Salesforce Sales Cloud vs Service Cloud: Which Fits Your Needs Better?

In the competitive era, improving customer relations has become essential to stand out and ensure optimum growth. However, it is easier said than done. Are you wondering how to overcome the issue? That is where Salesforce comes into the big picture. Salesforce can help centralize customer information, manage marketing campaigns, streamline sales operations, and provide actionable insights. The core aim is to enhance customer relations and drive more sales for businesses.

Did you know that 90 percent of Fortune 500 companies leverage Salesforce for effective management of their business relationships? 

Yes, you read it right!  The numbers clearly reflect the demand for Salesforce. 

Salesforce provides a wide range of products for the basic and advanced CRM implementation needs of businesses. Among them, the most prominent ones include Service Cloud and Sales Cloud. Confused about which one is the best choice for your organization? In this blog, you will explore the similarities and differences between the two. Moreover, you will also understand the benefits and be able to make the right decision. Let’s dive in!

What is Salesforce Sales Cloud?

Sales Cloud is a robust platform that allows businesses to optimize and streamline sales processes. The platform helps organizations manage marketing, sales, and customer support effectively in one place. The cloud-based application is ideal for both business-to-customer and business-to-business segments. 

By centralizing customer information and automating several tasks, Sales Cloud makes it easier to make smart decisions. Moreover, the platform can provide you with a complete overview of customer details, including key contacts, activity history, internal account discussions, and customer communication. 

For businesses looking to improve conversion rates, accelerate sales cycles, and enhance sales efficiency, Salesforce Sales Cloud is the perfect choice. The platform allows the sales teams to focus more on relationship building and closing deals through the automation of repetitive tasks. 

What is Salesforce Service Cloud?

Salesforce Service Cloud is a platform designed for customer service and support operations. This application can empower businesses to resolve issues, manage customer inquiries, and deliver exceptional customer experiences. 

The platform provides organizations with access to features like social media plug-ins and case tracking for efficient conversions. Service Cloud makes it easier for support teams to address customer problems faster. 

Beyond case management, the platform offers several other features to improve customer satisfaction. It includes self-service portals, knowledge bases, live chat options, and community forums. Service Cloud enables customers to find answers to their issues independently and provides multiple channels for efficient support. The core aim is to lower support costs and increase customer loyalty. 

Benefits of Leveraging Salesforce Sales Cloud and Service Cloud

Both platforms are integral to the success of businesses in the competitive landscape. Delve into the prominent benefits they can provide!

Using Salesforce Sales Cloud can offer the following benefits:

• The platform empowers salespeople to work smarter, faster, and more efficiently.
• Sales Cloud allows you to gain access to all customer data faster, thereby saving a great deal of time.
• The application can provide in-depth insights, help sales representatives enhance sales strategies, and ensure more deal closings.
• The accurate and comprehensive customer data make it easier to forecast sales effectively. 
• Sales Cloud enables sales managers to keep a tab on the performance of the sales teams and pinpoint the areas of improvement.

Leveraging Salesforce Service Cloud can provide organizations with the following benefits:

• The platform offers access to various templates and enables businesses to automate routine tasks. 
• The application allows sharing of information across all departments and ensures that everyone is on the same page.
• The secure data-sharing feature of Service Cloud facilitates better collaboration among teams. 
• Service Cloud offers continuous support to users through different social media channels. 

Key Differences Between Sales Cloud and Service Cloud

Are you wondering how both the Salesforce clouds are different from each other? Read on to explore everything in detail!

#1 Features

The key features of Salesforce Sales Cloud include:

• Lead Management: The platform allows users to track, capture, and manage leads efficiently. Sales Cloud helps you prioritize, score, and assign leads to different sales representatives in your team, ensuring the prompt follow-up of high-potential leads. 
• Sales Collaboration: This feature enables sales representatives to effectively collaborate with managers, colleagues, and other departments. The core aim is to enhance proper alignment between teams and ensure everyone is working toward a common goal. 
• Workflow Automation: Sales Cloud provides a number of tools to automate repetitive tasks, minimize manual efforts, and increase the efficiency of sales teams. From updating records to sending follow-up emails, this platform can enable you to handle everything with ease. 
• Reports and Dashboards: The platform offers robust tools to generate insightful business reports and track progress. The best part is that the dashboards and reports are accessible anytime and anywhere. Sales Cloud allows organizations to identify their strong and weak areas and plan strategies to drive more sales. 

