Is Agentforce making Einstein redundant? How do these two Salesforce features compare? Read on to learn the ways in which Salesforce’s generative AI functionality can help you save costs and elevate the customer experience with real-world use cases.
The Salesforce ecosystem is ablaze with ‘agentic AI’ as Agentforce rapidly accumulates more and more functionality. Recently, a member of our team was asked the question, “Will Agentforce make Einstein redundant?” – so we thought we would answer it in this article!
The unhelpfully short answer is, ‘no’. To elaborate: different types of AI are good at different things (just like humans), although Agentforce does have some generative functionality (e.g. it creates new content based on the information it has access to), Agentforce’s main differentiator is that it is ‘agentic’, meaning that it can take action (within certain parameters or ‘guardrails’.) It is true that Agentforce and Einstein do overlap in some respects, but Einstein is a great way to explore how AI can fit into your business strategy without plunging into all of the data readiness activity required for Agentforce implementation, or taking on a credit-based payment structure – it can also provide some great, low investment quick-wins! The use cases below explain the tasks that Einstein excels at, without the need for ‘agentic’ AI.
1. Einstein Discovery
Einstein Discovery utilises machine learning to analyse data and uncover patterns, providing actionable insights and recommendations. It processes both Salesforce and external datasets to identify trends, correlations, and anomalies.
Value Add: By offering data-driven insights, Einstein Discovery enables businesses to make informed decisions, optimise operations, and identify new opportunities. It transforms complex data into understandable narratives, facilitating strategic planning.
Example Use Case: A financial services company employs Einstein Discovery to identify patterns indicating a high risk of churn. By proactively reaching out to these customers with personalised offers and support, the company reduces churn rates and improves customer retention.
Availability: Einstein Discovery is available as an add-on in the Enterprise, Performance, and Unlimited editions of Salesforce.
2. Einstein Prediction Builder
This feature allows users to create custom AI models to predict specific business outcomes, such as customer lifetime value, using clicks instead of code. It leverages historical data to forecast future events.
Value Add: Einstein Prediction Builder empowers businesses to anticipate customer behaviour and market trends, enabling proactive strategies to enhance customer retention and profitability.
Example Use Case: A hotel chain implements Einstein Prediction Builder to forecast guest preferences for amenities and services. By analysing historical booking data, the chain predicts which guests are likely to book spa services or dine in-house, allowing for targeted promotions and personalised guest experiences.
Availability: It is included in the Enterprise, Performance, and Unlimited editions with Sales Cloud Einstein.
3. Einstein Next Best Action
This tool delivers context-specific recommendations to employees and customers within their workflow. It considers business rules and predictive models to suggest the most effective actions.
Value Add: By providing tailored recommendations, Einstein Next Best Action enhances decision-making, improves customer satisfaction, and increases conversion rates.
Example Use Case: The customer service department in a retail company leverages Next Best Action to provide personalised product recommendations to customers. By analysing purchase history and browsing behaviour, the system suggests relevant products, enhancing the shopping experience and increasing sales.
Availability: It is available in Essentials, Professional, Enterprise, Performance, Unlimited, and Developer editions, and it offers 5,000 strategy requests per month at no charge.
4. Einstein Language
Einstein Language encompasses natural language processing (NLP) capabilities that analyse text to determine sentiment and intent. It can classify text and detect customer emotions and feelings across various communication channels.
Value Add: Understanding customer sentiment and intent allows businesses to tailor responses, improve service quality, and automate the routing of inquiries to appropriate departments.
Example Use Case: A public transportation provider implements Einstein Language to analyse customer feedback from social media and service hotlines. By detecting sentiment and intent, the provider identifies areas of dissatisfaction and addresses them promptly, improving overall service quality.
Availability: Einstein Language is available as an add-on across various Salesforce editions.
5. Einstein Bots
This is probably the feature that is most similar to Agentforce functionality. Einstein Bots are a great way to get started with chatbots, offering an affordable and less complex way of lightening the volume of service requests. These bots interact with customers on digital channels, handling routine inquiries and redirecting to human agents when required. They are integrated with CRM data to provide personalised responses. These are a great option if you need help answering day-to-day customer queries, or want to replace a lengthy and non-user-friendly FAQ section.
Value Add: By automating common customer interactions, Einstein Bots reduce the workload of human agents, provide instant support, and enhance customer engagement.
Example Use Case: A healthcare provider uses Einstein Bots to answer patients’ questions and manage prescription refill requests. Patients interact with the bot to understand their options and request medication, and the bot collates all the necessary information to present to medical professionals for approval, reducing administrative workload and enhancing patient convenience.
Availability: Included in the Unlimited edition with 25 Einstein Bot conversations per user per month.
6. Einstein Vision
This feature offers image recognition capabilities, allowing businesses to analyse and classify images. It can identify brand logos, objects, and text within images.
Value Add: Einstein Vision enables companies to monitor brand presence on social media, improve quality control processes, automate image categorisation, and enhance visual search functionalities.
Example Use Case: Einstein Vision allows customers of an ecommerce company to upload images of desired products, enabling the system to identify and suggest similar items available in the retailer’s inventory. This enhances the shopping experience by making product discovery more intuitive.
Availability: Available as an add-on in various Salesforce editions.
7. Einstein Lead Scoring
Einstein Lead Scoring analyses historical sales data to assign scores to leads based on their likelihood to convert. It identifies patterns that correlate with successful conversions.
Value Add: By prioritising leads with higher conversion probabilities, sales teams can focus their efforts effectively, improving efficiency and increasing sales.
