What is an invoice?

Sure, it’s a document one business sends to another detailing services rendered and how much they cost. It’s a bill.

But an invoice is also a first impression. Done right, it shows a client who you are. Your logo, your colors, your address. The services or products you proudly offer. It sends a message about what working with you is like.

The way you create and manage your invoices can affect whether you get paid on time or at all - and set the tone for your entire customer relationship. All in all, invoices are pretty important.

At S-Docs, we’re invoice experts - we’ve been helping our customers efficiently generate them for over 10 years. Today, we’re going to share our knowledge.

You Might Also Like: 6 Key Business Documents You Should Be Automating [Part 2]

How To Create Immaculate Invoices In Salesforce

Creating great invoices starts with creating reusable invoice templates. Once you have the skeleton, building out the meat will be a much simpler process.

Pro Tip: It’s easier to create invoice templates with a document generator, since your data can be pulled in from Salesforce at the click of a button - but we’ll still share our secrets even if you opt to go manual!

In general, a good invoice will contain all of the following information.

True, invoices vary from business to business. A flower shop and a legal office might deliver documents with quite distinct looks.

But when it comes down to it, an invoice’s primary purpose is to get you paid as easily as possible - and money is a universal language. Despite their differences, invoices will contain the same basic ingredients. Let’s walk through them in more detail now (click an invoice component to scroll down to it!).

Components Of A Good Invoice

1. Your Branding
2. Company Information
3. Invoice Details
4. Itemized Services/Products
5. Payment Terms
6. Thank You

1. Create An Invoice With Your Branding

Ever heard the phrase “clean space, clean mind?” We’re going to coin a new phrase today: “professional invoice, professional company.”

By “professional,” we don’t mean all seriousness and no fun. We mean that when you put care into invoices that represent your brand, you give the impression that you’ll treat your customer with the same care.

You Might Also Like: How To Create A Stunning Statement Of Work in Salesforce

Always include your logo somewhere prominently on the page - preferably at the top. You can also add design elements like a graphic or image that show off your brand colors.

A few more presentation tips:

1. Don’t use too many colors or fonts - stick with one or two.
2. Keep your invoice to one page if possible. If your services or products are more complex, you can include a separate description document.
3. Remember that this document is a reflection of your company, so use intuition. If you’re a creative agency, show off your design skills. If you sell consumer goods, consider including a photo banner of your products.

2. Include Contact Information For Your Company And Your Customer

Contact information gives your customer an easy way to reach you if they have questions or problems paying your invoice - and ensures it gets to the right person in the first place.

You should also clearly label your invoice as...well, an invoice. Remember, the main goal is to make sure you get paid - this document should be as clear and concise as possible.

3. Be Sure To Add Invoice Meta-Information

Invoice details (like invoice number and issue date) may sound boring, but they’re crucial. For one, developing a unique numbering system will help you quickly find your invoice later. In addition, an issue date ensures that you can hold your customer accountable to your payment terms.

If you’re not sure of the best way to establish a good invoice numbering system, consider these tips:

1. Make it sequential - start with 0001 or INV0001, and go up from there.
2. Use a customer code. An account named Dynamic Solutions might receive invoices like DYN0001, DYN0002, and so on.
3. Incorporate dates, like 09-17-2022-01.

We also recommend calling out the total amount due at the top - clear and concise!

You Might Also Like: How To Design A Professional Quote In Salesforce

4. Add The Invoice Meat - Your Services/Products And Their Cost

The body of your invoice is the most important piece of the document - that’s why it’s the focal point! This is where you break down exactly what you provided to your customer and how much it cost.

Be as specific as you can when you itemize your products/services without making the invoice too long. Use the same wording that was included on the original quote or proposal, if there was one, to avoid confusion.

Pro Tip: If your products/services can be broken into categories, consider including a master summary of charges per category at the top, and then organize the individual items by category (which we’ve done in the invoice above).

5. Add Payment Terms To Your Invoice

You’ve told your customer what they owe - now it’s time to make sure they know how to pay, and that they do it on time. Include payment terms at the bottom of your invoice to do just that.

You can include specific details like who to write checks out to or your wire transfer information, but it’s always a good idea to add an email too. If your customer has any questions or difficulty paying, it’s best to make it as easy as possible for them to reach out for help.

6. Thank You Goes A Long Way!

Adding a small thank-you message at the bottom of your invoice can show that you appreciate your customer - and it can even help you get paid faster, according to this study by FreshBooks.

Immaculate Invoicing In Salesforce

While invoices will vary by company and industry, they all contain the same basic components. We hope this guide has inspired you to craft invoices for your own business that make your company shine.

However, “invoicing” isn’t just about design. You might have a pristine template stored in Microsoft Word, but if you have to clone it and copy-paste data from Salesforce for every customer, you’ll eventually run into problems that even the best-designed documents can’t fix.

You Might Also Like: How Native Salesforce Apps Reduce Total Cost of Ownership

hat’s where Salesforce document generation tools like S-Docs can save the day. S-Docs allows you to build and store your invoice templates directly within Salesforce (or upload existing PDFs!).

With your template created, all you have to do is click a button on a record, choose your template, and let S-Docs create the invoice for you. S-Docs enables:

• Lightning-Fast invoice creation. In just a few seconds, your invoice will be ready to go. And if you want to skip the clicks, setting up automatic invoices that are generated and emailed in the background is simple.
• Reduced Errors. When your data is merged directly from Salesforce, you can be sure your invoices contain the most up-to-date and correct information, every time. Say goodbye to late payments because of mistakes on your end.
• Faster Payments. Reduce your day sales outstanding by setting up automatic reminder emails.
• Better customer experiences. Your customers will thank you for on-time, on-brand, clear, concise, correct documents. And if you need to collect a signature, our e-signature solution S-Sign enables your customers to access and sign your invoices from anywhere.
• Easy access and storage. S-Docs automatically stores your invoices on the record that they’re generated from - or uploads them to your external document repository of choice.

The best part? S-Docs is 100% native to Salesforce. That means it’s built on the platform, never sends data externally, and automatically integrates with your existing workflows or apps.

Transform Your Invoicing Process With S-Docs Today

Ready to see what S-Docs can do for you? Request a customized demo today, or contact sales@sdocs.com.

When you hear the word “innovation,” what comes to mind? Other than stock photos of lightbulbs, we think of someone in a lab coat - a healthcare professional.

Healthcare companies depend on innovation to stay relevant and competitive, so this image is no coincidence. But in the digital age, innovation doesn’t always mean developing a new drug or surgical procedure. Now, it also means finding new ways to streamline business processes, meet rising patient expectations, and remain compliant.

Healthcare companies using Salesforce are leveraging a platform with one of the richest application ecosystems of any healthcare software available. Customizing it into a powerful source of truth that helps meet patient demands and innovate is entirely possible - if you choose the right solutions.

Let’s walk through some of the best Salesforce healthcare apps on the AppExchange. We hope you’ll learn something new, get inspired, and find a new way to improve your own org.

You Might Also Like: How Healthcare Organizations Are Using Salesforce in 2021

The Best Salesforce Healthcare Apps Depend On Your Goals

When you look for great Salesforce healthcare apps, it’s best to start with a set of goals. In this article, we’ll be looking at apps that help healthcare organizations meet the following three goals:

• Increase Sales / Patient Acquisition
• Create Better Patient Engagement
• Integrate and Protect Data

Click a goal to scroll down to our recommended healthcare apps for that category.

