Unlocking the Future: Surprising Innovations Await at Salesforce Connections
Ever wondered what happens when a city known for its deep-dish pizza meets the cutting edge of AI-powered email marketing? Well, Chicago is about to find out on June 3-4 as Salesforce Connections 2026 rolls into town—and the Validity team is packing their bags (and their best ideas). This isn’t just another conference; it’s the moment where high-ROI marketing teams get serious about AI, ditch the hype, and embrace tools that actually deliver. With Validity unveiling Engage, their game-changing platform designed to crank out smarter campaigns faster than ever, the question isn’t whether AI fits into your workflow—it’s how badly you want to crush your marketing goals in the years ahead. Whether you’re looking to squeeze every drop of ROI from your Salesforce investment or just itching to see the future of email marketing up close, this event promises to be a masterclass in innovation and strategy. Ready to see what unified, end-to-end marketing success looks like? Let’s dive in together. LEARN MORE.
Key takeaways ✨
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Chicago is calling—and the Validity team is answering.
Salesforce Connections 2026 is June 3-4, and this year feels different. Not just because we’re heading to one of the greatest cities in America or because the agenda is packed with sessions on AI, CRM strategy, and the future of digital marketing. It’s different because Validity is showing teams what unified, complete end-to-end marketing success looks like.
Whether you’re a seasoned email practitioner, a marketing leader looking to squeeze more ROI out of your Salesforce investment, or just someone who genuinely loves building what’s next, this is an event worth showing up for.
Table of contents
What is Salesforce Connections 2026?
Salesforce Connections is the annual conference for marketers, digital commerce leaders, and customer experience professionals. It’s where practitioners and decision-makers come together to share what’s working and learn what’s next.
According to the Connections website, “Marketing is no longer static. It’s always-on and agentic—and Connections is where vision meets strategy.” Most teams are still navigating pilots, working through integration challenges, and trying to figure out where AI actually fits into their existing workflows—not just in theory, but on a Tuesday afternoon when there’s a campaign to ship.
Learning how to navigate the tension between AI’s promise and AI’s reality is exactly the kind of thing that makes Connections so valuable. The hallway conversations, the “wait, how are you handling this?” moments—they’re often more useful than anything on the main stage. Well, except for Validity’s theater session.
Why this year is different: Validity and Litmus, together
Two months before CNX 2025, Litmus was acquired by Validity. We’ve spent the last year merging our strengths and creating a truly end-to-end email solution that enterprise teams will love.
That’s a pretty big deal. For too long, email teams have been stitching together point solutions and hoping everything plays nicely. For the first time, Validity offers data quality and list validation, campaign creation, QA testing, deliverability monitoring, performance analytics, and more—all under one roof.
“Salesforce Connections is always one of my favorite events! This year I’m especially excited to be showcasing what’s possible now that Litmus and Validity have come together—we have some really exciting new innovations that we can’t wait to talk about. Excited to meet you all face-to-face!“
What we’re talking about in Chicago
This year, our very own Danielle Gallant is hosting a session called, “3 ways to push your email ROI above 45:1 using AI.” If you don’t know Danielle, she’s the co-host of the popular Email After Hours podcast and a regular guest on our State of Email Tactics webinar. She also participated in two of our most popular sessions from Litmus Live 2026.
Your favorite email marketing conference
Learn from the pros at Litmus Live, the 100% free and virtual email conference loved by marketers worldwide.
In her 20-minute session, you’ll learn why advanced AI adopters are 75% more likely to achieve ROIs above 45:1—and a peek into the full-funnel techniques that get them there. You can catch the session on June 3 at 1:30 PM CT in the Theater.
After, swing by the Validity booth to say hi to Julio!
“I’m most excited to talk with marketers about how they’re connecting the full email workflow—from data quality and deliverability through to content and performance—and where they’re unlocking the biggest impact. Connections is one of the best places to bring those pieces together and learn from others doing it in a way that goes beyond the hype.“
Introducing Validity Engage
One of the conversations we’re most excited to have in Chicago is around Validity Engage! Our new AI-powered platform is designed to simplify the email workflow and get more ROI from every send.
