Salesforce launches Journey Builder for mobile apps

Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff

Updated: September 24 at 16:38

Salesforce has updated its Journey Builder tool to include compatibility with apps, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff said at a Salesforce ExactTarget event in Indianapolis.

Journey Builder, which offers marketers a campaign planning and automation tool, can now provide companies with a way to add personalization and real-time marketing updates to mobile apps. Salesforce says the update will enable organizations to build "Uber-like" apps that offer one-to-one connections with consumers.

Salesforce updated Journey Builder in July to include maps, automated customer interaction triggers and enhanced metrics designed to improve campaign testing. With Journey Builder for Apps, Salesforce is hoping to offer the same level of marketing automation and personalization available via email and the web to brands hoping to boost mobile application performance. Additionally, the tool offers marketers analytics to provide insight into how app users engage with company messaging on mobile devices.

"The amount of data that's [being created], and the amount that we can learn about our customers is really exciting," Benioff said. "The most successful companies pivot to their customers...and customers are pivoting to apps."

Journey Builder for Apps

Salesforce has been an aggressive business-to-business wearable innovator. In June, the CRM company launched The Salesforce Wear Developer Pack, a tool designed to help organizations build applications that can adapt to different device architectures, user experiences and data flows.

The combination of the Wear Developer Pack and Journey Builder for Apps can potentially offer businesses the ability to create apps for wearables that can then be leveraged for real-time, personalized marketing messaging.

At the event, ExactTarget Chief Product Officer Bryan Wade said Journey Builder for Apps could enable clients to send automated welcome emails, battery charge reminders, goal reminders and proximity alerts.

Salesforce and ExactTarget

ExactTarget Marketing Cloud customers include Microsoft, Sony Playstation and SkyMall. Recently, Journey Builder was generally available, with pricing starting at $5000 (around £2958, AU$5367). It is immediately unclear if Journey Builder for Apps will alter the price tag.

Salesforce acquired ExactTarget for $2.5 billion (around £1.5 billion, AU$2.7) in June of last year. It is the company's largest acquisition.

In similar moves by Salesforce competitors, IBM acquired Silverpop for its marketing automation and real-time personalization expertise, and Oracle acquired Eloqua in 2012 in order to create an "offering to help companies transform the way they market, sell, support and serve their customers," both companies said at the time.