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Full Einstein Next Best Action entry
How-to guide

How to set up Einstein Next Best Action in Salesforce

Einstein Next Best Action (NBA) is the recommendation engine that surfaces "what should I do next" cards on a record — "offer this discount," "escalate to a manager," "share this article." Recommendations come from a Strategy that combines static rules, predictive Einstein models, and recommendation records. Setup is multi-step: Recommendation records → Strategy → Lightning component on the page.

By Dipojjal Chakrabarti · Editor, Salesforce DictionaryLast updated Apr 20, 2026

Einstein Next Best Action (NBA) is the recommendation engine that surfaces "what should I do next" cards on a record — "offer this discount," "escalate to a manager," "share this article." Recommendations come from a Strategy that combines static rules, predictive Einstein models, and recommendation records. Setup is multi-step: Recommendation records → Strategy → Lightning component on the page.

  1. Confirm Einstein Next Best Action is licensed

    NBA is part of Einstein for Service / Sales bundles. Confirm before enabling.

  2. Build Recommendation records

    App Launcher → Recommendations → New. Each Recommendation is a card the user could see — Name, Description, Image, Action (URL / Flow / Quick Action).

  3. Open Setup → Next Best Action → Strategy Builder

    Strategy Builder is the visual flow tool that decides which Recommendations to surface for which records.

  4. Build a Strategy

    Drag Load Recommendations / Filter / Generate / Limit / Output elements. The Strategy reads context (the current record), filters Recommendations, applies Einstein-scored ranking, and outputs a final list.

  5. Activate the Strategy

    Strategies need to be activated to fire. Inactive ones don't return recommendations.

  6. Add the Einstein Next Best Action Lightning component to the relevant Lightning Page

    Lightning App Builder → drop the Einstein Next Best Action component on Account / Case / Opportunity record page → bind to the activated Strategy.

  7. Save the Lightning Page → Activate

    Recommendations now appear inline on records using the Strategy's logic.

Key options
Recommendation recordsremember

The cards users see. Manually curated or generated from external data.

Strategy elementsremember

Load / Filter / Generate / Limit / Branch / Predict / Sort / Output.

Einstein Predictive rankingremember

Optional — score recommendations using an Einstein Discovery model.

Lightning component placementremember

Per Lightning Page — different strategies on different records.

Gotchas
  • Strategies don't fire until activated. A built-but-inactive Strategy returns nothing — common oversight after testing.
  • Without Einstein Predictive ranking, NBA is rules-only — "if this and that, show recommendation X." Adding Einstein scoring requires an Einstein Discovery model bound to the Strategy.
  • Recommendation Action types determine what happens on click. URL opens a link. Flow launches a flow. Quick Action invokes an action. Misconfigured action types fail silently when users click.

See the full Einstein Next Best Action entry

Einstein Next Best Action includes the definition, worked example, deep dive, related terms, and a quiz.