Salesforce Experience Cloud: Complete Guide
Quick Summary:
Experience Cloud (formerly Community Cloud) lets you build customer, partner, or employee portals directly on Salesforce data -- self-service support, partner deal registration, or branded community sites, without separate infrastructure.
What Is Experience Cloud?
Experience Cloud lets you build external-facing sites -- customer self-service portals, partner deal registration systems, or branded community sites -- built directly on your Salesforce data, with access carefully scoped through sharing rules and dedicated licensing rather than exposing your full internal data model.
Common Use Cases
| Use Case | What It Provides |
|---|---|
| Customer Self-Service Portal | Case submission/tracking, knowledge base access |
| Partner Portal | Deal registration, pipeline visibility, co-selling tools |
| Employee Community | Internal knowledge sharing, HR resources |
| Branded Community Site | Public-facing content and engagement |
How to Get Started
Define your audience (customers, partners, employees) and choose the appropriate license type.
Design the site using Experience Builder's drag-and-drop interface.
Configure sharing rules controlling exactly what external users can see.
Set up SSO if integrating with an existing identity provider.
Apply custom branding and, if needed, a custom domain.
A Real-World Example
A software company builds a customer self-service portal where clients can submit support cases, track status, and search a knowledge base before ever needing to contact support directly -- deflecting a meaningful share of routine tickets. The portal is fully branded to match the company's own site, with SSO letting customers log in using credentials they already have, and sharing rules ensure each customer only sees their own cases, never another customer's data.
💡 Pro Tip
Get sharing rules right before launch, not after -- a portal that accidentally exposes one customer's data to another is a genuinely serious trust and compliance problem, and it's far easier to design access correctly from the start than to audit and fix it after external users are already active.
Frequently Asked Questions
What was Experience Cloud previously called?
Experience Cloud was previously known as Community Cloud, and before that Salesforce Communities -- the underlying capability has evolved substantially, but this naming history explains references you may still encounter to the older names.
Can Experience Cloud sites be customer-facing, partner-facing, or both?
Yes, Experience Cloud supports building portals for customers (self-service, support), partners (deal registration, co-selling), or employees, each with different licensing and access models.
Does Experience Cloud require coding to build a site?
No, drag-and-drop page building through Experience Builder lets you build sites without code, though deeper customization is available through Lightning Web Components for more complex needs.
Can external users see the same data as internal Salesforce users?
No, external user access is governed by sharing rules and licensing specifically scoped for Experience Cloud users -- external users only see data explicitly shared with them, not the full internal data model.
What license types exist for Experience Cloud users?
Several license types exist (Customer Community, Partner Community, and others) with different pricing and capability levels, chosen based on whether users are customers, partners, or need broader system access.
Can Experience Cloud sites include case submission and tracking?
Yes, this is one of the most common use cases -- customers can submit and track support cases directly through a self-service portal, reducing inbound support volume.
Does Experience Cloud support single sign-on (SSO)?
Yes, SSO integration is supported, letting external users authenticate through their existing identity provider rather than managing separate portal credentials.
Can partners access and update Opportunity data through Experience Cloud?
Yes, partner portals commonly expose relevant Opportunity and lead data for deal registration and pipeline visibility, scoped to what each partner should see.
Is Experience Cloud mobile-responsive by default?
Yes, sites built with Experience Builder are responsive by default, adapting to different screen sizes without separate mobile development.
Can Experience Cloud integrate with Salesforce Knowledge for self-service content?
Yes, this is a common pairing -- exposing the Knowledge base directly within a customer portal lets users find answers themselves before submitting a case.
How is pricing structured for Experience Cloud?
Pricing is typically based on the number of external user licenses needed, varying by license type -- worth confirming current pricing directly given how significantly it varies by license type and volume.
Can Experience Cloud sites be branded to match a company\'s own design, not Salesforce\'s default look?
Yes, full custom branding -- colors, fonts, layout, custom domain -- is supported, and most production Experience Cloud sites look nothing like default Salesforce styling.