Salesforce Experience Cloud (formerly Community Cloud, renamed in 2021) is the Salesforce platform for building externally facing digital experiences – customer portals, partner portals, dealer networks, supplier portals, employee communities, and public-facing websites – where external users access Salesforce data and interact with your organisation without holding a full Salesforce licence. If your organisation needs a self-service customer support portal where customers can log cases and check status, a dealer portal where channel partners register deals and access marketing materials, or a supplier portal where vendors submit invoices and manage contracts, Experience Cloud is the Salesforce-native platform for building these without separate software. This guide covers what Experience Cloud is, what it can build, licensing, and how it connects to your Salesforce CRM data.
It keeps the experience more focused.
That kind of control is a major part of the value.
It also helps the team keep access more targeted.
That extension is what makes the portal model useful for real business workflows.
The best guide is the one that shows how Experience Cloud extends the CRM beyond internal users.
A practical explanation should make it clear where the platform fits in the wider Salesforce stack.
That means the guide should focus on use cases and controlled access.
For many businesses, the value is in giving people access to the right information without opening the whole CRM.
It should also show how the tool can be used for common customer or partner workflows.
A good guide should explain what the platform is meant to do and why portal-style experiences matter.
That makes it different from a standard internal CRM screen.
What is Salesforce Experience Cloud is a useful question because many organisations want a way to build portals and shared digital experiences around their CRM data. It helps teams create spaces where customers, partners, or employees can interact with information in a more guided way.
It keeps the experience more focused.
That kind of control is a major part of the value.
It also helps the team keep access more targeted.
That extension is what makes the portal model useful for real business workflows.
The best guide is the one that shows how Experience Cloud extends the CRM beyond internal users.
A practical explanation should make it clear where the platform fits in the wider Salesforce stack.
That means the guide should focus on use cases and controlled access.
For many businesses, the value is in giving people access to the right information without opening the whole CRM.
It should also show how the tool can be used for common customer or partner workflows.
A good guide should explain what the platform is meant to do and why portal-style experiences matter.
That makes it different from a standard internal CRM screen.
What is Salesforce Experience Cloud is a useful question because many organisations want a way to build portals and shared digital experiences around their CRM data. It helps teams create spaces where customers, partners, or employees can interact with information in a more guided way.
What Salesforce Experience Cloud Is
Experience Cloud is a digital experience platform built on the Salesforce platform – it shares the same data model, objects, and security infrastructure as your core Salesforce CRM. External users (customers, partners, suppliers, employees not on Salesforce licences) access a branded web portal or mobile experience that is powered by your Salesforce data in real time. Key characteristics:
- Same data, different access level: Experience Cloud portals display Salesforce data – Account records, Cases, Opportunity pipeline, Knowledge articles, custom objects – to external users according to their permissions. A customer logging into a self-service portal sees only their own data; a partner logging into a deal registration portal sees their registered deals; a manager sees their team’s pipeline
- No-code / low-code portal building: Experience Cloud sites are built with Salesforce’s drag-and-drop Experience Builder – a visual page builder similar to Lightning App Builder, but for external web experiences. Pre-built components, themes, and templates accelerate deployment; Lightning Web Components can extend functionality for complex requirements
- External user licences: External portal users hold Experience Cloud licences – far cheaper than full Salesforce licences. Customer Community licences start at approximately $2/login/month or $5/member/month for unlimited logins
- Branded: Portals are fully branded with the organisation’s logo, colour scheme, and domain name – users experience a seamless branded environment, not a generic “Salesforce” portal
Experience Cloud Use Cases
1. Customer Self-Service Portal
The most common Experience Cloud use case: a branded customer portal where customers can:
- Log new support cases and view existing case status – eliminating “what’s the status of my ticket?” phone calls to the support team
- Search the Knowledge Base for answers to common questions – Salesforce Knowledge articles are surfaced in the portal search with AI-assisted relevance ranking
- View their account information, order history, and contract details from Salesforce records
- Submit RMA requests, warranty claims, or service requests via structured forms that create Salesforce Cases automatically
- Interact with an Einstein Bot for tier-1 support – AI-driven self-service that resolves common inquiries before escalating to a human agent
Customer self-service portals built on Experience Cloud reduce inbound support volume – according to Salesforce’s own research, organisations with self-service portals deflect 30-40% of support contacts. Service Cloud agents can see all portal interactions in the customer’s Case history – ensuring full context when an unresolved issue escalates to a human agent.
