How Salesforce Helps Marketers Adopt AI

The findings are clear, AI adoption is a focus for marketers around the world but successfully implementing and using it is another story. According to Salesforce, 75% of marketers are already rolling up their sleeves and experimenting with or fully implementing AI. 

Given there’s evidence that some marketers are hesitant to trust AI, 75% is a huge figure! If you’ve been on the fence or concerned about artificial intelligence, now is the time to accept defeat and jump on the bandwagon, because AI isn’t going anywhere.

In fact, the Salesforce research shows AI adoption is stronger among high-performing organisations, which goes to show a correlation between marketing results and the implementation of AI capabilities.

So why is AI adoption such a tricky task? There are a range of reasons.

• AI is intimidating. The technology is entirely new and comes with confusing jargon like natural language prompts, generative AI, neural networks, etc. Some marketers fear they need to understand the complexities of AI in order to use it (spoiler - they don’t!).

• A general lack of trust, particularly when it comes to handling personal data. We’ve all seen the dystopian films about AI taking over the world and while this may be a fictional scenario, concern about how AI stores and uses sensitive data is very real.

• Copyright and intellectual property concerns. With no real regulatory guidance in place for AI, there are still many grey areas when it comes to compliance.

• Lack of strategy - with AI, so much is possible! Simply figuring out where to start with adopting AI can result in decision paralysis, especially for busy marketers under time and resource constraints.

• ‘Will the machine take my job?’ type of thinking. This one is as old as time. Radio was set to replace the printing press, once upon a time, and while there’s no denying the roles of marketing channels are ever evolving, when it comes to AI, nobody truly knows the extent to which it’ll change how we work. What we do know is that right now, AI can lighten our workload while improving results.

• Difficulty learning or using the technology. There are a host of marketing AI tools out there and some are less intuitive than others. A great AI solution though, has considered user experience and ease of adoption.

For Salesforce customers using Marketing Cloud, Sales Cloud, Data Cloud, or another Salesforce product have built-in access to Salesforce AI ‘Einstein’ Solutions.

‘Einstein’ functionality has been embedded in Salesforce for a long time. 

For years, Salesforce customers could opt to use Einstein features that act as ‘assistants’, helping to automate and provide insights for marketing campaigns. Features like:

• Einstein Engagement Scoring

• Einstein Messaging Insights 

• Einstein Send Time Optimization

• Einstein Engagement Frequency

• Einstein Copy Insights

• Einstein Content Selection

• Email Recommendations

• Web Recommendations

These supported customers in getting more from their marketing efforts by predicting outcomes and surfacing important data, fast. They didn’t necessarily do the work for us.

Enter, generative AI.

In a nutshell, generative AI can produce content such as text, images, audit, and data. This means it can be used for campaign content, conversational messaging, and more.

Plus, generative AI uses deep learning models to understand which types of content achieve the best results, which means it can consistently improve your content output from both a speed and quality perspective.

In Salesforce, generative AI functionality is called ‘Einstein GPT’. It leverages the capabilities of GPT-3.5, the latest iteration of OpenAI's renowned language model. 

To help you understand how Einstein GPT benefits marketing teams, we’ve created an entire guide, which you can download for free.

What’s most exciting about combining Salesforce marketing with the latest in Einstein AI solutions is that the adoption curve is much simpler than if you were to introduce (yet another) marketing tool. 

First, let’s address the biggest of marketers’ concerns when it comes to generative AI; data exposure or leakage.

Einstein Trust Layer

To counteract such risks, Salesforce has developed the ‘Einstein Trust Layer’. 

The Einstein Trust Layer is a set of safeguards that protect data while improving the accuracy of your AI results and promoting the responsible use of AI. Its features include:

• Dynamic grounding

• Zero data retention

• Toxicity detection

• Data masking

• Secure data retrieval

All this to say, when it comes to data protection and compliance, Salesforce has it covered. You can use the AI capabilities within your accounts with confidence that there are privacy and security controls in place.

Intuitive and user-friendly tools

Salesforce didn’t become the world’s #1 CRM without focusing on user experience and its AI solutions are no different. Einstein features are very easy to use, especially Einstein GPT which works using conversational prompts allowing you to simply ‘Ask Einstein’.

The trick to using Einstein effectively is mastering the art of writing prompts, which is a skill easily honed once you know how!

Working with the AI features in your Marketing Cloud or Sales Cloud account doesn’t come with a steep learning curve because they are built into your existing workflows.

No need for complex implementation or integration

Unlike third-party AI software that may come with a lengthy implementation or need to integrate with your marketing automation software, Einstein AI solutions are completely native. It’s just a matter of ensuring you have the right editions and make use of the various Einstein features.

Einstein + Data Cloud = Data heaven

AI requires a good volume of reliable data to produce the best results. Where Salesforce has a real edge over managing customer data, is with its Data Cloud platform. 

Data Cloud combines your marketing, sales, and service data in a single place and helps you to organise it in meaningful ways so every department can access a single, reliable source of truth.

What’s more, pulling data from various sources is so much easier with Data Cloud and other Salesforce products, such as Marketing Cloud and Sales Cloud, making your data foundations ideal for adopting AI in your business.

Flexibility with the Einstein 1 Studio

For those ready to take generative AI to the next level, you’re not hamstrung by out-of-the-box AI functionality. With the Einstein 1 Studio, it’s possible to build and extend AI exactly as your business requires it, whether that means configuring specific prompts and actions, or bringing your own predictive AI models and large language models (LLMs) into Salesforce.

If you’re a marketer overwhelmed by that terminology right now, don’t let it deter you. This is more advanced and can be tackled later down the line. See our free guide to Marketing GPT for tips for adopting Salesforce AI in the first place.

As we’ve covered, the good news is that customers will find Salesforce AI functionality to be a natural extension of their marketing automation toolkit. However, this doesn’t negate the need to proceed with caution! Here’s what to pay attention to as you implement and leverage AI.

• Focus on high-quality data, first and foremost.

• Learn how to write excellent natural language prompts.

• Know your audience and lean into what you know to guide AI output.

• Apply the 80/20 rule: Let AI do 80% of the work, then take over for the final 20%.

• Have a formal review process.

• Access free Trailhead training and support.

• Work with consulting partners to better understand AI capabilities in your account.

For a more detailed guide to Salesforce Marketing GPT (one of the Einstein AI solutions), download our free ebook and use it to make a plan for AI adoption in your business sooner.