Pro Tip: Look For Native Salesforce Apps

Just one more thing before we dive in (promise!). We recommend starting your search by filtering for apps that are 100% native to Salesforce.

100% native apps are built entirely on the Salesforce platform and never send data externally. This makes them compatible with security-conscious healthcare companies since most compliance concerns are virtually eliminated based on native app architecture.

If your data isn’t leaving Salesforce, it’s not leaving the world-class data security that Salesforce guarantees.

Salesforce Healthcare Apps For Increased Sales & Patient Acquisition

Sales are pivotal to business, and healthcare companies are no exception. These apps will help increase awareness and acquire new customers or patients.

You Might Also Like: What Makes E-Signature A Good Fit For Healthcare?

1. Axtria SalesIQ

Axtria SalesIQ is a sales planning and operations application for Salesforce that’s built specifically for the healthcare & life sciences industry.

With this app, you can identify high-potential customers and the most relevant channels of interaction. You’ll also be able to optimize field team productivity with territory alignment, motivate behaviors with incentive compensation, and report on everything with real-time analytics.

Axtria SalesIQ customers typically see a 50% reduction in alignment cycle times and a 40% overall cost reduction.
Source: Axtria SalesIQ

2. S-Docs

S-Docs is a 100% native document generation and e-signature solution that allows healthcare companies to automate their document workflows in Salesforce.

From quoting/invoicing to patient intake forms, the healthcare sales & patient acquisition process can become complex and unscalable when handled manually - and even put data at risk.

S-Docs allows healthcare companies to generate the documents they need with the click of a button, and send them for e-signature just as fast. The best part? Since S-Docs is 100% native, documents are created and e-signed without ever sending data outside of Salesforce.

3. Healthgrades Hg Mercury

Healthgrades Hg Mercury is a leading engagement platform designed to increase patient acquisition, retention, and lifetime value.

Healthgrades has spent over 30 years innovating on its suite of healthcare solutions. Marketing, contact centers, provider engagement, data management - if you’re looking for a unified solution for healthcare growth, we recommend checking out this platform.

Customers have seen a 36% increase in new patient retention and 110K additional visits.

Salesforce Healthcare Apps For Better Patient Engagement

Intelligent patient engagement can lead to better health outcomes and lower costs. These apps will let you contact your patients at the right time - and help them help themselves.

You Might Also Like: How To Improve The Customer Experience With Salesforce

4. Appointiv

Appointiv is an appointment scheduler that increases bookings and reduces no-shows.

This app lets you organize your entire team’s one-time or recurring appointments, create waitlists, book resources, and set automatic reminders. You can add a booking button to your website to let patients set their own appointments - and it’s fully mobile compatible, so your customers can self-serve how they want.
Source: Appointiv

5. Health AI-Powered Patient Engagement

Health AI-Powered Patient Engagement aggregates your clinical, claims, and consumer data to create more intelligent patient and provider engagement.

This app advises your organization of valuable engagement opportunities based on AI so that you can create personalized and proactive patient outreach. It provides automated next best actions (NBAs) to increase patient conversions and add revenue.

Customers using this solution have seen real results - as much as a 350% in patient conversions.

6. Vonage Contact Center

Vonage Contact Center for Salesforce is a telephony solution that enables healthcare organizations to create better customer service experiences.

This app empowers agents with data so that they can delight patients with personalized interactions over the phone. It also uses AI to analyze conversation quality and help agents continually improve their skills. With click-to-dial, call routing, and automatic logging, it also helps increase employee productivity.

Patients want to feel important when they interact with your organization. Vonage Contact Center helps you deliver on their expectations.
Source: Vonage

Salesforce Healthcare Apps That Enable Integration And Data Protection

Healthcare companies must maintain data across a variety of different systems. The ability to integrate it with Salesforce while remaining compliant is vital for those looking to continue creating innovative business processes in the cloud.

You Might Also Like: Cybersecurity Best Practices For Healthcare

7. Trackwise Digital Quality Management System

Trackwise Digital Quality Management System (QMS) is an end-to-end quality and compliance solution.

This app allows you to manage regulatory audits with ease - including assessing risk, identifying causes, and initiating corrective and preventive actions (CAPAs). It also provides a solution for managing the complaint lifecycle, controlling documents, and executing training policies that may be tied to regulatory requirements.

For all of your quality management needs in Salesforce, we recommend checking out this app.

8. Redox EHR Integration

Redox EHR Integration enables you to connect Salesforce to over 55 leading EHR vendors.

It comes with pre-configured workflows that will help make the integration process as smooth as possible, including data models for demographics, schedules, clinical summaries, providers, and referrals. While most Salesforce EHR integrations can take 6+ months, Redox customers can typically complete the process in just a few weeks.

9. Imprivata FairWarning Cloud Solutions - Risk Analytics and Intelligence

Imprivata FairWarning Cloud Solutions helps protect your data against insider threats and meet HIPAA requirements like 164.402 and 164.312.

This app allows you to monitor Salesforce usage and identify unusual activity, set up privileged user access, and ensure any remote workforce is secure.

Salesforce For Healthcare Innovation

Salesforce is leading the charge in healthcare business innovation. The AppExchange opens the door for healthcare organizations to mold it into a unified solution that can positively impact revenue and health outcomes at the same time. For more great healthcare apps for Salesforce, check out the healthcare industry collection.

You Might Also Like: 4 Ways Native Apps Are Transforming The Healthcare Industry

S-Docs for Healthcare

Looking to transform your healthcare document workflows in Salesforce? S-Docs has been a trusted partner to the healthcare industry for over a decade.

We help organizations generate, store, distribute, and e-sign any type of document in Salesforce. Since S-Docs is 100% native, your data never leaves the Salesforce cloud - making it one of the most secure solutions available. It also means that S-Docs easily integrates with the apps in this guide, so that you can tie your document requirements with your other business processes and never miss a beat.

For more information about how we can help your organization cut down on manual processes and stay compliant, request a demo today or reach out to sales@sdocs.com.

If you’re reading this article, chances are you either currently use Salesforce Revenue Cloud, or you’re looking to.

If so, take a moment to ask yourself: what drove you to purchase (or consider it)?

At risk of sounding too on the nose...Revenue, right? We think it’s safe to assume that your Revenue Cloud investment hinged on the expectation that your business’s revenue growth would accelerate. Salesforce doesn’t name their products just anything, after all.

Revenue, it turns out, is one of those pesky numbers that business leaders always want to see increasing. This leads us to the ultimate question (and likely the reason you clicked on this article): how can you increase the value that you get from Salesforce Revenue Cloud?

How To Get More Value Out of Salesforce Revenue Cloud

Salesforce Revenue Cloud is made to manage and accelerate your revenue growth. But to really start shaking all the green we can out of it, we need to dig into the weeds a little bit. How does it accelerate revenue growth? Understanding the details makes it much easier to use them to your advantage.

To make things simple, we’ve created a short infographic.

In essence, Salesforce Revenue Cloud makes the sales process much easier -- for your employees, and, by extension, your customers.

Your sales teams can easily put together complex deals with multiple product categories, pricing structures, and discounts -- leading to faster and more accurate quotes and invoices -- leading to deals that get approved by finance the first time.

Your customers can’t see this well-oiled machine on the backend, but they can feel it. Instead of trudging through the sales cycle for weeks only to end up with misaligned quotes and invoices, they receive a smooth experience -- leading to faster payment and increased loyalty.