2. Partner Relationship Management (PRM) Portal
For companies with channel partners – resellers, distributors, VARs, agents, dealers – an Experience Cloud PRM portal centralises the partner experience:
- Deal registration: Partners register new opportunities in the portal; the registration creates a Salesforce Lead or Opportunity automatically. The vendor’s channel team reviews and approves deal registrations, granting price protection to the registering partner – preventing channel conflict
- Partner pipeline visibility: Partners see their own active opportunities and deal status without requiring a full Salesforce licence – reducing the administrative burden of status update requests to the channel team
- Marketing Development Funds (MDF): Partners submit MDF requests, track approval status, and upload proof of performance for fund claims – managed via custom objects in Salesforce surfaced in the portal
- Sales enablement content: Product documentation, competitive battlecards, pricing guides, co-branded marketing materials, and training resources available in a searchable content library within the portal
- Training and certification: Partner certification tracking, required training completion status, and Trailhead-integrated learning paths accessible through the portal
3. Employee Community / HR Portal
Internal Experience Cloud sites (accessible to employees without full Salesforce CRM licences) serve as intranets, HR self-service portals, and internal collaboration spaces:
- HR policies, onboarding documents, and corporate communications in a searchable Knowledge base
- PTO requests, expense submissions, and HR case management via Salesforce Cases without employees needing Salesforce licences
- Department-specific content and announcements in Experience Cloud communities
4. Supplier and Vendor Portals
Procurement and supply chain teams use Experience Cloud to build supplier portals:
- Suppliers view purchase orders, submit invoices, and track payment status from Salesforce data
- New supplier onboarding – collecting required documentation, compliance certifications, and bank details via structured forms that update Salesforce Account records
- Supplier performance scorecards – quality metrics, on-time delivery rates, and compliance status visible to suppliers in the portal
5. Branded Public Website with CRM Integration
Experience Cloud can power a public-facing marketing website – product pages, resource centres, blog, and event registration – with Salesforce CRM integration for lead capture, event attendee management, and personalised content based on known visitor identity. This use case competes with standalone CMS platforms (WordPress, Contentful) but offers native Salesforce integration advantages for organisations already deeply on the Salesforce platform.
Experience Cloud Licensing
Experience Cloud external users hold one of several licence types – the right licence depends on what the external user needs to do in the portal:
- Customer Community: Access to Accounts, Contacts, Cases, and Knowledge. Available as per-login ($2-4/login/month) or per-member ($5-10/member/month unlimited logins). Most cost-effective for high-user-count customer self-service portals
- Customer Community Plus: Adds full sharing and visibility controls – users can be assigned Roles and can see other users’ records based on sharing rules. Required when customers need to see each other’s data (e.g., a company’s multiple employees all managing the same account portal)
- Partner Community: Full CRM access for channel partners – Leads, Opportunities, Accounts, Contacts, Cases, and custom objects. Higher cost than Customer Community (~$10/member/month) but enables full partner deal management
- External Apps: Flexible licence for custom portal use cases with access to any Salesforce object – priced per login or per member, suitable for complex custom portal requirements that don’t fit standard licence types
Experience Builder: Building Your Portal
Experience Cloud sites are built with Experience Builder – a drag-and-drop page composition tool. Key capabilities:
- Templates: Pre-built portal templates for Customer Service, Partner Central, and Employee Community – providing a working starting point with standard components pre-arranged. Reduce initial build time significantly vs. starting from a blank canvas
- Themes: Global branding controls for colours, fonts, and logo – ensure consistent brand application across all portal pages
- Components: Drag-and-drop components from a library – Salesforce CRM-connected components (Case List, Knowledge Search, Account Details, Dashboard), content components (Rich Text, Image, Video), and navigation components (Tabs, Accordion, Breadcrumbs)
- Audience targeting: Show different page content to different user types – authenticated vs. unauthenticated users, specific partner tiers, or specific contact roles – using Audience configuration on pages and components
- Custom domain: Configure a custom subdomain (e.g.,
support.yourcompany.com) for the Experience Cloud site – branding the URL alongside the visual design
Building Effective Portals with Salesforce Experience Cloud
Fix: Creating Partner Portals That Enable Channel Sales Success
Channel partners who cannot easily access deal registration, marketing materials, price lists, and training resources become frustrated and prioritize competitors with better partner programs. Experience Cloud partner portals provide a centralized hub where partners can register and manage deals, access the partner price book, complete training and certifications, and download approved marketing materials. Deal registration in the portal flows directly into Salesforce as protected opportunities, enabling your channel team to track partner pipeline alongside direct sales in unified reports.