The prominent features of Salesforce Service Cloud are: 

• Case Management: The platform offers a centralized system for prioritizing, tracking, and resolving customer issues. Service Cloud enables the support agents to manage cases through different channels and ensure a streamlined support process.
• Field Service Management: This feature helps businesses to efficiently schedule field technicians for on-site support.  The real-time tracking capabilities of the application help timely arrival and resolution of all service requests. 
• Knowledge Base: This feature allows the support agents to access documents, articles, and FAQs to deliver satisfactory assistance to customers. Service Cloud also offers a customizable platform that lets customers interact, share solutions, and find information. 

#2 Rating

Salesforce Sales Cloud has a rating of 4.5/5. The key features that customers appreciate about the platform include lead and opportunity management, workflow management, sales forecasting, interaction tracking, customer data and contact management, pipeline visualization, and customizable reports.

On the other hand, Salesforce Service Cloud holds a rating of 4.7/5. The features that users like the most about this application are email support, organization and prioritization of service tickets, customer portal, ease of case creation, social integration, and external and internal knowledge base. 

#3 License Pricing

When you want to invest in the Salesforce cloud platforms, you would definitely want to get an idea of the costs. The prices of different licenses for Sales Cloud are as follows:

• Sales Cloud Essentials Edition: The cost of this edition is USD 25 per user/month. The key features include account, contact, basic lead, and opportunity management, and email integration. 
• Sales Cloud Professional Edition: The pricing of the professional edition is USD 80 per user/month. The key features are rules-based lead scoring, sales forecasting, and lead registration.
• Sales Cloud Enterprise Edition: Opting for this edition will cost you USD 165 per user/ month. The main features offered are workflow automation, approval automation, and advanced sales automation tools. 
• Sales Cloud Unlimited Edition: The pricing of this edition is USD 330 per user/month. The prominent features accessible are configuration services and 24/7 toll-free Salesforce support. 

The license cost of Salesforce Service Cloud editions are as follows:

• Service Cloud Essentials Edition: This edition will cost you USD 25 per user/month. The key features include basic case mapping, basic telephony integration, and basic multi-channel case management.
• Service Cloud Professional Edition: The pricing of this edition is USD 80 per user/month. The core features are enablement of entitlements and enablement of service contracts. 
• Service Cloud Enterprise Edition: The price of this Service Cloud edition is USD 165 per user/month. The features you can get include web API and sophisticated reporting with the help of AI-based tools. 
• Service Cloud Unlimited Edition: This edition is available at a cost of USD 330 per user/month. The prominent features are online training, configuration services, and 24/7 toll-free Salesforce support. 

#4 Targeted Users

The Salesforce Sales Cloud platform is ideal for sales teams and managers. On the other hand, Service Cloud is a suitable choice for customer service representatives and support managers.

Choosing the Right Cloud Platform

When it comes to selecting between Service Cloud and Sales Cloud, you need to factor in several aspects. Delve into the prominent ones!

• Business Goals: If your main aim is to boost sales and grow revenues, investing in Sales Cloud is an ideal option. However, when your objective is delivering seamless customer experiences, it is wise to leverage Service Cloud.
• Cost Considerations: The pricing of both the Salesforce cloud editions ranges between USD 25 to USD 330 per user/month. Be sure to assess the costs and the ROI you will get to reach the right decision.
• Current Challenges: If your sales team is struggling with tracking and managing leads or doesn’t have the visibility of your sales pipeline, using Sales Cloud is a smart move. On the other hand, Service Cloud is ideal for businesses whose support teams are overwhelmed by customer queries and issues. 
• Integration and Scalability: The platforms or systems with which you want the cloud applications to integrate well also play a crucial role in your selection. Moreover, be sure to select a platform that can scale to meet the evolving needs of your business. 

Conclusion

Leveraging Salesforce Service Cloud and Sales Cloud is the need of the hour to stand out. However, the choice will depend on the unique needs and objectives of your business. Are you looking to partner with the top Cloud service providers? NlineAxis is the perfect destination for all your needs.