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Roll Out the Salesforce App to Your Users

Learning Objectives

After completing this unit, you’ll be able to:

  • Drive adoption and collect user feedback.
  • Measure results and summarize them for your company.
  • Establish processes that will help you evolve your mobile implementation.

Before You Launch

Well, you made it! After all that strategizing and planning, you’re finally ready to flip the switch and roll out the Salesforce app to your mobile users. Don’t jump the gun just yet, though. Here are a few things you should do before your launch:

  • Migrate, then test. If you migrated your mobile customizations from your sandbox to your production environment, test everything again to make sure the Salesforce app is working as expected.
  • Control access. By default, all users have access to the Salesforce app. If you’re doing a phased rollout, define which employees can use the mobile app during this stage of your rollout. See the Control Access and Security for the Salesforce Mobile App help guide for details.
  • Collect a baseline. Take an analytic snapshot of the metrics your company is using to define success. Then you can use that data as a baseline for measuring the business impact of your rollout.
  • Take it to Chatter. Create a public, company-wide Chatter group where your users can ask questions about the mobile app and access training materials. Make sure your super users are engaged and ready to swarm on the questions that get posted in the group.

OK, now it’s time to flip that switch. We’ll let you do the honors. Ready… set… GO!

Bask in the Glory

Seriously! Start basking. We know how hard Salesforce admins work. Rolling out mobile to your organization is quite an accomplishment, so take a moment to celebrate your own awesomeness. Pat yourself on the back. Treat yourself to a massage. Eat an extra bowl of ice cream for dessert. Hey, you earned it!

Motivate Users

Alright, we hope you enjoyed your mini celebration. But now it’s time to get back to the business of being a superhero admin. (Hope you remember where you put your cape!)

If you’ve ever been involved in a product launch before—whether internal or external—then you’re probably familiar with this scenario: During the launch event, you see a huge spike in logins and activity. Yay! But after the confetti settles and the initial fanfare is over, you see a decline in usage. Boo.

Not to worry. That’s natural. But there are things you can do to motivate your users and get them back into the mobile app.

To that end, we’ve collected some ideas that might help you drive adoption of the Salesforce app:

  • Produce helpful content. After the launch, continue to release short one-minute recorded screenshares that promote time-saving features available in the Salesforce app.
  • Don’t stop marketing. Your mobile users will probably start telling you about moments when the Salesforce app saved the day. Share those mobile success stories on Chatter, including a photo of the user in action. Get a testimonial from a few executives as employees follow the example set by their leaders.
  • Get organic exposure. Why take photos of your users when they’d be happy to do it themselves? It’s the selfie era! Have a contest on Chatter and ask mobile users to post photos of themselves using the app, with a prize for the most likes. Not only does that give your users a chance to shine, it also creates buzz about the mobile app.
  • Make it a game. Ignite some friendly competition among your users by running a login report, and then doling out cool prizes to users with the most mobile logins. Create a dashboard for the contest leaderboard.
  • Use sales as an incentive. If you rolled out the Salesforce app to your sales team, you can use the current sales contest or selling initiative to drive mobile adoption. Create a dashboard that shows how the sales reps are performing against their goal, and the reps will be motivated to check the dashboard in the Salesforce app.

Screesnhot shows a Chatter post about a mobile success story

Collect Feedback

After you go live with the Salesforce app, it’s important to collect feedback about overall satisfaction and any pain points. Make it a priority to listen to your users. If you cultivate an environment where feedback results in the quick resolution of problems, then you’re more likely to see an increase in mobile adoption. Consider starting a “You Asked, We Listened” program where you address some employee feedback items every quarter

Here are some ideas for gathering feedback from users.

  • Take it to Chatter. Use the Chatter group you created to support your mobile rollout. Employees can post ideas and suggestions there.
  • Make it easy. Allow users to provide input directly from the Salesforce app. You can use the standard case object or implement your own solution, like a Mobile Feedback custom object, a quick action, or a Visualforce page.
  • Provide multiple feedback options. Send out surveys, host open forums, or conduct simple Chatter polls.
  • Keep in contact. Meet with your super users regularly to gather valuable insights from the field.

Also, don’t forget to update your training programs for new hires! Incorporate the Salesforce app into your existing Salesforce onboarding activities.

Measure Adoption and Business Impact

When you were planning your rollout strategy, you worked with your executive sponsor and stakeholders to determine your success metrics. Now that you’ve rolled out the Salesforce app, it’s time to review your metrics and figure out exactly how you want to measure them.

If your metrics include employee satisfaction, you can gather data using some of the methods we already discussed, like surveys, forums, and polls. For other types of metrics, create reports and dashboards to track your results. Take reporting snapshots and start comparing the data month after month to see if there are any increases.

Deliver an Executive Summary

Your executive sponsor has been your project champion from the start. Now it’s time to prepare a summary for them on the overall project status and any results you’re able to share. Include soundbites they can use to showcase return on investment (ROI) for the resources that they allocated for this project.

Graphic shows a sample executive summary

When you’re preparing an executive summary, follow these best practices:

  • Keep it to 1-2 pages maximum.
  • Showcase metrics and results.
  • Highlight any noteworthy anecdotes.
  • Share lessons learned.
  • Note planned next steps.

Keep Up the Momentum

Well, you did it. With a successful mobile launch, you became a hero to your users and far exceeded the expectations of your stakeholders. But why stop there?

Make sure you prioritize your backlog of mobile use cases and enhancements, and revisit the backlog as often as possible to see what other mobile goodies you can roll out to your users. You should also keep up with the Salesforce app releases to see all the cool new features you can implement.

And when you’re ready to take the next big step in your organization’s mobile journey, check out the Mobile Strategy Development module on Trailhead. You’ll find out how your company can establish its mobile goals and come up with a plan to achieve them. And of course, the Salesforce platform can help you carry out your mobile vision.

But hey, that’s the future. You know...something to think about down the road. For now, just relax and keep basking in the glory of your awesome mobile rollout.

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