Getting Started With Salesforce Lightning: A Guide For New Users

The Salesforce lightning services are basically component-based platforms that help ease the process of Salesforce application development for business users who are new to the programming industry. 

If you are new to the developmental industry, then you must transition into Salesforce lightning cloud computing to get maximum benefits in Salesforce application development. 

The benefits a new developer can get are an introduction to modern interfaces, customizing dashboards, increased navigation, and ultimately enhanced customer satisfaction through several features included.

As per a report by Torrent Consulting, the integration of Salesforce Lightning-developed apps helps to improve business productivity by around 41% and 21% for win rates, a 40% increase in Collaboration, and a 44% increase in conversion rates of the company’s products.

So, the data shows how Salesforce is impacting the market industry and maximizing the profitability of the businesses. So, newcomers who are opting to build a career in Salesforce application development will have a bright future in the long run, as many companies will hire them for their overall functionality.

In this blog, we will discover how you can use Salesforce to get more attention for your business profitability.

What is Salesforce Lightning?

Salesforce Lightning is a next-gen CRM platform introduced in 2015 that allows users to build and share Salesforce cloud-based applications with the help of tools and technologies to build a better UI for custom app and website development.

Some of the salesforce lightning components are:

• Lightning Components– These components are like building measures to create advanced salesforce applications.
• Lightning Designs- The designs help to find errors and enhance real-time conversation and accessibility.
• Event Handling- These components help build reusable components to meet advanced web standards.
• API- It satisfies all the lightning design needs and provides security.

These components play a major role in the Salesforce lightning. But, it has some other core components such as Lightning data, lightning Connect, styling apps, creating apps, and many more.

The advantages of using Salesforce Lightning over the classic version are as follows.

• It provides an advanced interface that will enhance simplicity and encourage productivity.
• The Salesforce lightning guide provides several modern features, like a lightning locker and security standards, to provide maximum protection to the development process.
• It improves efficiency with less coding architecture.
• The Salesforce Einstein feature provides future trends by analyzing current buying patterns.
• It provides accessibility to improve updates so that the developed apps can meet user demands and modern trends.

Setting Up Your Salesforce Lightning Environment

Initial Set-up Steps

If you want to switch from Salesforce Classic to Lightning, you can get the help of a Salesforce Lightning Consultant or simply follow the steps below.

• If you are using Salesforce Classic, then at the setup page, click on the lightning experience transition assistant in the top right section.

• Click on the rollout phase.

• Then click on the launch lightning experience.

• After that, switch to the salesforce lightning migration.

After that, you can set up your Salesforce lightning basic configuration settings such as Default locale, currency, routing configuration settings, storage, and remote site settings.

Also Read: Top 7 Salesforce Integration Tools in 2024

Personalizing Your Interface

1. Steps to customize the dashboard

• Go to the Dashboard menu and click on New Dashboard.

• Rename the dashboard and add a description.

• Save the dashboard.

2. Steps To Customize The Navigation Bar

• Go to the setup menu.

• Click on The Quick Find Box and search App Manager.

• Then select the dropdown menu and select one app to customize.

• After that, click on edit.

• Then, disable the app’s feature and click on new.

• Start editing your nav menu and customize it.

3. Steps To Add Widget And Shortcuts

• Move the cursor towards the overview option and then click on widgets to add new ones.

• A new widget page will load. Name the widget.

• Add a description to it.

• Add a display icon and save the widget.

You can add shortcuts to all customized apps by simply clicking on the search bar and adding them to the shortcut folder for your convenience.

Key Features Of Salesforce Lightning

Salesforce lightning design has several advantages, such as:

• It enhanced the user interface by providing seamless access to manage, navigate, and modify to set up a user profile.
• Salesforce Lightning offers several analytics and reporting tools such as Tableau, CRM analytics, Cloud Marketing, Salesforce Einstein, etc.
• It enhances complex business task automation with its lightning flow feature and helps to avoid manual entry. It saves maximum time and delivers the product on time.
• The Lightning version helps integration to API utilization to help businesses retrieve and update the records of the Salesforce platform. At the same time, third-party integration allows different functionalities to be performed across many devices.

