You’ve Got Questions. We’ve Got Answers.

We know, you’ve got plenty of questions. Here are the most commonly asked questions and answers regarding our technology. If you’d like to schedule time to talk live or see a demo just use this button.

What's a typical implementation look like?

A typical implementation is completed in 5-6 weeks. Steps include:

  • Implementations follow our organizational readiness methodology (Launch Playbook) because technology without change management is not a recipe for success.
  • Setup and configuration on a Salesforce sandbox (test environment(s)).
  • Customer reference data and content import (if applicable).
    – This step has the greatest potential to extend the implementation timeline.
    – More data types require more import files and preparation time.
  • Permissions verification and user acceptance testing.

Repeat previous steps on production (or additional sandboxes).

  • Train
  • Go-Live
How Is ReferenceEdge priced?

It is a price per user model just like Salesforce CRM. The user price is determined by:

  • Number of users / applicable volume price tier (e.g., 100-249, 250-499, etc.).
  • Payment plan chosen. Annual (vs. quarterly) payments qualify for a discount.
  • The term of the statement of work (1, 2 or 3 years)

Enterprise pricing is available for 2,000 users and above.

Who needs a ReferenceEdge license?

All Salesforce users do not need ReferenceEdge licenses. ReferenceEdge users are determined primarily by the process you choose for reference request management. Using the full request automation capabilities of ReferenceEdge requires that 1) all reference requesters, and 2) all owners of reference account relationships have ReferenceEdge licenses.

Typically this includes Sales, Marketing and Customer Success/Account Managers, but may include any Salesforce user with a valid need.

How does ReferenceEdge track program results?

Every use of a customer reference contact and customer reference content is associated to an opportunity automatically. The result is an ability to measure Revenue Influenced*, by far the most common quantifiable metric in our domain.

We’ve included a package of over 50 pre-built reports and over 20 dashboard charts with ReferenceEdge. The package is a result of real world client needs, and satisfy the vast majority of your program reporting needs.

As a native app, we leverage standard Salesforce report and dashboard chart functionality. Nothing proprietary to learn. That means you can clone/modify any item, and of course, create brand new reports or charts as needed.

*Revenue Influenced is the amount of closed/won opportunity revenue where a customer reference or customer content was used during the sales cycle.

What are the staff requirements for ReferenceEdge?

A reference program needs a leader, which is usually dedicated, full-time, to managing all elements of a customer reference program.

Many clients have customer marketing teams where one or more team members act as ReferenceEdge administrators.

Following launch they will:

  • meet with stakeholders to ensure the advocate database contains what’s needed to support company goals
  • continue to promote the program
  • educate new and existing users
  • monitor the ReferenceEdge dashboard
  • manage some portion of reference request fulfillment
  • process nominations (if applicable)
  • manage customer content (videos, case studies, etc., if applicable).

The more ReferenceEdge automation is enabled, the more time there is to spend on strategic activities versus repetitive, low-value, tactical activities.

What are the most common challenges your clients encounter?
  • Lack of prominent leadership support required to effect optimal change management
  • Under qualified or overburdened program leaders
  • Lack of emphasis on alignment between program goals and company goals
  • Insufficient availability of program or technical resources to make timely decisions or complete tasks
  • A misperception that advocate management is a project (i.e., autopilot after technology launch) versus a continuous process

We take great care to identify these obstacle, and propose corrective actions. The importance of leadership support cannot be under estimated.

How does ReferenceEdge encourage user adoption?

We believe adoption is comprised of a combination of awareness, education and data quality; and include specific features for each.

  • In-Line help
  • Suggested references from the opportunity page
  • Data quality update automation

We also add an element of fun for users. ReferenceEdge gamifies user participation by issuing points for desirable behaviors such as nominating reference customers, helping a peer secure the use of a reference account, updating reference account information and more.

How flexible or configurable is ReferenceEdge?

In a word:  highly. ReferenceEdge was designed with 10+ years of customer advocate technology experience. With 20/20 hindsight we knew where clients differed from one another and therefore where flexibility was essential. The architecture is expressly built to grow with client needs.

ReferenceEdge is a 100% Salesforce-native, ground-up design launched in 2013.

To what applications does ReferenceEdge integrate?

ReferenceEdge offers pre-built integrations to InfluitiveGainsight, SlapFive and TechValidate.

Marketing automation solutions such as Marketo and Eloqua generate valuable data related to the use of customer references in events (e.g., webinars), and email campaigns (e.g., customer videos). No system integration to these applications is required, however, the data is a valuable part of advocate program metrics and is easily included in Revenue Influenced reports and dashboard charts.