Increasing your Salesforce Revenue Cloud ROI is a matter of enhancing the ways in which it smooths out the lead-to-cash lifecycle.

You Might Also Like: How To Improve The Customer Experience With Salesforce

Identify The Gaps In Your Current Lead-To-Cash Lifecycle

So what does smoothing out your lead-to-cash lifecycle mean? Here’s a quick screenshot we grabbed from Google:

The key is creating a revenue lifecycle that’s “free from perceptible projections, lumps, or indentations” (maybe not so literally -- but you get the picture).

Salesforce Revenue Cloud takes care of a lot of the smoothing-out:

But it’s still not a perfectly straight line. We need to identify the gaps in your lead-to-cash lifecycle, and then implement solutions to smooth them over.

Pretend Like You’re Implementing Revenue Cloud For The First Time

A good way to identify the gaps in your processes is to take a step back and reevaluate. Imagine that you’re planning to implement Revenue Cloud for the first time -- what are your goals? Common ones might include:

1. Reducing sales cycle duration
2. Increasing quote accuracy
3. Increasing win & renewal rates

You Might Also Like: Salesforce Data Security Best Practices For Financial Services

How did you originally see Revenue Cloud functioning with your processes? Sketch out your ideal workflow from start to finish, as if you’re planning an implementation. Does it look like what you’ve actually got now?

For example, maybe you wanted to reduce friction between Salesforce and your ERP system. Sketching out your ideal integration might make you realize you wanted to be on tier 4 in this image, but you’re only on tier 2.

Source: Salesforce & Simplus

Close The Gaps

After identifying the bumps in the road, the next logical step is to patch them up. Sometimes, this will involve new configurations within Revenue Cloud itself, such as enabling Advanced Approvals for Salesforce CPQ.

When Revenue Cloud falls short, you’ll need to venture to the pothole-patching shop: aka, the Salesforce AppExchange.

Billing (like Digital Route’s usage-based billing app), accounting (like Accounting Seed), and payment gateway apps (like Blackthorn Payments) are all common solutions to enhance certain gaps left open by Revenue Cloud.

However, we know of one solution category that nearly any Salesforce Revenue Cloud customer can use to enhance their processes and close the final gap between lead to cash: document generation and e-signature apps.

You Might Also Like: Upgrading Your Document Generation System? Here's What You Need To Know

How Document Generation & E-Signature Enhances Salesforce Revenue Cloud

Document generation and e-signature solutions like S-Docs close a glaring gap in Salesforce Revenue Cloud -- the ability to send on-brand, accurate documents like quotes, MSAs, and invoices at any time during the sales process, and create binding agreements with signature collection.

Wait, you might be thinking. Salesforce Revenue Cloud allows you to create quotes and invoices -- that’s what CPQ & Billing is for. Right?

While this is true, document generation & e-signature solutions close a gap left open by CPQ & Billing and render their limitations obsolete. Let’s break it down.

Create Any Type of Document, Anytime

Salesforce Revenue Cloud may help you get your quotes and invoices out the door, but odds are your sales cycle requires more than that. Document generation solutions like S-Docs allow you to create any type of document and send it out -- at any point in the lead-to-cash cycle -- with one click (sounds smooth as silk to us).

Create More Powerful Documents

Sure, Salesforce Revenue Cloud helps reduce the complexity of pricing out complex deals. But in the end, especially for larger deals, complexity can’t always be avoided.

Document generation solutions allow you to create quote and invoice templates that can merge data from anywhere in Salesforce and contain thousands of line items. 100% native solutions like S-Docs (built on the Salesforce platform) are especially good at getting this done quickly -- we’re talking 100,000+ invoices in under a half hour quickly.

They can also help you out with complex dynamic content -- like different T&Cs merged in based on the product configuration or any other business rule you could think of.

You Might Also Like: How to Create A Professional Quote in Salesforce

Seamlessly Collect E-Signatures

There’s no getting around it -- Salesforce Revenue Cloud doesn’t provide e-signature functionality. You could find an outside app to integrate with your CPQ & Billing templates, but that adds another layer of complexity.

Combined document generation & e-signature solutions will let you create document and e-signature templates using the same system. You can configure and price deals, send quotes and invoices for signature, and track their progress -- without missing a beat. Smoothing the gaps.

Stay Professional & On-Brand

Document generation solutions give you the power to create quotes, invoices, and other documents that you can be proud of. You aren’t limited by CPQ templates when you use document generation -- meaning you can create truly customized documents that reflect your business.

Quotes and invoices are often the first formal impression a customer gets from a business -- so it’s important to make them count!

Salesforce Revenue Cloud: Keep The Gaps Closed With 100% Native Apps

Salesforce Revenue Cloud can be an incredibly valuable tool that nets you improved revenue processes and a smoother lead-to-cash cycle. Upping your ROI means identifying the biggest benefit Revenue Cloud brings to your business, and then figuring out how to close the gaps and enhance that benefit.

100% native Salesforce apps like S-Docs are positioned to help you get more out of Revenue Cloud without adding complexity or clutter. Since they’re built on the Salesforce platform, they’re already seamlessly integrated into the system your team depends on every day.

For more information about how S-Docs for Salesforce Revenue Cloud can help accelerate your lead-to-cash workflows, request a demo today or reach out to sales@sdocs.com. 

As a Salesforce user, you know the value of reports and dashboards. If your org’s data were represented by wheat in a field, viewing a report or dashboard is like looking at the field from a plane. You can see which areas are healthy, which ones need watering, and which can be expanded.

Reports and dashboards provide insights that help a business stay aligned with its goals and make strategic decisions. But like the best leaders out there, you may be asking yourself: How can I make them better?

Though there are plenty of best practices you can (and should!) follow to improve your reports and dashboards, we’re not interested in those today. We’re interested in supercharging your Salesforce reporting beyond what you get out of the box.

Enter document generation tools.

You Might Also Like: How to Increase Salesforce User Adoption

What Does Salesforce Document Generation Have To Do With Reporting?

Salesforce document generators are tools that automatically compile your Salesforce data into organized documents - but they can be a whole lot more than quote or invoice generators.

Because of their ability to aggregate and format data from anywhere in Salesforce, document generation solutions can add value almost anywhere. Salesforce reporting is a big area document generators have the potential to transform, so we’re going to let you in on this little-known secret. Read on for the 5 reasons why you should start creating Salesforce reports with document generation tools like S-Docs.

How Salesforce Document Generation Apps Supercharge Reporting

As a 100% native document generation and e-signature solution, we’ve seen lots of document templates that left Salesforce reports and dashboards in the dust. Here are the 5 main advantages we’ve found when using document generation for Salesforce reporting.

1. Showcase More Data
2. Create Well-Designed, Shareable Reports
3. Allow Customers or Partners to Easily Access Reports
4. Employ Reporting Automation
5. Use Conditional Logic

1. Document Generation Apps Let You Showcase More Data

Reports and dashboards exist to help you make sense of data. The more data sources you can pull from, the more flexibility you have in what your report/dashboard displays.

While Salesforce reports are limited by object relationships, document generators (at least 100% native ones like S-Docs) do not share this limitation. You can set up templates that pull data from anywhere in Salesforce, related or not. S-Docs even allows you to use Apex code to query data with complex logic parameters.

