If you’re not thinking about the product adoption lifecycle, chances are you’re bleeding money.
We all want our shiny new tools and apps to take off like a rocket ship, but Rome wasn’t built in a day, and that’s precisely what we’re going to address today.
We’re here to walk through tried-and-true tactics to take your product to the stratosphere — and beyond.
We’ll cover:
- What is the product adoption lifecycle?
- Stages of the product adoption lifecycle
- Innovators
- How to improve adoption rates
Let’s get started.
What is the product adoption lifecycle?
The product adoption lifecycle refers to the stages customers go through when adopting a new product.
There are five main stages: Innovators, early adopters, early majority, late majority, and laggards. Innovators are the techies and visionaries willing to take a chance on something new. Early adopters are influencers who set trends and shape opinions.
If you want widespread adoption, you need to move customers through these stages.
The idea is to understand your target customers and tailor your marketing and support to match where they are in the adoption lifecycle. Give people what they need to move to the next stage, whether that's proof of concepts, case studies, training programs, or community support.
Understanding the stages of the product adoption lifecycle
As we’ve already gone over, the product adoption lifecycle breaks down how people adopt new products into five stages.
This idea comes from the “Diffusion of Innovations” theory by Everett M. Rogers. The focus of his initial paper (back in 1962) was on the way new technological ideas about agriculture spread; it's still widely used today.
Note: The percentage statistics provided in this blog are based on rough estimates from this theory and may vary by industry.
Let’s take a look:
- Innovators. These trailblazers love being the first to try new things. They’re willing to take risks on unproven technology and endure a few hiccups along the way. While innovators only make up about 2.5% of the population, their excitement for the new and shiny can help generate buzz.
- The early adopters. There are about 13.5% of people who are more pragmatic but still want to gain a competitive advantage. They’re open to new ideas but need to see concrete results and benefits before fully committing. Focus your efforts on these visionaries by emphasizing how your product can improve their lives.
- Early majority. Making up around 34% of the population, the early majority is more practical and risk-averse. They need social proof and word-of-mouth recommendations before adoption. This group is less interested in bells and whistles and more concerned with proven functionality.
Highlight how your product solves key pain points and back it up with customer success stories and testimonials.
- Late majority. Another estimated 34% of people are skeptical of change and new technology. They only adopt when the mainstream has embraced a product and peer pressure kicks in. At this point, focus on widespread awareness, education, and the overall popularity and prevalence of your product.
- Laggards. Last but not least are the laggards who strongly resist change. They make up the remaining 16% and only come around when new products have become the norm. Don’t worry too much about targeting this group — if your product is truly transformative, they’ll eventually follow the crowd.
How to improve adoption rates with actionable strategies
Improving adoption rates is the cornerstone of success.
Here are some tips to get more people on board the product adoption train:
Develop a user-friendly onboarding process
First impressions count. If the onboarding process is complicated or confusing, you’ve lost them already. You want to make signing up and getting started a cinch.
Here’s how:
- Make the onboarding process as quick and easy as possible. Aim for users to be up and running within 5 minutes.
- Provide step-by-step guidance and instructions for key tasks. Use screenshots, videos, and interactive demos.
- Highlight the top 3 to 5 benefits or features on the onboarding pages. Focus on the most important value first.
- Give users a guided tutorial or demo of the product's value. Show, don't just tell.
- Have a clear "Get Started" or "Let's Go" button. This lets users click and begin actually using the product.
- Provide live chat or in-app messaging support during onboarding. In case users get stuck, they have an immediate lifeline.
- Follow up via email after onboarding to see if users need any additional help and gather feedback. They’ll really appreciate you going the extra mile.
- Continually test and improve your onboarding process based on user feedback and behavior metrics. Don’t just go by feel; iterate from data, and you’ll get where you want to be.
Provide comprehensive training and support
Don’t just throw people into the deep end of the pool and expect them to figure it out. Offer resources to help them learn how to properly use your product.
- This could include video tutorials, webinars, documentation, or live chat support. The more you teach people how your product can help them, the more likely they are to become dedicated users.
- Invest in good training materials to get users up to speed. Offer self-guided options like PDF guides and video tutorials, as well as live training sessions with an expert instructor.