What is your service model?
  • Each client is assigned an account director, who is a multi-skilled (ReferenceEdge, Salesforce, customer marketing) and has an average tenure of 5 years
  • Your assigned account director is with your from implementation onward
  • They act as tier 1 support because they know your particular environment best
  • Our account directors understand the customer marketing domain and act as your conduit to program best practices as well as ReferenceEdge best practices.
What training is needed/provided?
  • We provide training via web conference for both ReferenceEdge administrators and end-users (e.g., sales)
  • Over the years we have found that just-in-time training for administrators is most effective
  • The 4 hours of training we anticipate providing to administrators occurs over the first 30 days of the implementation project
  • End-users receive 30-45 minute training sessions, which we can support or deliver. We will also train your trainers (e.g., Sales Enablement) if desired.
Does ReferenceEdge provide content management functionality?

Yes, users can search for reference accounts and customer content such as case studies, videos, press releases and more. We have based our functionality on Salesforce CRM Content, and enhanced it to meet the needs of our domain.

  • Content may be uploaded to Salesforce or referenced via URL (e.g., YouTube)
  • Users share content with prospects through our Microsite feature
  • All click activity that occurs on the Microsite is captured by ReferenceEdge and users, salespeople for instance, receive daily summaries of click activity so they know who is looking at what before their next call
  • Report on what content is being shared, what is being opened/downloaded, and how it’s rated
  • Microsite activity is automatically associated to an opportunity and included in Revenue Influenced reporting

We could go on as there’s much more functionality, but these are the basics.

Does ReferenceEdge work with sales enablement applications like HighSpot and Seismic?

If your organization has an investment in (and adoption of) applications such as Seismic, HighSpot, Uberflip or one of the many content-centric sales enablement applications, then you may simply choose to not use ReferenceEdge’s content management/sharing capabilities.

The most important thing is that content use data, associated to opportunities, is part of Revenue Influenced reporting.

We believe we have some very compelling reasons to consider ReferenceEdge for content management and sharing, but we also recognize that establishing a single source to ensure adoption is very important. If that single source is firmly established then don’t mess with it.

How does ReferenceEdge ensure security and performance?

ReferenceEdge is installed on your company’s Salesforce CRM instance. That means that the application and all data and content are hosted on Salesforce.com infrastructure, not a Point of Reference cloud.

ReferenceEdge is as secure and scalable as Salesforce CRM. Rest assured that your security/IT team will have a lot less to be concerned about than with a conventional SaaS application, because they have already vetted and approved Salesforce.

How much Salesforce administrator time is needed and for what?

Installation & Configuration – Salesforce administrators (SFA) will work in tandem with one of our team members to install and configure ReferenceEdge. This will require approximately 2-3 hours per Salesforce Org.

Profile/Permission Set Modification/Creation – User access will be provided through permissions. The Salesforce administrator will make changes to profiles/permission sets depending on the preferred approach. The time required depends on how profiles and permissions sets are used in your instance.

Run Data Imports – This only applies if there is the need to bulk import customer reference data or customer content from other sources.

License Management – While this can be automated, if done manually, license are issued, revoked and reassigned by a Salesforce administrator.

ReferenceEdge Updates – Updates to ReferenceEdge are released up to 3 times per year. Depending on the nature of the update, up to 30 minutes of SFA time will be required. Detailed, step-by-step release notes are provided as part of each release.

How do mobile users access ReferenceEdge?

As a native application ReferenceEdge simply works in the Salesforce Mobile app. Users are given mobile permissions as part of setup and ReferenceEdge becomes part of their mobile experience.

Does ReferenceEdge have rewards functionality?

There are both customer and user rewards in ReferenceEdge. See the FAQ topic How does ReferenceEdge encourage user adoption? for a description of user rewards.

The customer rewards feature allows you to associate predefined points for completed activities such as reference calls, case studies, event speaking, etc. Rewards are accrued at the contact and account for future redemption.

Does ReferenceEdge work in the Lightning and Classic UI?

Yes, as a native application developer we must support both UIs until Salesforce decides to retire Classic. Like Salesforce, some of our newest product functionality is only available in the Lightning UI.

Can ReferenceEdge be localized for non-English speaking users?

Yes. ReferenceEdge is currently available in 9 languages other than English:

  • Chinese (traditional, simplified)
  • French
  • German
  • Italian
  • Japanese
  • Korean
  • Portuguese
  • Spanish.