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It is inherent in humans to get too comfortable with old systems.
Technology keeps evolving, offering us better ways to solve problems. But our reluctance to change makes some of these solutions come off as too complicated for us. This could make what was designed to help in the first place, become a point of frustration. This is why User Adoption Strategies are being designed.
User Adoption is a method of assisting and guiding users in embracing new systems, such as software or any other technological innovation that has been designed to make their lives better.
The purpose of these strategies is to give a first-hand guide to users of new technological innovations for maximum benefit in terms of productivity, engagement, and software returns on investment (ROI).
The previous article already captured a summarized view of what User Adoption is. In this article, we will be diving deeper into how to find ways to design & implement user adoption strategies.
Designing and implementing a user adoption strategy
The ideal user adoption strategy should consist of the following key phases:
- Have a game plan
- Launch a campaign
- Have an engagement plan
- Have a means of measuring progress
The User Adoption Strategy to be designed and subsequently adopted for a particular software or product, depends on so many factors. Some of which include:
- Your Target customers.
- The kind of product or service
- Level of engagement of your customers.
In the subsequent subheadings, we’d be taking you through the ways to design a user adoption strategy and how to implement it to ensure your intending customers do not churn.
User adoption strategies
As explained earlier, user adoption strategies are step-by-step programs and techniques implemented to guide users in embracing new systems.
User adoption strategies help to assess how well people are adopting new technologies or even existing ones while trying to improve the rate of adoption.
User adoption strategy template
A user adoption strategy template consists of the following phases:
Phase 1: Aim and strategize
This phase consists of the following steps:
- Adoption of a game plan
- Identify stakeholders
- Conduct end-user survey
- Create an adoption plan.
Phase 2: Promote and prepare
This phase consists of the following steps:
- Internal launch campaign
- Communication templates
- Posters
- Town Hall meetings
Phase 3: Understand and educate
This phase consists of the following steps:
- Engagement plan
- Appoint ambassadors
- Use case workshops
- End-user training
Phase 4: Enable and excite
This phase consists of the following steps:
- Organize live sessions
- End-user self-help
- Launch event
- Live session support
Phase 5: Measure and reinforce
This phase consists of the following steps:
- Organize nurture campaigns, both live and online
- Adoption assessments
- Optimization initiatives
User adoption metrics examples
User Adoption metrics are practical ways of assessing the rate of adoption of new technologies. Below are a few examples:
- Product adoption rate.
- Time-to-first key action.
- Percentage of users who performed the key action for the first time.
- Several Daily/Monthly Active Users.
- Percentage of Daily/Monthly Active Users.
- Average Usage Frequency.
Product adoption strategy
Product adoption strategy is simply user adoption in the context of a product.
It is a method of assessing how well people are adopting a new product while trying to improve the rate of adoption.
When a product is released, people are bound to give it the first trial. Some people churn, that is, opt-out after the first trial.
Product Adoption Strategy is the cumulative effort that the product owners put in place to reduce the total number of people who churn to the barest minimum. It is a system of ensuring that a very large percentage of people keep using the product and eventually adopt it wholly.
There are 6 stages of Product Adoption Strategy:
- Product Awareness
- Product Interest
- Product Evaluation
- Product Trial
- Product Activation, and
- Product Adoption
Product Awareness:
This is the first step in coming up with a product adoption strategy. It is the stage in which you allow people who would eventually be your customers to be aware of the new product or existing product for which you are creating the product adoption strategy.
Product Interest:
If the product stirs up interest in people, they go on to check it out. Interest is measured in terms of relevance to use. That is, whether or not the product helps to improve the condition of their lives and work.
Product Evaluation:
At this stage, the intending users begin to weigh their options, reviewing the advantages and disadvantages of taking up the new product.
Product owners should leverage this stage to show off their strengths as well as the strengths of their products and advantage over other products.
They could also reduce the cost of testing their products to attract more intending customers who would proceed to the next stage.
Product Trial:
In this stage, the products are tested by the intended users. Product owners could give out free trials at this stage to create traffic.
Product Activation:
This is the stage where a user commits to using a product, long term. At this point, they like the product and are willing to fully commit to it.
Product owners should strengthen and expose users to all the benefits that come with the package to keep all these customers.
Product Adoption:
This is the final stage where the user chooses to stick to the product or to churn.
At this stage, it is important that the product owners prime users further to strengthen their convictions that the product is right for them.
Software adoption plan template
Software adoption, like user adoption, is a way of assessing how well people are adopting new software or an existing one while trying to improve the rate of adoption.
Here are some things to put in place in coming up with a software adoption plan:
- Building an on-ramp :
This simply involves giving people a platform where basic things are explained to them and expectation is increased before now bringing them onto the dashboard created.
It is an activation step for a first-time user experience.
- Create a support network:
This brings all the customers together.
It could be an online group where customers can just ask each other random questions on how they walked through certain challenges in their software adoption journey.
- Project a future:
When people realize they are a part of something that can in the long term change the course of their lives, they want to do all they can to stay in that course and contribute to it.
- Monitor for lows:
You could use a traffic light system to monitor how active accounts are from time to time.
So when you detect a problem, say the account moves from green to red, your support team should reach out and do all they can to bring this customer back on board.
Final Note
User adoption plans are very necessary. They help build a community of product users who are well informed about their products and are getting maximum satisfaction from them.
When customers are satisfied, the full aim of any product, software, or service is achieved.
