Successful adoption is key to fully utilizing Salesforce effectively and enjoying the advantages of optimized processes, decent data quality, and user productivity. However, even with the CRM capabilities, many businesses still have trouble integrating Salesforce. What can go wrong?
Adopting Salesforce is quite a tricky task. In a recent Salesforce survey, only 37% of participants stated their team had completely embraced the CRM. Do you know why? Common issues include:
- lack of proper training;
- resistance to change;
- poor data quality.
Imagine investing in a powerful tool like Salesforce, only to see your team revert to old habits because they don’t understand how to use it properly. Frustrating, right? In this article, we’ll discuss Salesforce adoption, why it matters, and the best Salesforce adoption strategies to overcome the most widespread problems before, during, and after implementing Salesforce.
What Is Salesforce User Adoption?
Let’s first define Salesforce adoption and then proceed to the Salesforce adoption plan. The adoption of this tool is the process by which a sales team and other Salesforce users fully understand how to leverage Salesforce features in their daily operations.
User adoption means more than just logging in. After the user accesses the platform, they should be able to find any needed functionality without switching to manual operations that could be automated. After all, you’ve incorporated Salesforce to improve productivity and sales pipeline management, not to store outdated information.
Why is Salesforce adoption important? The main reason is that it ensures a high return on Salesforce investment. When your team members fully adopt Salesforce, they can leverage its robust CRM capabilities to close deals faster, manage customer relationships more effectively, and gain valuable insights through Salesforce dashboards. All of these result in customer satisfaction and retention.
How is Salesforce adoption measured? Well, it isn’t just about checking who logs in. You need to analyze the following Salesforce adoption metrics:
- user adoption rate (the number of active users);
- feature utilization (how many features are used);
- data quality and accuracy;
- user feedback and satisfaction;
- Salesforce training effectiveness;
- time-to-value (how quickly new users see the benefits of Salesforce usage);
- mobile adoption;
- user activity levels;
- pipeline and revenue impact;
- customer satisfaction and retention.
Common Issues in Salesforce Adoption
As mentioned above, companies often face problems during this process, such as
- lack of proper training and education;
- resistance to change and lack of user buy-in;
- incomplete and inaccurate data and integration;
- insufficient customization and user experience;
- lack of support from executives and a leadership team.
Pre-Implementation Salesforce Adoption Strategies
To ensure CRM success, you need to take care of the preliminary steps, including:
- Analyzing user needs: Who will utilize Salesforce org? These can be sales reps, customer support teams, and other stakeholders. To understand their requirements, conduct in-depth surveys and focus groups. Ask questions like, “What challenges do you face with data entry?”, “Which customer support tools do you find lacking?”, or “What would you like to see next?”
- Create a 6-month strategy: It’s unnecessary to introduce Salesforce overnight. Break down the Salesforce adoption strategy into smaller milestones like CRM data migration, customizing Salesforce records, and implementing data validation processes. For example, setting up Salesforce adoption dashboards may take the first month, and all of the tasks might finish with eliminating CRM data quality issues and training.
- Lead by example: The leaders should be the first to adopt Salesforce. Why? This sends a clear message that SF is here to stay, beneficial for the company, and will receive constant support from the higher-ups. For instance, a sales manager updating SF records and generating Salesforce reports regularly can inspire sales reps to do the same. This strategy boosts sales productivity and enhances data governance.
- Involve stakeholders: These can be sales reps, Salesforce admins, and customer support teams. Organize regular meetings and workshops to make sure everyone is on the same page, share adoption tracking reports, and discuss further Salesforce implementation projects. Leveraging seasoned Salesforce administration services can significantly aid this process, ensuring that all technical and strategic aspects are handled expertly.
5 Effective Salesforce Adoption Strategies
Launch a Pilot Project
A pilot (or test) project is an opportunity to run the system with fewer users rather than hundreds of team members at once. Choose a group of testers from various teams and a Salesforce admin to participate in the pilot.
Give them access to the training and adoption materials you have prepared and allow them to utilize the CRM before anybody else in the company. Create a strategy for collecting feedback to identify problem areas in the customized Salesforce interface and default settings and note which training approaches are most effective.
Unlock Salesforce Trailblazer Advantages
The Trailblazer Community provides free training resources and opportunities to communicate with other SF users, such as:
- discuss features;
- ask questions;
- share best practices.
With the support of millions of knowledgeable Salesforce users, this self-help tool acts as a go-to resource that helps teams feel less frustrated and confused, can improve user productivity, and handles administrative tasks. By encouraging your employees to participate in discussions and exchange ideas with the Trailblazer Community, you may save time on repetitive training and leverage the influence of Salesforce advocates.
Embed Salesforce into Sales Team Workflows
Salesforce migration requires a user to abandon their normal routines. Imagine reps having to switch back and forth between their email, calendar, and Salesforce. This can be time-consuming and frustrating.
