Salesforce Einstein AI – Deliver Smarter and More Connected Experiences

 

Salesforce Einstein AI, in simple terms, is a smart CRM assistant. While assistants have made their mark as new-age imperatives, the advent of Einstein empowers businesses in many ways, the foremost being insights and predictions. 

Salesforce Einstein extracts valuable insights from impenetrable data and uses it to revolutionize how customers and B2B eCommerce connect. It’s AI-powered,  smarter, and multi-pronged in its approach.

Here is how Salesforce Einstein AI empowers organizations:

• Renders unintelligible and hidden data intelligible and discoverable. 
• Adds predictability to the major business functions across all industries.
• Assists in actions like personalized offers by offering recommendations.
• Automates recurring processes with repetitive functions and workflows.

Salesforce Einstein is a disruptive technology transforming how businesses function. 

Three major questions about Salesforce Einstein AI

1. What is Salesforce Einstein AI?

A first of its kind, Salesforce Einstein is the AI-enabled CRM assistant. A set of latest AI technologies embedded in Einstein sets it apart from the rest as the smartest and premium CRM assistant.

2. Does salesforce use AI?

Salesforce Einstein thrives on AI technology. Integrating Salesforce CRM and Einstein enhances the AI capabilities of the CRM system, taps into untapped data to offer reliable predictive analytics, and has the capability to process natural language.

3. Is Einstein included in Salesforce?

Salesforce Einstein is a separate technology. But it easily integrates with Salesforce technologies, like Salesforce CRM. Einstein, and functions it stands for, use the same data as Salesforce,  thereby making actions smarter and contextualized.

Salesforce’s Einstein is the quantum leap forward in the utilization of artificial intelligence to revolutionize customer-business relationships. Adding AI capability to the CRM changes how customer interactions take place.

Einstein Analytics for Manufacturing turns data into intelligible visuals. Therefore, helping account managers keep track of sales contracts, agreements, and orders.

However, to reap the benefits of Einstein Analytics for Manufacturing, Salesforce Manufacturing Cloud is imperative.

Touted as a game-changer, Salesforce Einstein Implementation has shattered all limits of expectations in terms of its utility and capability it adds to a CRM. 

However, it is equally true that before you start counting on its benefits, the focus should center on properly implementing Salesforce Einstein. That undoubtedly entails availing service of Salesforce Einstein Consultant Atlanta to catapult a CRM system into AI-driven intelligence.

A Brief Intro to Salesforce Einstein AI

Over the years, Salesforce has churned out a lot of AI applications. Quite remarkably though, these applications work in tandem and offer a unified experience across Salesforce. Einstein, to say the least, is an umbrella term encompassing all these AI applications. 

To simplify things, let’s consider an example. Integration of Einstein Bots in the Salesforce Service Cloud automates client-business chats. As a result, service agents get plenty of time to undertake other vital functions of a business.

A basic truth that needs to be appreciated is that it’s existing Salesforce applications that AI is being incorporated into.  Commerce Cloud Einstein is therefore pretty much an ensemble of Salesforce Commerce Cloud and Salesforce Einstein AI.

Consequently, a business gets Einstein Cloud Benefits that leverage Salesforce Commerce Cloud Einstein. Einstein in essence resembles a philosopher’s stone, turning Salesforce apps such as Commerce Cloud, Sales Cloud, etc. into AI-capable smart assistants.

This also means users can be assisted irrespective of their standing, function, or role in the sales process.  No matter which Salesforce product they use, personalized service will always be a given!  

Cocktail of AI and Salesforce Einstein

Artificial Intelligence no longer is a far-fetched, sci-fi term. Right or wrong, we interpret it in our own ways. We live in an era where AI is transforming every industry it comes in contact with.

Salesforce Einstein is an AI powerhouse. And it facilitates data convergence all over Salesforce. This is necessary for automation of tasks, or for churning out personalized recommendations. 

AI Catapults Salesforce Einstein into Smartest Assistant. Here is How:

• Voice input: Einstein listens and understands voice input. It’s due to AI that Salesforce Einstein can comprehend human speech, so you can speak to it directly.
• Natural language comprehension: Not only does Salesforce Einstein listen when you speak but it also processes and comprehends your voice input and responds accordingly.
• Voice output: AI has made Salesforce Einstein into a creative and intelligent conversationalist. It speaks back and provides the right information.
• Intelligent interpretation: Interpreting a message demands intelligence. Salesforce Einstein has AI-powered intelligence and can intelligently interpret voice input using user data to provide a well-informed response.

