Salesforce usage and adoption continue to be a critical challenge for organizations as growing teams, customized environments, and complex workflows make the platform harder to navigate.
In a recent episode of GydeBites Podcast, industry experts explored how in-app guidance is helping enterprises simplify Salesforce usage and adoption while improving productivity across sales and operations teams.
The episode featured Rae Cheney, Sales Technology Enablement Manager at Morning Star,who shared insights from over 20 years of experience in sales technology enablement. The podcast was hosted by Prasanna Vaidya, co-founder of Gyde AI.
According to Cheney, one of the biggest hurdles to Salesforce adoption is extensive customization. Even experienced Salesforce users often struggle when each organization’s setup looks and functions differently.
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Why Salesforce Adoption Becomes Difficult at Scale
Rae Cheney explained that Salesforce environments typically contain numerous fields and tools, making it difficult for employees to determine what information is relevant to their role.
With multiple sales teams operating from the same system but following different sales motions, Salesforce usage often suffers due to a lack of intuitive, role-specific guidance.
How In-App Guidance Accelerates Salesforce Usage
In-app guidance plays a crucial role in improving Salesforce adoption by delivering contextual, just-in-time support directly within the platform.
Cheney noted that while sellers benefit from step-by-step assistance for infrequent or complex tasks, sales operations teams see even greater productivity gains.
By using in-app guides, sales operations teams can reduce repetitive queries and share standardized guidance through simple links instead of recreating instructions each time. This approach not only improves efficiency but also ensures consistency across teams.
Best Practices for Designing In-App Guidance for Salesforce Usage
To maximize Salesforce adoption, Cheney emphasized the importance of establishing a clear style guide for in-app content.
This includes consistent terminology, simple and direct language, and a strong focus on clarity – especially for global teams where English may not be the first language.
She also advised keeping guidance concise, ideally under ten steps. Longer processes should be divided into smaller, linked guides to ensure usability and prevent information overload.
Common Mistakes That Impact Salesforce Usage
One major mistake organization make is rolling out in-app guidance with too little content, which can discourage users from returning to the tool.
On the other hand, adding excessive documentation can clutter search results and reduce the effectiveness of guidance systems.
Rae Cheney recommended auditing existing content and prioritizing relevance to maintain a balance that supports Salesforce adoption without overwhelming users.
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Measuring Success and Sustaining Salesforce Adoption
Sustained Salesforce usage depends on shared ownership and governance. Cheney highlighted the value of empowering sales operations teams to create and update guidance content, as they are often the first to notice system changes.
Regular reviews, usage analytics, and a willingness to remove outdated content are essential to keeping guidance accurate and effective.
As AI features become more common in digital adoption platforms, maintaining high-quality content is increasingly important to ensure reliable outputs.
A Practical Tip for Enhancing Salesforce Usage
As a final takeaway, Rae Cheney advised being selective when embedding help icons and tooltips within Salesforce. Overuse can make interfaces visually noisy and prompt users to disable guidance tools altogether.
Focusing embedded help on the most critical fields ensures higher engagement and better Salesforce adoption outcomes.
