Salesforce Experience Cloud is a digital experience platform developed by Salesforce. It helps businesses in building robust online service portals, help centers, and partner communities. You may use it to give quick, safe, and branded experiences, whether you work in retail, real estate, property management, or education. These events increase happiness, encourage engagement, and improve service.
Previously known as Salesforce Community Cloud, Experience Cloud has powered more than 2,000 digital portals for businesses, including Glassdoor and Poshmark, since its 2014 launch. With over 10 million monthly visits and more than 50 million active users, it’s clear that this platform supports some of the most engaging and high-traffic websites.
In this blog post, we’ll define: What is Salesforce Experience Cloud? Then go over its features and explore how businesses in different industries are customizing it to meet their unique needs.
What Is Salesforce Experience Cloud?
Salesforce Experience Cloud is a complete Salesforce digital experience platform (DXP). With this, you can create personalized websites, portals, and mobile apps connected to your CRM. It’s an important part of the Salesforce ecosystem. It allows your customers, partners, and employees to interact with your brand through secure, easy-to-use digital spaces.
Experience Cloud allows you to create internal employee communities, partner networks, knowledge bases, and self-service portals. The Salesforce Customer 360 platform is the foundation of it. It effortlessly integrates with third-party tools and tools like Slack, Sales Cloud, and Service Cloud.
Are you answering customer questions, helping partners sell faster, or giving employees a digital workspace? Then, experience cloud lets you do it all in one place. It improves collaboration, supports mobile access, and boosts your digital presence with AI-powered tools and personalized content.
Interested in creating a custom portal for your business?
Where Salesforce Experience Cloud Fits in the Salesforce Ecosystem
Experience Cloud goes beyond just community building. It’s flexible, mobile-friendly, and built to support real-time collaboration, self-service, and content sharing across devices. From boosting partner engagement to simplifying internal workflows, it enables companies to manage experiences smarter and faster.
You can integrate Salesforce Experience Cloud with other Salesforce products like Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, and Marketing Cloud, or even third-party systems using APIs. This makes your portal more powerful while keeping data centralized and secure.
Salesforce Experience Cloud vs. Community Cloud: What’s the Difference?
Many people ask if Experience Cloud is the same as Community Cloud. The answer is yes—it’s the same platform, but with more features and a new name.
Community Cloud was the earlier version, made for basic online communities. In 2021, Salesforce rebranded it as Experience Cloud to reflect its broader features. Today, Experience Cloud is more than just a place for conversations—it’s a complete solution for building digital experiences across audiences.
The table below shows how SFDC Experience Cloud has evolved beyond Community Cloud:
Feature | Salesforce Community Cloud | Salesforce Experience Cloud |
Main Purpose | Build online communities for customers and partners | Build custom digital experiences, portals, and mobile apps |
Target Users | External users like customers and partners | Internal and external users (customers, partners, employees) |
Digital Experience Tools | Community builder, knowledge base, forums, Chatter | All Community Cloud features plus CMS, AI personalization, advanced analytics |
Customization Options | Basic UI customization | Full branding with code or no-code options |
Integration | Works with Salesforce CRM and some third-party tools | Seamless integration with all Salesforce Clouds and external apps via APIs |
Platform Access | Separate license required | Included in Experience Cloud license tiers |
Use Cases | Customer forums, knowledge base access | Customer portals, partner portals, internal digital hubs, mobile apps |
Why the Rebrand Matters
Salesforce changed Community Cloud’s name to Experience Cloud to show that the platform is capable of more than just helping communities. Now, it powers all kinds of digital interactions across the Salesforce ecosystem. Whether you’re building a real estate client portal, a nonprofit donor hub, or an employee engagement site, Experience Cloud gives you the tools to do it all.
Today, companies use Experience Cloud to deliver personalized, AI-powered digital experiences, making every interaction smarter, faster, and more connected.
Benefits of Salesforce Experience Cloud
Better User Experience
Experience Cloud creates easy-to-use, attractive, and personalized digital experiences. You can tailor layouts, content, and navigation for different groups—customers, partners, or employees.
Faster Customer Self-Service
You can build self-service portals, knowledge bases, FAQs, and community forums. Customers can solve issues on their own, faster and easier.
Easy Teamwork & Community Building
Your teams, customers, and partners can share ideas, solve problems, and collaborate in real time. They can work securely from anywhere.
Personalized Content
Use CRM data and AI to show your users relevant content, offers, and recommendations. This improves engagement, sales, and loyalty.
Smoother Workflows
Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, CRM, and other Salesforce products are all directly connected to Experience Cloud. It eliminates silos and automates tedious operations. It also centralizes content, case management, and workflows.
Grows with Your Business
Add more users, features, or experiences without rebuilding. It supports multi-region and multi-brand needs. Use insights to improve your strategies.
Smart Analytics
The platform includes analytics and dashboards that show how users interact with content and communities. You can monitor community health, content performance, and engagement.
Works on Any Device
Experience Cloud is compatible with every device and is completely responsive. Users can access content anytime, from anywhere. There’s no need for extra app development.
Top Features of Salesforce Experience Cloud
1. Experience Builder & Digital Experience Management
Use an easy-to-use drag-and-drop interface to customize portals and websites. Build branded, mobile-optimized digital experiences with ease—no coding required.
- Deliver highly targeted content
- Automate journeys across roles and permissions
- Fast to launch, easy to maintain
2. Knowledge Base & Self-Service
Create centralized, searchable knowledge repositories and self-service portals for customers, partners, and employees.
- Speeds up issue resolution
- Reduces repeated questions
- Empowers users with instant answers
3. Security & Access Controls
Protect your data with enterprise-grade security, including granular access controls, role-based permissions, and secure sharing models.
