The market is brimming with software companies and several products that are actually capable of solving critical everyday problems. But the adoption of these products and their features often remains a challenge for organizational use as a whole.
The complexity of the interface, difficulty in accessing features, and inadequate support are common reasons for employees to use new products half-heartedly.
Therefore, the goal of businesses is to get their employees actively using the products as it will result in improved productivity and higher ROIs.
Regardless of the business and marketing model, the users’ adoption of technology in their routine tasks influences how smartly they work on a daily basis, thus contributing to the success of an organization in the long run.
The introduction of new technology should make their work easier and more streamlined. However, introducing a fresh product into people’s lives requires some effort. And there is a huge reason behind the hesitation.
Accelerating product adoption equals change
Traditionally speaking, change management definition refers to how businesses handle various changes, for instance, implementation of new tech, upgrades to existing processes, and shifts in the organizational hierarchy.
Even if your organization adopts the best tools in the market and the most effective strategy to make them fit your workforce’s needs; you cannot overlook the importance of change management.
Successful product adoption involves putting the technological implementation in a business context, tying it to a strategy, and infusing a proper sense of urgency.
Therefore, you must plan your workforce’s product adoption journey and help them navigate through it faster using the following actionable tips:
An intuitive user interface (UI) or other features are necessary to reduce trouble and deliver a great user experience. However, you must remember only satisfied employees will wholly benefit from the product, happily resort to its upgrades, and even recommend it to others.
However, the thing is, you must not rely only on intuitive interfaces to make your product stand out. New users need some extra “hand-holding” to achieve the results they have in mind while trying your product.
To help them achieve value from the product features, you must help them learn how to leverage the new technology effectively. You can do so by delivering interactive in-product tips, tutorials, and walkthroughs all year round.
Conducting such virtual training sessions for your workforce periodically will help show users how the product works and how they can use it to solve their problems or do their job. You can get the tips coded into the product or use already available tools to do it on your own.
2. Group and re-engage users through emails
Strengthen internal communication with email. It is a powerful method for your marketers to reach their audience (i.e., a specific department), and it can do wonders if you personalize it. Accelerate product adoption by sending emails throughout the user lifecycle.
The critical component of a great email strategy is segmentation. It helps you identify key user segments. They may be ones whose plans are about to expire soon or those who already have access to the latest product features but are not actively using them.
You can create separate campaigns to pitch the new features of your product to these employee groups. While it helps you retain them as enthusiastic users, it also improves product adoption.
3. Host webinars and live demos to help train and upsell employees
Webinars and live demos are perfect for boosting conversions and lead acquisition. They allow you to show details rather than tell. These modes help you deliver interactive content through the video format making it more effective for product adoption than just text.
You can deliver product presentations and effectively train your employees on using the product. A visual representation is easy to follow and allows viewers to discover features or functions they already do not know about.
Viewers can easily participate by asking questions, and you can use the opportunity to take them a step further in their adoption journey. Easing any apprehensions your workforce may have about the product helps embrace it open-heartedly.
4. Create a buzz about the upcoming product
The idea of a new product or feature launch is to get the word out there, so your employee base will know about it. Only if they know about your offering will they be interested in trying what you have introduced.
You must, therefore, plan marketing campaigns that generate awareness through digital and traditional means about the new product.
A well-planned internal marketing campaign helps your employees understand how the product solves their day-to-day challenges, allowing you to remove roadblocks associated with the new technology early on.
Targeted campaigns encourage further engagement from your workforce — informing them about the benefits so that they are able to adapt your new products with ease.
5. Reduce product complexities through content
Complexity slows product adoption, and it must be reduced to help your employees. An effective way to achieve it is by educating them. You can collect feedback from them and use it to identify their areas of concern.
Analyze the feedback and build a strategy to address the issues. Create content such as blog posts, eBooks, videos, and infographics on internal forums and intranet to address adoption concerns.
The content should be easily consumable, engaging, and informative. Include the distribution of the content in your internal training strategy. It will easily capture the attention of your employees. A proactive attempt to reduce complexity will ensure higher product adoption.
Strategies to Speed Up New Product Adoption Process
Here are some actionable strategies to speed up the product adoption process:
- Share tips and product walkthroughs.
- Group and re-engage users through emails.
- Host webinars and live demos to help train and upsell employees.
- Create a buzz about the upcoming product.
- Reduce product complexities through content.
Change is inevitable. New technologies will continue to enthral us across sectors. Therefore, product adoption in itself is an essential factor in the long-term success of an organization. The best way to get your workforce on board with it is by using a blend of these product adoption techniques.
You need to ensure the product is readily available for your employees for the strategy to work. You must avoid the “implement it, and they will adapt” approach and spread awareness about your product across platforms to reach a broader audience base.
Strategizing the product adoption process will increase the rate at which your workforce responds to it positively.
Hazel Raoult is a freelance marketing writer and works with PRmention. She has 6+ years of experience in writing about business, entrepreneurship, marketing and all things SaaS. Hazel loves to split her time between writing, editing, and hanging out with her family.