How Einstein Analytics Help Explore Data and Extract Insights?

Salesforce users know how to tap into operational reports of a business. Salesforce CRM has been efficient in tracking the customer journey from the first interaction to the final checkout. All data generated, across various channels, can be viewed from a unified dashboard.

Leveraging it, users gauge performance and dig into data to explore insights. But there’s a catch! The volume of customer data has just grown astronomically. That has made exploring it impractical if done manually.

That brings us to Salesforce Einstein Analytics, which has been addressing this challenge ever since its advent. Einstein Analytics Help and empower CRM users to analyze large volumes of data and uncover valuable insights.

Einstein Analytics Salesforce as said earlier is AI-powered. It’s capable of providing advanced analytics. Sales reps, marketers, service agents, and analysts can take advantage of Einstein technology to extract insights imperative for making customer interactions contextual, smarter, and quicker.

Salesforce Einstein Analytics can automatically sift through and analyze voluminous amounts of data. Predictive insights and recommendations generated thereof help unlock untapped potential and explore new opportunities.

A few things to know about Einstein Analytics:

• Einstein Analytics Salesforce makes data exploration less hectic. Its smart artificial intelligence capabilities provide advanced analytics that can be viewed right in Salesforce dashboards.
• All query data can be stored and managed using Salesforce Analytics Query Language (SAQL). Additionally, dashboards can also be customized programmatically for better comprehension.
• Einstein Analytics integrates easily with Salesforce Clouds such as Service, Sales, and Marketing. However, a business can also custom build its own analytics apps.
• Einstein Analytics offers flexibility to mass-produce valuable charts from datasets. Data tables can be transformed into informative and easy to comprehend visualizations. And no deep thinking is required to understand these visuals.

All you need to know about Einstein Platform Salesforce

Business operations differ from industry to industry and Salesforce in that respect has been responsive and flexible to adapt to how the business operates and offers services accordingly.

Einstein Platform Salesforce too is highly customizable. Its powerful tools that rely on artificial intelligence allow admins and developers to create and customize smart AI-driven assistants to suit their business.

Einstein Platform facilitates the building of robust assistants with the capability to comprehend voice input, interpret natural language, and give voice output. As a result, businesses can now better understand and serve their customers.

Using Einstein Platform Services, customers get to interact directly with smart assistants in order to receive quick responses to their queries. This is a remarkable achievement of AI as it relieves the support staff from the extra burden of handling customer interactions.

Source: commerce cloud einstein

Why a Unified Cloud Platform Is Crucial to B2B E-commerce Success

 

B2B customers today expect increased personalization, responsiveness, flexible product configuration, and engaging shopping experiences. While cloud e-commerce systems have been transforming the B2B landscape, siloed solutions for different departments result in disparate systems that fail to communicate with one another.

Supporting a business with on-premise or a single-tenant hosted commerce system is both time-consuming and expensive. Such systems cannot support multiple geographies or channels, obstructing company growth instead of supporting it. B2B players, therefore, need a unified solution that is adaptive and quick to support new sales on different channels.

E-commerce success demands a unified platform

B2B players are increasingly facing increased buyer expectations for a seamless and meaningful shopping experience. Smart e-commerce businesses focus on integrating teams, technologies, and tools to go to the market and organize an internal strategy. With a unified B2B e-commerce solution, businesses can effectively improve revenue by simplifying operations with a flexible workflow environment and supporting unified organizational processes that result in great customer experiences.

A unified e-commerce platform facilitates real-time data by unifying e-commerce, CRM, order management, and accounting into one system that records inventory, orders, and customer information. It offers buyers a consistent experience and a smooth, omnichannel buying journey, boosting brand loyalty and repeat purchases. Unified cloud platforms offer B2B-specific features like enhanced catalog management, payment gateways, streamlined stacks, and personalization. They help deliver an omnichannel experience to customers across devices. Let’s see how unified platforms ultimately result in B2B e-commerce success.

Personalized Experiences

A unified commerce platform identifies the nuances of an audience’s shopping patterns, controlling their experience from a single interface. It allows businesses to customize offerings by enabling differentiated browsing and purchasing.

