SAN FRANCISCO, March 5, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Salesforce (NYSE: CRM), the Customer Success Platform and world's #1 CRM company, today launched Salesforce Marketing Cloud Predictive Decisions. With Predictive Decisions, marketers can now harness the power of data science to analyze customer engagement and proactively deliver new recommended content, products or offers to customers, creating highly personalized journeys across channels at scale. Salesforce Marketing Cloud fuses CRM and marketing data with relevant contextual data such as web browsing activity, using native predictive intelligence decisions to increase conversions and engagement in a single, easy-to-use application.

In today's data-rich world, marketers have ample access to customer engagement information, but it's nearly impossible to deliver personalized content to every customer and connect interactions across the entire journey. In fact, 36 percent of marketers struggle to apply customer insights to continually improve customer experiences and 42 percent say they have difficulty analyzing data from all customer interactions, according to the August 2014 commissioned study, Refresh Your Approach to 1:1 Marketing, a study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Salesforce Marketing Cloud.

Marketing Cloud Predictive Decisions Places Data Science in the Hands of Marketers
With Predictive Decisions, marketers will be able to harness data science and scale personalized campaign execution across marketing, resulting in an experience that surprises and delights customers. They will also be able to create intelligent programs that move beyond contextual engagement to predictive marketing, using integrated cross-channel data with new workflow and automation. Predictive Decisions will constantly update anonymous and known customer profiles so marketers can understand preferences. It will also leverage sophisticated algorithms to make predictions about the next best content, product or offer and automate its delivery to increase conversions and engagement.

"With the launch of Predictive Decisions, we're placing data science in the hands of marketers to help them drive better results," said Scott McCorkle, CEO of Salesforce Marketing Cloud, Salesforce. "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."

New Salesforce Marketing Cloud Predictive Decisions breakthrough innovations include:


    --  Collect Beacon: Stream real-time content updates and user behavior data
        directly into the platform to constantly update user profiles and enable
        predictive decisions. A marketer can make the most of customer data to
        build tailored communications across channels, including email, web,
        mobile and any device. Now digital marketers will be able to move beyond
        just predictive product recommendations on their website, and expand
        predictive decisions to every piece of content, from a whitepaper to a
        new video.
    --  New Workflow and Automation: Trigger marketing campaigns using data from
        all channels. Customer behavioral data is fed automatically into the
        Marketing Cloud platform, in real-time, to deliver communications that
        are timely and highly relevant. This levels the playing field, so any
        marketer can create powerful predictive campaigns without enlisting
        additional development resources to make data actionable.
    --  Native Predictive Decisions: Predict which content will result in the
        highest conversion--whether that's an offer, product, or graphic
        content. Drag and drop predictive content recommendations empower
        marketers with content modules that can be delivered in real-time across
        marketing channels, making each message tailored to the individual and
        the moment. For example, a retail marketer can now create email
        campaigns that include not only the previous items viewed by the
        customer, but also recommend the most relevant next piece of content
        across the retailer's entire product catalogue in real-time, with just a
        few clicks.

Comments on the News


    --  "Having the rich breadth and depth of data from our online and offline
        customer engagement in the Salesforce Marketing Cloud makes our
        predictive intelligence algorithms even more accurate and effective,"
        said Kimberly Ruthenbeck, director of Web Customer Experience, Room &
        Board. "Making the right offer to an engaged customer at the optimal
        time is every retailer's sweet spot. That's when we see the most
        conversions, and that's what Marketing Cloud helps us achieve."
    --  "Even fully automated campaigns won't be good enough in the age of the
        customer," wrote Rusty Warner, principal analyst, Forrester Research in
        the November 2014 report entitled "Advance Campaign Automation With
        Personalization And Real-Time Context." "Customer Intelligence pros must
        look beyond campaigns to personalize interactions based on real-time
        contextual information. Capitalizing on opportunities to engage with
        customers when, where, and how they prefer -- especially via emerging
        channels -- will drive successful marketing ROI."

Global Leaders Deliver 1:1 Customer Journeys at Scale with the Salesforce Marketing Cloud
The Marketing Cloud is the world's #1 marketing application. It enables marketers to build a single view of the customer, plan and optimize the journey, deliver personalized content on every channels and device and measure the impact on their business. Leading global brands like Diesel, Room & Board and DonorsChoose.org harness the Marketing Cloud to connect with customers in a whole new way.

Pricing and Availability


    --  Predictive Decisions in the Salesforce Marketing Cloud will be available
        in May 2015.
    --  New Predictive Decision features will be available in the Marketing
        Cloud Pro Edition or greater. Pro Edition pricing starts at
        $1,250/month.

Additional Information


    --  Learn more about the Salesforce Marketing Cloud:
        https://www.salesforce.com/marketing-cloud/overview/

Connect with Salesforce


    --  Like Salesforce Marketing Cloud on Facebook:
        www.facebook.com/marketingcloud
    --  Follow @salesforce and @marketingcloud on Twitter

About Salesforce
Salesforce, the Customer Success Platform and world's #1 CRM company, empowers companies to connect with their customers in a whole new way. For more information about Salesforce (NYSE: CRM), visit: http://www.salesforce.com.

Any unreleased services or features referenced in this or other press releases or public statements are not currently available and may not be delivered on time or at all. Customers who purchase Salesforce applications should make their purchase decisions based upon features that are currently available. Salesforce has headquarters in San Francisco, with offices in Europe and Asia, and trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol "CRM." For more information please visit http://www.salesforce.com, or call 1-800-NO-SOFTWARE.

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