The heated topic of pricing never stops being talked about by many professionals. Salesforce Data Cloud is a consumption-based product – as opposed to seat-based – meaning that each “transaction” in Data Cloud consumes some number of credits. The term I’ve used, “transaction”, refers to the segmentation, activation, and data storage, among others.
As budgets are closely monitored (and ‘squeezed’ for many people), gaining some indication has never been more important. Plus, the number of offerings with Data Cloud involved is increasing. Data Cloud is no longer just a CDP (customer data platform) for marketers – sales, service, and commerce teams are also tapping into Data Cloud, and so will Salesforce industry products (such as Health Cloud, for now).
If you have some hesitation about how much your organization could end up consuming – and costing – Salesforce’s Digital Wallet is a fantastic addition for you to gain that much-needed insight.
Salesforce Digital Wallet
Generally available now, Salesforce customers will be able to access a ‘digital wallet’. This means that for any of their services that are based on credits, you’ll be able to view your organization’s spent and remaining Data Cloud credits.
Remember that sales/service Data Cloud credits are pooled. The wallet mindset makes it clearer which processes – no matter whether the sales team or service team – are consuming the most credits. This means that you can start to detect usage patterns over time and make better budgeting decisions based on these patterns.
If you have access to the Your Account app, you can see a new card has appeared:
From there, you can view consumption versus remaining allowance, when these figures were last updated, and also click to view a more in-depth breakdown:
Summary
Digital Wallet has now taken credit consumption out of the shadows and made it transparent with this clean, visual interface. As there’s been a move towards usage-based pricing with other Salesforce offerings, this is a welcome addition for any budget holders.
With use cases for Data Cloud set to, inevitably, grow in sophistication, it’s important to consider the idea that not all organizations are equal. Usage-based (i.e. pay-as-you-go) pricing models will ensure fairness over usage – rather than one price for all types and sizes of organizations.
If you’re interested in reading more, check out the interview I had with Bobby Jaina, CMO of Marketing Cloud, who made very solid observations about why Salesforce are taking this direction.