The best part is, you can still filter, sort, and group information like in regular reports - you can even pull in dashboard charts. Document generation solutions give you the ultimate level of flexibility when it comes to gathering and formatting data.

2. Document Generation Apps Make Sharing Reports Easy

Salesforce reports and dashboards can be easily printed and shared right from Salesforce - but they’re limited by Salesforce’s formatting. If you need to create a professional, on-brand document to email or physically share, you’ll need to copy-paste and format the information yourself, or stick with what Salesforce gives you.

That is, unless you use a document generation solution! Document generators allow you to design and display data your way, using your branding, and output the final product in your preferred file format.

You Might Also Like: How to Create a Stunning Statement of Work in Salesforce

So if you need polished reports -- handouts at a shareholder meeting, slides at a quarterly business review, or a project status sheet for a client, for example -- Salesforce document generators put you one click away from documents you can be proud of.

3. Document Generators Make It Easy For Customers And Partners To Access Reports

If you use Salesforce Experience Cloud Sites (formerly Salesforce Communities), you’re no stranger to customer connectivity. Experience Cloud Sites give your customers or partners the ability to interact with one another, help themselves through product or service issues, and connect with your business -- all through a branded portal.

Reporting functionality is a common request for Experience Cloud Sites. If a customer wants a list of all their current or past cases, or a partner wants to print all deals from the last year, you should provide this functionality to them. What’s the best way to do this? You guessed it: document generation solutions.

You Might Also Like: How to Improve The Customer Experience With Salesforce

While Salesforce does let you allow community users to run reports, the fact remains that they are limited by native reporting functionality and formatting. To ensure your on-brand experience carries through every customer/partner touchpoint, you can create document templates that include the same (or more) information as Salesforce reports - and look much better. Your customers can generate these reports directly from your portal in one seamless experience.

4. Document Generators Provide Easy Reporting Automation

Automation doesn’t just make life easier - it makes business sustainable and scalable. So when it comes to the vital function of reporting, you shouldn’t be stuck with manual processes. Sure, Salesforce reports can be scheduled to automatically email themselves on a regular cadence (as Excel or CSV files), but this basic functionality isn’t in line with the pace of modern business.

Document generation solutions give you much more power and flexibility when it comes to Salesforce report automation. If a team lead wants to receive a report whenever an Opportunity over 100K closes, for example, document generation solutions are the way to go.

You Might Also Like: 5 Security and Compliance Benefits of Salesforce Document Automation

Native document generation solutions like S-Docs let you automatically generate and send reports in the background based on any platform-triggering event in Salesforce. The best part is, you can use tools you’re already familiar with (like Process Builder, Flow, or Apex) to set them up.

5. Document Generators Provide Conditional Logic For Reports

Salesforce reports wouldn’t be useful if they just displayed every record for a given object. That’s why report filters exist. You can even employ conditional formatting to enhance readability.

But if you really want to create smart reports that format themselves based on given criteria, you’ll need something a bit more powerful than the native Salesforce report builder.

Document generation solutions let you employ conditional logic to dynamically render content based on your business rules - no matter how complex. You can create reports that include different sections or completely change the way that they’re formatted based on your criteria.

Streamline Your Salesforce Reports With S-Docs

Document generation solutions have the potential to overhaul your reporting process and set you up for continued business success. If you’re ready to find out how you can start generating better reports today, look no further than S-Docs. Our document generation and e-signature solution is 100% native to Salesforce - that means that it’s built entirely on the Salesforce platform.

S-Docs allows you to build report documents directly within Salesforce with the tools that you already know how to use. Since it’s completely native, it’s lightning fast (no server latency) and more powerful than its off-platform counterparts. Plus, it never sends data outside of Salesforce, meaning your sensitive information is entirely secure.

Want to find out more? Request a demo today or contact sales@sdocs.com. Happy reporting!

Healthcare: it’s on everyone’s minds these days. Outside of virus treatments and vaccines, the relationship between healthcare and technology is at the forefront of the conversation.

In the midst of these dialogues is Salesforce, a CRM platform that does a whole lot more than just manage customer relationships. Salesforce Health Cloud allows healthcare organizations to translate Salesforce’s eclectic capabilities into better health outcomes for their patients.

So...how exactly are healthcare organizations using Salesforce in 2022? And if you’re a healthcare organization, why should you? As a 100% native Salesforce app, we’ve seen firsthand what Salesforce brings to the table for healthcare - now we want to share it with you. Let’s dive into real healthcare customer stories and see how Salesforce is improving the industry as a healthcare CRM.

You Might Also Like: What Makes E-Signature A Good Fit For Healthcare?

Why Do Healthcare Organizations Use Salesforce As A Healthcare CRM?

First of all, what is a healthcare CRM, and what benefits can it bring to healthcare organizations?

It’s simple, really. Think about what Salesforce offers to any regular sales or customer service team: enhanced collaboration, personalized experiences, and connected data, just to name a few. Turns out, these benefits are applicable across industries and departments.

When healthcare professionals are able to better collaborate with one another, make intelligent use of the abundant data available to them, and please their patients with personalization, the results can be outstanding. Patients receive better health outcomes, and organizations win lifelong customer loyalty.

For more information on the value of a healthcare CRM, check out our article on SalesforceBen!

How Healthcare Organizations Are Using Salesforce in 2022

Alright - we’ve established why Salesforce can be such a valuable asset to any healthcare organization. Now, let’s take a look at some real-world healthcare trailblazers.

Piedmont Healthcare Delivers Preventative Health Benefits

Piedmont Healthcare serves over 2 million patients across the state of Georgia, so this company is no stranger to growing expectations. In an effort to personalize their care and keep patients out of the hospital by identifying health problems earlier, they implemented Health Cloud.

Care providers use Health Cloud to access a comprehensive view of their patients’ social determinants of health, such as socioeconomic status, to address and mitigate preventable conditions before they become problematic. Easy access to this information also helps providers determine if a patient requires special accommodations, such as transportation, before the patient even needs to bring it up.

They also use Pardot to track and nurture physician leads, achieving cross-departmental benefits.

Colorado Health Care Policy & Financing Creates A Contact Center That Scales

Creating scalable solutions is another way Salesforce helps guide healthcare companies into the patient-centric future. Colorado Health Care Policy & Financing (HCPF) maintained a contact center for inquiries about healthcare services statewide. When the Affordable Care Act greatly expanded the number of residents eligible for Medicaid in 2012, it became clear that HCPF’s legacy system wasn’t going to cut it.

With the help of Service Cloud, HCPF developed a new contact center that integrated the department’s Medicaid eligibility system, voice response system, and Salesforce Knowledge. Agents get a holistic view of their customers and easy access to relevant help articles and recommendations.

Did we mention that they did it in just 3 months? That’s the power of the Salesforce platform. Configuring, customizing, and scaling come easier.

You Might Also Like: 5 Security and Compliance Benefits of Salesforce Document Automation

Tribeca Pediatrics Delights Patients With Automation and EHR Integrations

Tribeca Pediatrics values great customer experiences, but it also serves thousands of patients across New York City and Los Angeles. In order to deliver personalization at scale without losing data protection, they turned to Salesforce Health Cloud.

Health Cloud allows Tribeca Pediatrics to integrate their electronic health record (EHR) systems together and give physicians a complete view of patients across different offices (this 360 degree view thing seems to be a trend, doesn’t it?). To delight customers even further, they also implemented Salesforce Experience Cloud to create patient and practitioner portals. These allow busy patients to communicate with caregivers on their own time.