A unified e-commerce platform allows customization of a variety of B2B customer needs:

• Custom catalogs and price lists
• Multi-site management
• Customer segmentation and targeting for personalized product recommendations and promotions
• Merchandising and content management features to create optimized sites

With a unified solution, businesses can control which products are shown to shoppers, set different pricing structures for different customers groups, and customize banners, blocks, and widgets to refine the customer experience.

Seamless buying experience

B2B buyers expect an intuitive online buying experience, which often requires a platform with self-service capabilities. Creating compelling interactions at every step of the customer journey requires ongoing support from an integrated platform.

A unified platform allows customers to:

• Order and re-order quickly
• Browse through extensive product information
• Request a quote
• View credit balances, prior orders, and shipping information
• Pay invoices online

Cost-effective

As the number of commerce platforms increase, the total cost of ownership goes up. A unified cloud platform provides a global view of all selling activity and eliminates the need for multiple systems. The result is lower costs and a streamlined commerce stack that can be easily modified with changing customer demands. Moreover, a unified platform also reduces education and training costs associated with integrating and maintaining a variety of platforms.

Smooth order management

When e-commerce systems are developed independently of existing order management systems, the possibility of order errors increases. With integrated order management, B2B businesses can achieve synchronization across channels and deliver improved customer experience. Such order management systems can also scale to support quick availability, automated replenishment, and customized, complex purchasing workflows.

Simplified staffing and operations

A single e-commerce platform that integrates with back-end systems reduces organization complexity by simplifying staffing needs and reducing external partnership requirements. Businesses no longer need to hire separate teams or work with multiple partners for multiple platforms. A centralized platform reduces administrative and management responsibilities so businesses can focus on personalizing and enhancing customer experience.

Unified e-commerce platforms are the future of B2B. They are easily configurable, support multi-tenancy, and can scale to support new business models. Unified commerce ensures a smooth, consistent, and personalized shopping experience across all selling channels. Businesses that fail to invest in a platform that provides a cohesive view of customers, orders, and inventory will certainly be at a competitive disadvantage.

Source: Unified Cloud Platform Is Crucial to B2B E-commerce Success

Checklist for B2B Ecommerce Checkouts to Maximize Conversion

 

The driving sentiments in a B2B purchase are strictly need-based and never emotion-based, like B2C. A B2B commerce platform must be designed in a way that accounts for this psychology.

However, with rapid B2B ecommerce growth and evolution, many B2C trends are being demanded in the B2B ecommerce marketplace besides more significant stress on some existing B2B requirements.

A global study by Net Solutions identified omnichannel B2B commerce and customer service, customer-centric data analytics, digital supply chain management, a user-friendly B2B e-commerce platform, personalized customer experience, and integration of mobile wallets as the top necessities to become the best B2B ecommerce platform.

Mobilizing plans and steps for delivering business outcomes to ensure the above will help in increasing customer retention and growing revenue.

One of the most decisive elements in a B2B ecommerce portal that significantly affects customer conversion is the checkout page.

This is the first point where the B2B customer will make a critical decision concerning the value your product will provide to their business.

It concludes the ecommerce customer lifecycle and determines the chances of conversion or churning. An ergonomic ecommerce checkout flow is mandatory if you want to win the loyalty of your customers and see an increase in revenue growth.

If you fail here, you will have no choice but to expect an overwhelming percentage of abandoned carts on your ecommerce page.

Top Reasons for Customers Churning at Checkout

Before we look at solutions to prevent an abandoned cart and customer churn at checkout, we need to identify the top causes when it comes to B2B ecommerce sales. These include:

• Overhead charges and hidden costs that are revealed at the checkout point only
• Limited options when it comes to payout options and payment channels
• Fewer choices when it comes to delivery options and shipping methods
• Mandatory account creation before purchase, especially when the process is unnecessarily long-drawn and difficult
• A complex, inconvenient, and confusing checkout flow that ruins the customer experience
• Technical or performance issues at the checkout step, which can essentially introduce discrepancies in the balances and charges
• Security concerns over the protection of sensitive information
• Ambiguous, incomplete, or unclear policies that customers can fear will cause them to be hoodwinked
• Loss of cart when the customer tries to modify or add products

Checkout Features to Increase Customer Conversion

When it comes to B2B ecommerce, Salesforce has remained at the top in providing solutions that help enforce operational outcomes in business to improve customer experience, owing to its superior expertise and long-sightedness in B2B CRM.