- Check in with new users to see what additional resources would be helpful. The more hand-holding you provide to get people started, the likelier they are to stick around long-term.
- Offer incentives for completing training. This could be as simple as a "certified user" badge or public recognition.
- Listen to feedback on what features or workflows are confusing. Then make improvements to the product and accompanying guides.
Pin down barriers to adoption
Sometimes there are obstacles preventing people from fully adopting a product that have nothing to do with the product itself. Do some research to determine what’s stopping your target audience from getting on board.
Find out exactly what the obstacles are by conducting surveys, interviews, or focus groups with customers. Ask them what challenges they face in adopting your product.
Here’s how you can get out of these situations:
- Identify and remove any usability issues or complicated steps in the onboarding process that create friction for new users. You want to think in streamlined terms, so if it’s not working, it’s got to go or change.
- Offer support and guidance for unfamiliar parts of the product. Give tips, tutorials, and FAQs that explain how to accomplish tasks and overcome learning curves.
- Think about different pricing plans if cost is a major barrier. Options like free trials, discounted subscriptions, or perpetual licenses may help users get started.
- If time constraints are an issue, look for ways to simplify the product workflow or automate monotonous processes. You want to reduce the overall amount of steps users need to take.
- Communicate openly with customers to gain their trust. Show that you understand the obstacles and are actively working to remove them — be responsive and transparent in your efforts to improve adoption.
Actually use customer feedback
The more you focus on the customer experience and ease of use, the faster and farther that product adoption train will go. Keep making incremental improvements and before you know it, you’ll have a whole fleet of new users on board and ready for the ride.
Here’s how you can get started:
- Ask current users for specific examples of what helped them understand and adopt the product. If your product is connecting with your audience, they’ll love telling you about it!
- Gather stories from early adopters who overcame obstacles to share as examples and inspiration for other users. As an added bonus, they’ll feel like they’re part of making the product better.
- Identify the top 3-5 pain points or difficulties new users commonly face and provide targeted help for each one. This will feel like you’re actively listening to your community.
- Survey new users who did not complete onboarding to find out what prevented them from fully adopting the product. They’ll value you being there for them and may reconsider their choice.
- Offer an "adoption buddy" service where new users are paired with an existing user mentor for guidance and support.
- Regularly ask for feedback on how to improve the new user and adoption experience. Of course, you’ll want to do this in a constructive and non-critical manner.
Summing up
We've covered the whole product adoption lifecycle from innovators to laggards.
Now you're armed with tactics to onboard users, smash adoption barriers, and turn feedback into product improvements.
Remember: With the right mix of UX, marketing, and TLC for your users, you'll have them adopting your product faster than ever before.
Next steps
Feeling overwhelmed by the whole product adoption lifecycle? Let Lindy take the reins.
Here's how Lindy can help you with product adoption:
- One-stop shop: Lindy handles knowledge bases, surveys, feedback, emails, support tickets, lead generation, sales, and more. The kicker? All of these Lindy agents (“Lindies”) can interact with each other for better results!
- Easy to get started: Setting up Lindy is as easy as pie — no technical expertise or coding required.
- Fits right in: Lindy integrates seamlessly with your existing tools and data, with over 3,000 integrations available.
- Create awesome onboarding experiences: Develop a seamless onboarding experience for your innovators and early adopters, guiding them through your product's key features and benefits with personalized tutorials and interactive demos.
- Make social proof your friend: Leverage Lindy to gather and showcase testimonials, case studies, and success stories from your early adopters, building trust and credibility with the early and late majority.
- Educate and inform customers: Create targeted educational content, tutorials, and webinars with Lindy's help, addressing the concerns and questions of the late majority and laggards.
- Get the kind of feedback you can use: Continuously collect and analyze user feedback to understand pain points, improve your product, and adapt your messaging to resonate with each stage of the adoption lifecycle.
- Always available: Lindy works around the clock to answer questions and qualify leads.
- Human touch when needed: Lindy knows when to bring in a human teammate for more complex issues.
- Speaks your language: Teach Lindy your brand voice, and it will communicate like a true team member.
- Constantly improving: Lindy learns from your feedback and adapts to provide even better service over time.
