There is a technological innovation to manage almost every aspect of life. Whether you want to start your slow cooker remotely, automate your heating and cooling, or get help planning a vacation, there is probably an app, piece of software, or website to help you do it. In the same way, software can be used to optimize your business. 

Salesforce is a customer relationship management software that can be used to track and automate every aspect of your interactions with your customers. If you decide to purchase Salesforce, then integrating it with your WordPress website is a must. By using Salesforce APIs, WordPress plug-ins, and custom integrations, you can ensure that you are taking advantage of all that Salesforce has to offer. 

Inclind is an award-winning website design and development firm that works with businesses, membership organizations, healthcare practices, government agencies, and nonprofits throughout the United States. We understand that software like Salesforce is integral to your organization’s success - and that integrating it with your existing website is critical. If you’d like to know more about our services - including website design, redesign, consulting, and maintenance, reach out today to talk to a team member. 

What Is Salesforce? 

Salesforce is a cloud-based customer relationship management (CRM) platform. In essence, it provides businesses with technological tools that help them generate more leads, follow up on leads, close deals, and provide better customer service. Salesforce is a popular CRM platform used by support, sales, and marketing teams worldwide. 

With Salesforce, businesses can track customer activity, market to customers, and follow up on inquiries and requests. It also offers an array of custom metrics and data that allows companies to better analyze their statistics. Some of its tools include customer segmentation, customer data management, and customer support. With Salesforce, companies can track all customer interactions, automate communications, personalize recommendations, and more. 

Salesforce provides businesses with a centralized location to store, track, and manage customer information. Because it is cloud-based, teams can connect to the platform no matter where they may be located. It can be integrated with other software to get a more complete picture of data and analytics and to maximize the benefits of the platform. 

Why You Should Integrate Salesforce with Your WordPress Site 

Like most enterprise software, purchasing Salesforce can be costly. Once you have paid for it, it only makes sense to ensure that you are taking full advantage of its capabilities. Integrating it with your website will help you capture more data so that you can put your CRM software to better use. 

Integrating Salesforce with your WordPress site can achieve many goals, such as: 

• Contact management: when users submit a form on your website, a new contact can automatically be created in Salesforce. 
• Customer service case management: when customers make a complaint, request service, or otherwise ask for help online, a new case will automatically be opened in Salesforce so that your team can be notified and respond promptly. 
• Collect feedback: if you send out a survey or otherwise seek feedback from customers through your website, a Salesforce integration can ensure that all input is collected within the software for analysis. 
• Lead generation: you can avoid missing potential leads by ensuring that when users submit forms on your website, a new lead is created in Salesforce. 
• Job application management: if you allow candidates to apply for a position via your website, then integrating Salesforce will allow you to efficiently manage and track applications. 
• Create more detailed customer profiles: when you integrate WordPress and Salesforce, you can sync all customer data, including interactions and activities from your website, to the platform. This helps to enrich the customer profile, which may allow you to generate more sales. 
• Automate workflows: One big advantage of CRM software is the ability to reduce the labor required for manual tasks. Salesforce can automatically send email notifications, allocate leads to sales reps, and configure other actions when users interact with your website in specific ways. 
• Reduce errors: when data is automatically synced between your website and Salesforce, it minimizes the potential for errors (such as spelling a customer’s name incorrectly) that often occur with manual data entry. 

These examples show that if you purchase Salesforce or a similar CRM software, you should absolutely integrate it with your WordPress site. Otherwise, you will potentially miss out on key benefits of the platform - and the opportunity to grow your business. 

How to Integrate WordPress and Salesforce 

There are three methods that can be used to integrate Salesforce and WordPress: 

1. Salesforce API: Salesforce offers various Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) that can be used to integrate the software with various other software and content management systems (CMS) like WordPress. An API is a type of software interface that allows two or more computer programs to communicate with each other. Using a Salesforce API to connect the platform with WordPress requires some skill, but once implemented, it can ensure that the connection is seamless. 
2. Third-Party Plugins: WordPress offers a range of plug-ins to add features and functionality to sites. Many of these plug-ins can be used to make certain integrations possible, like connecting forms to Salesforce, or simply to make the integration process easier. 
3. Custom integration: Custom integration is often the best way to achieve a high level of flexibility and meet specific business needs. It requires technical expertise and a fair bit of code writing. If your business or organization has more complex needs or wants to ensure that the integration is tailored to meet your needs, then a custom integration may be the way to go. 

Configure Your Salesforce Account 

When you want to integrate Salesforce with your WordPress site, there are a few steps to follow. First, you will need to make sure that your Salesforce account is set up correctly to capture the data you want. This may include creating a custom object to store WordPress leads and a web-to-lead form to collect data from your WordPress website. 

Install Necessary Plugins 

Second, you will need to install plug-ins on your WordPress site. The exact plug-ins you need will depend on your goals. For example, if you want to capture information entered into forms, you can use a plug-in like Gravity Forms Salesforce Add-on. These plug-ins offer integration features that can be configured to meet your needs. 

Connect Salesforce to WordPress 

Third, you will need to connect your WordPress site to Salesforce. Typically, this is done by entering your Salesforce API credentials into your WordPress plug-in settings. These plug-ins may require additional configuration to ensure that they run properly. 

Configure Integration Settings 

Fourth, you will have to configure the integration settings. This may include mapping WordPress and Salesforce fields and setting up lead assignment rules. This step usually involves configuring WordPress plug-in settings. 

Test The Integration 

Fifth, you will need to test the integration settings. One of the easiest ways to do this is to submit a test lead on your site and check to make sure that it is syncing correctly in Salesforce. You can take similar steps to test other features. 

Of course, these steps are a fairly simplified breakdown of what can be a complex process. Using the Salesforce API and WordPress plug-ins may also not be sufficient to meet your business needs. If you need a more robust integration, then talking to a website design and development firm like Inclind is the way to go. 

In addition to performing a custom integration, Inclind can also provide ongoing support and maintenance. This is necessary to ensure data privacy and security, back up your data, and keep your plug-ins and software up to date. Support is also critical for monitoring the performance of your integration to make sure that it is working properly and that any errors or problems are addressed promptly. 

Looking to Integrate Salesforce to Your Website? Inclind Can Help 

WordPress is a powerful CMS used by small businesses and major corporations alike. If you decide to purchase Salesforce as a CRM tool, integrating it with your WordPress site is a must. If you need a more flexible, customized integration, we can work with you to help you achieve your goals. 

From our offices in Delaware, Inclind works with membership organizations, healthcare systems, nonprofits, credit unions, real estate brokerages, businesses, higher education organizations, and more to help them build effective, smart websites. We offer a full range of website services, including ongoing maintenance, integrations, website redesigns, accessibility audits, and more. We have significant experience with both WordPress and Salesforce, and can build custom integrations for these platforms to help your business thrive. 

If you're interested in knowing more about our web design, development, and support services, we are always here to chat with you. You can fill out our online contact form or hit the live chat button to speak to one of our experts about your website design or redesign.