Salesforce Marketing Cloud currently enables Hospitality Digital to automatically deliver marketing communications for 17 countries, in 15 languages. 

We have developed a set of tools for Hospitality Digital, a Metro Cash & Carry company, to help digitize the business of their customers, smaller catering facilities such as restaurants, cafes, and the like. Daria Kulikova started working on the project in February 2019 as a senior SFMC (Salesforce Marketing Cloud) consultant and developer. It was a pure “greenfield” implementation, challenging and dynamic, in an agile environment where everything happened at the same time – from application and tool development, to the implementation of Salesforce Sales Cloud and Salesforce Marketing Cloud solutions. She was in charge of introducing the DISH platform for communication, reservations and other “digital” services in the hospitality industry.

Today, the digitalization of business in this segment is important because of the number of restaurants that have reoriented to delivery in 2020. Most restaurants are currently undergoing a significant business transformation.

Automating communication

The first phase was very challenging for two reasons. On the one hand, it was necessary to plan the process architecture and data model, synchronize and connect the Salesforce Marketing Cloud with the Salesforce Sales Cloud. On the other hand, it was necessary to launch at least simple email campaigns in order to realize our marketing strategy.

The Salesforce Marketing Cloud implementation model involved linking data from the data-warehouse to data from the Salesforce Sales Cloud. Thus, detailed data on visits to the websites of catering facilities from the DISH platform, demographic data on guests, reservations, inquiries and others were automatically inserted into the Salesforce Marketing Cloud. With the use of AI technologies and the help of Salesforce Marketing Cloud, it is possible to deliver automated e-mails with recommendations. For example, emails about changes on the web-site, zhe introduction of new services based on guest demographics and many more.

In addition to the automation of email communication, communication with users via SMS messages and push notifications was gradually introduced.

Content localization

Salesforce Marketing Cloud currently enables Hospitality Digital the automated delivery of marketing communications for 17 countries, in 15 languages. Communication is delivered to users in their language (not in the language of the country), and in accordance with the location. For example, if the owner of a restaurant in Germany uses French, the communication will be localized specifically for the German market, but delivered in French.

This problem of multilingualism in marketing communication in Europe is one of the most challenging ones we face, but it was successfully solved within the project. Namely, a multilingual content management system, based on Javascript and AMPScript, has been implemented.

With the help of Salesforce Marketing Cloud, the project also effectively solved problems related to GDPR and marketing consent: it was possible to collect and efficiently update data on consent for email, SMS and other communication channels between SFMC, Sales Cloud and user applications. At any time, the user of the platform – the owner of the catering facility – can cancel or re-subscribe to all types of communication through his account in the application, through the call center, or through the link available in the received e-mail or SMS delivered through SFMC.