ERI is an admin-enabled feature with a permission set for users. The work is choosing the pilot cohort and configuring how the signal surfaces on pages.
- Confirm licensing
ERI requires its own license in many editions. Confirm with the AE before scoping the rollout.
- Enable in Setup
Setup, Einstein Relationship Insights, enable. The platform-side enablement provisions the data sources and surfaces.
- Add the research card to page layouts
In App Builder, drop the Relationship Insights component on Account, Contact, and Lead pages. Position it where reps actually look (often on a research or summary tab).
- Pilot with a small cohort
Assign the permission set to two or three power reps. Pilot for two weeks. Collect feedback on whether the signal is helping their actual meetings.
- Decide rollout based on pilot signal
If the pilot reps cite specific wins, expand. If they describe the feature as background noise, hold and re-evaluate. ERI value is real but not uniform across motions.
Which page layouts and tabs show the card. Most teams pin to Account, Contact, and Lead summary pages.
Where event alerts surface: digest email, research card, flow-triggered automation. Configurable per event type.
Enable Einstein Activity Capture in parallel for richer relationship paths. ERI works without EAC but the graph is thinner.
Use Einstein Relationship Insights permission. Required for users to see the data. Pilot via this set.
ERI respects CRM sharing rules on the parent record. A rep without access to an Account does not see the ERI card for it.
- Data source mix is curated by Salesforce, not customer-configurable. Industries with thin external data coverage may see low signal density.
- Data freshness varies by source. The card has no per-record freshness indicator; verify before quoting in customer conversations.
- ERI alone is half the picture. Pair with EAC for richer relationship graphs; without EAC the paths are usually thin.
- Adoption patterns are uneven. Enterprise sales motions get value; SMB motions often do not. Pilot before committing to a wide rollout.
- Disclosure and consent for stored contact data remain the customer's responsibility, not the platform's, even when ERI sources are public.