Salesforce Inbox: Everything You Need to Know

Salesforce Inbox, a powerful tool within the Salesforce ecosystem, has been designed to streamline and optimize email communication for sales professionals. Salesforce Inbox is a robust email productivity tool that empowers sales and customer relationship management (CRM) professionals. This article provides an in-depth understanding of Salesforce Inbox by exploring its key components, integration capabilities with Salesforce CRM, mobile accessibility, and the tangible benefits it offers users.

What will you learn:

• Learn all about Salesforce inbox.
• Discover the key features and integration of Salesforce inbox with Salesforce CRM.

Let’s get started!

What is Salesforce Inbox?

Salesforce Inbox is a feature-rich email solution that enhances the email communication experience for sales teams. It seamlessly integrates with popular email platforms such as Outlook and Gmail, bringing Salesforce CRM functionalities directly to users’ email inboxes. This integration simplifies and centralizes the management of customer interactions, leads, and sales opportunities within the email environment.

Email scheduling, email templates, and email tracking are some of Salesforce Inbox’s key features. These features streamline email communication and provide valuable insights into how recipients engage with emails, enabling sales professionals to make data-driven decisions.

Also Read – Salesforce Outlook Integration: A Complete Guide

Integration with Salesforce CRM

One of the standout strengths of Salesforce Inbox is its deep integration with the Salesforce CRM platform. This integration bridges the gap between email correspondence and customer relationship management, allowing users to view and update CRM records without leaving their email environment. Here are some integration highlights:

1. Seamless Data Synchronisation: Salesforce Inbox ensures that emails, contacts, and calendar events are automatically synced with Salesforce CRM, keeping all customer-related information current.
2. Access to CRM Data: Users can access Salesforce CRM data directly from a side panel within their email client. This lets them view relevant customer details and insights while composing emails or scheduling meetings.
3. Effortless Lead Management: Salesforce Inbox simplifies lead management by allowing users to create new leads, opportunities, or tasks directly from email conversations. By doing away with the necessity to switch between applications, you can save time.

Mobile Accessibility and Efficiency

Salesforce Inbox caters to this need by offering a mobile app that extends its capabilities to smartphones and tablets. Here’s how it enhances mobile efficiency:

1. Email Management: Users can manage their emails, schedule appointments, and access CRM data from the Salesforce Inbox mobile app, ensuring they stay connected and productive while away from their desks.
2. Real-time Updates: The mobile app provides real-time updates, allowing sales professionals to respond promptly to customer inquiries and stay informed about important developments, no matter where they are.

Simplifying Meeting Scheduling

This section will dive into how Salesforce Inbox simplifies the often cumbersome process of setting up appointments.

A. Meeting Invites with a Few Clicks

One of the standout features of Salesforce Inbox is its ability to send meeting invites with just a few clicks. The days of painstakingly coordinating schedules and exchanging emails back and forth to set a meeting time are long gone. Salesforce Inbox makes this process remarkably simple.

B. The Availability Tab

Within the Salesforce Inbox interface, users have access to the Availability tab. This tab is a game-changer, allowing users to share their availability with meeting participants effortlessly. Users can display their open time slots directly within their email interface by connecting to their calendars. By enabling real-time schedule visibility, this feature simplifies the scheduling process.

C. Introducing New Features

Salesforce Inbox continually evolves to meet the ever-changing needs of sales professionals. Three notable features that have recently been introduced or are on the horizon are:

Preferred Times

Salesforce Inbox users can now send specific meeting times to recipients, giving them a selection of options to choose from. This feature simplifies the decision-making process for meeting participants and speeds up the scheduling process.

Source: Salesforce

Scheduling Link

The Scheduling Link, introduced in December 2022, is a game-changer. It allows recipients to take control of the scheduling process by selecting an available slot directly from the sender’s calendar. This empowers customers and colleagues to find a time that suits them without lengthy email exchanges.

Source: Salesforce

The next 3 Available Times

Scheduled for release in the Spring ’23 update, this feature automatically includes the sender’s next three meeting slots in an email. It’s a proactive approach that eliminates the need for additional conversation regarding availability. Recipients can click on their preferred slot, streamlining the scheduling process further.

How It Works

Salesforce Inbox’s innovative features for meeting scheduling, including the Scheduling Link and Next 3 Available Times, have transformed how professionals coordinate meetings. This section will explore how these features work, simplifying the meeting scheduling process and enhancing overall efficiency.

