Product adoption is the process by which users become acquainted with a new product or a service and become long-term users of it. Improving product adoption creates a healthy core user base that fully appreciates the value of your product.
Why Is Adoption Important for the Success of Your Product?
Product adoption is one of the most important business goals as it leads to higher customer retention, reduces churn, and creates a predictable revenue flow. Product adoption allows users to make the most of additional features, reducing time-to-value.The climactic effect of successful adoption leads to product adoration that can create advocates and bring more potential customers to your product.
How Can You Measure the Rate of Product Adoption?
Tomer Sharon, head of user research and metrics at Goldman Sachs, prescribes this formula:Adoption rate = Number of new users/Total number of users
(for any given period)
For example, to calculate the adoption rate for January:
- Use the total number of users who used the feature for the first time any day between January 1 and 31 (500)
- Divide that number by the total number of users as of January 31 (1,000).
- This means your rate of adoption is 500/1000 = 50 percent.
How Can You Improve the Rate of Product Adoption Through Training?
Exhibiting value effectively during the trial, onboarding, and training period is necessary to create lasting relationships with customers. Here are a few tips to create sound product training:Keep Training Relevant
Understanding the user base is vital to effective product training. The utility of your product can vary based on the goals and functions of users. Product training should be customized and adapted to user profiles.
Create Engaging Training
Engaged users are more likely to try out new features, feel more confident, and have a shorter time-to-value with your product. Good engagement is a precursor to adoption and ultimately product success. Gamification of training through point-based leaderboards, mini-games, and quizzes keep users engaged with the training process. Reward learning progress and the achievement of objectives.
Make Training Accessible
Learners today want the freedom to learn wherever and whenever they want. The portability of training across devices fits the busy schedules and unique learning tendencies of users. Learning nuggets can be made available in multiple formats such as audio, video, or text. Offline accessibility of content can aid training in remote environments where users may not have access to a steady internet connection. The advantages of improved accessibility go beyond serving users with disabilities.
Measure the Effectiveness of Training
Measuring training effectiveness through learner satisfaction provides designers an opportunity to continuously improve their learning solutions. Users can offer insightful feedback while they are engaged with the training.
Feedback is invaluable to training and product managers and can shape the trajectory of your product as well as training programs. For instance, the Kirkpatrick model offers four levels of learning evaluation: customer satisfaction (internal and external), learner performance, change in learner behavior, and return on investment.
How can these tips be effectively leveraged through training?
- Role-based training. Understand learner profiles before creating a training program. Conduct a pre-assessment to exact the expectation of users from your product and provide the means to achieve them. For example, if your product is an image manipulation tool, it may be useful to graphic designers and photographers to color-correct digital images or to design web page layouts. The training intervention for a graphic designer is different from that of a photographer. Compile modules using role- and function-based learning paths to personalize training intervention.
- Scenario-based training. The best way to exhibit the core and additional features of your product is by setting it in the context of real-world applications. This makes scenario-based training highly effective in conveying product utility. Navigating a scenario facilitates the application of product knowledge and product features to solve problems.
- Just-in-time training. According to one LinkedIn report, 49 percent of learners prefer learning at the point-of-need. Product training should be a continuous process based on complexity, relevance, and the level of proficiency required to make the most of your product. Providing advanced training to beginner-level users can create frustration and disengagement. Microlearning modules offer bite-sized learning focusing on specific training objectives that are keenly attuned to the needs of a user.
Focusing your product adoption strategy based on the tips above can lead to strong product training that will propel the success of your product.
