The Salesforce AppExchange is a marketplace where administrators, managers, and users can browse and install applications meant to improve functionality and usability of the platform.
These applications are not exclusive to Salesforce. Whereas you can find apps developed by Salesforce, you can also find some of the most popular business and non-business applications not owned by Salesforce, including Zoom, DocuSign, and LinkedIn.
Like the Salesforce platform, the AppExchange is central to helping sales executives solve a variety of challenges, including but not limited to:
- Forecasting and territory management
- Sales productivity
- Sales intelligence
- Compensation management
- Dashboards and reports
And due to the collaborative nature of the sales department in recent years, Salesforce can also be extended to solve problems in the following areas:
- IT and administration
- Human resources
- Finance
- Marketing
- Customer service
In addition to applications, the AppExchange also is a marketplace for Salesforce consultants and developers. These solution groups can solve a wide range of Salesforce challenges, or they may focus on one or more of the following:problems:
- B2B commerce
- Marketing cloud
- Einstein
- Industrial-focused solutions
- Customer 360°
Perhaps the best fact about the AppExchange, especially for SMBs and new users? There is a good variety of free five-star apps to help you get your feet wet.
Salesforce is the most powerful CRM solution on the planet.
When companies large and small deploy Salesforce, they soon come to realize how robust it is and how much customization is required. To accelerate usability, adoption and ROI, many companies and Salesforce administrators turn to the Salesforce AppExchange.
Similar to iPhone and Droid users who want to get the most out of their smartphones, Salesforce admins turn to the AppExchange to download apps for a variety of use cases.
For many sales managers, there are more questions than obvious answers.
Continue reading to have all of these questions and more answered. You’re minutes away from accelerating the usability and adoption of your new or existing Salesforce instance.
Save for later: Salesforce Automation – The Sales Manager’s Guide
What is the Salesforce AppExchange?
The Salesforce AppExchange is a marketplace where administrators, managers, and users can browse and install applications meant to improve functionality and usability of the platform.
These applications are not exclusive to Salesforce. Whereas you can find apps developed by Salesforce, you can also find some of the most popular business and non-business applications not owned by Salesforce, including Zoom, DocuSign, and LinkedIn.
Like the Salesforce platform, the AppExchange is central to helping sales executives solve a variety of challenges, including but not limited to:
And due to the collaborative nature of the sales department in recent years, Salesforce can also be extended to solve problems in the following areas:
In addition to applications, the AppExchange also is a marketplace for Salesforce consultants and developers. These solution groups can solve a wide range of Salesforce challenges, or they may focus on one or more of the following:problems:
Perhaps the best fact about the AppExchange, especially for SMBs and new users? There is a good variety of free five-star apps to help you get your feet wet.
How many apps are on the Salesforce AppExchange?
While the AppExchange is one of the greatest benefits for Salesforce users, the task of selecting what apps to install can be burdensome. As of today, there are over 3,400 Salesforce AppExchange apps with over nine million installations.
Some categories can even have multiple pages of similar to overlapping applications, totaling 150+ apps of varying reviews and total installations.
Good thing for users such as yourself, Salesforce makes it very easy to simplify and quicken your decision making.
Comparing Salesforce AppExchange Apps
If you’re familiar with searching app stores, you’re used to drilling down into specific price points, categories, editions (in this case Salesforce editions), user ratings, and languages.
Based on the feedback of our clients, Salesforce reviews offer one of the best qualifiers when selecting AppExchange apps.
In addition to a star rating out of five, app users are encouraged to leave a thorough commentary on their experience using the app.
And as an added bonus, especially when a review triggers your curiosity, you can click the user’s name and message them directly through Salesforce trailhead.
But if you’re like me, you like to dot your i’s and cross your t’s. Another good place to quickly discover which AppExchange applications separate themselves from the pack is G2.
G2 is the largest software review site on the planet. Similar to the AppExchange, they categorize products into a variety of categories. If anAppExchange app has great reviews on Salesforce and G2, your chance of extracting value from the app doubles or triples.
You can find them here: G2 Salesforce AppExchange apps
Choosing the Best Salesforce AppExchange Apps
While each company and sales team is hyper unique, we have a recommended bundle of three Salesforce AppExchange applications to help you get started, demonstrate value to the C-Suite, and most importantly—close deals faster.
DocuSign - Salesforce AppExchange App
When you’re one step away from closing your next big deal, the last thing you want holding up your next commission is a mere signature.
With DocuSign, you can enable your Salesforce users to one-click create and send agreements for signatures. To further streamline your sales process, the app even comes with automated trigger actions that will send signature capable agreements based on the creation of a new opportunity or account.
DocuSign – 4.6 average rating – starting at $30 per month
Coveo - Salesforce AppExchange App
One of the most intimidating things about Salesforce is its sheer size of data. Records with records, you can have thousands of unique data fields for a single account, and when you’re a few steps away from closing a deal, the last thing you want to do is spend minutes looking for someone’s email address.
With Coveo, not only will you accelerate your data finding capability, but you will also discover other data points that are likely relevant to where you are at that given point in the sales cycle. Coveo uses AI to analyze, learn, and recommend correlated data for each search.
Coveo – 5.0 average rating – watch a demo or test drive Coveo here
Veloxy - Salesforce AppExchange App
When you’re interested in making the entire pipeline a seamless and painless experience, you need to install Veloxy. While most sales software have a singular strength platform (eg. desktop only), Veloxy empowers usability to all devices, anywhere at any time.
Sales managers can get full visibility and functionality from their desk, their smartphone in their car, or a computer in the middle of an exhibition hall—all with one-click. Field salespeople can extend Salesforce, email, dialer, and intelligence capabilities to their smartphones and tablets—all in one-click. And inside salespeople can work from a single screen, maximizing sales engagement and Salesforce automation without any extra effort—all in one-click.
Veloxy – 4.9 average rating – free 30 day trial, $49 a month afterwards
How to get to the Salesforce AppExchange?
The fastest way to access the Salesforce AppExchange is to bookmark their homepage.
But if you’re like most Salesforce users, you can access it after logging in.
For Classic Salesforce users, follow these steps to begin window shopping:
For Lightning Salesforce users, follow these steps to begin downloading apps:
Look for the Salesforce AppExchange Partner Seal
When you are in the process of reviewing information on potential vendors who want to help you maximize your Salesforce instance, be sure you look out for badges similar to these:
Salesforce puts all of their AppExchange partners through a rigorous process that includes usability testing and security analysis.
Rest assured that you’re in good hands with any of the applications or consultants promoted on the Salesforce AppExchange.