Salesforce AI Agent Adoption Hits a Hurdle. Customers Have ‘Decision Fatigue,’ Analyst Says.

Salesforce stock is down about 28% this year. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Salesforce’s move to push clients to use new artificial-intelligence features is facing challenges, according to Jefferies.

There is “decision fatigue among enterprise customers given the influx of AI tools in the market, driving a more cautious approach to CRM Agentforce,” analyst Brent Thill wrote on Sunday. “Customers are overwhelmed by the rapidly evolving nature of the AI landscape.”

Wall Street has been excited about the prospect of AI agents, which can handle routine sales, marketing, and service tasks. Agentforce is Saleforce’s AI agent offering that can use internal Salesforce customer data.

Salesforce shares fell 0.3% to $241.84 in early trading Monday. Thill has a Buy rating on Salesforce shares.

Thill cited conversations with several Salesforce partners who said sales pipelines have deteriorated in recent months due to declining interest, putting the partners’ Salesforce business targets for 2025 at risk.

“Lack of control over ROI and confusion over pricing are still big hurdles for adoption. As a result, consumption and the number of live deals continue to lag expectations,” Thill wrote.

Salesforce didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on the Jefferies report.

Salesforce shares are down about 28% this year, compared with the 12% rise for the Nasdaq Composite.

Write to Tae Kim at tae.kim@barrons.com