Navigating Through Salesforce Lightning

Dashboard Walkthrough

• The home page layout of Salesforce Lightning gives an impression of the layout when a user logs into the app. You can access all your requirements and even customize them for better accessibility.
• Some important key metrics and insights of the salesforce lightning include Lead Conversion Ratio, Pipeline inspection, Data quality, Average Contract Value, Average sales cycle lengths, etc.

Using The App Launcher

• To find and manage applications, go to the app launcher and the setup menu. In the setup menu, a quick find box is where you can launch new apps for your organization, add descriptions to each app, and save them for easy navigation. You can click on the quick view option on the app launcher to view and access your customized apps.
• Some tips for excellent navigation include:

• Customize your navigation bar in such a way that users can easily navigate through your app with a single-click feature.

• In the global search bar, you can filter your records by name, name, location, contact number, e-mail address, etc.

• Start your global actions through Salesforce Lightning’s web security features, which send e-mails and log calls to users in a secure way. 

• Use the app launcher to quickly switch between apps within the Salesforce platform.

• For better data management, use list views to display specific things to users in a definite period.

Also Read: Essential PHP Tools For Windows: A Developer’s Guide To Success

Tips For Maximizing Productivity in Salesforce Lightning

Best Practices For Daily Use

The best practices to leverage the salesforce Lightning require proper strategic synchronization to maximize business productivity.  

• For task management and calendar integration, you can use Salesforce Lightning Scheduler or record your event in the calendar view so that you can get access to all the information about your ongoing and upcoming development to boost your productivity.
• Use the activity timeline to save all the events’ records as per a scheduled timeline. Also, the timeline will sort your activities according to date, already finished, and upcoming period of time.

Leveraging Salesforce Lightning For Collaboration

• For collaborating with the team, the salesforce provides a chatter that helps communicate with the team members for regular updates about the development or any feedback among team members.
• Salesforce lightning helps to securely transmit data among the team members through different tools like chatter, reports, libraries, and links.

Common challenges And Solutions for New users

Some new users want to know what is Salesforce Lightning Experience and face some challenges in operating it. So, let’s discuss the common challenges and their solutions.

Troubleshooting Common Issues

To avoid interface customization problems, use a simple personalized UI that can be easily navigable and has all relevant layouts. Also, hide unnecessary layouts or components and keep your record page organized and up to date.

If you are facing problems regarding data migration challenges from the classic to the lightning version, then you can start documentation of changes you made in the classic and transmit them to lightning solutions after auditing the migratory reports.

Resources For Further Assistance

If you are new to the Salesforce platform and facing challenges, then Salesforce Lightning Inspector has created a centralized platform for engaging with business information, queries, and interaction with customers. 

To enhance communication, you should customize the Salesforce community setup and expand it to build a stronger community. Salesforce has its own forums, such as Trailblazer and Customer Collaboration Forum, for better communication.

To avoid facing challenges, you can attend in-person Salesforce training and live classes to get knowledge about new learning paths, interact with Salesforce experts, and get a certification as a reward. 

Some of the Salesforce Lightning CRM features include Opportunity Workspace, Lightning app builder, page templates, kanban view, and many more.

Unlock The Full Potential Of Salesforce Lightning-Get Started Now!

Salesforce Lightning has several benefits that enhance business productivity, and integration with other advanced features provides customer satisfaction by enabling user experience. 

If you ask  Salesforce Lightning Expert who develops salesforce apps for business owners, they will see how the Salesforce Lightning version helps their businesses automate business operations with optimum security and enable market analytics to know the future trends that leverage business activities.

So, enhance your salesforce application development through the Lightning version, enable your customer or client to emerge with your developed apps without facing any hassle, and boost your customer satisfaction now with the Salesforce Lightning Guide!