{"title":"About AI agents","slug":"about-ai-agents","url":"https://support.storeconnect.com/articles/about-ai-agents","url_markdown":"https://support.storeconnect.com/articles/about-ai-agents.md","subtitle":null,"summary":"AI agents powered by Salesforce Einstein and Agentforce act as 24/7 sales and support reps on your StoreConnect site. Setup involves training with topics and actions, permissions, and meeting prerequisites.","type":"Help_Documentation","video_url":"","keywords":"ai agents, agentforce, einstein, salesforce ai, chatbot, virtual agent, ai support, customer support automation, sales rep automation, agent training, agentforce setup","last_modified":"2026-08-21T07:12:35+0000","body_markdown":":::note\nThis topic relates to using AI agents to service your customers, not how to [use agents for building on StoreConnect](use-ai-agents-with-storeconnect).\n:::\n\nUsing the power of Einstein (Salesforce’s AI engine) and Agentforce (Salesforce’s AI Agent builder) you can add an AI agent to your StoreConnect site and increase support for your customers and users.\n\n## The benefits of using AI agents\n\nInstead of spending time solving customer issues over the phone and using more precious human resources, an AI agent can support your customers on the frontline. If implemented well, an AI agent can:\n\n-   Reduce the demand for high touch support\n\n-   Answer common questions that might otherwise clog support channels\n\n-   Provide product information where a sales rep might not be available\n\n-   Give users the confidence to solve simple issues\n\n-   Increase profits by reducing support demands through other channels\n\n## Why use Salesforce’s AI agent tool?\n\nYou are already using Salesforce to manage your business, so why not extend your capability using a familiar platform that already knows a lot about how you work.\n\nAnd because StoreConnect is built on Salesforce, we’re a gateway to using all your Salesforce information to automate and “agent-ify” your existing data.\n\nDone right, an agent can fulfill the role of a sales rep and a support rep 24/7, in multiple languages, without you paying a cent in wages.\n\n## How do I train the AI agent?\n\nSalesforce treats AI agents like any other Salesforce ‘user’. So it’s just like when you onboard a new user to Salesforce, and you provide them with training and permissions to access your store. \n\nIn this case, you need to provide the agent with training in the form of topics and actions, so it knows how to do a good job. \n\nYou can also set up permissions for the agent, to allow it to access and modify Salesforce data. For example, you might enable it to handle address or contact updates for your customers.\n\n## Authentication and customer identity\n\nStoreConnect manages its own customer authentication — it does not use Salesforce as an identity provider for store visitors. This is intentional: it means your customers do not need Salesforce identity licenses or Experience Cloud licenses to use your store.\n\nThe trade-off is that when an Agentforce Embedded Service session starts on a StoreConnect site, Salesforce sees it as a guest (unauthenticated) session by default. Salesforce has well-established patterns for handling this:\n\n- **Identify known customers using hidden pre-chat fields** — the simplest approach. Pass the `current_customer.Id` (the StoreConnect UUID that maps to `s_c__Id__c` on the Contact record) as a hidden field before the session starts, then use an Omni-Channel flow to look up the Contact and associate it with the messaging session before routing to the agent. See [Configure your store for the AI agent](configure-your-store-for-the-ai-agent) for step-by-step setup.\n\n- **Mid-session authentication** — Salesforce’s built-in OTP flow (email or SMS) lets you verify a customer’s identity during a conversation without requiring them to log in first.\n\n- **Encrypted token authentication** — for a more tamper-proof approach, pass the customer context as an HMAC-signed token instead of a plain ID. See [Embed Salesforce LWC components in your storefront](embed-salesforce-lwc-components-in-your-storefront) for details on how StoreConnect generates and verifies these tokens.\n\n## Before you set up an AI agent on StoreConnect\n\nYou’ll likely need the expertise of your Salesforce Admin (if you have one) to set up an agent. But no coding skills are required. You will also need:\n\n-   A set of topics or content for feeding the agent information (we will show you how to set this up)\n\n-   A defined role and set of actions that the agent can take when interacting with customers. E.g. allow the agent to update address records in Salesforce.\n\n-   A light persona for the agent, to ensure they give customers on-brand and consistent answers\n\n-   Brand colors and elements for styling the agent\n\n-   Users ready to test the agent."}