Once upon a time, it was always the first question that every new Microsoft Outlook + Salesforce user asked,
“How do I integrate my email and calendar with Salesforce?”
The world of Salesforce email integration has grown a lot since the early days. There’s a lot on offer. In fact there’s so much on offer that making the right choice can be something of a minefield.
In this article, we take a look at the options available to you today within the existing Salesforce product stack, and when it might make sense to evaluate a 3rd party option. Finally, we assess the different products currently available and how they compare.
But first, let’s start with a little scene-setting.
Why integrate Outlook with Salesforce
Having a CRM that works in lockstep with email has always been fundamental to Customers360. Without this integration, sales reps and service agents would inevitably spend a large portion of the working day toggling between Salesforce and their inbox. Organizations wanted to minimize the friction and capture all of that important information at source, cutting down on the duplication while amping up the accuracy.
Bringing those two systems together was a complete no brainer when you consider all the spin off benefits to be had in terms of centralization of data, improved responsiveness and accuracy.
A short history of Salesforce Outlook Integration
Given the popularity of Microsoft Outlook as an email and calendar solution, the need for a tool that bridged the gap for Salesforce customers was clear. This is where Salesforce for Outlook, a native application came into play, way back in the mists of 2010, with the Winter 11 release.
Everyone loved the way that they could seamlessly connect their customer contact details, emails, calendar information and more directly into Salesforce. No one had to live in their emails anymore.
However, just over a decade later and Salesforce for Outlook was moved into ‘maintenance only’. As web browsers and operating systems have moved on, this solution was beginning to grumble (the reasons for which are explained here) and it was clear that the next step was retirement. Initially, that retirement date was scheduled for June’24, but at the time of writing, has been moved back to December 2027.
For any business still operating on Salesforce for Outlook, the reasons to migrate have become more compelling with each passing year. The biggest blow came in the Summer ‘21 release, when Salesforce for Outlook users lost the ability to create Salesforce records from the side panel action menu.
Which is a total deal-breaker.
So, what are alternatives has Salesforce provided?
- Salesforce Lightning for Outlook (Outlook Integration) is the most direct replacement. This feature allows users to add emails and events from Outlook to Salesforce records, access Salesforce records directly from within Outlook, and even create new Salesforce records. It also includes a sidebar in Outlook that displays Salesforce contextual information. It’s a free solution, with simple installation. That’s the good news. The bad news is that logging this information remains a manual process, which is a true productivity killer. Want to automate this process? That’s where Einstein Activity Capture comes in.
- Einstein Activity Capture (EAC): Einstein Activity Capture automatically adds emails and events from Outlook to the associated Salesforce records. It synchronizes events between your Outlook Calendar and Salesforce and keeps your contacts in sync. Again, the standard product comes as free, but there are some limitations within this license. For one, the data is stored externally and therefore you will not benefit from bringing this data into Salesforce highly flexible reporting functionality. What’s more, in the standard version, your email data is only stored for 6 months (24 months for the paid version). In addition, there is no ability to upload attachments.
- Salesforce Inbox: Although Salesforce Inbox is a premium feature, it adds on to the capabilities of Outlook integration with additional tools such as read receipts, send later functions, and the ability to schedule meetings directly from the inbox.
- Email to Salesforce: This feature provides a unique email address that allows users to log emails by BCC’ing this address when sending messages from Outlook. Emails sent to this address are associated with relevant Salesforce records based on matching email addresses.
Each of these features can be used to tailor the Salesforce-Outlook integration to an organization’s specific needs. For instance, a company might choose Einstein Activity Capture for seamless data syncing while another might prefer the enhanced capabilities of Salesforce Inbox to empower their sales team. It’s a case of working out what you need and then doing the research and gathering the requirements.
And it’s quite likely during this process that you may come to the conclusion that you could actually use some more functionality.
