Why Salesforce Isn’t Delivering Results: Diagnosing and Fixing Adoption Issues

Let’s face it—Salesforce is a beast. It’s the Swiss Army knife of CRMs, capable of solving business problems from lead management and forecasting to automation and beyond. Despite this, every Salesforce admin has experienced the pain of Salesforce not delivering the results their leadership team expected at some point in their career. Obviously, the tool isn’t the problem. More often than not, it boils down to one thing: adoption.

In this article, we’ll break down why Salesforce adoption issues can define whether or not you see results and how to diagnose and fix them like a pro.

The Adoption Problem: Where It All Goes Wrong

Salesforce is only as good as the people who use it. All those meticulously crafted flows, integrations, and dashboards mean nothing if users aren’t engaging with the system. Here are a few common symptoms that indicate whether  your adoption might be the problem:

• Incomplete or inaccurate data: If users aren’t entering data, or worse, entering bad data, your Salesforce reports will be unreliable.

• Low login rates: This one’s simple—if they’re not logging in, they’re not using it.

• Shadow systems: Teams are reverting to spreadsheets or other off-platform tools to manage their work.

• Complaints about complexity: Users say Salesforce is too complicated, slow, or cumbersome, and you start hearing whispers about how "it just doesn’t work for us."

Sound familiar? These are all symptoms (and causes) of poor adoption, but don’t worry. You can fix it.

Diagnose Like a Pro: Finding the Root Cause

You’re a Salesforce admin, so you know that fixing an issue means understanding its source. Poor adoption can stem from a variety of factors, but here are a few key areas to investigate:

1. Misalignment with Business Processes

One of the most common issues I see is when Salesforce doesn’t map well to the actual processes your users follow. If your setup feels like an obstacle instead of a tool, they’ll find ways to work around it.

How to Fix it: Sit down with your end users—sales reps, support agents, marketing teams—and walk through their day-to-day workflows. Does your Salesforce setup match their reality? If not, tweak your processes, layouts, and automations to fit their needs, not just what’s convenient for you as an Admin.

2. Training Deficiency

We admins love to roll out shiny new features, but if we don’t train our users effectively, those features just become clutter. Users need to understand how and why they should engage with Salesforce.

How to Fix it: Invest in role-specific training and make it engaging. Training doesn’t have to be a marathon of boring slides—create bite-sized, interactive sessions or a knowledge base that’s easily accessible. Keep it relevant by tailoring content to specific teams.

3. Friction Points in User Experience

Ever seen a sales rep enter a new lead or opportunity and abandon it halfway because there are too many required fields? Excessive clicks and cumbersome processes kill adoption. Your job as an Admin is to minimize friction.

How to Fix it: Optimize page layouts, minimize required fields, and simplify processes. Consider using tools like Flow to automate repetitive tasks. Your goal should be a user-friendly experience that gets users in and out of the system efficiently.

4. Lack of Value Perception

If users don’t see the personal value in Salesforce, they won’t use it. Maybe your team doesn’t trust the reports they’re getting, or they don’t understand how the data they enter drives decision-making.

How to Fix it: Create reports and dashboards that highlight individual and team success. Show users how their data directly impacts the company’s goals. Make sure their pain points are being addressed by customizing dashboards to answer the specific questions they care about.

Fixing Adoption: A Strategic Approach

Now that you’ve diagnosed the problem, here’s how to fix it. Think of adoption as a long-term strategy, not a one-time project.

1. Get Executive Buy-In

If your leadership isn’t on board, your users won’t be either. Leadership needs to set the tone and communicate the importance of Salesforce as a non-negotiable part of daily operations.

Action Tip: Partner with your execs to set Salesforce adoption KPIs and communicate them regularly. Hold teams accountable, but also reward strong adopters. Gamification can work wonders!

2. Create a Feedback Loop

Users need to know their voice matters. Set up regular check-ins where they can share feedback and frustrations. The key here is listening and being agile with your updates.

Action Tip: Run quarterly user satisfaction surveys or create a “Salesforce Champion” program where key users act as liaisons between teams and admins. These users can advocate for their peers and provide insights that you might miss. Read more on how to leverage user feedback here.

3. Monitor and Optimize

Once you’ve implemented changes, don’t just set it and forget it. Monitor login rates, data hygiene, and system usage regularly.

Action Tip: Build adoption dashboards and use tools like RecordWatch to keep an eye on user activity. This can give you insight into how often users are logging in, what data they’re inputting, and how they’re interacting with key features. Use that data to make continuous improvements.

Final Thoughts: Salesforce is a Journey, Not a Destination

Getting Salesforce to deliver results isn’t a one-time effort. It’s a continuous process of fine-tuning, educating, and listening. Adoption isn’t just about getting users to log in; it’s about making sure the tool is providing value, removing friction, and empowering them to do their jobs better.

As admins, we’re not just button-clickers—we’re the architects of a system that should make life easier for our users. So, let’s roll up our sleeves and make sure Salesforce is delivering the results it was meant to. After all, when adoption is strong, Salesforce can truly transform how your business operates.

Let’s get to work!

Curious what your users are actually doing in Salesforce all day? Struggling to capture meaningful metrics on user adoption and usage of the platform? RecordWatch is the first fully Salesforce native solution available on the Salesforce AppExchange that was designed specifically for admins, managers, and leadership to measure and drive Salesforce adoption!

Check out our on-demand demo to learn how RecordWatch can help your organization measure and drive Salesforce adoption.