AI, NLG, and Machine Learning, Chatbot Development

Einstein: The NLP Software Powering Salesforce Bots

The new Salesforce Einstein bots are powered by a unique NLP software called “Einstein.” Learn more about what Salesforce’s developments could mean for your business and the chatbot community.

Any company looking to get a competitive edge in today’s crowded market must be doing everything possible to improve the customer experience and satisfaction levels. Recent research from Ameritas Insight reveals that 70% of consumers are likely to spend more money with a company that has excellent customer service. Furthermore, a whopping 97% of customers will tell others about very good or excellent customer service.

While your customer service department may already be fully staffed, now is the perfect time to invest in a brand new and powerful customer service chatbot. According to Mordor Intelligence, 57% of businesses noted that chatbots deliver a large return on investment for a minimal upfront investment, and the demand for these bots will continue to increase as the chatbot market is set to increase to $102.29 billion by 2026. With many chatbot options readily available to businesses, it can be challenging to understand what sets each service and company apart.

One of the latest services on the scene is Salesforce ‘Einstein,’ a new AI-powered customer service product developed by Salesforce.com—a cloud computing and social enterprise software-as-a-service (SaaS) provider based in San Francisco. This advanced service provides an alternative option for customers and partners looking to create intelligent bots capable of becoming the first line of support for customer service, while also being a completely unique bot in its own right.

What is the Salesforce Chatbot?

The Salesforce chatbot Einstein provides all the tools of the latest developments in chatbot technology, compiled into an intuitive interface designed to maximize the variety of different settings necessary to suit a range of clients and consumers. For example, these bots can live on a company’s website or mobile app, depending on which area receives higher traffic.

Salesforce Einstein bots are called Einstein because they utilize Salesforce’s proprietary Einstein Natural Language Understanding (NLU) Technology. While chatbot enthusiasts should already be familiar with NLU, these capabilities are what differentiates Salesforce bots from poorly optimized and less effective bots you may have previously encountered. The Einstein NLU technology allows for Salesforce bots to create a ‘learning model.’ This learning model means that your bot will be capable of learning and better understanding customer interactions in real-time in their chat window. Once it understands a customer’s request it can quickly draw from a list of predetermined responses, freeing up live customer service agents to deal with more complex requests.

How to Build Salesforce Einstein Bots

The set-up for these Salesforce bots is designed as a no-code development platform, meant to be simple for even the least tech-inclined employees. Essentially, if you can point, click, and drag, you are capable of setting up your very own Salesforce bot.

The first step will be to spend some time compiling a list of frequent customer service requests to your business. One of the benefits of the Salesforce Einstein bots is their ability to tap into Salesforce and Customer Relationship Management systems. For example, if a customer asks about shipping updates, your Salesforce bots could retrieve their information from the internal system, all without the assistance of a live agent. Some examples of requests that can be readily fulfilled by Salesforce bots include password reset requests, order status, and store locations and hours. Of course, this is just scratching the surface on the full capabilities of Salesforce bots.

Once you have a detailed list of what you want your Salesforce chatbot to answer, moving these questions and answers to the Einstein Bot Builder is the next step. For each question, you will want to add an “Ask Question” dialog box. Then, each question should be followed by a “Send Response” box, which will contain the chatbot output into the chat window.

While this is the more traditional way to set up a Salesforce Chatbot, the Einstein Bot is also capable of developing more complex process rules. For example, your Einstein Bot can be trained on customer intent, teaching it to recognize different patterns users take to ask the same question. While this may take longer to develop an efficient bot, it will ultimately provide you with a bot able to interpret even the most confusing user questions.

If you’re interested in learning more about setting up your own Salesforce Einstein Bots, be sure to check out Salesforce's in-depth tutorial.

What’s Next with Your Bot?

As with any newly set up chatbot, it is important to set a strategy and forward-looking goals in order to ensure your bot will stay relevant and useful. Set modest goals and anticipate that there will be some challenges for users initially. Develop a cadence for auditing inaccurate responses and developing answers to unanswered queries. Remember that a chatbot is an outward-facing personification of your business, and as such it should align with your business rationales and objectives, while providing personable and quality assistance. With these notes in mind, a Salesforce chatbot could quickly grow into an essential arm of any business's customer service routine.

Can Salesforce Chatbot Einstein Replace Human Customer Service?

While the Einstein Chatbot is extremely impressive, it is important to remember that the rise of chatbots across the customer service industry does not mean live agents will disappear completely. There will continue to be questions that are necessarily sent to live agents, as well as any updates you discover that will need to be added to Einstein's back-end.

That being said, the benefits of these Einstein bots is widespread. They are capable of quickly deflecting cases that would tie up customer service agents for extended periods of time, while customers encounter shorter waiting times for their questions.

The Salesforce chatbot Einstein provides a high-end and powerful chatbot experience, with a simple back-end for developers of any level of experience. Almost anyone, with just a few clicks, can create a Salesforce bot. The important thing to ask yourself is what you want your chatbot to do. Creating a useful chatbot, capable of actually helping customers, requires planning and careful thought. With that in mind, a well-oiled and helpful chatbot will not only be a welcome addition to any customer service team, but also a friendly new face to represent your brand however you’d like.

For more of the latest information on Chatbot technology, be sure to check out Discover.bot’s Chatbot News Tab.