Salesforce Inbox: Experience Incredible Growth with Support for 2 Email Apps
It’s been nearly two decades since Salesforce has been prolifically serving its Customers. Salesforce was founded by former Oracle executive Marc Benioff, together with Parker Harris, Dave Moellenhoff, and Frank Dominguez as a Software as a Service (SaaS) Company, in 1999. Since then, Salesforce has been serving its Users with the right mix of Process Automation and Personalization to tailor their Business Services based on the specific requirements of the Clients.
In 2021, Fortune Magazine listed Salesforce as #2 in World’s best 100 Companies to work for. Salesforce dominates the CRM market with a 20% market share. The Salesforce Platform integrates all the domains such as Marketing, Sales, Customer Service, Supply Chain, Data Analysis, and many others with the combination of Ease and Scalability. This functionality has made Salesforce Software Solution an immediate hit and industry leader.
While your Marketing and Sales Teams utilise Salesforce CRM to manage your Customer Records and Support, there is another fascinating feature called Salesforce Inbox, which combines the two most commonly used Applications, Email and Salesforce to provide insights and guidance through Salesforce Inbox Automation and Intelligence. This makes it easy for Sales & Marketing Representatives to update the Pipeline and log Sales Activity. It simplifies administrative tasks and enables everyone to find critical information while on the go, making Customer Meetings more engaging and effective. Smart Send, Email Scheduling features, as well as automatic data capture, allow you to prioritize Customer Relationships and close more Deals.
Read along to know more and get started with Salesforce Inbox in your Microsoft Outlook or Gmail.
Table of Contents
- Introduction to Salesforce
- An Overview of Salesforce Inbox
- Salesforce Inbox Key Features
- Salesforce Inbox Setup
- Conclusion
Introduction to Salesforce
Salesforce is a top-notch Cloud-based CRM Solution from a Company based out of San Francisco, California. Salesforce is developed to make Organizations function more efficiently and profitably by reducing the cost of managing Hardware Infrastructure.
Salesforce encompasses the likes of over 150,000 Companies, which includes popular Data Giants like Coca-Cola, Facebook, Sony, Vodafone, and L’Oreal. Salesforce Software will enable you to develop more targeted Marketing Campaigns and respond to Customer’s Demands more rapidly. You may even develop Customized Apps with the Salesforce Application to further adapt them to your Company’s specific needs. It is intended for Businesses of all kinds, from large Corporations to sole Proprietorships.
Salesforce CRM Application aids in the administration of Marketing Activities and integrates the Marketing Team with the Sales Management and Account Management Teams of the firm, ensuring that the whole Organisation is reaching out to Customers in a unified manner that does not confuse or alienate them. Salesforce reports can manage your Contacts, monitor Opportunities, provide Custom Reports, automate Marketing Campaigns, and much more.
Along with the Customer Relationship Management Service, Salesforce also provides many other Tools like Sales Cloud, Marketing Cloud, Salesforce Inbox, Salesforce Analytics, Process Automation, etc. Salesforce ensures a personalized experience with its Customer 360 Platform. Some of the key Products offered by Salesforce as a part of their Suite are as follows:
- Salesforce Service Cloud: Salesforce Service Cloud offers all the tools you might need to strengthen Customer Engagement. It allows you to automate Business Processes with Intelligent Workflow, support Customer Interactions on every Channel, get actionable insight into every Customer Interaction, and Drive revenue with the power of Artificial Intelligence.
- Salesforce Analytics (Tableau CRM): Tableau allows you to use intuitive drag-and-drop analysis at every skill level. It also allows you to quickly spot visual patterns and share insights across teams to drive growth.
- Salesforce Commerce Cloud: The Salesforce Commerce Cloud allows you to convert more Customers with personalized buying experiences. You can implement your strategies faster with easy-to-use tools. This allows you to stay agile and start seeing a higher ROI (Return on Investment) sooner.
- Salesforce AppExchange: Salesforce AppExchange is an Enterprise Cloud Marketplace. It allows you to find proven experts and apps to help you quickly solve business challenges and extend your Salesforce Customer 360 from anywhere. This can be extended across any Department, Industry, and Product. It also offers app guides to help you zero in on the right Apps to suit your unique business challenges.
An Overview of Salesforce Inbox
Salesforce Inbox is a productivity tool, which helps your Teams stay in sync and eliminates the need to switch Applications or do manual data entry.
