Astute Salesforce partners may have noticed a major change this week on the Salesforce AppExchange, a complete listing revamp! While the AppExchange homepage was redone earlier this year, it’s been over five years since there’s been an overhaul to AppExchange listings for partner-provided apps and services. That makes this evolution of the Salesforce app marketplace a big deal for ISV, consulting, and implementation partners. How should Salesforce partners maximize the all new AppExchange listings? Read on to learn about 5 ways partners can make the most of the AppExchange revamp.
First, a bit of context. Persimmon Marketing works with a number of Salesforce partners (like Ascent Solutions featured in this article) for full funnel marketing activities from top of funnel awareness creation to middle and bottom of funnel product marketing and customer success assets. Persimmon brings a unique vantage point as Co-founder Brandon Lopez has been a customer, partner, and marketing director for Salesforce, so we understand acutely how the ecosystem works.
Tip 1: Understand the Benefits of Salesforce AppExchange
There’s something for everyone with the AppExchange revamp. For new and prospective partners, AppExchange is an amazing channel to create awareness and revenue from apps and services. Salesforce has done some pretty impressive technical work, in addition to the clean layout / UI improvements. Page loading speeds have been increased by almost 90%! That’s critical for existing partners because it's now much easier for customers to quickly discover apps they need, more intuitively. Everybody wins.
Tip 2: Get to Know the Sleek AppExchange Listing Layout
The new design and layout for AppExchange partner listings is a fresh take on clean UI. The tabular view enables partners to better promote a value proposition, app pricing, marketing assets, and customer reviews. As we like to say for partner success, it's all about the 3 Rs of AppExchange: Ratings, Reviews, and Revenue. The new layout really puts pricing and customer feedback front and center, which makes it more simple for customers to select the right apps. This is a huge win for everyone, and each partner should familiarize themselves with the new layout of AppExchange listing(s).
Tip 3: Identify P1 Issues to Fix Right Away
As with any major website revamp, things can accidentally break, even with thorough testing. So we highly recommend viewing all listings to look for priority 1 issues to fix immediately, like broken links, duplicate marketing materials, incorrectly formatted copy, and missing items from AppExchange categories like More From This Provider, Industries, Compatibility, Supported Features, and Pricing Details sections of the listing.
Tip 4: Review Listings with a Critical Eye for Larger Optimizations
Once you’ve done a cursory review of your AppExchange listing(s), have a more detailed look with a marketing expert. This should be done by an internal marketing resource, if you have one, or an external agency/consultant can help. And yes, we provide this service at Persimmon Marketing. :)
We highly recommend you perform a detailed listing audit to identify the P1 fixes and note ideas for improvement once you see the listing page. For example, Salesforce now promotes three marketing assets in the Overview tab section, with the watch demo as the default first tile. A demo video may not be the best asset in promotional slot 2, as it duplicates slot 1. These are the type of optimization ideas that only come to mind once you see them live on the listing page. If you need a Salesforce AppExchange Listing audit template, here’s one to get you started with for free.
Tip 5: Capitalize on AppExchange Opportunity
Salesforce partners should take the time to capitalize on the revamp momentum now. We understand its Q4 and revenue + product roadmap are priorities; however improving AppExchange listings helps drive short AND long term revenue. Especially while Salesforce is creating nice buzz about listings and driving additional traffic to AppExchange.
Lastly, to help Salesforce partners, Persimmon Marketing is offering a discounted AppExchange listing audit service this month! Get one (1) AppExchange listing reviewed by our team for $100 (normally a $500 value). Learn more about Brandon Lopez on LinkedIn and contact us with any questions about the AppExchange audit or how we support Salesforce partners.