The Complete Guide To Using Einstein Search In Salesforce

Einstein Search is now available to all Salesforce customers. You might have seen the pop-up notices.

However, you might be wondering:

What exactly is Einstein Search? And should I switch it on?

I DO recommend you switch it on. In this complete guide to Einstein Search, I explain:

  1. How Einstein Search works.
  2. Three essential benefits to salespeople.
  3. The activation process.
  4. How to customize Einstein Search to your business.

Let’s start.

Einstein Search Defined

Einstein Search improves upon the traditional Salesforce Global Search feature by delivering results tailored to each user’s specific needs. It also enables Salesforce users to update records that are returned by the search result more quickly.

Salesforce claims that consequently, users need 50% fewer clicks and page loads for the most common tasks in Salesforce, such as updating opportunities and recording activities.

Those sound like benefits worth having. However, how does it work?

How Einstein Search Works

Einstein Search has three powerful features that help salespeople be more efficient.

  1. Delivery of personalized search results.
  2. Natural language search queries.
  3. Update of records from within the search result.

(The last of these is the real time saver).

Let’s understand each of these with some examples.

Personalized Search Results

In the simple example below, Ben searched in Salesforce for ‘Alan.’

Ben owns only one Lead in the search result. This Lead appears at the top of the list.

Standard Salesforce Search showing a normal lead search result

That’s because the search result is tailored to be relevant to Ben. In other words, he regularly edits and updates Leads he owns.

Let’s look at the same search query and results in a non-Einstein search result.

Standard Salesforce Search showing a normal lead search result
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Using standard Salesforce search functionality, Alan Roberts has appeared as the second result in the list of leads.

Another example. Let’s say you have users in the USA and UK. You also have many Accounts with similar names.

Salesforce Einstein Search showing a personalized account search result

Einstein tailors the search results. For example, USA users see USA-based Accounts first, and UK users see UK-based Accounts first.

Despite the fact that Ben owns all of these ACME accounts, both UK and USA, it’s recommending the UK Accounts to him as he most regularly works on these companies and prospects.

Users can also filter the type of results they want. They can do this by using the dropdown arrow to select the type of records they want to see.

Using the dropdown on the search bar

However, it doesn’t end there.

Machine learning continually improves the results. Like Google Search, it learns from the type of records with which users frequently engage. That means it delivers results ever-more tailored to the user.

On the other hand, when you switch on Einstein Search, it has no history or previous learning. That means, at first, the search results are not optimized for you. However, the more you use it, the better the results become.

Natural Language Search Queries

Natural language means you can search using phrases that you would normally speak.

In this example, Ben searched for ‘all leads USA.’

Searching using Natural Language within Salesforce Einstein

Here’s another example. This time Ben searched for ‘All leads in New York.’

Searching using Natural Language within Salesforce Einstein

In contrast, this type of query returns no results in the traditional Salesforce Global Search.

It also reduces the need for salespeople or administrators to create multiple, pre-defined List Views.

In other words, natural language means salespeople have a more dynamic and flexible way of finding the critical records they need to access.

Incidentally, the fields displayed in your search results don’t change based on the search term. Instead, they are based on the Search Layout. We’ll cover that later.

Update Records from the Search Result

In my opinion, this feature is the most significant benefit of Einstein Search for salespeople.

Salespeople can more quickly update or enter records compared to the traditional Salesforce search.

To do this, hover over the search result. Here’s what you will see.

View all related quick links directly within Salesforce Einstein search results

Now, salespeople can directly edit the record. Or, they can immediately update one of the related records.

Navigate Salesforce using Einstein 50% faster than standard

In other words, it’s much quicker, and there’s less clicking compared to the traditional search.

How To Switch On Einstein Search

Einstein Search is free for all Salesforce customers, so there’s no reason not to activate it. In the unlikely event that salespeople aren’t happy, you can always disable it.

Here are the exact steps to switch on Einstein Search in Salesforce.

1. Click on your profile icon in the top right-hand corner, go to setup.

2. Type Einstein search in the setup menu search bar on the left-hand side.

Search for Einstein Search in Salesforce Setup

3. Click the checkbox to enable Einstein Search personalization, then hit save.

4. Go to Permission Sets. Type Permission Sets in the setup menu search bar on the left-hand side.

5. Click on permission sets, then hit New.

6. Create an Einstein Search permission set, and attach the License.

Creating a new Salesforce Einstein Search permission set
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7. In the permission set, go to Systems Permissions.

Navigate to System Permissions within Einstein Search permission set

8. There are three different permissions on the permission license: Einstein Search, Instant Actionable Results, and Natural Language search. Enable each of these and hit Save.

Enabling all permissions within the permission set

9. Click ‘Save’ and check your work. The permission set changes should look like this:

Confirm enabled system permissions within Einstein Search permission set

10. Next, on the permission set, click Manage Assignments.

11. Click Add Assignments.

12. Assign the permission set to all users. that will use Einstein Search.

If you’ve done everything correctly, you might still see this message.

Finish Einstein Search setup popup after successful setup

Browser caching causes this. If you are confident that you followed the steps described above, go ahead and do some tests in the user interface.

Customize Einstein Search

There are two adjustments you can make to the way Einstein Search works in your business.

  1. Tailor search page layouts.
  2. Create synonyms.

Einstein Search Page Layouts

You can change the default data displayed to users. These adjustments mean you can make search results even more helpful to the people looking for information.

To do this:

  1. Search for Einstein in Setup.
  2. Go to Search Layouts.
  3. Choose the object.

In this example, we are adjusting the Lead search layout.

Edit the Einstein Search Search Layout for a specific object

You can even adjust the search layout for each Profile.

Edit the Einstein Search Search Layout for a specific profile

We’ve modified the Search Layout to include custom fields relevant to our users.

Einstein Search Synonyms

As you know, a synonym is two words or phrases that have similar meanings. For example, genuine and factual are synonyms of true.

You can create custom synonyms in Einstein Search, but they only work when searching for selected objects. You can’t build them on Accounts, Contacts, Leads, and Opportunities, because the intelligent nature of Einstein Search means they are not necessary.

To demonstrate, we’ve created a new custom synonym group containing the words ‘Cat’ and ‘Dog’. We’ve also set the language to English.

Creating a custom synonym group

After saving our custom synonym group, when searching for a chatter post containing the word ‘Cat’ we also see all results for ‘Dog’.

Demonstrates Einstein Search synonyms using Chatter results

This can be helpful if a product or phrase often used within your company can be typed in multiple ways. For example USB, Flash Drive, and Memory Stick all mean the same thing.

Einstein Search Video

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Over To You

Now it’s your turn. We want to know what you think. Please tell us what you think about Einstein Search after you enable it. Of course, if you need help to get started, don’t hesitate, get in touch today.

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