Why you might need more advanced functionality
There’s a wide range of reasons why businesses would look at the third-party vendors offering, providing a range of features and functionalities that extend beyond the core Salesforce product suite. These third-party tools often provide specialized functionalities like advanced AI and analytics capabilities, customizable data synchronization options, and unique sales and marketing tools that are not found in the core Salesforce suite. Typically, organizations that manage a high-volume of customer email communication as part of their business process will be the ones looking at more advanced solutions.
Some common advanced email integration industry use cases
- Retail: Automated member communications
- Banking: Loan application processes
- Software: Helpdesk resolution across multiple regions
- NFPs: Donor updates and comms
- Manufacturing: Automated sales process workflow
This is just scratching the surface. All businesses on Salesforce are driven by their customer-centric processes and email almost always plays a critical role. When you factor in volume and complexity, then the right email integration solution is crucial.
What solutions are out there
There’s a lot to choose from! Here’s a quick guide to the leading AppExchange apps, covering their unique features and functionalities.
Ortoo: Email-to-Anything (E2A):
- AI-driven dynamic actions for real-time accuracy and updates in Salesforce records.
- Automated categorization and prioritization of leads/ cases/ incidents for various industries.
- Three-step process for duplicate prevention
- Storage optimization through smart image storage e.g. non-relevant social media images disregarded.
- Sentiment analysis in service teams to prioritize critical or negative feedback.
- AI-driven lead scoring and automated updates of lead information.
Cirrus Insight: Outlook, Gmail & Office 365-Sidebar
- Advanced sales enablement and acceleration tools.
- Comprehensive calendar availability tools for scheduling.
- Marketing automation and detailed analytics features.
- Ability to edit and create Salesforce records directly from the email interface.
Revenue Grid: Outlook Integration for Emails and Calendars
- Signal-based selling guidance, offering proactive recommendations.
- Customizable sales sequences and playbook features.
- Detailed engagement analytics to track customer interactions.
- Advanced deal risk assessment tools.
LinkPoint Connect
- Enhanced email recording options, allowing for selective email logging.
- Customizable record creation from email data.
- Advanced field mapping capabilities to align data between Outlook and Salesforce.
Match My Email: Email & Calendar Integration for Salesforce
- Automated email logging and synchronization.
- MultiMatch technology to associate emails with multiple relevant Salesforce records.
- Customizable email integration rules to fit specific business needs.
Putting it all together
And finally, here’s our handy comparison table (correct at the point of publishing)
NB Be sure to scroll across for all Apps.
| Feature/ Functionality | Salesforce for Outlook | Outlook Integration | Einstein Activity Capture | Email-to-Anything (E2A) | Cirrus Insight | Revenue Grid | LinkPoint | Match My Email |
| Email Synchronization | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Calendar Synchronization | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✘ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Automatic Updates | ✘ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Customization | Limited | Extensive | Admin-only | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Record Creation/Update | ✘ | ✔ | ✘ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| AI-Driven Insights | ✘ | ✘ | ✔ | ✔ | ✘ | ✔ | ✘ | ✘ |
| Email Management | Basic | Advanced | Advanced | Advanced | Advanced | Advanced | Advanced | Advanced |
| Advanced Sales Tools | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✔ | ✔ | ✘ | ✘ |
| Analytics | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✘ | ✘ |
| Risk Assessment Tools | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✔ | ✘ | ✘ |
| Sentiment Analysis | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✔ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ |
| Case/Incident Prioritization | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✔ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ |
| Lead Scoring | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✔ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ |
| MultiMatch Technology | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✔ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✔ |
Summing up
If you are a Salesforce + Microsoft Outlook user, then integrating these two platforms in a way that works for your business is absolutely critical to your team productivity, customer relationships and ultimately, your business success.
In a complex landscape of products, working out the best route forward can be somewhat time-consuming. However, help is at hand.
Our free Outlook Salesforce Integration Discovery Workshop and Report
The Ortoo team have great experience in working with organizations to deliver successful solutions in this space across a very wide range of industry sectors. We offer a free 30-minute discovery call to any organization who would like to talk through their requirements with our solution engineering team and get tailored report on the best fit solution.
