3 Fun Strategies to Encourage Salesforce Lightning Adoption

Earlier this week, I called a colleague over to my computer to make a point about one of our marketing

3 min. read

Earlier this week, I called a colleague over to my computer to make a point about one of our marketing dashboards, and her response had nothing to do with leads: “Ugh. Classic.”

Yes, I was using Salesforce Classic. And yes, I knew I should be using Lightning. It wasn’t that Lightning was harder to navigate, or prevented me from accomplishing some key task. On the contrary, the few times I’d used Lightning I noted how the interface felt more intuitive and how it certainly looked a lot better than its predecessor.

I was just using Classic because that’s what I was used to. When I logged into Salesforce on my first day at Torrent, my account defaulted to Classic. And because I didn’t even know about Lighting yet, I didn’t make the switch. Simple as that.

My colleague challenged me to stick with Lightning for a month. Just force yourself to get used to it, she said. You won’t want to go back.

It’s only been three days, and I already don’t want to. Which tells me the Lightning hurdle is much lower than people think it is. The incentive doesn’t need to be huge, in other words. So here are three fun ways to encourage Salesforce Lightning adoption among your company’s end users. One of these strategies could be all it takes to boost adoption.

3 Ways to Make Salesforce Lightning Adoption Fun

1. Create a Lightning-specific widget.

Sometimes the carrot at the end of the stick need only be a baby carrot — a little something (like a widget) that will make users want to stick around in Lightning. Some standard options include “Recent Records” and “Key Deals.”

“Recent Records” displays a list of the most recently used items in your org. You can set it to display anywhere from 3 - 30 items and specify which objects’ records appear on the list. Employees in different roles will find different kinds of value here, but everyone can benefit from seeing the most recent funny pictures uploaded to Chatter, right?

“Key Deals,” on the other hand, gives users homepage access to important opportunities. Users can easily sort by closed/won, open, region and more.

Of course, if standard widgets won’t do it for your team, you could have a developer code a custom graphic. Maybe a drinking glass that slowly fills as users log billable hours? Giving your team a quick, visual way to check goal progress is another smart way to keep people in Lightning.

2. Hang a countdown clock signaling the end of Salesforce Classic.

While the surest way to make sure your users stop using Salesforce Classic is to disable their ability to access it, this probably isn’t the best idea — at least not without the right approach. If you disable Classic without warning, users might choose to stop using your Salesforce platform all together. This is a rebellion you don’t want, especially if your team struggled with Salesforce adoption in the first place.

Instead, make it clear exactly when you’re planning to sunset Classic. Hang a clock on the wall that counts down the time until users must switch to Lightning. Treat it like New Year’s and have hors d'oeuvres and champagne ready for when time expires. Most people will probably wait until the last minute to make the jump, but last-minute is better than never. And the prospect of a party will set the right tone: “Do this so we can celebrate” rather than “do this or else.”

3. Reward the full team when everybody switches to Lightning.

Using Lightning Adoption Tracker (free in the AppExchange), you can easily monitor the number of employees who are using Lightning. If you promise a company-wide reward once you hit 100% adoption, your team will have a great reason to make the switch sooner rather than later. On the one hand, they’ll want to earn the reward, and on the other they’ll feel a gentle pressure not to hold things up for their coworkers.

Good ideas for a reward? Tickets to a local sports game, a funded happy hour… You could easily modify a number of the items on this list of ways to reduce stress and turn them into prizes. Just make sure to pick something that your company will actually be excited about.

And if these strategies don’t work out for you, don’t despair. There’s more advice in our on-demand webinar: “Get Your Team to Love Salesforce Lightning in 7 Steps.”

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AUTHOR

Danielle Sutton