Your employees are trained on your software, but have they actually adopted it? Do they understand and use the robust features designed to make their lives easier? Or have they simply learned enough to perform their basic job functions, while clinging to their tried-and-true methods to complete more advanced tasks?
For some workers, the initial investment of time is a barrier to learning all the features of new software. For others, user buy-in may be a factor in trusting that a guided tool could increase time efficiency and eliminate more mundane tasks such as complex reporting. To maximize your company’s financial investment and increase business efficiencies, all your employees must achieve full product adoption.
Here’s how to make it happen.
Product Adoption 101
At its core, product adoption is the process of learning how to fully utilize all the features of a software program, application, or website. It takes the user beyond basic functionality and into rich operation. A user who has fully adopted your company’s technology will understand its value, recognize the personal benefit to using it in their day-to-day workflow, and will be excited about using the product. This not only increases user confidence but also increases utilization rates of existing software.
Being Intentional About Product Adoption
Because product adoption is much different than casual use, your organization needs to be intentional about product adoption. Without a clear strategy to move your employees from user to adopter, it’s entirely possible to have a large number of employees who regularly use your software – and even appear to be experts – but never actually access some of the more robust features or use it to its full potential.
It’s like buying the latest phone with facial recognition, hands-free operation, and a 48-megapixel camera and only using it for text messaging.
To effectively help your employees achieve product adoption, you need a strategic and well-designed process that convinces your users it’s worth it to invest their valuable time into additional learning opportunities.
How Can You Help Your Employees Adopt Your Product?
Empowering employees early in the onboarding process with streamlined and guided training encourages regular software use. Instead of lengthy and hard to understand training modules, stick to the fundamentals. Once an employee is up and running, it may be difficult to convince or re-engage them back for additional training. It’s also important to set them up for long-term success.
Here are some things you can do to encourage your employees to go beyond basic product use and achieve full product adoption:
- Send consistent messages about the product’s value and its direct benefit to the user.
- Provide incentives for completing more advanced training.
- Offer workload support so they have time to invest in effective training.
- Share real-world examples of how advanced adoption has benefited employees.
- Compare software results vs. previous methods to demonstrate an increase in efficiency and time savings.
Intuitive Product Adoption
Shorten the time to product adoption with Apty, the must-have business tool to save time, money, and resources! Apty works with your existing business software to make product adoption intuitive. With in-app guided navigation and real-time support, your employees will deepen their understanding of your software during actual everyday use.