Most marketing teams are being asked to do more. Our Q1 2026 Marketer Survey found that marketing headcounts are expected to stay flat in 2026 even as campaign volume and performance expectations rise. AI can be the lever that makes that work, but only if it’s built into the workflow in a way that’s actually helpful. And that’s exactly what Engage is designed to do.
“Meeting with both our customers and prospects is something I always look forward to. Gaining an understanding of how they are implementing and utilizing Validity’s suite and how it impacts their day-to-day workflows and business needs is something I always look forward to discussing in depth. I’m very excited to have conversations around Engage to help prospects execute more consistent, high-quality email programs at scale.“
“I’m really excited to be attending Salesforce Connections this year and meeting customers and prospects in person. It’s always valuable to hear how teams are actually building and optimizing their email programs, and where they’re running into challenges. I’m especially excited to share how we’re helping teams streamline workflows and improve performance across the full email lifecycle, and to start introducing Engage as part of that next evolution.“
AI-powered email intelligence
Built on Validity’s vast data network, Validity Engage removes risk and boosts email performance—so you can produce exceptional results in less time.
AI in the real world
If there’s one theme running through every conversation, it’s this: marketers are done with AI hype. They want to know what actually works.
Our research found that these are the biggest barriers to AI adoption for marketers:
- 33.6% say integration challenges with existing systems
- 26.6% say skill gaps
- 25.1% note poor data quality
The teams that are winning with AI aren’t necessarily the ones with the biggest budgets; they’re the ones who did the boring work of cleaning their data, defining clear outcomes, and building workflows that humans can use and trust.
That’s the conversation we want to have in Chicago. And it connects directly to what Salesforce is building around Agentforce and AI-first CRM experiences.
“At these events, it’s always really refreshing to see marketers in-person and share genuine excitement and ideas. I look forward to hearing about how teams are continuing to approach AI and marketing transformation in the real world, and to leaving with new perspectives that reshape how I deliver value for our amazing customers when I get back!“
Who you’ll meet from the Validity team
We’re sending a fantastic group to Chicago, and we’d love to connect with you. Here’s a bit about who else you’ll meet and what they’re excited to dig into:
“I am looking forward to engaging with our community of customers and partners at Salesforce Connections. My focus is on understanding how our clients integrate our solutions into their unique workflows to drive meaningful results. I am particularly excited to discuss how the recent integration of Litmus and Validity provides an expanded, end-to-end solution for modern marketing teams.“
“Connections brings together the exact people I want to connect with—email and CRM marketers who are genuinely pushing what’s possible in their marketing programs. It’s one of those events where the hallway conversations are just as valuable as the keynotes, and this year Validity is showing up in a big way. See you in Chicago!“
“Every year, Salesforce Connections reminds me of what makes this industry so inspiring. I look forward to the amazing conversations that start with curiosity and turn into a genuine exchange about what’s possible. My number one priority is to connect with as many people as possible. Whether you’re a longtime customer, someone we’ve just started working with, or you’re simply navigating what an AI-first marketing strategy actually looks like in practice—I want to connect.“
Why email is the conversation worth having right now
Email isn’t a legacy channel. It’s the channel with the highest ROI in marketing—year after year. And in 2026, it’s more complex, more capable, and more central to how successful marketing teams operate.
Global inbox placement rates improved to 87.2 percent in 2025—a 3.7 percent year-over-year uplift, according to our 2026 Email Deliverability Benchmark Report. At the same time, AI is changing what it means to “reach” a subscriber with message summaries, sorting, and filtering.
Research from Salesforce’s own State of Marketing report found that high-performing marketing teams are 2.2 times more likely to use AI than underperformers. The question at Connections 2026 isn’t whether to invest in AI—it’s how to invest in it correctly.
We can’t wait to chat with you about all of this and more at Connections!
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