Salesforce Inbox combines your Teams’ two most important and commonly used Applications; Salesforce and Email, to provide insights and guidance through Salesforce Inbox Automation and Intelligence. This functionality enables Sales Teams to have more meaningful conversations with your Business Customers. Salesforce Inbox also enables Managers to review all the activities of their Remote Team(s) or focus on specific Sales Representatives to provide the relevant guidance.
With the ease of usage and simplicity, Sales Representatives with Salesforce Inbox functionality no longer need to write and keep track of follow-up Customer Emails, every time. Salesforce Inbox comes with built-in templates to save time when following up with Potential Leads. Sales representatives can also schedule these Emails to make them arrive just at the right time.
Salesforce Inbox comes with some additional productivity features like:
- Support for Calendar Integration
- Email Tracking and Links Tracking
- Text Shortcuts
- Email Delivery Scheduling
- Salesforce Inbox Mobile App Support
Salesforce Inbox Key Features
Salesforce Inbox offers several amazing features that Businesses can use to manage their Marketing and Sales Campaigns in a more effective manner and increase their ROI and Customer’s trust. Here are the best features that Salesforce Inbox has:
- One Seamless Experience
- Keep your CRM Data Up to Date
- Sell Smarter with Salesforce Inbox
- Accessibility From Anywhere
- Say No to Busywork and Yes to Customers
One Seamless Experience
Salesforce Inbox brings Email, Calendar, and CRM together with a “one seamless experience” for every Sales Representative. Now, Sales Representatives do not need to toggle between applications to sort out things. With Salesforce Inbox, Sales Representatives can easily schedule meetings with Customers, access Calendar, and book and block appointments accordingly.
Keep your CRM Data Up to Date
Salesforce Inbox can readily integrate with the Salesforce Customer Success Platform to bring the full power of CRM and Sales Data. Within the Salesforce Inbox, you can instantly update your CRM with Sales data from your Inbox, log Customer Communications automatically, with no manual data entry, add Deals right from your Inbox, and dive into Salesforce with just one click.
Sell Smarter with Salesforce Inbox
Salesforce Inbox will provide you with intelligent assistance in your Mailbox. You can view essential Sales Information from your CRM with relevant Emails to find the appropriate response easily. Salesforce Inbox always keeps you aware of when crucial Emails arrive, and even see what happens after you hit send.
Accessibility from Anywhere
Salesforce Inbox is accessible from any device, no matter where you are. Salesforce Inbox can be made more powerful on desktop with additional plugins for Gmail and Outlook. You can always access the latest updates and follow-ups from your phone or tablet with the Salesforce Inbox App (Google Play and App Store).
Say No to Busywork and Yes to Customers
Salesforce Inbox provides Inbuilt Customer Response Templates, to speed the process and personalised 1-to-many Email Messaging that streamlines Prospect Outreach. With Calendar access right at your fingertips, you can Schedule, Reschedule, and Book Slots with your Customers faster than ever.
Simplify Customer and Product Analytics using Hevo Activate
Hevo Activate helps you directly transfer data from Snowflake, Amazon Redshift Google BigQuery, etc., and various other sources to CRMs such as Salesforce (Free Source Connector with Hevo), HubSpot, various SaaS applications, and a lot more, in a completely hassle-free & automated manner. Hevo Activate is fully managed and completely automates the process of not only loading data from your desired source but also enriching the data and transforming it into an analysis-ready form without having to write a single line of code. Its fault-tolerant architecture ensures that the data is handled in a secure, consistent manner with zero data loss.
Hevo Activate takes care of all your data preprocessing needs and lets you focus on key business activities, and draw a much powerful insight on how to generate more leads, retain customers, and take your business to new heights of profitability. It provides a consistent & reliable solution to manage data in real-time and always have analysis-ready data in your desired destination.
Get Started with Hevo for FreeCheck out what makes Hevo Activate amazing:
- Real-time Data Transfer: Hevo Activate, with its strong Integration with various sources, allows you to transfer data quickly & efficiently. This ensures efficient utilization of bandwidth on both ends.
- Data Transformation: It provides a simple interface to perfect, modify, and enrich the data you want to transfer.
- Secure: Hevo Activate has a fault-tolerant architecture that ensures that the data is handled in a secure, consistent manner with zero data loss.