Fix: Personalizing Experience Cloud Content by Audience Segment
A generic portal that shows all content to all users fails to deliver the relevant experience that drives engagement. Experience Cloud’s Audience Targeting feature allows you to display different content, components, and navigation based on member profile attributes. A premium customer sees different pricing and support content than a standard customer; a partner in the healthcare industry sees healthcare-specific marketing resources rather than a generic library. This personalization increases portal engagement and reduces the time members spend searching for relevant information.
What is Salesforce Experience Cloud?
Salesforce Experience Cloud (formerly Community Cloud) is a platform for building connected digital experiences for customers, partners, and employees. It enables organizations to create branded portals, sites, and communities that are natively connected to Salesforce CRM data. Use cases include customer self-service portals, partner relationship management portals, employee intranets, and public-facing microsites. Experience Cloud sites are built using Experience Builder, a drag-and-drop tool with pre-built Lightning components.
How much does Salesforce Experience Cloud cost?
Salesforce Experience Cloud pricing is based on the number of unique monthly logins or page views, depending on the license type. Customer Community licenses start at approximately $2 per login or $5 per member per month. Partner Community licenses are priced higher given the additional features like deal registration. Channel Order licenses are available for B2B commerce use cases. The right license type depends heavily on your anticipated usage volume and the specific features your portal requires.
What is the difference between Experience Cloud and a regular website?
Experience Cloud portals are different from regular websites in that they are natively connected to your Salesforce CRM data. Portal pages can display real-time CRM data (cases, orders, contracts), allow users to take CRM actions (submit cases, register deals), and personalize content based on CRM record attributes. Regular websites require API integrations to achieve this connectivity. Experience Cloud portals are best for use cases where CRM data integration is central to the experience, while traditional websites are better for purely informational or marketing content.
Can Salesforce Experience Cloud integrate with external systems?
Yes, Salesforce Experience Cloud can integrate with external systems through several mechanisms. Salesforce Connect allows external data from systems like SAP, Oracle, or custom databases to be surfaced in Experience Cloud pages as if it were native Salesforce data. External authentication providers (Google, Facebook, Azure AD) can be configured for single sign-on. Custom Lightning Components built with Apex or LWC can make callouts to external APIs. These integration capabilities make it possible to build portals that aggregate data from multiple enterprise systems in a unified experience.
Challenge: Customer and Partner Self-Service Reducing Support Volume
Support teams that receive high volumes of repetitive questions-order status, password resets, common troubleshooting steps-spend enormous time on issues customers could resolve themselves if given the right tools. Salesforce Experience Cloud enables you to build self-service portals where customers can find answers in a knowledge base, track case status, and submit new cases without calling or emailing. Organizations that deploy effective self-service portals typically see 30-50% reductions in inbound support contact volume, dramatically reducing cost while improving customer satisfaction.
The best portal setup is the one that gives people the information they need without exposing everything else. If the access model is not clear, the experience gets harder to manage.
The best portal setup is the one that gives people the information they need without exposing everything else. If the access model is not clear, the experience gets harder to manage.