Salesforce Flow is a powerful automation tool, but Marketing Cloud Growth introduces a new iteration of Flow called Campaign Flows, designed specifically for marketers. Here’s a detailed comparison between the traditional Salesforce Flows and the new Campaign Flows in Marketing Cloud Growth:
1. Available Elements
Salesforce Flow:
- Action: ✅
- Add Prompt Instructions: ✅
- Apex Action: ✅
- Assignment: ✅
- Collection Filter: ✅
- Collection Sort: ✅
- Create Records: ✅
- Custom Error: ✅
- Decision: ✅
- Delete Records: ✅
- Email Alert: ✅
- Get Records: ✅
- Loop: ✅
- Recommendation Assignment: ✅
- Screen: ✅
- Send Email Message: ✅
- Send SMS Message: ✅
- Start: ✅
- Subflow: ✅
- Transform: ✅
- Update Records: ✅
- Wait: ✅
- Wait Until Event: ✅
Segment-triggered Flows (Marketing Cloud Growth):
- Action: ❌
- Add Prompt Instructions: ❌
- Apex Action: ❌
- Assignment: ✅
- Collection Filter: ✅
- Collection Sort: ✅
- Create Records: ✅
- Custom Error: ❌
- Decision: ✅
- Delete Records: ✅
- Email Alert: ❌
- Get Records: ✅
- Loop: ✅
- Recommendation Assignment: ❌
- Screen: ❌
- Send Email Message: ✅
- Send SMS Message: ✅
- Start: ✅
- Subflow: ❌
- Transform: ❌
- Update Records: ✅
- Wait: ✅
- Wait Until Event: ✅
Form-triggered Flows (Marketing Cloud Growth):
- Action: ❌
- Add Prompt Instructions: ❌
- Apex Action: ❌
- Assignment: ✅
- Collection Filter: ✅
- Collection Sort: ✅
- Create Records: ✅
- Custom Error: ❌
- Decision: ✅
- Delete Records: ✅
- Email Alert: ❌
- Get Records: ✅
- Loop: ✅
- Recommendation Assignment: ❌
- Screen: ❌
- Send Email Message: ❌
- Send SMS Message: ❌
- Start: ✅
- Subflow: ❌
- Transform: ❌
- Update Records: ❌
- Wait: ✅
- Wait Until Event: ✅
Key Differences:
- Wait vs. Wait Until Event: Marketing Cloud Growth offers a “Wait Until Event” option, which pauses until a specific event occurs, mirroring Engagement Studio’s behavior. Traditional Salesforce Flow includes both “Wait” and “Wait Until Event.”
2. User Access and Capabilities
Salesforce Flow:
- Access: Available through Salesforce Setup, accessible to users with “View Setup” and “Manage Flow” permissions.
Campaign Flows (Marketing Cloud Growth):
- Access: Managed from the Campaign record within the Marketing app. Campaign flows are set to private by default, with additional sharing rules required for visibility.
Key Differences:
- Campaign Flows are more like records in Salesforce, with visibility and access controlled similarly to how records are shared.
3. Creating/Editing Campaign Flows
Salesforce Flow:
- Creation: Done through Salesforce Setup, with access based on permissions.
Campaign Flows (Marketing Cloud Growth):
- Creation: Initiated and edited from the Campaign record, offering a simplified user interface tailored for marketers.
Key Differences:
- Campaign Flows offer a condensed interface compared to Salesforce Flows, focusing on marketing use cases and simplifying the process for non-admin users.
Summary
Marketing Cloud Growth’s Campaign Flows represent a significant shift by introducing non-admin flows—simplified interfaces for marketers to create and manage automated campaigns. While they offer a streamlined approach, they do have limitations compared to traditional Salesforce Flows. However, they provide essential functionalities like sending emails, waiting for events, and applying branching logic, tailored for marketing tasks.
As Marketing Cloud Growth evolves, we can expect to see more advanced use cases and functionality. For now, Campaign Flows provide a valuable tool for marketers to automate their campaigns with less complexity and more focus on marketing-specific needs.
