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Salesforce has been a major CRM platform for decades, mostly due to its always innovative approach to AI-powered solutions. As for 2022, Einstein Analytics Salesforce has developed one of the best tools for analyzing data from different sources and making decisions. This is how you can connect your business platform by Google or Microsoft to Salesforce Einstein and analyze your data flow.
What Is Salesforce Einstein Analytics and How Does It Work?
Einstein is a tool by Salesforce that allows you to view insights based on your business history and even predict your customer’s potential actions according to their data and details of your interactions. It does not matter if your customer is a person or a business. Einstein can analyze their personal details (from age/name/gender to your previous business interactions) and make predictions on their next actions. Will they churn? What would make them change their mind?
To make its predictions, though, Einstein needs a large database. So, you need to connect it to the platform where you keep your customer information and the details of your interactions, including both your actual sales and their feedback (emails, site visit stats, and so on). Here are some examples of how you can connect Einstein to popular cloud platforms for business.
Connecting to Microsoft 365
Microsoft 365 is quite a popular platform for small businesses; the tools that interest us the most, of course, are Outlook, Access, and Excel, but your Word documents and notes in OneNote can also be of interest. This is how to connect your MS365 account to Einstein.
1. In your Salesforce dashboard, go to Setup. In the Quick Find field, enter “Einstein Activity Capture” and choose “Settings.”
2. As the email and calendar data source, choose Microsoft 365 (or Office 365).
3. Among the authentication methods, choose Org-Level OAuth 2.0.
4. When redirected to the authentication server, authorize with your Microsoft 365 credentials.
5. After that, you’ll be returned to your Einstein activity capture setup where you can populate your tenant field.
This goes out to Office 365 plans that don’t include Exchange. If you use Exchange, go to the next section.
Connecting to Exchange
Microsoft Exchange is a more advanced tool for communication, providing both an email service and a workspace for teams. It supports large databases, including contact books, calendars, schedules, tasks, and stuff. Its setup is similar to that of Office 365 connection:
1. In your Salesforce dashboard, go to Setup. In the Quick Find field, enter “Microsoft Exchange Connections” and choose “Microsoft Exchange Connection.”
2. Choose “New.”
3. Enter your account details.
4. Verify if necessary by entering your MS Exchange login and password.
5. Click “Save.”
Now, Einstein will have access to your Exchange data and the permission to use it for its predictions.
Connecting to Gmail
The platform by Google is a bit different from those by Microsoft. But if you use this as your primary business communication tool, you’ll also benefit from enabling Einstein Analytics to fetch and analyze your Gmail content. To connect the two, do the following:
1. In your Salesforce dashboard, go to Setup. In the Quick Find field, enter “Gmail” and choose “Gmail Integration and Sync.”
2. Toggle the “Email and Calendar Accounts” on.
3. Activate the “Use Enable Enhanced Email with Gmail.”
4. Activate “Email to Salesforce.”
5. If necessary, instruct your sales reps to set up the integration in their respective Gmail accounts.
After that, you can have your mail and events analyzed by Einstein and use recommendations from it. Don’t forget that a free @gmail.com account won’t work: you need to have a unique email domain (@yourcompany.com). It is available as a part of paid suites like G Suite or Google Workspace, along with a shared calendar and document base.
How Do You Benefit from Connecting Your Mail to Einstein?
The main benefit you get from using Salesforce Einstein is the possibility to predict your clients’ wishes or requirements. By analyzing your email and activity, it can predict whether a customer is ready to make another purchase, whether they may soon require some support, or whether they need a reminder to continue your business relationships.
Einstein uses your actual activity to make its predictions. The more data it collects, the more precise its predictions are. But as it connects to your earlier data, it can use it to make predictions even for tomorrow. So it makes more sense to connect it either aiming at the future or after some time in business. That’s when it unfolds its potential.
While the physicist the system is named after was interested in time and energy, the Einstein Analytics by Salesforce offers its own insights on boosting your sales energy with time. It uses its insights to really interact with the future. Knowledge is king, so you better follow nature and not play the dice but use more precise methods of prediction for your sales.