Example Use Case: A real estate agency utilises Einstein Lead Scoring to prioritise potential property buyers. By analysing client interactions and property preferences, the agency identifies leads most likely to convert, enabling Sales and Marketing to focus their efforts effectively and increase sales.
Availability: Part of Sales Cloud Einstein, available in Enterprise, Performance, and Unlimited editions.
8. Einstein Opportunity Scoring
Similar to Einstein Lead Scoring, this feature evaluates open opportunities and assigns scores indicating the likelihood of a successful close. It considers factors such as customer engagement and deal progress.
Value Add: Einstein Opportunity Scoring helps sales representatives prioritise deals, allocate resources wisely, and forecast revenue more accurately.
Example Use Case: A B2B energy solutions provider uses Einstein Opportunity Scoring to evaluate the potential of various sales opportunities. By assessing factors such as client engagement and proposal responses, the provider allocates resources to deals with the highest likelihood of closure, optimising sales efficiency.
Availability: Included in Sales Cloud Einstein for Enterprise, Performance, and Unlimited editions.
9. Einstein Forecasting
Einstein Forecasting uses AI to predict sales revenue by analysing historical data and current pipeline information. It provides insights into forecast accuracy and potential outcomes.
Value Add: Accurate sales forecasts enable businesses to set targets, manage resources effectively, and make informed strategic decisions.
Example Use Case: A hotel chain leverages Einstein Forecasting to predict sales revenue by analysing historical data and current booking information. This enables the company to set realistic targets, manage inventory, and be more confident in their decision making.
Availability: Available with Sales Cloud Einstein in Performance and Unlimited editions, and as an add-on in Enterprise edition.
10. Einstein Activity Capture
This tool analyses emails and calendar events to identify new contacts and relevant information, automatically updating and enriching Salesforce records.
Value Add: By maintaining up-to-date contact information, businesses enhance data accuracy, reduce manual data entry, and improve relationship management.
Example Use Case: A bank with a busy, growing sales team employs Einstein to identify new contacts and relevant information, ensuring that no information on potential new customers is lost in cluttered inboxes. The system automatically updates Salesforce records, maintaining up-to-date contact information, supporting the pipeline and enhancing relationship management.
Availability: Part of Sales Cloud Einstein, available in Performance and Unlimited editions, and as an add-on in Enterprise edition.
11. Einstein Knowledge Creation
Einstein Knowledge Creation streamlines the process of expanding an organisation’s knowledge base by automatically drafting new articles based on customer interactions.
Value Add: By analysing case data and conversation transcripts, Einstein identifies recurring issues and generates relevant content, ensuring that information is up-to-date and readily available for both agents and customers. This proactive approach reduces the time spent on manual article creation and helps in quicker issue resolution.
Example Use Case: A software company notices a surge in customer inquiries about a specific error message in their application. Einstein Knowledge Creation analyses these interactions and drafts a knowledge article outlining the error, its causes, and step-by-step solutions. After review, the article is published, enabling customers to self-serve and resolve the issue without contacting support, thereby reducing the support team’s workload.
Availability: Available with Service Cloud Einstein in Performance and Unlimited editions, and as an add-on in Enterprise edition.
12. Einstein Work Summaries
Einstein Work Summaries leverages generative AI to draft concise summaries of customer interactions, capturing the main issues and resolutions discussed.
Value Add: This feature reduces the time spent on reviewing past interactions and ensures that all team members are informed of relevant activity and information.
Example Use Case: In the healthcare industry, a patient contacts support multiple times regarding issues with accessing their online health records. Einstein Work Summaries compiles these interactions into a coherent summary, highlighting the patient’s concerns and the solutions provided. When the patient reaches out again, the support agent can quickly review the summary to understand the context and offer informed assistance, leading to a more personalised and efficient support experience.
Availability: Available with Service Cloud Einstein in Performance and Unlimited editions, and as an add-on in Enterprise edition.
13. Einstein Reply Recommendations (for Live Messaging)
Einstein Reply Recommendations suggests appropriate responses during live customer chats. It identifies common queries and effective replies, presenting agents with a selection of recommended responses.
Value Add: This accelerates response times, ensures consistency, and enhances the customer experience.
Example Use Case: A client of a shipping company sends a chat message about the status of their order. Einstein Reply Recommendations suggests responses such as “Your order has been shipped and is expected to arrive on [date].” The agent can select and send the most appropriate reply, reducing handling time.
Availability: Available with Salesforce Enterprise, Performance, and Unlimited editions. It requires the Service Cloud Einstein add-on license.
14. Einstein Service Replies
Einstein Service Replies utilises generative AI to draft fluent, courteous, and contextually relevant responses for customer service agents. By analysing historical interactions and grounding responses in the company’s knowledge base, it ensures consistency and accuracy in communications.
Value Add: This feature significantly reduces the time agents spend composing replies, allowing them to focus on more complex customer issues.
Example Use Case: A customer sends an email to a clothing manufacturer about the return policy for a recent purchase via email. Einstein Service Replies drafts a personalised response detailing the return process, including any necessary steps the customer should follow. The agent reviews and sends the response promptly, enhancing customer satisfaction through swift and accurate communication.
Availability: Available with Salesforce Enterprise, Performance, and Unlimited editions. It requires the Service Cloud Einstein add-on license.
By implementing these simple generative Salesforce AI features, organisations can enhance and automate their sales and customer service operations, improving efficiency, consistency, and customer satisfaction. As far as we can see, Einstein isn’t going anywhere. Maybe now is the time to explore which AI features are right for your business – whether that be Einstein, Agentforce, or something else entirely!
To learn more about how you could be using Salesforce Einstien to enrich your customer experience and streamline your operations, book a call with us today!
