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Salesforce launches new Web3 platform to help brands offer NFTs
By: Jordan Finneseth | March 17, 2023

Salesforce, the largest software-as-a-service (SaaS) provider in the U.S., has announced its entry into the Web3 arena with the launch of Salesforce Web3, a platform that enables companies to mint, manage and sell non-fungible tokens (NFTs) in a sustainable manner.

“As businesses and brands explore emerging Web3 technologies, including NFTs, it’s imperative that everyone does so in a responsible, ethical way,” the firm wrote in its announcement. “Salesforce is no exception, which is why the company has centered its values as it developed, piloted, and launched this new product.”

Salesforce partnered with Polygon Labs to launch its new platform on the Polygon network, a popular layer-two scaling protocol for the Ethereum network.

Polygon Labs president Ryan Wyatt posted a tweet on Thursday verifying the partnership, saying that “Salesforce will help their clients onboard to Polygon with its management platform to help its clients create token-based loyalty programs.”

According to Salesforce, there has been a growing customer demand for NFTs as a way to build brand loyalty and customer engagement, and the firm believes that NFTs “present an opportunity for companies to find new audiences and source zero-party data, and to unlock co-creation and co-ownership, token-gated communities, and personalized engagement using wallet data.”

The risks that the nascent digital asset space poses to safety, privacy and trust pushed Salesforce to develop its Salesforce Web3 platform so that it could provide customers with “a trusted, sustainable platform to operate NFT campaigns and programs.”

With the limited release of the platform, “companies can connect with their customers in a whole new way by connecting their Customer 360 with Web3 data for a holistic view of how customers interact with their brand across traditional and emerging digital environments,” a separate announcement from Salesforce said.

A survey cited by the firm indicates that 45% of customers would be more interested in purchasing an NFT if it came from their favorite brand, and three out of four customers who have purchased an NFT in the past say purchasing a brand’s NFT makes them more loyal to that brand.

Additionally, 67% of those surveyed said values are important to them when considering purchasing an NFT from a brand, and 65% said a brand’s environmental and sustainability practices are important when considering purchasing an NFT.

“Salesforce Web3 enhances our NFT collections to help us connect with customers and bring our Web2 and Web3 systems together,” said Sven Gerjets, executive vice president and chief technology officer at Mattel. “Web3 Connect is powering invaluable insights into our audience and seamlessly bridging Web3 channels with the rest of our customer experience. We know we have a trusted partner with Salesforce, and are now able to provide an exciting user experience and gateway to Mattel’s iconic IP in a new way.”

Salesforce utilized the expertise of its Office of the Ethical and Humane Use, Technology (Product and Engineering), Sustainability, and Equality teams to develop Salesforce Web3 with a focus on five key principles: Trust and security, sustainability, equality, accountability, and integrity and transparency.

To ensure these principles were met, Salesforce conducted a customer pilot that included more than 275,000 transactions on Polygon and Flow and found no fraudulent activity of any concern.

The main findings from the pilot were that “customers view NFTs as a way to modernize loyalty programs and connect with consumers in Web3; The product’s built-in safety and trust features work as intended; and Web3 has a steep learning curve,” which means that “Brands need to commit to educating their marketing teams and consumers about the technology, its associated risks, and how to safely engage.”

“These are still the early days of a rapidly evolving technological landscape – and Salesforce will continue to evolve and innovate along with it,” the announcement concluded.

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