Overall, Salesforce allows Tribeca Pediatrics to offer their customers personalized care, and let parents take a more active role in their childrens’ health.

Helping Healthcare Digitalize For The Future

There’s no doubt about it: the world is changing, and consumers have more say in the services they use than ever before. They’re demanding cross-channel availability based on their schedules, and they don’t want to feel like a number in a database. The healthcare industry is no exception to this.

Salesforce is a way for healthcare payers, providers, manufacturers, and businesses in other healthcare verticals to meet the rising demands of their customers - while improving overall health outcomes at the same time. It provides a better view of their patients, better opportunities for communication (both internally and externally), and personalization that helps gain and retain new business all the time.

The best part? It’s all done on a scalable platform that’s quick to set up, intuitive to customize, and completely HIPAA compliant.

You Might Also Like: Document Automation in Healthcare: 3 Patient Data Benefits You'll Love

S-Docs: Secure Document Workflows For Healthcare

There’s one more reason we think Salesforce is great for healthcare: it allows healthcare companies to securely enhance its functionality with solutions from the AppExchange.

S-Docs is a 100% native document generation and e-signature solution for Salesforce designed to enhance healthcare documentation workflows while maintaining HIPAA compliance. Since it’s built entirely on the Salesforce platform, S-Docs never sends customer data outside of the secure Salesforce cloud. This makes it the number one choice for leading healthcare organizations around the globe - like Johnson & Johnson, Bayer, and Roche.

For more information on how S-Docs can help streamline your healthcare document and e-signature needs, request a demo today or contact sales@sdocs.com. Happy caregiving!

Data security is no laughing matter, but you don’t need to have a room like this one to keep your org protected.

Salesforce provides powerful out-of-the-box tools you can use to spruce up security without breaking the bank. There’s a reason it’s the #1 CRM across industries from consumer goods to government - there’s something for everyone when it comes to protecting your data.

Data Security, Designed In

It’s important to note that Salesforce is an incredibly secure solution to begin with. Its stringent security policies are backed up by certifications hailing from every industry.

This powerful platform designs security into its products from the get-go, and stays transparent by providing live incident updates at trust.salesforce.com. Keep this in mind - it will be important when we get to Step #4!

Without further ado, let’s dive into 6 easy ways you can make your Salesforce org more secure.

You Might Also Like: 5 Security and Compliance Benefits of Salesforce Document Automation

#1: Start With A Salesforce Health Check

If you’re looking for quick wins, using Salesforce’s native Health Check is a no-brainer. This great feature shows you how your org stacks up against Salesforce’s Security Baseline Standard, and provides you with instructions on how to remedy any issues that it finds.

You can even upload your own security baseline standard and run periodic checks against that as well. Keep in mind, though, that Salesforce has had 20 years to develop theirs - and it’s always being updated!

To run a health check on your org, head over to Setup > Security > Health Check.

#2: Use Multi-Factor Authentication For Reports

When proprietary data is condensed into one single place (a report), it’s even easier for unauthorized users to take advantage of it. You can enable MFA for report access to tighten up security even more.

To do so, navigate to Setup > Feature Settings > Analytics > Reports & Dashboards > Access Policies, and select High assurance session required.

Then, navigate to Setup > Security > Session Settings, and ensure that Multi-Factor Authentication is added to the High Assurance box.

You Might Also Like: How To Increase Salesforce User Adoption

#3: Set Up Trusted IP Ranges

Employees are now logging into Salesforce from more locations than ever before, and this can create vulnerabilities. To remedy this, you can set up Trusted IP Ranges that tell Salesforce which login locations are normal, and which ones are suspicious. For example, you can tell Salesforce to trust your company’s office IP address and other select locations where employees are working - and to challenge users logging in from any other addresses.

To increase your Salesforce security with trusted IP ranges, navigate to Setup > Security > Network Access, and set a custom range of trusted addresses.

Profile-Based Trusted IP Addresses & Login Hours

If you don’t want trusted IP ranges to apply to your entire org, you can modify them based on user profiles. For example, let’s say you only want support users to log in from your company network, and only between the hours of 8AM and 6PM on Monday through Friday.

That’s easy! Just head over to Setup > Users > Profiles, select your Support profile, and set your IP ranges and login hours there.

#4: Use Native Salesforce Apps

When you start browsing the AppExchange in search of new Salesforce functionality, it can be challenging to find solutions that comply with your data security policy.

Native Salesforce apps like S-Docs can help you out here. Remember when we established the incredible security of the Salesforce platform at the beginning of this article? Native apps are built directly on that platform.

You Might Also Like: [Datasheet] Native Salesforce App Architecture and Benefits

That means that they never send your data outside of Salesforce. There’s no API calls to worry about, no third-party web servers to authorize, and no compliance concerns. If you trust Salesforce (which, if you’ve invested in the platform, we’re assuming you do), then you can trust native apps to handle your data just as securely.

How Do I Know If A Salesforce App Is Native?

Salesforce provides a Native App tag that you can filter by on the AppExchange to quickly find native apps in the category that you’re searching in. However, you can’t always trust this tag since it’s self-reported.

The best way to tell if an AppExchange app is native is to initiate the download process. If you’re asked to authorize third-party site access, then that app isn’t native.

#5: Use Clickjack Protection

Clickjacking is the process by which users are tricked into clicking on legitimate-looking links that actually perform malicious actions - such as modifying your Salesforce data without your consent.

While Salesforce protects against clickjacking out-of-the-box, you can bump up these protections in Setup > Security > Session Settings by ensuring all checkboxes under the Clickjack Protection section are checked.

You Might Also Like: How to Evaluate The Security of AppExchange Apps

#6: Use Strong Password Policies

Our last quick Salesforce data security quick win is to spruce up your password policies. While you don’t want to make your password requirements too strict (if users have to create new passwords every few days, they won’t be happy), you can still up your security game with small changes.

Here are some optimal settings (which you can configure in Setup > Security > Password Policies):

• Password Length: 15 characters (Salesforce’s default is 8)
• Password Complexity: Must include alpha, numeric, and special characters
• Password Expiration: 90 days
• Password question requirement: Cannot contain password (if users set the answer to their security question as their password, anybody could gain access to their account)

If you’ve followed this guide, passwords should be additionally backed up with MFA - meaning that these settings will significantly reduce the chances of breached accounts.

6 Easy Ways to Make Your Salesforce Org More Secure

If you follow the 6 easy steps in this guide, you’ll be well on your way to a more secure but functional org. When it comes to security, though, there’s an endless amount of potential enhancements. Subscribe to the S-Docs blog for more great tips throughout the year!

Start Securing Your Salesforce Document Workflows With S-Docs

S-Docs is the only 100% native document generation and e-signature solution for Salesforce. We help our global partners simplify their document workflows in Salesforce while maintaining the highest level of security, since all processing occurs on the Salesforce platform.

Looking to get started with lightning fast and incredibly secure document workflows in Salesforce? Request a demo today or shoot an email to sales@sdocs.com.

CRM may be a modern term, but what it stands for isn’t new - the importance of nurturing customer relationships is as old as trade itself.

In recent years, however, the role of the customer experience has shifted. Channels available for customer interactions have exploded, multiplying opportunities to make or break a great experience. And 73% of consumers would switch brands if they didn’t receive a consistent experience across these channels.