To solve this, consider connecting Salesforce with a Salesforce-native sales engagement platform. This combination brings necessary Salesforce data directly into users’ email inboxes and calendars. For example, when a sales rep schedules a meeting, they can see all relevant customer information without leaving their email. This integration helps improve user engagement and prioritize Salesforce over manual processes.
Phase Out or Merge Outdated Systems
Late adopters frequently adhere to their habits, working with old tools. Yet, multiple overlapping systems can cause confusion and reduce user engagement. Evaluate your current tools and decide which can be eliminated or consolidated with Salesforce. In the first case, you get rid of redundant capabilities. In the second one, you extend Salesforce.
Instead of juggling separate tools for tasks like holding online meetings, auto-dialing, activity tracking, and sales campaign management, you can do it all within the CRM. This consolidation boosts workflow efficiency and helps you focus on what matters most: selling.
Clean Up the User Interface
A clean, intuitive user interface is crucial for user satisfaction, as an overwhelming platform can cause irritation and low adoption rates. Declutter the Salesforce UI by following these tips:
- remove unnecessary fields;
- streamline navigation and page layouts;
- add shortcuts to frequently visited pages, reports, or dashboards;
- streamline record creation;
- customize dashboards to highlight critical information.
What to Do After Implementing Salesforce
Once Salesforce is in place, don’t overlook subsequent steps needed to optimize its use, like:
- Grow your expertise as Salesforce evolves: Salesforce is always changing to meet the demands of its users. The company is looking for innovative ways to enhance the user experience as CRM features become more complex. To stay ahead and productive, your team needs ongoing training. It includes participating in webinars, workshops, and courses.
- Search for automation possibilities: At least once a year, check what you can automate, such as data entry or sending alerts for follow-ups. Apart from saving time, automation minimizes human error, maintaining high data quality. Work with your Salesforce admin to set up these automations.
- Monitor usage and adoption rates: Track critical metrics to assess how frequently and effectively your team uses the CRM. These include login rates over specific periods, record creation rates, task statuses, feature utilization, and user feedback. Plus, compare how Salesforce adoption impacts business outcomes. Dive deeper into quantitative data and ask users why you’re experiencing low adoption rates if needed.
- Periodically audit the quality of Salesforce data: With time, data may become duplicated, insufficient, and outdated. As such, make sure it remains accurate and fresh. Update Salesforce records and implement validation rules to prevent future errors.
How to Increase Salesforce Adoption
One of the ways to increase Salesforce user adoption is to leverage digital adoption platforms (DAP). They simplify onboarding, provide contextual support, and offer performance analytics. However, it’s not the only solution. To drive Salesforce adoption, consider the following tools:
- User Acceptance Testing (UAT). It’s the process where real users test the system in a sandbox environment that mirrors live Salesforce. It’s a preparatory step for identifying any gaps between user expectations and what has been built. The goal? To ensure a smooth rollout and adoption.
- Salesforce gamification. People love a good challenge and friendly competition. The ability to achieve goals and win prizes motivates us to come back. Create dashboards that track individual and team performance, showing progress towards specific sales targets and other objectives, or a leaderboard displaying top performers. It can make your team more engaged and encourage employees to log activities more diligently (giving you more information for reports).
- In-app guidance. In-app guidance provides real-time, contextual help upon request. Tools like Whatfix offer step-by-step walkthroughs, tooltips, and pop-ups to explain complex processes. This immediate assistance reduces the learning curve and tension if a problem arises.
- Experience mapping. It involves analyzing how users interact with Salesforce to complete tasks, specifically their bottlenecks and areas where they struggle. This information enables you to customize Salesforce to streamline workflows and improve usability. For example, if employees spend too much time navigating between screens, you need to simplify the user interface.
- Explore the AppExchange. It’s a marketplace with numerous third-party apps designed to extend Salesforce’s functionality. Depending on your specific needs, you can integrate apps for project management, HR, customer service, and more. For instance, tools like XL Connector can bridge the gap between Excel and Salesforce, making data handling easier for users who prefer Excel. You may also want automatic logging apps like Cirrus Insight. If you employ Salesforce’s AI capabilities, you may be interested in the Einstein Intent Assessor app by Salesforce Labs.
How to Improve Salesforce Adoption: Conclusion
Would you launch a new product without a detailed marketing plan? To achieve the best results, you probably wouldn’t. The same goes for Salesforce implementation. A comprehensive Salesforce adoption strategy is required to guide your team members.
Most often, people lose faith in the platform not because it doesn’t meet their needs but because they lack sufficient training from the onset. Follow the Salesforce adoption best practices mentioned in this post. Pay attention to the whole Salesforce adoption process, from pre-implementation to post-implementation phases.
Dive into advanced techniques to enhance user engagement and leverage a digital adoption platform. Ready to drive your Salesforce adoption to new heights? We wish you successful Salesforce user adoption!