Providing an optimum checkout experience requires a combination of actions in both Salesforce B2B Commerce Cloud and Salesforce CPQ and Billing to produce the desired business outcomes. These are listed below:

1) Identification and Correct Placement Of B2B Customers with CTAs

When your ecommerce shop serves both B2C and B2B customers minimal business ecommerce solutions, many potential B2B customers often sample products on the B2C site first,

if your platform can correctly identify these customers by flagging the product quantity, common-use IP address, or business account usage, you can lead them to your B2B ecommerce software. You can do this by adding CTAs at checkout that promises more excellent value in a B2B purchase.

2) Signup and Registration Of Customers

Conversion of first-time or one-time B2B customers is the best way toward revenue growth, as returning customers are the largest source of income for B2B businesses.

It is essential to maintain balance in the volume of information you ask from such customers in the form of identification credentials.

You do not want to ask for so many details that they get frustrated and leave, nor do you want to miss out on essential information for account creation to influence key business outcomes and help reach and serve the customer better.

3) Autofill Options Per the Customer’s Choice

B2B customers are always looking for a personalized customer experience. At the checkout stage, this can be done for registered or returning customers by providing the option for auto-filling details in subsequent purchases.

However, not every customer will be favourable to this, especially one-time purchasers. Therefore, the best course of action is to make this optional.

4) Credit Detail Specification and Appropriate Action Line

Most of the time, the purchaser is a company representative with a credit limit for spending. They would not like to be blindsided by finding out after the purchase that they exceeded their spending limit.

Therefore, the checkout page must display such limitations and how above or below that limit they are. Moreover, if the buying company has an active credit line or invoices due, you should remind them of that.

Additionally, you can offer alternatives that will prevent them from churning you out to avoid unpaid bills.

5) Addition Of Purchase Order Attachments and Notes

Company representatives often prefer to have purchase order numbers and documents attached to the invoice that would be sent to the account payables department of their company to facilitate the verification process.

They may also want to attach notes to the invoice to guide them further. Allowing these additions at the checkout level makes the process easy and convenient.

6) Direct Billing Provisions for Efficiency

In the same vein as above, representatives may prefer the invoice to be sent directly to their account payables department to reduce the steps and time required.

However, they might also want to route it through themselves for various reasons. It is best to allow them to make a choice themselves to avoid confusion and inconvenience.

7) Targeted and Effective Upsells, Cross-sells, and Complimentary Services

The checkout page is the perfect place to offer discounts, rebates, add-ons, complimentary services, and recommendations.

When customers are on the verge of completing their purchase, a surprise offer or an additional purchase is most tempting. Both result in increased conversions and returning customers.

8) Value Addition Reminders

The best B2B commerce tactic to keep your customers happy is to ensure that they understand you have their best interests in mind and remember your contribution to their business.

You can do this by reminding them of the value added to their organization by your company beyond monetary. Also, notify them of better options that they may get, especially if the price hike is meagre.

9) Transparent Specification Of Policies

One of the biggest concerns for B2B customers is the misinterpretation of policies or missing the fine print to their disadvantage. You can put their fears to rest by providing easy access to company policies at the checkout page with full transparency and clarity.

This way, customers will be able to do a final check before making the final decision without having to go back by multiple pages.

10) Saving and Follow-Up For Abandoned Carts

The last thing any B2B customer wants is to spend hours recreating the cart if they mistakenly exited it. You can prevent this by saving their abandoned cart till their next visit.

If the abandonment was intentional, make use of Salesforce checkout analytics to figure out why and decide upon an appropriate follow-up action.

11) Mobile-Friendliness and Omnichannel Opportunities

By the end of 2020, the percentage of B2B queries made on smartphones is expected to increase from 50% to 70%. Salesforce B2B ecommerce keeps that in mind with fully responsive and flexible pages that adapt to any device and screen size.

12) Multiple Payment, Shipping, and Delivery Options

B2B customers want greater freedom when it comes to payment and shipping. B2B commerce shipping integration for 2-day, same-day, overnight, and expedited shipping, free shipping, LTL freight carriers, and free in-store pickup are some in-demand requirements.

Besides credit cards, business debit cards, wire transfers, and ACH, mobile wallets are also being used nowadays. Real-time total updation is most welcome at checkout. Salesforce to Salesforce integration can also be used for live package tracking.

13) Easy Bulk Product Addition, Product List Modification, and Reorder

You can win customers if your checkout page has shortcuts for bulk product addition and cart modification and returning customers get single-click options for reorder. Saving time and effort is one of the most tempting causes for customers to return.