- Tremendous Connector Availability: Hevo Activate houses a large variety of connectors and lets you bring in data from numerous Data Warehouses and load it into Marketing & SaaS applications, such as Salesforce, HubSpot, Zendesk, Intercom, etc. in an integrated and analysis-ready form.
- Simplicity: Using Hevo Activate is easy and intuitive, ensuring that your data is exported in just a few clicks.
- Completely Managed Platform: Hevo Activate is fully managed. You need not invest time and effort to maintain or monitor the infrastructure involved in executing codes.
- Live Support: The Hevo Activate team is available round the clock to extend exceptional support to its customers through chat, email, and support calls.
Users can leverage Hevo Activate to perform the following operations:
- Create User Segments: Creating user segments allows the Marketing and Sales teams to understand how resources should be utilized for different kinds of users. This allows teams to focus on channels that convert better and maximize their Return On Investment (ROI).
- Build 360 View of Customers: This can be used to understand each customer better and plan strategies accordingly to ensure maximum revenue. This information can also be leveraged to help Support teams prioritize Enterprise customers. Businesses can seamlessly sync all customer data into their support software and respond quicker with a holistic customer background.
- Sync Product Data into Sales CRM: Hevo Activate can be leveraged to get all product data in the CRM tool of choice, allowing businesses to track user activity easily. Users can be segmented based on their activity, and that information can be used to improve product adoption and prevent churns.
Salesforce Inbox Setup
According to McKinsey & Company, Sales Representatives spend up to 28% of their day on Email and Calendars. While your Sales Representatives use Microsoft Outlook or Gmail to track and review Customer Support Query Emails, it’s an essential requirement that your Teams get the functionality of eliminating time they spend on redundant data entry in both the Email Application and Salesforce CRM.
Salesforce Inbox supports integration with both Microsoft Outlook and Gmail & Google Calendar to sync and allow access to all Emails and relevant Salesforce Records in one place, making it easier to craft targeted, meaningful Email Communications to Prospects and Customers.
To get started with Salesforce Inbox Integration with Microsoft Outlook or Gmail & Google Calendar, depending on the Email Application your Teams use, we have prepared two separate guides:
- Salesforce Inbox Integration with Microsoft Outlook
- Salesforce Inbox Integration with Gmail and Google Calendar
Salesforce Inbox Integration with Microsoft Outlook
Integration Requirements
- Salesforce Inbox Integration with Microsoft Outlook requires the Standard Salesforce License with the purchase of Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, or Lightning Platform.
- Salesforce Administrator Permissions.
Set Up Microsoft Outlook Integration
To setup Salesforce Inbox Integration with Microsoft Outlook, do the following:
Step 1: Go to Dashboard Settings in the top right corner of your Salesforce Account, and click on Setup.
Step 2: Search for Outlook in the Quick Find box, and then select Outlook Integration and Sync.
Step 3: Turn on the Outlook integration.
Make sure that Use Enable Enhanced Email with Outlook is turned on to log Emails as standard Message Objects and activate Email to Salesforce. Sales Representatives can use this setting to add (or log) Outlook Emails and Attachments to Salesforce Records as Salesforce Emails. Sales Representatives may also add (or log) Events to Salesforce Records.
Next, you will be required to enable Salesforce Add-in in your Microsoft Outlook Application.
Step 4: Open Add-ins Menu in your Microsoft Outlook Account, and search for Salesforce.
Step 5: Click on Add to enable Salesforce Integration in your Microsoft Outlook Application.
When Salesforce Add-in gets enabled, Salesforce Icon will appear in your Add-ins Panel.
Step 6: Click on the Salesforce Add-in to open the Add-in support from the side panel. Log in to Salesforce with your credentials to initiate and apply Salesforce Integration.
Step 8: You’ll be redirected to Salesforce Login Page. After successfully logging in, you’ll be asked for permissions to enable Salesforce Integration with your Microsoft Outlook. Click on Confirm to proceed ahead.
Step 9: Your Salesforce Inbox setup is complete! Now, you can see and work with your Salesforce Customer Records and Tasks from the right-side panel.
Choose Who Has Access to Salesforce Inbox Features
As a Salesforce Administrator, you can also choose which Users should be authorised to get license access to productivity features in the Salesforce Inbox such as Scheduling Email Delivery, and Email Tracking. To limit User access in your Microsoft Outlook Application, follow the following steps:
Step 1: Visit Edit Settings in your Salesforce Dashboard’s Outlook Integration and Sync.
