What are NFTs?
Before we get into the mechanics of what a Salesforce NFT Cloud could mean, let’s first define what an NFT is!
NFT is an abbreviation for Non-Fungible Token. The “non-fungible” component signifies that everything you purchase is unique. Fungible assets include cash and bitcoin, which can be exchanged for one another. Non-fungible examples include physical paintings and rare baseball trade cards.
NFT technology is based on Blockchains such as Ethereum and allows storing almost anything. Examples include digital artwork, in-game objects, a digital collectable, a piece of music, or a ticket to an event, according to Ethereum.Org.
Examples
Much like actual art, NFTs are speculative assets, only worth whatever the market believes them to be worth. Nevertheless, they are the primary business; in 2021, sales will top $41 billion (about $130 per person in the US), surpassing the previous $100 million.
Although NFTs can potentially include any form of digital content, two “categories” of NFTs are now thriving. They are individual, one-of-a-kind works of art, such as the Mona Lisa, and collections of NFTs, which can be compared to baseball trading cards.
Mike Winkelmann’s ‘Everyday: The First 5000 Days,’ a collage of 5,000 digital pictures, is an example of one of the costliest NFTs ever sold. In 2021, Christie’s sold the NFT for $69.3 million. Vignesh Sundaresan, a Singapore-based programmer, purchased the item and has it exhibited in a digital museum.
Collections, on the other hand, are a limited edition run of comparable photographs. For example, consider the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC), a collection of 10,000 Bored Ape NFTs regularly purchased and used as display images on social media platforms such as Instagram and Twitter.
BAYC presently sells for a minimum of $160,000 on OpenSea.io. In addition to being a collectable, it also serves as a Yacht Club membership card, granting you admission to an exclusive members club. The club has become synonymous with celebrity owners with members such as Eminem, Jimmy Fallon, Steph Curry, and Paris Hilton.
Salesforce NFT Cloud
At first glance, it appears that Salesforce wants a piece of the $40 billion (about $120 per person in the US) NFT pie, now controlled by OpenSea.io, which has a reported 60% market share. However, OpenSea.io also raised $300 million in Series C fundraising at a $13.3 billion (about $41 per person in the US) value.
The goal is for customers to drive a new type of community – a change from being a client to an audience and now, thanks to ownership, to a true community. Salesforce has given this significant consideration. By design, NFT Cloud will go to market with trust and sustainability, two of Salesforce’s core pillars.
We would not have imagined that Salesforce would announce the NFT Cloud pilot so soon. However, after hearing from Adam Caplan (SVP of Emerging Technologies), We are excited about what is achievable regarding engagement and customization.
Salesforce Web3
Web3 is Salesforce’s new product category for several products, including the NFT Cloud, which has been rebranded to NFT Management. As a result, customers can “create and manage NFT collections directly through Salesforce, receive real-time customer insights, monitor blockchain activity, and automate operations with Salesforce Flow”.
Web3 Connect is another new product announced: “A new API connector allows marketers to develop personalized, omnichannel experiences across Web2 and Web3, delivering a 360-degree picture of how customers interact with their NFT collections.”
While some may regard this as ‘jumping on the bandwagon,’ this news is exciting for many reasons.
Need: Web3, the next generation of the internet, comprises emerging technologies such as blockchain and NFTs, which provide marketers with innovative ways to engage new audiences and tap into first-party data to strengthen consumer relationships and generate loyalty.
According to survey results, nearly half (45%) of consumers* would be more likely to buy an NFT if it came from their preferred brand.
Three out of every four consumers who have purchased an NFT in the past feel it makes them more loyal to that company.
Features
Smart Contract Templates: Use a secure audited template to configure contract settings for new NFT collections.
Web3 Data Model: Use new blockchain data, like wallet IDs and NFT transaction history, that has been connected with your CRM.
Collection Monitoring: Through your CRM, monitor real-time blockchain data from collections launched on Ethereum and Polygon.
Wallet Risk Scoring: Recognize and flag wallets involved in potentially fraudulent or unsafe activities.
Built-in Security: Allow smart contract multi-signature actions, establish role-based privacy protections, and more.
Sustainable Blockchains: Select a sustainable blockchain and analyze its carbon footprint before implementation.
Why is Salesforce entering the Web3 space?
Salesforce has witnessed an increase in customer demand for NFTs to increase brand loyalty and consumer engagement. Companies can use NFTs to reach new audiences, source zero-party data, and enable co-creation and co-ownership, token-gated communities, and targeted interaction utilizing wallet data.
Yet, as with any early-stage technology, there are potential concerns regarding safety, privacy, and trust. For example, 59% of 935 global respondents* in a recent Salesforce poll reported experiencing or witnessing some sort of fraud (the most common being fake accounts acting as a brand for phishing). There was also a considerable trust difference between individuals who had previously purchased an NFT and those who had not. For these reasons, Salesforce needed to provide customers with a reliable, long-term platform for running NFT campaigns and programmes.
For these reasons, Salesforce needed to provide customers with a reliable, long-term platform for running NFT campaigns and programmes.
Few Client Success Stories on Salesforce Web3
Mattle
“Salesforce Web3 strengthens our NFT collections to enable us to engage with clients and bring our Web2 and Web3 systems together. In addition, web3 Connect provides essential insights into our audience while effortlessly connecting Web3 channels with the rest of our customer experience. “With Salesforce, we know we have a trusted partner, and we are now able to give an innovative user experience and gateway to Mattel’s iconic Property in a new way,” said Sven Gerjets, Mattel’s Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer.
Scotch & Soda
“We wanted to work with a trustworthy partner, and choosing Salesforce Web3 was easy. Creating and securely implementing our Club Soda 3.0 NFT prototype program, which may have taken months, took less than two weeks. “The seamless data integration into our CRM allowed us real-time insight into the 30% net new customers we were able to reach and fueled our tailored campaigns via Marketing Cloud,” stated Claire Boots, Scotch & Soda’s Global CRM Manager.
Quick fact: When purchasing an NFT from a brand, 67% of customers polled* indicated values are essential to them. Furthermore, 65% believe a brand’s environmental and sustainability initiatives are significant when purchasing an NFT.