Today on the Salesforce Admins Podcast, we talk to Rebecca Sherrill, VP, and Shelly Erceg, Product Leader, both on the Salesforce Research and Insights team.

Join us as we chat about the newest updates to IdeaExchange, including RoadmapExchange and Idea Insights, and why now is the perfect time to get involved.

You should subscribe for the full episode, but here are a few takeaways from our conversation with Rebecca Sherrill and Shelly Erceg.

How feedback shapes the product roadmap

If you've ever wondered what happens after you submit an Idea to the IdeaExchange, this episode is for you. The Product Research and Insights team has been working on several new things to improve transparency and enhance collaboration between PMs and the Salesforce community.

Joining us for this episode are Rebecca Sherrill and Shelly Erceg. Rebecca started at Salesforce in user research, where she talked to, interviewed, and observed hundreds of admins to better understand their needs. "I have a huge appreciation for the admin community because I spent so much time with them during those years," she says.

Shelly, meanwhile, started as a PM on workflow and process automation tools, building products like Process Builder and part of the Flow engine. "Admins are my jam," she says. On the Product Research and Insights team, she's focused on IdeaExchange and True to the Core.

Together, they're here to tell us about how RoadmapExchange and Idea Insights will help you see how your feedback influences the product roadmap.

What is RoadmapExchange?

If you've ever submitted to IdeaExchange, it's natural to ask yourself, "How do I know if they're working on my Idea? Is it ever going to be implemented? If not, why?"

That was the impetus behind RoadmapExchange, which maps ideas to Salesforce product roadmaps. The goal is to offer a peek behind the curtain, allowing you to see what the product team is working on right now and what they're considering for the future. Most importantly, it allows the community to provide feedback and use cases to help guide the product team's decisions.

"It's an opportunity to help shape what we build," Shelly says, and it also gives you a better idea of what's coming so you don't waste resources solving a problem that the product team is already working on.

Get in on the conversation with Idea Insights

The other IdeaExchange feature that Rebecca and Shelly are really excited about is Idea Insights. After twenty years, there are a lot of ideas out there. Idea Insights provides context into what's happening right now in four key areas:

Top Trending Ideas with the most votes overall from the past year.
Recently Updated Ideas by the Salesforce product team.
Top Open Ideas of all time by cloud.
Recently Delivered Ideas to check out in the product.

The goal is to keep you up to date with everything happening on IdeaExchange. On the other side of things, the product team is making a push to provide more transparency and updates about Ideas, even if it's something that's not in the cards right now.

Finally, if you don't have a lot of time, Rebecca encourages you to take a look at the Salesforce Research Program. All you have to do is fill out a form about yourself, and you'll only be invited to participate in things that are really relevant to you—we'll even pay you for your time.

The Research and Insights team wants to hear from you, so be on the lookout for Rebecca and Shelly at a Dreamin' event near you. And don't forget to subscribe to the Salesforce Admins Podcast so you never miss an episode.

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Learn more

Salesforce 360 blog: A Guide to RoadmapExchange: Your Feedback, Next Steps
Salesforce 360 blog: Delivering on Your Feedback: Introducing Idea Insights
Sign up: Salesforce Research Program
Salesforce Admins blog: Introducing True to the Core Deep Dive: In-Depth Product Conversations with Salesforce PMs

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Full show transcript

Mike: This week on the Salesforce Admins podcast, we're diving deep into the evolution of the IdeaExchange with two very familiar voices, Rebecca Sherrill and Shelly Erceg from Salesforce's research and insights team. They're here to unpack the newest updates like Roadmap Exchange and Idea Insights. And why now is the prime time for Salesforce admins to get reengaged with the IdeaExchange. So if you've ever wondered what happens after you submit an idea, or how your feedback actually influences the product roadmap, this episode's for you. So let's get Rebecca and Shelly on the podcast. So Shelly and Rebecca, welcome to the podcast, or should I say welcome back to the podcast?

Rebecca Sherrill: Thank you. Super excited to be here.

Shelly Erceg: Thank you so much.

Mike: Both of you are veterans of the podcast, but both are back for a different reason. So Rebecca, refresh our memories from 100 years ago when you were on the podcast and what you do at Salesforce.

Rebecca Sherrill: Yes. So I've been at Salesforce for 13 years and yes, I was on this podcast 12 years ago. I had to look that up. I started out here doing user research for our platform products, including setup. And so what that means is that in my early years at Salesforce, I talked to, interviewed and observed hundreds of admins to understand what they needed, so that we could build that into our products. So I have a huge appreciation for the admin community because I spent so much time with them during those years. And then these days I'm leading a research and insights team. And my team continues to do research with customers to understand what they need from our products, and make sure that we build that into our roadmap. But these days, my team also runs the IdeaExchange, which is I think what we're mostly here to talk about today.

Mike: Yeah, absolutely. And Shelly, you're a familiar voice and face in the admin community.

Shelly Erceg: Admins are my jam. I started off at Salesforce in the platform as well, working on our workflow and process automation tools. Built Process Builder and part of the flow engine. And then also spent some time with our nonprofit customers over on the NGO side. And now I'm here in Research and Insights focused on the voice of the customer really on IdeaExchange, true to the core, and bringing back really what our customers need to our product teams.

Mike: Yeah. So I was a huge IdeaExchange fan when I was an admin because I love to browse like, "Oh, I hope that's coming. People need to vote for it." But I think Rebecca sent me right. Like since I've been a customer and you've been around for a while, the IdeaExchange kind of changed and expanded now, hasn't it?

Rebecca Sherrill: That's right. Yeah. So my team has been involved with IdeaExchange for the past three years. And what we've been doing during that time is really trying to bring it up to speed with the current needs of the community and with Salesforce, because so much has changed over these many years. And so most recently we have launched a new part of IdeaExchange called Roadmap Exchange, and hopefully we'll get into more details on that. And we've also launched something called Idea Insights, which the goal of that is to bring more visibility into the ideas that ...

How Can Admins Influence the Salesforce Product Roadmap?