Step 2: In the Salesforce Inbox page, select Assign Permission Sets in the Who Can Use Inbox section.
Select the Users to whom you would like to assign Salesforce Inbox Access. This way you will be able to limit Salesforce Inbox usage to only dependable and trustworthy Team Members.
Step 3: Finally, close your user access authorization by clicking on Add Assignments.
Salesforce Inbox Integration with Gmail and Google Calendar
Integration Requirements
- Salesforce Inbox Integration with Gmail and Google Calendar requires the Standard Salesforce License with the purchase of Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, or Lightning Platform.
- Salesforce Administrator Permissions.
Set Up Gmail and Google Calendar Integration
To setup Salesforce Inbox Integration with Gmail and Google Calendar, do the following actions:
Step 1: Go to Dashboard Settings in the top right corner of your Salesforce Account, and click Setup.
Step 2: Search for Gmail in the Quick Find box, and then select Gmail Integration and Sync.
Step 3: Turn on the Gmail integration.
Make sure that Use Enable Enhanced Email with Gmail is turned on to log Emails as standard Message Objects and activate Email to Salesforce. Sales Representatives can use this setting to add (or log) Outlook Emails and Attachments to Salesforce Records as Salesforce Emails. Sales Representatives may also add (or log) Events to Salesforce Records.
Next, you will be required to enable the Salesforce Application as a Chrome Extension in your Gmail Application.
Step 4: Open the Chrome Web Store and search for Salesforce extension.
Step 5: Click on Add to Chrome to add Salesforce Inbox in your Gmail Account.
Step 6: After adding Salesforce Extension, you may log in to your Salesforce and Gmail & Google Calendar Account, and start using Salesforce CRM functionality of accessing Customer Records right from your Gmail or Google Calendar App.
Choose Who Has Access to Salesforce Inbox Features
As a Salesforce Administrator, you can also choose which Users should be authorised to get license access to productivity features in the Salesforce Inbox such as Scheduling Email Delivery, and Email Tracking. To limit User access in your Gmail Application, follow the following steps:
Step 1: Visit Edit Settings in your Salesforce Dashboard’s Gmail Integration and Sync.
Step 2: In the Salesforce Inbox page, select Assign Permission Sets in the Who Can Use Inbox section.
Select the Users to whom you would like to assign Salesforce Inbox Access. This way you will be able to limit Salesforce Inbox usage to only dependable and trustworthy Team Members.
Step 3: Finally, close your user access authorization by clicking on Add Assignments.
Conclusion
Overall Salesforce Inbox is a crucial element of support extending brilliant and time-saving features like:
- Fast Email Response
- Customer Interaction and Value Support
- Calendar Support to Support Meetings or Product Demos
- Tracking Emails and Links
- Text Tracking Shortcuts
- Scheduling Email Delivery
- Accessibility from Every Device
We presented you with an elaborate step-by-step guide on how Salesforce Inbox can help your Sales Representatives and Customer Support Teams maximise productivity and Project Workflow. With Salesforce Inbox extending support to both Microsoft Outlook and Gmail & Google Calendar, the two most popular Email Applications, Salesforce delivers undoubtedly the best user experience and functions for its Customers.
Being an expert or recurring Salesforce CRM User, you are most likely working with a large number of data sources, both internally and through external Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) providers. Having all of this data in one location like Data Warehouse facilitates analysis and speeds up the decision-making process. This necessitates integration with all third-party Apps and Services.
When you work with Hevo Activate, you get this superpower to load your aggregated Data from Data Warehouses like Snowflake, Amazon Redshift Google BigQuery, etc., and various other sources to CRMs such as Salesforce (Free Source Connector with Hevo), HubSpot, various SaaS applications, and a lot more, in a completely hassle-free & automated manner.
Visit our Website to Explore HevoHevo Activate will automate your data transfer process, hence allowing you to focus on other more important aspects of your business like Analytics, Customer management, etc. Hevo Activate will provide you with a hassle-free experience and make your work life much easier.
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Sign Up for a 14-day free trial and experience the feature-rich Hevo suite first hand. You can also have a look at the unbeatable pricing that will help you choose the right plan for your business needs.
Share with us your experience of learning about Salesforce Inbox in the comments below. We would love to hear from you!
