How to Set Up a Salesforce Community Using the Customer Community Plus User Profile

How to Set Up a Salesforce Community Using the Customer Community Plus User Profile

Salesforce Experience Cloud (formerly known as Community Cloud) enables you to create branded spaces for your customers, partners, and employees to connect. Whether you’re building a customer portal, a partner hub, or an employee intranet, the setup process involves a few important steps.

In this blog, we’ll walk through how to set up a Salesforce Community using the Customer Community Plus User profile. Let’s dive in!

✅ Step 1: Clone the Customer Community Plus User Profile

To begin, we need to create a customized version of the Customer Community Plus User profile so we can tailor permissions and access based on your specific requirements.

Steps:

1. Go to Setup in Salesforce (use the gear icon in the upper-right corner).
2. In the Quick Find box, search for Profiles.
3. Locate the profile named Customer Community Plus User.
4. Click on it, then click Clone.
5. Provide a meaningful name for the new profile (e.g., “Custom Community User”).
6. Click Save.

🔍 Why Clone? Cloning lets you maintain the base access of the standard profile while giving you the flexibility to add or remove permissions for your community users.

🌐 Step 2: Enable Digital Experiences

Before creating a community, you need to enable Digital Experiences, formerly called Communities, in your org settings.

Steps:

1. In Setup, search for Digital Experiences in the Quick Find box.
2. Click on Settings under Digital Experiences.
3. Check the box for Enable Digital Experiences.
4. Click Save.

💡 Tip: Once enabled, this setting allows you to start creating and managing community sites using various templates.

🆕 Step 3: Create a New Community (Site)

Now that the feature is enabled, it’s time to create your first community.

Steps:

1. Go back to Setup and search for All Sites (or Communities in some orgs).
2. Click New.
3. Choose a template based on your business need (e.g., Customer Service, Partner Central, Build Your Own, etc.).
4. Click Get Started.
5. Enter a name for your community (e.g., “My Customer Portal”).
6. Click Create.

📌 Note: The name you choose will also be used in the URL (e.g., mycustomerportal.force.com). You can always customize it later.

🛠️ Step 4: Use the Experience Builder to Design Your Site

After the community is created, Salesforce will prompt you to open the Experience Builder.

Steps:

1. Click on Builder next to your newly created site.
2. Use the drag-and-drop interface to add and arrange components like:
   • Knowledge Base
   • Case Creation Form
   • Search Bars
   • Custom Components
3. You can also:
   • Change branding colors and fonts
   • Edit page layouts
   • Add navigation menus and more.

🎨 Customization Tip: You can also install Lightning Web Components or third-party solutions to enhance functionality.

🚀 Final Thoughts

Setting up a Salesforce Community using the Customer Community Plus User profile gives you the flexibility to build a powerful digital experience tailored to your customers’ needs. By following the steps above, you’ll be able to:

• Control user access with a custom profile
• Enable and configure Digital Experiences
• Create and design an interactive and branded portal

Once you’re done designing, don’t forget to publish your site so users can start accessing it!