Conclusion

What makes a B2B customer-friendly checkout experience is an easy puzzle to solve. Salesforce CPQ solutions will satisfy most of these needs; you can achieve the rest with third-party applications using Salesforce integration services. For extra assistance, you can always reach out to Docmation.

Source: Checklist for B2B Ecommerce Checkouts 

RETAIL BANKING: THERE IS A ROAD TO DIGITAL NIRVANA

 

The concern borders on fear. “Is what I read and hear at conferences true—disrupt or be disrupted?”

“What does that even mean and how can my decades-old bank change its culture fast enough to start “disrupting”?

“How can my bank, with limited resources become part of the digital age of the customer?”

How can I compete with Amazon, Apple, the big banks, fintech, and digital-only banks?”

“How can we make money and meet the fast-changing demands of our customers?”

“What will my business be like in the next few years?”

These are the questions I hear as I meet with bankers throughout the country.

Sometimes it is expressed explicitly, sometimes it goes unexpressed, but can be seen in the ‘almost’ desperate actions of some banks to create change for the sake of change.

To embark on costly projects without an overall strategy or plan. It does not have to be this way.

At present, banks need to recognize that customer value and transparency go beyond how banks advise their customers.

These primary customer-based metrics also need to be entwined into how banks attract, acquire, and onboard new accounts as well.

Utilizing Salesforce to improve efficiency, make smarter decisions, and personalize the customer experience.

Financial institutions want to serve their customers well, so they seek efficiency improvements. Process automation plays a big part in customer engagement in retail banking.

Manual, disconnected credit and lending processes are being removed and replaced with advanced, automated solutions.

But for optimized customer engagement in retail banking, risk analytics, and decision-making should be tied to other business systems.

Numerous fintech banks and organizations manually extract and duplicate Salesforce data to complete credit checks, risk scoring, and due diligence processes using legacy systems.

This is slow and inefficient. And it can change. Once credit risk retail banking and Salesforce are connected, there can be seamless data exchange.

The latest digital trends in retail banking also indicate that a 360-degree customer view tends to elude most banks given the complexity of integrations and data standards.

However, with the right tools in place, banks can have quick insights into the data they need to be customer-eccentric, transparent, and accountable.

Know this; Customers still love their local bank. They trust them more than any other institution offering financial services.

How could they not when they know that their parents banked there. When they see them physically throughout their community, at softball games and July 4th parades.

Is it possible that the convenience of an all-mobile or all online experience could outweigh the fact that the first serious conversation most people have about money is within the four walls of their local bank?

The key to success for regional and community banks is to combine that unique position of trust with fully integrated, multi-channel digital customer experiences that do not replace, but rather intelligently complement and supplement the traditional bank experience.

Millennial to a bank; “It was awesome when I stopped the other day and you quickly printed me some temporary checks, but why weren’t you there for me when I wanted to do a mobile transfer from my commercial account to my husband’s personal account”?

Here is what regional and community banks can do now;

1) Recognize that you have an innovation advantage.

You can more quickly change their culture and their focus—the first step to creating an innovative bank that adapts and move quickly.

2) Digital transformation

Forget “digital transformation” as a concept. It is essentially meaningless.

Instead, create amazing digital experiences for customers using a building block approach that makes sense for your bank’s market and strategy.

Using cloud-based systems of engagement allows this to be done cost-effectively but rationally and within a coherent technology strategy.

3) Use customer journey mapping and analytics

Use customer journey mapping and analytics to guide the design of these customer experiences.

This does NOT require a team of $300/hr consultants from a consulting firm a thousand times your size.

Play it within the rails, avoid scope creep, and focus on the minimally viable product. If this is new to your culture—see number one.

4) Finding the right partners

Finding the right partners to help through these transitions is a critical part of the equation.

That means companies that fit your culture. Companies that understand your values and importantly your customer’s values.

Don’t be swayed by slick demos and complicated charts and graphs. This is still a people business.

You can and should create a transparent and open relationship of real collaboration with a few key partners that know viscerally that your success is their success.

It is more than possible for regional and community banks to gain market share, create raving fans and succeed in these tumultuous times.

Changing the culture, creating the right strategy, and executing it incrementally with customer journeys in mind is the right first step. Waiting to take it may be costly.

Source: Digital Banking Nirvana