Customizing Salesforce Page Layouts: Small Changes That Can Make A Big Impact
You’ve done the hard part—bringing Salesforce into your organization, getting it up and running, and making sure your team has the training to use the platform. But even with all that effort, something’s not clicking. Adoption feels slower than expected. Some users are frustrated. And a few “creative” workarounds are popping up.
Sound familiar? You’re not alone.
The good news: there’s an easy, non-technical way to boost adoption and improve the overall experience. It starts with a small but powerful change—adjusting your page layouts.
Often overlooked, customizing Salesforce page layouts is one of the simplest ways to make Salesforce work better for your team. With just a few clicks, you can tailor the interface by role, make screens more intuitive, and help users complete tasks more effectively without needing a developer. Especially for nonprofits, it’s a basic move with big value.
What Are Salesforce Page Layouts?
Page layouts are fundamental to the Salesforce user experience. They determine how information gets presented—what fields show up, which buttons are available, and how everything is organized on the screen. When designed well, they help users move quickly through tasks, find what they need, and enter accurate data. When they’re cluttered or outdated, frustration builds and adoption suffers.
What makes page layouts so powerful is their flexibility. You can customize them based on user roles and record types, so different teams only see the information that matters to them. A fundraising team might need donation history front and center, while program staff care more about service information. With the right layout, each group gets a tailored experience that aligns with their workflow. These small adjustments matter when it comes to getting teams to interact with Salesforce daily.
How Do You Customize Salesforce Page Layouts?
You can start customizing Salesforce page layouts by heading over to Setup and selecting Object Manager. Locate the object you want to work with and click on Page Layouts. Now you can view and edit existing page layouts or create new ones.
Page layouts offer a lot of customization for how records look and function for different users. This Galvin favorite hits the mark on three big Salesforce goals—which also happen to be our top reasons for loving it:
Improved User Experience
A well-designed user interface makes Salesforce more intuitive, user-friendly, and easier to learn. Just like cleaning your house, the first step for a better user experience is decluttering the page. Use page layouts to organize data and prioritize relevant content. Identify actions that go together. For example, if the typical user workflow involves scheduling a call, taking notes, and following up with an email, group those actions together on the page. As with a news article, users typically want the most important information within the top 20-30% of the page. Apply that rule to your layout.
Next, leverage the power of Dynamic Page Layouts and Conditional Lightning Components. This allows you to expose critical data points to users based on their role. So, someone focused on sales and another focused on service can have two completely different views inside Salesforce customized to their job role, data needs, and task requirements. That job role customization also applies to Related List Views, which display related records from other objects without having to navigate to separate records.
Address form and function preferences with the concept of “comfy” and “compact” page layouts. User roles wanting to avoid being overwhelmed by too many fields or data may gravitate toward a comfy layout, which offers more space on the page and between elements. A compact view maximizes the need for speed by packing more information into a smaller space to avoid scrolling.
And finally, one of our favorite page layout enhancements: Salesforce Path and Guidance to visually lead users through a defined process. This feature promotes adoption by giving users a framework for managing their work within the system, including help for common things like advancing stages or completing the correct fields.
Increased Productivity
Designing smarter page layouts doesn’t just make Salesforce easier to use, it helps your team get more done. By streamlining how information appears on the screen, you can reduce the number of clicks it takes to complete a task and make everyday workflows more efficient.
Start by thinking about what different users need to see. A manager might want a quick view of their team’s performance while a frontline fundraiser or program staff need easy access to their pipeline or caseload. With persona-based layouts and custom dashboards tied to Salesforce apps for different user groups, each user can operate from on a page that’s built around their responsibilities.
Field-level help text is another underused but powerful tool. Clear instructions right where users need them can cut down on confusion, prevent data entry errors, and reduce the need for follow-up training.
Pay attention to naming conventions and number sequences for list views. They should be logical and easy to understand by the end user (E.g., “1 – My Active Donors”). Organize list views according to how the team works and avoid the endless scroll that kills productivity.
As for entering data, take advantage of inline editing in list views and reports. This may be a feature you need to turn on. Letting users update records without opening each one individually can shave valuable time off routine tasks. Validation rules also help ensure clean data for the required fields without slowing users down. Just make sure the validation messages are clear, not cryptic.
Combine all these elements and you’ve got a Salesforce platform that supports your team by making every day more productive.
Enhanced Engagement
People are more likely to use Salesforce if it feels like a natural extension of their work environment—and even better, if it’s a space they want to use. Optimizing Salesforce page layouts play a major role in that, but they’re just the beginning when it comes to creating a more engaging user interface.
Start with the big picture: themes and branding. You can align the entire look and feel of Salesforce with your organization’s colors, logos, and identity. A customized login page using your logo and lingo makes the experience feel familiar from the first click. It’s a subtle but powerful way to reinforce that Salesforce is your organization’s system, not just another out-of-the-box tool.
From there, lean into rich text components. These customizable content blocks help highlight key updates, link to important resources, or just create a friendly message that welcomes users when they log in. Whether it’s a reminder to complete a task or a shoutout to someone, rich text makes your pages feel alive and interactive.
And then there’s Celebration—a fun, confetti effect when users complete milestones like closing an opportunity or finishing a key task. It may seem small, but those little encouraging moments can boost morale and keep users coming back.
When Salesforce is visually appealing and clearly connected to your organization’s identity, users are more likely to stay engaged. And when users are engaged, adoption—and impact—follows.
Make Page Layouts Work Harder, So Your Users Don’t Have To
Customizing Salesforce page layouts is more than just a design tool. It’s a secret weapon for better engagement, cleaner data, and increased efficiency. With the right setup, you can guide users to exactly what they need, when they need it, so every click feels effortless.
Want to bring these kinds of smart layouts to life? Galvin knows good design. We build layouts that work for users, not against them. From page setups to workflow tweaks to role-based customization, we’ll help you unlock Salesforce’s full potential with layouts that drive engagement, speed up work, and make the whole platform feel tailor-made.
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We’d love to work with you on your Salesforce needs. Our team of certified Consultants can work closely with your team to close more deals. Call us at 317-297-2910 or complete the form below.
