By now, you probably already know what WordPress is and that over a third of the web uses this Content Management System (CMS). And, you probably have heard of Salesforce, one of the leading Customer Relationship Management (CRM) platforms. However, using those two terms in the same sentence may seem strange. As both an end-user of WordPress and Salesforce at one time, I am here to tell you that you not only can but should use them in the same sentence.
I imagine that someone at some point said your business is only as good as your leads are. If you aren’t capturing leads on your website, then you need to start. Capturing leads on your site and stopping there might not be the best way for you to manage your potential customers, though. By integrating Salesforce with WordPress, you can keep WordPress as your CMS, where you simply manage content, and Salesforce as your CRM, where you manage your customer relationships. It might sound to you that it is counter intuitive to integrate these two powerhouses of software just to manage them separately, but by the end of this blog post, you will see why and how it’s not counter intuitive at all.
Salesforce
First, let’s dive into the basics of Salesforce. As a former nonprofit fundraising professional, I used Salesforce as my donor database where we would track not just active donors and donations but also donor prospects. Salesforce was completely customized to my needs and the needs of the agency I worked for. I was able to run queries using the criteria of my choosing to my heart’s content, customize donor profiles, etc. You get the point.
Put simply, Salesforce is a customer relationship management platform that allows you to track all aspects of your relationship with your customer. Because Salesforce is one of the experts in this industry, it is important to let them handle storing your leads. This way, your leads exist in the same ecosystems and context as all of your other customers.
Having said that, you simply must capture those leads as they come in from your website. These days, it is few and far between to find a business that does not have a website. But from my personal experience, it is much more common to come across a website that does not ask for and capture your information. All those prospects are slipping through your proverbial fingers, if you are not collecting their information on your site and then subsequently doing something about it.
Salesforce + WordPress
So, now that I have you convinced that you absolutely have to integrate Salesforce with your WordPress site, just exactly how do you go about doing that? If you can believe it, there is not just one clear answer.
The reason for that is because both Salesforce and WordPress allow you to choose the integration method that works best for your needs and budget. These options vary from solutions like a simple HTML form generated from Salesforce that you embed on your WordPress site, to WordPress plugins, to very complex customized integration that allows your website to communicate with Salesforce and vice versa.
Pardot
The most common integration for our WebDevStudios clients is Pardot, a Salesforce product. Pardot is specifically designed to generate leads and nurture those relationships. There is even a Salesforce Pardot plugin for WordPress. The description boasts, “With a single login, your self-hosted WordPress installation will be securely connected with Pardot. With the selection of your campaign, you’ll be able to track visitors and work with forms and dynamic content without touching a single line of code. You can use the widget to place a form or dynamic content anywhere a sidebar appears, or embed them in a page or post using a shortcode or the Pardot button on the Visual Editor’s toolbar”.
Although Pardot is the most common integration I have seen, we love customizing for our clients’ specific needs at WebDevStudios, whether that is with Pardot or a much more customized experience that we design especially for your needs. No matter what the integration looks like, however, one thing is for sure: your life will be a whole lot easier when you have integrated Salesforce with your WordPress site.
Do you need an experienced team to integrate your Salesforce, or other CRM, with your WordPress site? Contact us!
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