I attended several sessions and came away with three main takeaways from the Agentforce World Tour.

Data 360 Was The Hidden Main Theme

On my train ride up to New York, I scanned the Salesforce events app. I did my usual routine of looking for every session related to Marketing Cloud.

I added Marketing Cloud-related sessions to my favorites so I can attend them if I do nothing else.  To be honest, all the Marketing Cloud sessions had Data 360 in the session description and focused on Marketing Cloud Next.

From the Marketing Cloud sessions I attended, Data 360 plays a major role.  From the keynote speech to everywhere I looked at the Agentforce World Tour, Data 360 played a pivotal role in the Salesforce ecosystem.

Agentforce Is All Grown Up

Let me be specific, Agentforce is here to stay.

The one thing that I noticed is that the Agentforce documentation is more mature. 

In 2025, speakers often mentioned that the Agentforce documentation was still changing. This year, that was not the focus. The message felt clearer: Agentforce is ready for prime time.

Agentforce is all grown up and reached a level of maturity in 2026.

Agentic Marketing Is The Future

According to Salesforce, “Agentforce Marketing uses autonomous AI agents to transform traditional channels into two-way conversations, and to be an always-on collaborator behind the scenes¹.”

That message came through clearly across multiple sessions.

Salesforce Marketing Cloud Next, Data 360, and Agentic Marketing appear to be a major part of where the platform is heading.

Final Thoughts

In closing, the Agentforce World Tour NYC 2026 reaffirmed my decision to continue learning Agentforce and Data 360 this year.  Also, if you highly recommend you attend an Agentforce World Tour this year, if not, watch some of the sessions on Salesforce+.

Thanks for listening,
Ivan Hurt
SFMC Professional

¹Source: Salesforce. (n.d.). Agentic Marketing Platform: Next-Gen Marketing Cloud. Salesforce. Retrieved from https://www.salesforce.com/marketing/agentic-marketing/

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However, after I passed the certification, Salesforce doesn’t let the certification go stale. You are required to do maintenance modules to keep your certification active. These modules are designed to help you stay current with important product updates to keep your certification active.

You are given a deadline to complete the maintenance module or lose your certification. After the countless hours I took to pass the exam, I am not going to let my certification lapse.

I wrote this blog post, so you don’t let your certification lapse either.

Here are the steps to maintain your Salesforce Marketing Cloud Email Specialist certification or any other Salesforce certification.

1. Do a web search for Salesforce Certification Maintenance Schedule
2. Verify when the due date for the maintenance module for your certification is due
3. Log in to Trailhead
4. Search Marketing Cloud Email Specialist Certification Maintenance
   • You should see 2 or 3 badges
5. Complete each badge to be on the safe side
6. Review the resources that are with each module
7. You should receive an email stating that your account is still valid

Bonus Points: Read the release notes for the product you work with daily.

So follow this advice and keep your certification active.

Thanks for listening,
Ivan Hurt, Email Developer

The post How To Keep Your SFMC Email Specialist Certification Active? appeared first on IvanHurt.dev.

Moving Away From Webassessor

One of the main changes is that your certifications are moving away from Webassessor to Trailhead Academy. Anyone currently holding the Salesforce Marketing Cloud certification must move from Webassessor to Trailhead Academy.

Salesforce will email you to walk you through transferring your profile to Trailhead. The process is easy and takes less than 5 minutes.

New Testing Experience

In July, Salesforce Marketing Cloud exams will move from Webassessor to Pearson VUE. The change starts on July 21, 2025. The last day you must register for an exam on Webassessor is June 30, 2025.

SFMC Certification Title Changes

Salesforce Marketing Cloud is aligning its certifications with the new product names. Marketing Cloud is now called Marketing Cloud Engagement, and Pardot is now called Marketing Cloud Account Engagement.

The titles might sound confusing, but just remember that Pardot has “Account” in the title. That’s how I remember the difference between the two.

Here’s a list of all the Salesforce Marketing Cloud certification title changes you must know.

• Salesforce Certified Marketing Associate is now the Salesforce Certified Marketing Cloud Engagement Foundations certification (MC)
• Salesforce Certified Marketing Cloud Account Engagement Specialist is now the Salesforce Certified Marketing Cloud Account Engagement Foundations certification (Pardot)
• Salesforce Certified Marketing Cloud Email Specialist has no name change (MC)
• Salesforce Certified Marketing Cloud Administrator is now the Salesforce Certified Marketing Cloud Engagement Administrator certification (MC)
• Salesforce Certified Marketing Cloud Consultant is now the Salesforce Certified Marketing Cloud Engagement Consultant certification (MC)
• Salesforce Certified Marketing Cloud Account Engagement Consultant has no change (Pardot)
• Salesforce Certified Marketing Cloud Developer is now the Salesforce Certified Marketing Cloud Engagement Developer certification (MC)

Important Dates

• June 30, 2025: Last day to register for SFMC exam with Webassessor
• July 13, 2025: Last day to take exam on Webassessor (Use any vouchers by this date)
• July 21, 2025: Take exams using Pearson VUE

Conclusion

These are the upcoming changes affecting newbies and experienced email developers in the Salesforce Marketing Cloud ecosystem.

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