Because of this, the customer experience is now one of the most important brand differentiators. And it’s only getting more important. Let’s take a look at how you can leverage your Salesforce investment to create customer experiences that exceed expectations and win you long-term relationships (and more stable recurring revenue).

What Does Customer Experience Mean?

When we say “customer experience,” we’re talking about every interaction a prospect or customer has with your business. Whether that’s through a chatbot on your website, a conversation on Twitter, or a formal onboarding process, the customer experience encompasses it all.

With that definition in mind, let’s dive into how to improve the customer experience with Salesforce.

You Might Also Like: How To Increase Salesforce User Adoption

1. Use Salesforce To Understand Your Customers Better

To impress your customers and keep them coming back for more, understanding them is key. This is an all-hands-on-deck requirement: every role should have a clear picture of who your customers are.

This might’ve been difficult when each team kept track of their work in separate spreadsheets, but the days of siloed data are gone (or at least they should be). Use Salesforce to keep all of your customer data in one place.

One of the best ways to do this is to leverage integrations. For example, if your sales team uses Sales Cloud and your marketing team uses HubSpot, you can integrate the two platforms to keep everyone up-to-date and armed with knowledge.

Source: Hubspot.com

You can also make fields that hold valuable data required - such as a contact’s industry or location - so that you can segment your database and provide more personalized service.

Surveys

Another way to glean information about your customers is to simply ask them. Salesforce Surveys allow you to poll your customers for feedback. This can make your customers feel heard and provide you with data that can help improve your service.

The more information your entire team has, the easier it will be for them to deliver consistent experiences no matter the channel.

2. Use Data To Create Personalized Experiences

Ever receive a mass email that had nothing to do with you? Yeah, us too. It doesn’t leave the greatest impression. According to Salesforce, 66% of consumers would switch brands if they were treated like a number rather than an individual.

Your Salesforce org is full of valuable data - use it to its full potential to create personalized experiences. One great way to do this is to personalize your customer communications through S-Docs email templates (but you can use Salesforce Mail Merge templates too!).

S-Docs lets you create attractive email templates with dynamic content to create lasting impressions on your customers - without requiring hours of work. It’s as simple as opening a list view and clicking a button.

Then, you can choose which email or document you’d like to send to your customer from a list of premade templates.

Finally, you can simply click Start Mass Merge to generate your customized docs and emails and get them sent out.

Customers can receive emails and documents customized like crazy - by anything from their name to completely unique formatting and content based on the information stored about them in Salesforce.

Research shows that prospects are 80% more likely to make a purchase when they receive personalized experiences - and they’ll be much more likely to stick around for more later.

You Might Also Like: Top 10 Things An E-Signature Solution For Salesforce Can Do For You

3. Use Salesforce Service Cloud To Its Full Potential

Salesforce Service Cloud is an integrated customer service platform that gives service reps a 360 degree view of their customers. Aside from simplifying case management, Service Cloud ensures that customers receive a unified experience across the service channel.

While Salesforce Service Cloud improves the customer experience out of the box, there are a few things you can customize to take it to the next level.

Integrate Service Cloud With A Salesforce Experience Cloud Site

Helping your customers help themselves can satisfy DIY customers and reduce case resolution time for others. Create a branded Experience Cloud site (formerly Salesforce Community) to serve as a customer service portal or forum.

Customers can log cases and get updates on their own time, help one another, and feel confident in your brand’s commitment to helping them succeed.

Source: Salesforce.com

Plus, Experience Cloud sites give you the flexibility to add more integrations and functionality over time, such as collecting payments or auto-generating invoices.

You Might Also Like: How to Choose The Best Apps on the AppExchange

Use Support Analytics and Account Health Monitoring

To stay ahead of the customer service game, data-driven decisions are a must. Take advantage of Salesforce’s out-of-the-box tools like reports & dashboards to start analyzing your support KPIs. Salesforce Labs provides 4 free Service Cloud dashboards to get you started.

Source: AppExchange.com

Implementing an Account Health Monitoring System (AHMS) can also help you stay on top of the customer experience. It can generate account health scores that allow you to make proactive decisions about which customers to reach out to and when. This enables you to catch dissatisfied customers early and even upsell happy customers who may be ready to expand their account.

Create Automated Workflows

Anything that improves your team’s productivity can easily translate into improved customer experiences, so look for areas in your customer service workflows that could be automated.

Find quick wins first - the little workflows that might not save hours in one day, but add up significantly over time. For example, you could set up a workflow rule to automatically assign follow-up tasks to service reps one week after a case is closed.

Then, think about bigger-picture items that take up big chunks of time but must get done. For example, you could use a document automation solution like S-Docs to automatically send case summaries to customers when cases are closed.

Use Your Customer Feedback

Your customers are an important source of feedback and ideas for improvement - after all, they’re the ones using your products/services every day! You likely have a treasure trove of ideas hidden in your org’s case records.

Consider integrating Service Cloud with a product management tool, such as Jira, to give developers easy access to information that helps prioritize new features. This can help your team become more customer-centric, and drive development based on customer needs.

You Might Also Like: How To Use Salesforce For Project Management

4. Adopt A Customer-Focused Mindset Above All Else

75% of customers expect companies to use technology to create better experiences, but technology is only a reflection of an organization’s priorities. The best way to improve the customer experience is to adopt a customer-focused mindset from the top down.

When customers are the focus of everything you do - from executive leadership to business development - great experiences will follow. You’ll be positioned to use the right tools to hone, enhance, and perfect customer interactions through every channel and every stage.

100% Native Document Generation & E-Signature For Customer Success

If you’re ready to start boosting your customer experiences and exceeding expectations, S-Docs is here to help you on your journey. As a 100% native document workflow solution, we help businesses around the globe personalize and automate their documents so service reps can spend more time on customer service - and customers get the communications they need, faster and more accurately.

If you’re looking for a customer service win this year, let’s talk! Request a demo today or contact sales@sdocs.com for more information. We look forward to speaking!

Picture this: It’s 2022. Your inbox lights up with a new email requesting your signature on a statement of work. You click the attached file, ready to electronically sign the document and get back to being productive. Then, you’re met with this:

There’s no blue link, no Click Here to Sign, only a sad blank line asking you to jump through hoops just to signify your agreement.

If this sounds like an inconvenience for you, it’s a potential deal-breaker for your customers. Electronic signatures are now ubiquitous in the business world. Those who still don’t embrace them stand out from the crowd (and not in a good way).

Luckily, it’s never too late to get in on the e-sign game. If you are using Salesforce, it’s actually easier than ever to integrate an e-signature solution into your workflows - you just have to know what to look for.

Whether you’ve been considering using e-signatures for a while or are just starting to read up on the benefits, this is the guide for you. We’ll go over the main benefits of e-signatures, the different types, their legality, and what to look for in a perfect solution. Read on to turn this list:

Into a solution that helps your business exceed your customers’ expectations.

The Main Benefits of E-Signature for Salesforce

Before we get into the what, let’s start with the why: why should you consider implementing e-signature software for Salesforce in the first place? What’s in it for you?

