case studies

Generate more sales and boost customer engagement with Community Cloud 

Client

Provides solar panels for rent or ownership with headquarters in Germany  

Industry

Energy & Utilites

Background

The Сlient is a growing solar energy company. The primary line of business is providing households with their own solar panels and transforming them to self-supply with green energy of the Sun. Over time, solar panels significantly reduce energy costs for households. This is the company’s main value proposition, which should be highlighted during the pre-sale phase. 

Project Team   

🙂 Technical Architect 
🙂 Senior Engineer 

Challenges

Solar panel installation deal starts with deep research of the site and collection of all information about the exposure to the sun, surroundings, and weather. This data is used to calculate a quote for installation. This procedure is labour-intensive and often becomes a bottleneck in the business, making automation very crucial in this area. 

An online Customer Portal would provide a great advantage. It would simplify the customer experience with the quotes, allowing them to collaborate with the Client and streamline the review, approval, and signing of the quotes. Customer requests could be self-handled with transparent information in the portal. Client engineers could answer any outstanding request submitted by the customer. 

Timelines

2 months

Project Budget

40-50K EUR 

NDA

non-disclosure

The Routine Automation (RA) team has fully supported the client by implementing a Customer Portal with Experience Cloud, as well as Sales and Service Cloud configurations. 

They’ve established a Customer Community solution where potential customers can view quotes for solar panel installations in their homes. Meanwhile, existing customers can submit support requests to the client via the Experience Cloud. These requests can then be addressed using Service Cloud. 

Routine Automation has introduced a feature that brings the accuracy and calculation power of spreadsheets to Salesforce. This has helped consolidate all data into the CRM, facilitating precise offerings that demonstrate the value of green energy to the customer. 

The most challenging aspect was the quoting process. The RA team developed an ROI Calculation engine integrated with Sales Cloud to calculate the return on investment. This is an essential part of the sales deal, illustrating when the solar panel installation will become profitable. 

Once a quote is confirmed, it can be easily approved and signed online through DocuSign integration. 

To ensure community security while maintaining user-friendliness, the team configured a Passwordless Login Authentication system. Users receive a link via email or text message that allows them to access the portal without a password. 

For user enablement and performance tracking in Sales and Service, the RA team set up reports and dashboards that display sales performance and quote conversion rates. The implementation of surveys has also initiated tracking of the CSAT – customer satisfaction score. 

To allow managers to see all community details and interactions, the team developed visual displays for dashboards, key metrics, and trends for records. 

Solutions

Results

🚀 Increased sales volume 

Increased number of sales by 22%    
The portal allows potential customers to see the value of going with green energy. As well helps existing customers to request additional services 

🚀 Improved data security

Customers and employees can easily visualize and review data and information at a glance   

🚀 Customer engagement enhancement

The portal allows potential customers to see the value of going with green energy 

Tools & Technologies

Salesforce Experience Cloud: Community Portal, Passwordless login, Reports, Dashboards