete your project more quickly and professionally if you work together.

3) Bolt Solutions 

Bolt Solutions are Salesforce Communities’ industry solutions. To put it another way, they’re pre-built templates that you can easily deploy on Salesforce. Bolt solutions come with a variety of components, including industry Process Flows, Lightning Components, Apps, and Communities.

You’ll need the aid of the partner that designed the Bolt Solution and can help you personalize it during the deployment process.

4) Flow Solutions

Flow Solutions are custom integrations created by partners. They are functional features that make designing flows and taking actions on Third-Party platforms easier. You can use them to automate business processes without having to start from scratch with integration or coding.

You can build up procedures like Sending Messages, Running a Credit Check, and Processing Payments. For generating customized Lightning flow actions and templates, Salesforce partners use Flow Builder and Process Builder.

Steps to Get into Salesforce AppExchange

The steps involved in getting into Salesforce AppExchange are:

Step 1: Become a Member of the Partner Community

Salesforce AppExchange - community cloud
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The Salesforce Partner Community is a place where you can interact with Salesforce experts, collaborate, and learn about best practices. You will be given access to a free Partner Business Organization once you have joined the Partner Community. It comes with the License Management App, Channel Order App, and Environment Hub, all of which are essential for managing/maintaining AppExchange Offers, Monitoring Orders with Salesforce, and logging into the Salesforce App.

Step 2: Start Building your Salesforce AppExchange Community

Now, you must consider what type of program you want to create, as well as the tools you will require. It’s time to start creating the app when you’ve devised a strategic plan. Using the Environment Hub app, Create and Manage two core points: Development and Packaging.

Using the development organization, you can Write Code, Add Business Logic, Construct Lighting Components, Develop Apex Classes, and alter any custom settings. Then, using the Force.com IDE, transfer the components of your project to a packaging org. Create a managed package containing components for a final app after that.

Step 3: Checking App’s Security

The following points must be followed to authenticate App’s Security: 

  • Prepare by reviewing the Security Review Requirements and ensuring that your App complies with the Salesforce AppExchange security criteria.
  • Pass the necessary Security Review, which assesses the app’s security features.
  • Before running the app, enable the Free Trial Option.
  • Launch the App once the app has met all of the requirements, it is ready to be released on the Salesforce AppExchange.

Step 4: Manage Salesforce AppExchange Listings

By creating an appealing Salesforce AppExchange listing, you may increase the exposure of your software and engage potential customers:

  • Make sure you have listing access (in your Partner Community profile, enable the “Manage Listings” option).
  • If you have a managed package, follow the steps in the ISVforce guide for attaching it to the listing.
  • Fill in the blanks with the details of your Ad (listing name, comprehensive description, logo).
  • Include carousel screenshots, as well as a demo movie and a closing Call-to-Action(CTA) slide with a price list. In the tagline, include your Target Audience, SEO Keywords, and Principal Use Case.

Step 5: Customer Support and App License Management

Our app is finished, and now it’s time to market it. You can provide your clients with a variety of license choices, including:

  • Free Time and Time Limits: Customers get a free trial of the app, and you can set time limits on how long they can use it.
  • Free Solution: Any free program comes with a license, which is usually a site license. Note that if your software is included in a product you sell, it is not free because the license is related to the product.
  • Per-User License: The app is only accessible to a certain number of users in a customer org.
  • Site License: The app can be used by all users in a customer organization with a site license.

You must also provide expert help to your consumers in order to establish a good impression and keep them. The customer Support Lifecycle includes stages such as:

  • User Experience: Determine a customer’s experience and issues, which your customers might confront, and identify working solutions to assist them if necessary.
  • Troubleshooting: talk to your customers and figure out what problems they’re having with your software in their organizations.
  • Upgradations: Create a plan for distributing updates and make sure your consumers are aware of them.

Key Benefit of Salesforce AppExchange Community

Salesforce AppExchange’s community is one of its most important aspects. Join the Salesforce TrailBlazer Community’s All About AppExchange Apps group to ask real questions and discuss your own experiences with other app developers.

Additionally, you may read reviews on an app’s page to learn more about it. Users contribute important information about the app’s operation and share their experiences with it.

Conclusion

This detailed guide provided insights into Salesforce AppExchange. It usually helps when you understand how to carry out the procedures laid above, however, a lot of the methods described can be truly confusing and frustrating if you are not vested with the right skills. Not to worry, there is a simpler way to manage this using Hevo Data.

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Share your experience of learning about Salesforce AppExchange! Let us know in the comments section below!

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