We’re glad you asked! Businesses that use e-signature apps see countless benefits, but there are four that we’ve pinpointed as our favorite:

1. E-Signatures deliver better customer experiences, which can translate to higher customer loyalty, lower churn rates, and increased revenue.
2. E-Signatures deliver better employee experiences. With the headache of tracking and storing documents wiped away, productivity shoots upwards. In addition, deals can close faster and you can get paid quicker.
3. E-Signatures are more secure, meaning your risk of breached contracts or data leaks is significantly reduced, keeping your legal team happy.
4. E-Signatures are extremely cost-effective, saving you money through less wasted time, increased productivity, and getting to closed-won faster.

These four main benefits can help any business build a case for implementing an e-signature solution into their Salesforce workflows, but if you’re not convinced yet, check out the top 10 things an e-signature solution for Salesforce can do for you.

Types of E-Signatures

Now that the potential impact of an e-signature solution is clear, you should be aware of the different types of e-signatures themselves. The type that you require could affect which solutions you evaluate.

The two main types of e-signatures are electronic signatures and digital signatures. Although they sound similar, they have important differences.

• Electronic signatures are generally recognized as any sound, symbol, or process that shows the intent to sign something. This could range from a simple checkbox to an electronically drawn signature backed up by an audit trail and two-factor authentication.
• Digital signatures are a form of electronic signature that ensures the identity of a signer is valid and the document hasn’t been modified since it was signed, using Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) encryption. Click here to find out more about digital signatures.

Both types of e-signatures are considered valid by most major laws and directives worldwide. The type that you choose to use depends on your organization’s security requirements.

E-Signature Legality

The final thing to consider before diving into the AppExchange in search of a great Salesforce e-signature app is legality. What’s the legal status of e-signatures in your location?

Luckily, e-signatures carry the same authority as wet-ink signatures in most countries around the world. Take a look at a few major laws governing electronic signatures worldwide:

• United States: The ESIGN Act specifies that signatures cannot be denied validity or enforceability because they are electronic.
• Canada: The PIPEDA Act establishes that electronic signatures and documents have the same legal authority as paper documents.
• European Union: The eIDAS regulation defines three types of electronic signatures and when they are acceptable to use. The most basic type, Standard Electronic Signatures, are generally acceptable in most business transactions.

Although electronic signatures are generally recognizable around the globe, exceptions exist. Be sure to consult with your legal team before deciding upon implementing them into your workflows.

You Might Also Like: 5 Security and Compliance Benefits of Salesforce Document Automation

What Should You Look For in an E-Signature Solution for Salesforce?

After you’ve built a rock-solid business case for e-signatures and established their legality for the agreements your business uses, it’s time to do some shopping.

As you navigate the AppExchange in search of the perfect Salesforce e-signature app, look out for solutions with a few of these key features.

Seamless Integration Into Existing Workflows

E-Signature applications are supposed to make your life easier, not harder. If you’ve already set up workflows in Salesforce, choosing a solution that (1) doesn’t take you outside of Salesforce and (2) allows you to maintain the same general flow of work will ensure a smooth setup and minimal hiccups in the future.

Quick tip: look for native e-signature applications like S-Sign first. Since they’re built on the Salesforce platform, native applications blend more easily into your existing processes and mirror the Salesforce UI. If you’re using products like Salesforce CPQ & Billing, for example, a native application can fit into your process right away with minimal configuration.

Document Generation Capabilities

E-signatures are great, but they’re only one component of a much larger workflow. Why save time on the signature collection process if it still takes hours to pull together the documents that need to be signed?

The best e-signature solutions for Salesforce include document generation capabilities that allow you to create agreements with one click. These solutions save you time by compiling your Salesforce data into premade templates that already have signature tags mapped out.

Instead of switching between different apps or copy-pasting information, everything you need to succeed will be bundled into one solution - making creating, sending, tracking, and storing agreements much easier.

You Might Also Like: Upgrading Your Document Generation System? Here's What You Need to Know

Security Features

Legal issues aren’t fun or cheap, so this one’s a no-brainer: your Salesforce e-signature integration should have rock-solid security. While it might be tempting to look for a digital vs standard electronic signature solution and call it a day, there’s more to consider than that. Look for a solution that includes:

• A detailed audit trail with information like signer names, IP addresses, and an event log that captures acts like document opens, signature submissions, and date/time stamps.
• 
• Two-Factor Authentication options that require signers to prove their identities. This might take the form of an emailed code required to view the document.
• Document encryption options for enhanced security.
• No third-party site authorization requirements that send data outside of Salesforce. When you use an e-signature app hosted on an external server, you open up the surface area for data breaches (not to mention add more work for your IT security team that needs to evaluate the solution’s architecture). Here again, native apps can be of assistance: since they’re built on the Salesforce platform, the entire e-signature process takes place on Salesforce servers (which you’ve already evaluated and approved).

You Might Also Like: How to Evaluate the Security of AppExchange Apps

Multiple Input Field Types

When you sign a paper document, you might also need to sign your initials, write a date, or check a few boxes too. The e-signature solution that you choose should let your customers do the same thing.

Choose an app that lets you collect multiple types of data from your customers in addition to signatures, such as initials, dates, checkboxes, and freeform text. Not only will this give you maximum flexibility, but it might even spark ideas about using the app for more than just signature collection workflows.

Write Back to Salesforce

More field input options means more opportunities to collect valuable data - but more data usually means more data entry. However, if you choose an e-signature solution that writes data back to Salesforce, this task will be taken care of for you.

Let’s say your document requests a customer to enter their department and company name. Using an e-signature solution that writes back to Salesforce, you could map these fields from your document to a Salesforce record. That way, your data will always be up to date.

Dynamic Content

Agreements never follow a “one size fits all” approach. Customers in different industries or different locations may require different clauses or components be included before they’re able to sign. Rather than maintain a library of hundreds of variations of a single document, you should look for an e-signature solution that supports dynamic content. That way, you can configure a single document template to include or exclude sections based on your own business rules.

Apps like S-Sign even let you dynamically include or exclude entire signer profiles conditionally for even greater flexibility.

You Might Also Like: [Datasheet] Native Salesforce App Architecture and Benefits

Automatic Reminders

Nobody likes waiting days for a signature. The Salesforce e-signature app that you choose should offer automatic reminders to keep your deals on track. These also function to create urgency and get your documents signed faster.

Mobile Support

With “Sent from my iPhone” becoming an omnipresent email signature in the business world, you need to be prepared for customers that engage with you on mobile devices. The e-signature solution that you choose should look and feel great on a phone or tablet.

Automation Options

Like we said earlier in this article: e-signature solutions are supposed to make your life (and your customers’ lives) easier. If you have agreement workflows that are consistent and repetitive (always sending an MSA when an opportunity reaches a certain stage, for example), automating these processes allows you to stay on track while your agreements are sent in the background.

E-signature apps that allow you to automate your workflows are also in the best position to scale with your business. As your processes grow more complex, automation will be necessary to maintain an efficient team and keep customers happy.

Choose Native E-Signature Solutions for Salesforce

Our last piece of advice: go native. Native e-signature solutions for Salesforce offer all of the benefits listed above - and they’re built on the platform that you use everyday.

You’ve already invested in Salesforce, approved its security infrastructure, and integrated your business processes. Why choose an app that sends your data off-platform?

Native Salesforce e-signature apps are:

• Faster, since they process all data within your Salesforce environment.
• More secure, since they never send your data or documents outside of Salesforce.
• Easier to use, since they fit into your workflows naturally and mirror the Salesforce interface.

Native apps help you work faster, stay compliant, and deliver exceptional customer experiences. Look for the Native App tile under the Features section as you browse AppExchange listings.

