Test Automation for Salesforce Teams: What to Automate and Why

There’s a point in almost every Salesforce implementation where someone says, “Let’s automate the testing.” It sounds like the obvious next step and it can be, if there’s a Salesforce test automation strategy behind it.

So the work begins. Tests are built around the UI. Happy paths are scripted. Logins and field clicks are covered. Everything looks good on paper.

Then a small change breaks a dozen tests.
The suite starts to feel brittle.
People stop trusting the results.

What was meant to bring clarity now creates confusion.
Not because automation is a bad idea, but because it started without a strategy.

Why Salesforce automation needs a different approach

Salesforce doesn’t behave like a traditional stack. It combines declarative flows, Apex code, metadata, third-party packages, and permission-driven user logic. What works in one context may break silently in another, depending on role, data, or org configuration.

That means automation isn’t just about coverage or tool choice. It’s about understanding how the system behaves across layers and roles. Many tools can simulate clicks or push test data. Few help you decide what actually matters.

UI testing alone won’t give you confidence in complex flow logic. Testing only as an admin user won’t catch permission or sharing issues. And relying on scripts that follow pixel-perfect paths doesn’t survive minor release changes. What you automate and why matters more than how many scripts you produce.

If you’re newer to Salesforce testing, Salesforce also offers a helpful Trailhead module on testing types that reinforces the importance of strategy, not just scripts.

Where teams go wrong

Too many Salesforce teams begin automating before their flows are stable, before edge cases are understood, and before there is agreement on what “working” really means.

They wire up regression cases too early and too broadly.
They automate every user action instead of business-critical outcomes.
They run tests with elevated permissions and miss real-world behaviors.
They select tools before aligning on purpose.
And they often assume automation is the end goal rather than a way to gain insight.

Some teams write unit tests primarily because Salesforce requires 75% coverage to deploy, but that number alone doesn’t equal quality.

Without a clear risk-based strategy, the result is often a growing library of automated checks that don’t answer the only question that matters: can we trust this release?

Key decisions in your Salesforce test automation strategy

The best automation doesn’t try to cover everything. It focuses on flows that are stable, repeatable, and tied to business impact. These are the processes you want to verify every time you deploy, like opportunity progression, quote approval, onboarding logic, or key escalations.

It also favors automation that reflects how users actually interact with the system. That means testing flows with real profiles, not just as sys admin. It means testing at the metadata or API layer where possible, rather than relying entirely on fragile UI scripts. And it means validating outcomes, not just actions.

For teams looking to think strategically about what to automate, Gojko Adzic’s Test Impact Mapping is a practical way to visualize what matters most and why.

Automation should make thinking easier, not harder.
It should give your team signal, not noise.

What we’ve seen work

We’ve helped teams with massive automation libraries, hundreds of tests running across environments. On the surface, it looked impressive. But when something broke, they had no idea why. Their coverage looked high, but confidence was low.

We’ve also worked with smaller teams who automated far less but chose their targets wisely. They aligned testing with business logic, not screen clicks. They layered their approach, combining automated checks with manual exploration. And they reviewed their automation regularly, treating it as a living part of delivery, not a one-off milestone.

The difference wasn’t tools or headcount.
It was clarity. And timing.

A better mindset

The most useful question you can ask isn’t what can we automate. It’s where do we lose trust when we release.

Start there: that’s your Salesforce test automation strategy Mindset.

Let that guide what you test, when you test, and how you validate.

Automation isn’t a replacement for QA. It’s a way to focus your attention, reduce cognitive load, and support decision-making when the stakes are high.

If you automate too much, you stop thinking. If you automate too little, you lose coverage. But if you automate with purpose, you’ll get something rare in return: clarity in a complex system.

Want help with your automation strategy?

If you’re not sure what to automate or where to begin, we can help. That includes hands-on automation, Salesforce QA strategy at a higher level, or even QA for AI.
Book a QA assessment or explore our Salesforce QA services to build automation that works, not just in theory but in practice.