FACT CHECKED
It is in human nature to question new things. They’re unfamiliar, they require us to change our ways, and we’re suspicious of their value.
The history of mankind is chock-full with examples of misjudged inventions and ideas. In fact, Business Insider has a great list of the most ridiculously underestimated products that later became part of our daily lives.
Even the umbrella is on the list, because British gentlemen in the mid 18th century initially rejected the idea of a device that could help you avoid getting soaking wet in the rain. It was seen more as a device for women to protect themselves from the sun.
The point is that humans don’t adopt new products easily. This is more evident than ever in the digital era.
The fast development of technology prompts people to learn and master new digital trends almost on a daily basis. Most modern enterprises are plagued by the problem of slow onboarding to digital products. This is true for both customers and employees.
Every time product adoption is poor, users become frustrated and disengaged. This leads to poor productivity, churn, and reduced profits.
It’s on this premise that the Digital Adoption Platform (DAP) was born. This tool was specifically designed to facilitate technological onboarding and product adoption. Based on machine learning technology, the DAP serves as a guide for people navigating new digital systems and platforms.
In this article, we’ll look at some real, positive product adoption experiences that have led to an improvement both in the company’s productivity and customer experience.
True stories of successful product adoption
1. HP Indigo
Hewlett-Packard, a tech industry giant, found great value in using the DAP to educate their customers in how to use their printing presses. HP Indigo develops printers for commercial purposes, working with large printing companies.
HP strives not only to provide customers with reliable products but also excellent customer support. The onboarding process is a crucial element of this support. It’s the time when they teach new customers how to use their products effectively.
Historically, this process was time-consuming and labor-intensive. But once HP began optimizing this process using a Digital Adoption Platform, they started to see rapid results.
The DAP delivered “walk-throughs” for clients, training them in the basics and providing help with frequently occurring issues in product adoption and effective usage.
This resulted in a much shorter adoption time for new customers and reduced the cost of support. In addition, this one small change created positive ripples throughout the client’s business by boosting their productivity and encouraging innovation.
2. Microsoft Bing Ads
Microsoft has a long history of introducing pioneering products. Their leadership understood that in order to get loyal customers, they needed to provide quality education on how to use their products in the right way.
One of the most iconic failed examples of product adoption is MS Office Assistant.
The infamous paperclip app, Clippit, within Microsoft Word was introduced to offer users help and advice. However, the humble guide was “retired” with the next generation of MS products.
While the idea was innovative, product adoption was poor.
But Microsoft didn’t give up on the idea of educating people about how to use their products. Years later, they employed the DAP to better onboard customers to Microsoft Bing Ads.
In order to solve common customer issues with the adoption of their advertising platform, MS decided to supplement Bing Ads with an integrated layer of ready-made solutions, delivered by the DAP.
They added walk-throughs to help customers get to grips with problematic areas of the platform, along with user guides for FAQs. As a result, the time needed to master their advertising platform shortened by 13%.
3. Apple
When Apple came up with their mesmerizing iPhones, it was true innovation in the marketplace. But outstanding marketing campaigns to win the hearts and minds of customers was not enough — they had to make people fully appreciate the functionality of their devices.
As time passed and new models were rolled out, Apple understood the importance of onboarding customers not through manuals or video presentations but with integrated intuitive software.
So, when you buy a new Apple gadget, it begins to educate you from the get-go. Starting from when you choose the language, it provides you with pop-up guidance and tips on how to use certain features, for example, how to create an iCloud account.
Apple focused on lowering the number of user issues with Apple Pay, reducing it from 31% to 22.6% within 2 years, which secured their fintech product on the market. And it was all thanks to a well-made onboarding training platform.
To sum up…
Good product adoption is critical to enterprises today. That’s why a decent DAP can be your best friend when it comes to breaking down the wall of misunderstanding between your users and your digital products.
The purpose of a Digital Adoption Platform is to make people understand and use technologies the way they were meant to be used. This means a better customer experience and improved user productivity, which results in better profits.