A. Scheduling Link

Inserting Calendar Availability

The Scheduling Link feature within Salesforce Inbox makes scheduling meetings a breeze. Here’s how it works:

• When a sales manager or professional clicks on the Scheduling Link option, their calendar availability is automatically extracted and inserted into the email they’re composing. This availability is presented as a “Book a Meeting” link that the recipient can click on.

Source: Salesforce

• The availability data is sourced directly from the user’s calendar, ensuring the recipient receives accurate and up-to-date information about the sender’s schedule. This eliminates the possibility of double bookings or scheduling conflicts.

Sending with Ease

After inserting the calendar availability into the email using the Scheduling Link, the process is remarkably straightforward:

• The sales professional simply hits the “send” button, and the email, complete with the Book a Meeting link, is dispatched to the recipient.
• The recipient receives an email with a clickable link that displays the sender’s real-time calendar availability. This allows them to choose a meeting slot that best suits their schedule.

B. Next 3 Available Times

Automatic Slot Attachment

The Next 3 Available Times feature takes the convenience of scheduling to the next level:

• When enabled, Salesforce Inbox automatically attaches the sender’s next three meeting slots directly to the email they compose. These slots are chosen based on the sender’s calendar, ensuring they align with their availability.
• If none of the three suggested times work for the recipient, the email includes a link to view all available times. This provides recipients with flexibility and ensures they can find a suitable slot.

Simplified Booking Process

The booking process with the Next 3 Available Times is remarkably straightforward:

• The recipient opens the email and sees the three available meeting slots. They can click on the slot that fits their schedule best.
• Once the recipient selects a time, Salesforce Inbox takes care of the rest. A meeting invite is automatically generated and sent on behalf of the sales manager. This streamlines the confirmation process and reduces the need for manual intervention.

C. Streamlined Meeting Confirmation

Regardless of whether the Scheduling Link or Next 3 Available Times feature is used, the meeting confirmation process is seamless:

• • A meeting invite is sent out automatically after the recipient clicks on their chosen slot or the Book a Meeting link.
  • The recipient(s) and the meeting host are notified via email that a meeting time has been selected and confirmed. This ensures that all parties involved are on the same page.

Conclusion

Salesforce Inbox’s impact on productivity is profound. Eliminating the tedious back-and-forth of scheduling, empowering both sales managers and prospects, and allowing professionals to focus on high-value tasks transforms the way sales teams operate. The result is enhanced efficiency and the ability to drive sales success and foster meaningful customer relationships.

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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

1. Is Salesforce Inbox Being Retired?

Salesforce has planned to discontinue the Salesforce Inbox mobile app effective February 1, 2024. Post-retirement, users will be encouraged to utilize the desktop integrations with Outlook and Gmail to access the majority of features previously available in the Salesforce Inbox mobile application. This change signifies a shift in Salesforce’s strategy to focus more on desktop-based email integrations while still offering robust CRM functionality.

2. What is Salesforce Inbox?

Salesforce Inbox is an advanced email integration tool designed to optimize email communication for sales professionals. It seamlessly integrates with Salesforce CRM, allowing users to manage emails, schedule meetings, and access CRM data directly from their email client. Salesforce Inbox supports popular email platforms like Outlook and Gmail, making it a versatile tool for sales teams.

3. What Can Salesforce Inbox Do?

Salesforce Inbox offers several features to enhance email productivity. These include email tracking, scheduling emails for later delivery, using email templates for quick responses, and viewing Salesforce CRM data within the email interface. It also facilitates efficient lead management and meeting scheduling, streamlining the sales process.

4. Does Salesforce Inbox Automatically Log Emails?

Yes, Salesforce Inbox has the capability to automatically log emails to Salesforce CRM. This feature ensures that all communications related to leads, opportunities, and customer interactions are captured and stored in Salesforce, providing a comprehensive view of customer engagements.

5. How Much Does Salesforce Inbox Cost?

The pricing structure for Salesforce Inbox is currently set at $25 per user each month. For those seeking enhanced capabilities, Salesforce Inbox Einstein is available at $50 per user per month. This tier offers additional features powered by Einstein AI, providing more advanced insights and automation.

6. How to Enable Salesforce Inbox?

To enable Salesforce Inbox, you need to have a Salesforce Inbox license. Once you have the license, you can set it up by integrating it with your Salesforce CRM. This involves configuring your email settings in Salesforce and installing the Salesforce Inbox add-on for your email client, such as Outlook or Gmail. Detailed setup instructions can be found in Salesforce’s documentation or by contacting Salesforce support for assistance.