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Gainsight Inc.

Create CTA Forms Using Linked Objects

Linked Objects allow you to link CTAs to other Salesforce objects, whether they are standard objects, like Opportunity or Contact, or custom objects. This allows you to see relevant information from Salesforce records and also update these records directly from the Cockpit. With linked objects, Admins can essentially create CTA forms for their end users to access in Cockpit that collect/update important information, and avoid the user having to navigate away from Cockpit to enter the data.

Below are three example business uses for linked objects, and instructions for configuring the process in your own orgs. This 5-minute video walks you through these same use cases.

Example #1: Set Contacts as Referenceable in NPS® Promoter CTAs  

NPS® survey responses are a great way to identify contacts who would make good references. We added a field called "Referenceable" in the Contacts object in Salesforce. With Linked Objects, you can edit this field directly from Cockpit. Now, you can "refer" to the Contact's reference potential without ever leaving Gainsight!

  1. Navigate to Administration > Calls to Action (CTA).
  2. In the section Linked Objects, select Opportunity in the dropdown for “Select CTA Type” (Since the NPS® Promoter CTA is an Opportunity CTA, this configuration will affect all Opportunity CTAs).

Screen Shot 2017-05-22 at 12.53.39 PM.png

  1. Where it says Linked object, select Contact. Select Yes to accept and save changes.
  2. In the Detail view layout configuration section, you can configure the layout that you will see in the Cockpit, including the position of the Contact tab.
  3. Click the Contact tab and create a new group by clicking “+ Group” or edit the existing Default Group (change the name by clicking it once).
  4. Set up the Group as follows:

CTA Detail view:

Screen_Shot_2017-06-06_at_4_17_01_PM.png

Full Name and Account ID Name should automatically be (and can only be) Read Only. Referenceable is a custom field that we added to the Contacts object to track how “referenceable” a contact is based on our interaction with him or her as well as his or her NPS® score. It should be neither Mandatory nor Read Only. The options for Referenceable could be:

  • Yes
  • Maybe
  • No

In this case, we can use “No” to mean “definitely not”, while keeping the field blank could suggest that we haven’t evaluated the contact yet.

You can also add an open-text field to specify the source (NPS®, personal interaction, etc.).

You can configure a custom field in Salesforce by following these steps (Salesforce support article).

  1. Click Save to save changes.

Example #2: Show Case Information in Support Risk CTAs

When you receive a CTA for a high-priority support case, you want to act fast and not have to open your help desk software. With Linked Objects, you can automatically link your Support Risk CTAs to the Case object in Salesforce, which brings up all of the relevant information related to the support ticket. Whether it's a product bug or a server issue, you can save time and address your customer's needs sooner.

  1. Navigate to Administration > Calls to Action (CTA).
  2. In the section Linked Objects, select Risk in the dropdown for “Select CTA Type” (Since the Support Risk CTA is a Risk CTA, this configuration will affect all Risk CTAs).
  3. Where it says Linked object, select Case. Select Yes to accept and save changes.
  4. In the Detail view layout configuration section, you can configure the layout that you will see in Cockpit, including the position of the Case tab.
  5. Click the Case tab and create a new group by clicking “+ Group” or edit the existing Default Group (change the name by clicking it once).
  6. One way to set up the Group would be as follows:

Screen Shot 2017-05-17 at 11.40.45 PM.png

CTA Detail view:

Screen_Shot_2017-06-06_at_4_21_13_PM.png

All of these fields should be set to Read Only (even if you tried to edit these fields, they would only be updated in the Case object and not in the original ticketing system).

Some ticketing systems are directly integrated with the Case object in Salesforce. If your system is not integrated (e.g. Zendesk), you can build a rule to load relevant information to the Case object in Salesforce.

  1. Click Save to save changes.

Example #3: Link Opportunities to Renewal CTAs

Behind every Renewal CTA is a Renewal Opportunity in Salesforce, but before Linked Objects were available, you needed to go to a report or the Opportunity page to view details. By linking the Opportunity object in Salesforce to Renewal CTAs, you can not only see relevant information regarding the Opportunity in Cockpit, but you can also update its fields, like renewal probability. This strengthens the collaboration between Customer Success and Sales, and helps with accurate renewal forecasting.

  1. Navigate to Administration > Calls to Action.
  2. In the section Linked Objects, select Lifecycle in the dropdown for “Select CTA Type” (Since the Renewal CTA is a Lifecycle CTA, this configuration will affect all Lifecycle CTAs).
  3. Where it says Linked object, select Opportunity. Select Yes to accept and save changes.
  4. In the Detail view layout configuration section, you can configure the layout that you will see in Cockpit, including the position of the Opportunity tab.
  5. Click the Opportunity tab and create a new group by clicking “+ Group” or edit the existing Default Group (change the name by clicking it once).
  6. Set up the Group as follows:

Screen Shot 2017-05-17 at 7.49.48 PM.png

CTA Detail view:

Screen_Shot_2017-06-06_at_4_23_00_PM.png

Name, Stage, Final ARR, and Close Date should be Read Only. You can choose to set Forecast Category and Probability as something other than Read Only if you want to be able to edit these fields from the CTA.

These are all standard fields in Opportunity, but feel free to add fields that suit your specific needs.

  1. Click Save to save changes.

Use a Rule to Automatically Link Objects

Note: This is an example for use case #2 above (Set up a rule to trigger a CTA every time a high-priority ticket is received). It could also be adapted for #3, but not #1 because the reference milestone/NPS® response do not have Contact ID to link the Contact to the CTA in the rule.

  1. Navigate to Administration > Rules Engine.
  2. Click on the +Rule button on the top-right corner.
  3. Name your rule and add a description.
  4. Select the Case object.
  5. Configure the required fields and be sure to set filters for high-priority tickets that were created in the past day or two.

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  1. Select Action Type: Call to Action as follows:
    • Set Type, Status, Reason and Priority accordingly.
    • Make sure to link “Case” to the Call to Action.
    • Schedule to run daily

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NPS, Net Promoter, and Net Promoter Score are registered trademarks of Satmetrix Systems, Inc., Bain & Company and Fred Reichheld.

 

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