- Secure collaboration
- Real-time platform monitoring
- Protect sensitive business data
4. AI-Powered Personalization & Automation
Leverage AI tools like Einstein Analytics and Lightning Flow to personalize user experiences, automate workflows, and guide users through processes.
- Personalized content and recommendations
- Automated case management and onboarding
- Saves time and reduces human error
5. Advanced Analytics & Content Management
Track engagement, measure performance, and manage content all in one place. Use built-in dashboards, reports, and Salesforce CMS to optimize your digital strategy.
- Real-time analytics
- Content reuse across experiences
- Make better, data-driven decisions
What You Can Build with Salesforce Experience Cloud (Real-World Use Cases)
By using Experience Cloud, you can build powerful digital solutions like portals, help centers, landing pages, and microsites. However, its adaptability is what sets it apart. Businesses in any industry can create unique, branded, and scalable digital experiences using prebuilt features, customizations, and AI-driven tools.
Let’s explore what you can build and how different industries use Experience Cloud to solve real problems.
Help Centers & FAQ Portals for Real Estate and Property Management
What You Can Build:
A self-service portal that facilitates quick answer finding for users through forums, FAQs, and knowledge bases.
Use Case:
Property managers can build virtual service centers to handle maintenance requests, answer questions, and manage legal documents. With Experience Builder, they can apply company branding and create a modern, user-friendly interface.
Customer Account Portals for eCommerce and Retail
What You Can Build:
A secure platform for managing distributors, investors, and supply chain partners.
Use Case:
Online retailers and e-commerce brands can let customers:
- Buy products directly
- Submit warranty claims
- Share product reviews
- Suggest improvements
- Join loyalty or referral programs
You can also create communities that reward active users with badges and benefits.
Partner Portals for Agriculture, Distribution, and Supply Chains
What You Can Build:
A user-friendly portal where customers can track orders, update their profiles, file claims, and share feedback.
Use Case:
Agriculture firms can connect growers, sellers, and investors in a centralized portal. They can:
- Share leads
- Track certifications
- Distribute marketing content
- Use Slack or Chatter for real-time collaboration
- Offer AI-based content recommendations via Einstein AI
Example:
Food and beverage companies like Pernod Ricard use Experience Cloud to manage distributor networks and create separate communities for each brand audience.
Employee Communities for Internal Teams
What You Can Build:
A secure digital space for departments like HR, IT, and Operations to share resources and collaborate.
Use Case:
Organizations can create internal help centers for employees to access onboarding materials, policies, and troubleshooting guides. Teams can:
- Collaborate on projects
- Share documents safely
- Access the knowledge base anytime
- Group team members by project or department
Microsites and Landing Pages for Events and Promotions
What You Can Build:
Branded landing pages to promote new products, host webinars, or share campaign updates.
Use Case:
Real estate firms can launch microsites for upcoming webinars, while tech companies can build campaign-specific landing pages for lead generation.
Custom Industry Solutions with Advanced Features
What You Can Build:
Fully customizable portals tailored to customer journeys and industry-specific workflows.
Use Case:
Land brokers can create advanced property listing portals with map integration, forms, and live chat. They can filter listings by zip code, customize offers based on buyer behavior, and manage leads through a single data source.
Capabilities Include:
- Map service integration
- Lead tracking and scoring
- Proposal personalization
- Portal branding
- Salesforce data filtering
Salesforce Experience Cloud Licensing and Pricing Overview
Salesforce Experience Cloud offers three main license types:
- Customer Community License – Best for external users like customers who need access to support or FAQs.
- Partner Relationship Management (PRM) – Ideal for resellers, distributors, or business partners.
- External Apps License – Best for companies that want to build large-scale apps with lots of users and advanced capabilities.
Note: Salesforce doesn’t charge any setup fee. You pay based on the number of licenses. However, you may need to hire Salesforce Experience Cloud consultants for implementation and customization.
Top Brands Using Salesforce Experience Cloud (Success Stories)
Toyota
Toyota developed custom portals to help customers with car research, test drive scheduling, and post-purchase assistance. They improved customer satisfaction, loyalty, and sales leads by connecting online and offline experiences.
NBC
NBC launched content portals on social media, the web, and mobile devices using Experience Cloud. In addition to seeing behind-the-scenes footage and unique shows, viewers might receive interest-based recommendations.
Vodafone
Vodafone created self-service portals so customers could help themselves. People could check their bills, manage their plans, and fix problems without calling customer support.
L’Oréal USA
L’Oréal used Experience Cloud to deliver personalized beauty tips, virtual consultations, and product suggestions through branded community portals.
Why Partner with TechForce Services for Salesforce Experience Cloud Services
TechForce Services is a Salesforce Summit Consulting Partner with proven expertise in delivering Salesforce Experience Cloud Services. Our team understands the nuances of industries like retail, education, manufacturing, government, and non-profit. We build solutions that address sector-specific challenges, from partner portals and customer self-service to employee knowledge hubs.
Comprehensive, AI-Driven Solutions
We offer end-to-end services including:
- Use strategy and consulting to match your goals with Experience Cloud
- Custom portal and community development using Experience Builder and Lightning components
- AI-powered personalization with Einstein Analytics and Agentforce
- Integration with Salesforce Clouds and external systems for unified data flow
- Ongoing support, analytics, and performance optimization
Conclusion
Salesforce Experience Cloud helps the development of impactful digital experiences for partners, customers, and employees. It makes engagement simpler and more smarter by centralizing portals, help centers, and partner communities. Mobile-ready templates, AI tools, and smooth CRM integration, it’s flexible enough for companies in any industry.
Salesforce CRM Experience Cloud is an intelligent choice if you want to save service expenses, improve partner collaboration, and raise customer happiness. Our Salesforce professionals are available to guide you so you get the most out of your investment from setup to optimization.
