Salesforce launches agentic AI platform to replace one-way marketing

Salesforce has introduced Marketing Cloud Next, a marketing platform designed to eliminate traditional “do-not-reply” messages and automate customer engagement through autonomous AI agents. Launched on June 11, 2025, the platform uses Agentforce, Salesforce’s native agentic AI system, to carry out tasks across the customer journey without constant human input.

Built directly on the Salesforce platform, Marketing Cloud Next enables AI agents to manage campaign development, personalize communications, and respond to customer inquiries across channels such as email, SMS, and web. These agents are designed to operate across departments — including sales, service, and commerce — and carry out tasks like segment creation, message drafting, lead qualification, and ad performance analysis.

With Agentforce Campaign Creation, marketing teams can create and launch campaigns by collaborating with AI agents that handle operational work, such as drafting copy, generating customer journeys, and managing delivery workflows. This system is positioned to shorten turnaround time compared to traditional campaign cycles, which often face internal delays and fragmented coordination.

Another feature, Agentforce Lead Generation & Management, allows AI agents to follow up with leads, personalize messages, engage in multi-step conversations, and schedule meetings without manual oversight. Review mechanisms are built into the process, allowing for human monitoring when needed.

Agentforce Paid Media Optimization allows the system to monitor campaign results in real time, stop underperforming ads, and adjust strategies based on performance goals set by users. Marketers can identify high-value customer segments through built-in analytics. Salesforce has also expanded its integration with LinkedIn, enabling synced targeting and conversion tracking within Marketing Cloud Next.

The platform is built to reduce the volume of manual work marketers face, such as updating templates, checking links, and reviewing performance data. Salesforce states that the intent is to shift the marketer’s role to strategic oversight while AI handles execution. Despite this, most brands continue to maintain human review of AI outputs.

By replacing unresponsive email formats with interactive messaging and automating routine functions, Salesforce is responding to a broader industry challenge: the high volume of unread, generic marketing messages and growing customer expectations for personalized, timely communication.

Marketing Cloud Next will be available to current Salesforce customers beginning July 2025. Its impact will depend on how organizations implement the platform and whether it leads to measurable changes in customer engagement.