As always, be sure to consult with your legal team before making any decisions about which app is best for you.

S-Docs: 100% Native Document Generation & E-Signature for Salesforce

If you’re ready to start automating your agreement workflows and closing deals faster with a solution built exclusively for Salesforce, look no further than S-Docs and S-Sign. Create, send, e-sign, track, and store documents in Salesforce. S-Docs lets you skyrocket productivity without worrying about compliance or downtime, since it’s built on the platform you’ve already approved.

Get started today with a customized demo - we’re one click away. Request a demo today or contact sales@sdocs.com to find out what S-Docs and S-Sign can do to help your business excel.

Salesforce is a powerful tool, but its real value comes from its users. Just like a car without gas can’t drive, an org without users can’t provide value to a company.

Increasing (or kickstarting) Salesforce user adoption can up your team’s productivity, create more accurate data for better decision making, and ensure that your investment into the platform pays its dividends.

Getting to the root cause of your user adoption issues can be tough, though. Is it a people problem? A technology problem? Most of the time, it’s a mixture of both.

The User Adoption Matrix

Take a look at the following graphic. Many times, your users can be segmented into one of four quadrants:

Willing and Able: These users want to use Salesforce and have an easy time doing so. Oftentimes, they were part of the original implementation project.

Able, but Unwillling: These users could easily use Salesforce, but don’t want to. For example, if management places high value on conversion rates, users might not want to enter early-stage Opportunities into their pipeline.

Willing, but Unable: These users want to use Salesforce, but have a hard time doing so. A poor implementation, bad training, or unusable reports and dashboards could result in users falling into this quadrant.

Unwilling and Unable: These users don’t want to use Salesforce, and have a hard time doing so. This is often indicative of a bigger problem that goes beyond adoption.

The ultimate goal is to move as many users to quadrant 1 (Willing and Able) as possible. Let’s explore how to get there.

You Might Also Like: How Native Salesforce Apps Reduce Total Cost of Ownership

First, Ensure You Can Track Adoption Adequately

When you embark on a new project, the first question on your mind should be “How do I measure success?” Before attempting to increase user adoption, you should plan which metrics you want to track and how you’ll track them.

Tools like Salesforce Labs’s Adoption Dashboard can give you valuable visibility into your users’ adoption.

Source: Trailhead.com

However, make sure you don’t analyze the wrong data. It can be tempting to look at login rates and call it a day -- but those don’t always tell the full story.

Consider tracking additional metrics such as:

• Overdue Opportunities: These can indicate that users aren’t really tracking their deals with Salesforce.
• Unrealistic Stages/Close Dates: If you’ve got Opportunities closing this week that are still in the prospecting stage, they’re probably not being updated.
• Record creation rates: If new Leads, Contacts, or Opportunities aren’t being created, Salesforce likely isn’t your business’s single source of truth for your employees.
• Fields populated: If your users are populating a low percentage of fields, they’re not using Salesforce to its full potential.

Tracking specific, telltale metrics like these will help you plan who to target with your increased adoption project, and how.

Create Advantages to Using Salesforce

With your metrics defined and your dashboards set up, the next step is to start thinking about how you can create an advantage to using Salesforce over not using it. Add the motivation, and the users will follow. This might involve:

• Providing valuable insight unavailable elsewhere, such as well-designed reports and dashboards or intelligent lead scoring
• Capture leads in Salesforce that can’t be accessed through another system
• Introduce gamification initiatives that reward users for completing tasks or other activities in Salesforce
• Use apps from the AppExchange to enhance user experience and provide value

People will only use Salesforce if it helps them do their job, so ensure that’s the case.

You Might Also Like: How to Use Salesforce for Project Management

Create Disadvantages to Not Using Salesforce

On the opposite side, creating disadvantages to not using Salesforce is another tactic that can help with user adoption. While it may sound negative, it’s actually something that should come naturally once managers and executives are on board with Salesforce. A few ways to do so include:

• Phasing out legacy systems
• Conducting team or 1-to-1 meetings based on dashboards
• Requiring the use of tools like Salesforce CPQ for deal approvals
• Providing apps like S-Docs for automated quote, proposal, and invoice creation

When it’s harder to get work done outside of Salesforce than within, or more difficult to keep up with Salesforce-savvy colleagues, adoption will grow.

Commit to Ease and Simplicity

The way your org is designed could have a huge impact on how much it's used -- and we’re not just talking about its coat of paint. As Steve Jobs once said, “Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.”

Do your users have the correct profile assignments, or are they constantly running into frustrating errors? Are records concise and helpful, or are they full of outdated fields that never get used? Is your data clean, or can you find 10 different ways to abbreviate a state?

Simplicity is the name of the game. Drive Salesforce user adoption by making it functional but simple. Why do you think Salesforce redesigned Classic into Lightning?

Here’s another tip for creating great UX experiences & improving adoption: always think like an end user. When designing new features, ask yourself: Is the functionality desirable? Would it help users do their jobs better? Does it fit seamlessly into existing workflows, or would it be clunky? If you find yourself unable to answer these questions, poll users with tools like Salesforce Surveys, or hold meetings to gather that information.

Here at S-Docs, we don’t just love native apps because our app is native -- we love them because they integrate seamlessly and compliment the Salesforce platform rather than grind against it.

You Might Also Like: How to Design a Professional Quote in Salesforce

Provide Optimized Training

Sometimes, a lack of adoption is the result of a lack of training. If your training program consisted of a single walkthrough meeting at the end of your Salesforce implementation, users probably won’t be jumping at the chance to start using Salesforce for everything.

You can optimize training and increase user adoption by communicating with users often. Hold regular meetings and find out what they find easy to use and what they’re having difficulty with. A more personalized approach to educating users will always work better.

If regular meetings with the right stakeholders aren’t feasible, try creating short videos explaining new functionality and how to use it.

While it should be supplemented with other forms of training, Trailhead can be another great resource for users to learn on their own time. This trailmix was designed specifically to help end users learn how to use the platform.

Obtain Executive Buy-In

You know what they say -- “Culture, Change, and Salesforce Adoption start at the top” -- or something like that. No matter how perfect your UX or how informative your training, if executive stakeholders are resistant to Salesforce, it’s going to be hard increasing adoption and getting real value out of it.

From the beginning, it’s important to make a great business case for Salesforce. Ask yourself:

1. How does Salesforce help our company with its top priorities?
2. What are the main problems it solves?
3. Can I quantify the value it brings to our organization?

Speaking in terms of your organization’s main goals and bringing hard data to the table will make it much easier to find an executive sponsor to drive Salesforce usage forward.

Check out this great article from the Salesforce 360 blog on how to build a winning business case to advance a project.

Continuously Monitor and Improve

Salesforce user adoption is never a one-and-done deal. As companies grow and change, you’ll always find new challenges coming your way. Continuously monitor adoption rates and test out different ways to improve them. The best part is, you’ll be improving your Salesforce org in tandem with adding more users that give it value in the first place.

S-Docs: 100% Native Document Generation and E-Signature for Salesforce

For a fast, intuitive, and easy to use document generation and e-signature solution for Salesforce, look no further than S-Docs. S-Docs is 100% native to the platform, so it’s easier to configure and blends seamlessly with your current workflows. Get started today on the AppExchange, request a demo, or contact sales@sdocs.com for information about a customized demo. We look forward to hearing from you!