What is feature adoption?

Article 17/34 about #productmanagement with a focus on Hard skills.

Feature Adoption, or feature adoption, is a critical metric in the world of product management that measures the extent to which users utilize product innovations. This metric not only reflects the attractiveness of new features to your target audience, but also helps determine how successfully features solve users’ problems or improve their interaction with the product.

• Feature adoption is when your target users start using a new or existing feature regularly and habitually.
• Incentivizing Feature adoption as well as tracking their adoption is important for increasing user satisfaction, perceived value, and engagement, as well as reducing churn rates and increasing user retention in the long run.
• Some best practices for increasing Feature adoption are: adding value to features, engaging users and announcing features persuasively, explaining feature benefits loudly and clearly, collecting feedback, analyzing relevant metrics, and more.
• Interactive guides, video onboarding, and other UX onboarding models can make a big difference.
• Some good tools for increasing Feature adoption are UserGuiding, Intercom, Wyzowl, and Shepherd.js.

Key aspects of the Feature adoption process

1. Awareness

The first step in the feature adoption process is to make users aware of the feature’s existence. Without awareness, users will not be able to move on to testing and using the new feature.

Methods for raising awareness:

• Marketing and advertising: Using traditional and digital marketing channels to create awareness of the new feature.
• Push notifications in the product: Messages within the app or software that inform users of innovations the next time they log in.
• Email updates: Newsletters that detail features and offer instructions or use cases.

2. Interest

Once users have learned about a new feature, the next step is to get them interested in trying it out. At this stage, users evaluate the potential benefits of the feature and decide whether it is worth their time and resources to invest in learning about the innovation.

Methods to stimulate interest:

• Demo videos: Show how a feature can be used to solve specific problems or improve operations.
• Webinars and training sessions: Provide in-depth instruction and best practices through interactive sessions.
• Case studies: Success stories from other users who have already implemented the feature and are seeing real benefits from it.

3. Experimentation

At this stage, users begin testing the feature to see how convenient it is and how it can be incorporated into their daily processes. Experimentation is important to evaluate the usability and functionality of the innovation.

Ways to support experimentation:

• Free trials: Allow users to evaluate a feature without financial investment.
• Small projects: Implement a feature on a limited basis to test it in a real-world environment.
• Support and resources: Provide access to manuals and technical support during the testing process.

4. Adoption

Adoption is the stage at which users begin to use a new feature regularly in their workflows. Adoption implies that the feature has proven to be useful and convenient for end users.

Ways to increase adoption:

• Integration with existing tools: Making a feature easier to use through its integration with other platforms and services.
• Customization: Allowing you to tailor the feature to specific user needs and preferences.
• Process Optimization: Customize the processes of using a feature in a way that simplifies and automates work tasks as much as possible.

5. Advocacy

The final stage, where users not only actively use the feature, but also recommend it to colleagues and partners. This indicates a high level of satisfaction with the feature and a desire to share it with others.

Methods to encourage recommendations:

• Loyalty programs: Rewards for recommendations, which may include discounts, bonuses, or other benefits.
• User Testimonials: Publishing testimonials from users who have successfully implemented a feature and benefited from it.
• Communities and Forums: Create platforms for users to share experiences and best practices.

Utilization analytics

Keeping track of how and how often a feature is used will help you understand its success and identify areas for further improvement.

Methods and approaches to improve Feature Adoption

1. User onboarding

User onboarding is not just training, but a strategic engagement process that must be tailored to the needs and context of use of a particular feature.

Example:

Slack uses interactive tooltips and step-by-step tutorials to introduce users to new features such as Slack Connect. These tooltips appear in the context of use and help users understand how and when to use the innovations.

2. A/B Testing and User Segments

The approach is to use A/B testing for different user groups, allowing you to evaluate how different versions of a feature affect adoption.

Example:

Netflix regularly conducts A/B testing for minor UI changes (e.g., changing button color or sentence format) to determine which changes best drive adoption of new features.

3- Integration and automation

Integrating a new feature with existing tools and processes can significantly increase its adoption rate.

Example:

Zapier makes it easy to automate processes between different web applications. By integrating a new feature with popular tools such as Gmail, Slack, and Trello, Zapier increases the likelihood of its use.

4- Feedback Loops

Feedback loops help you understand how users perceive a new feature and what is preventing its adoption.

Example:

Canva uses user feedback to improve its design tools by regularly updating functionality based on user suggestions.

5. Data-Driven Insights

Using data analytics to understand how features are being used and to identify potential problems in adoption.

Example:

Google Analytics provides deep analytics tools that help webmasters understand how visitors are using new features on the site, and identify ways to optimize them to improve adoption.

Live case studies

Microsoft Teams

• Function: Built-in brainstorming sessions.
• Problem: Users didn’t understand how to effectively use the feature to organize ideas.
• Solution: Introduced interactive tutorials and integration with Outlook to simplify session creation.

Airbnb

• Feature: Offering tours from locals.
• Problem: Low adoption rate among new users.
• Solution: Use personalized recommendations and feedback from other users to increase trust and interest.

Let’s take a look at a live example of introducing a new feature through the Feature Adoption funnel

let’s use as an example the introduction of the new “Group Video Calls” feature in the messenger app, similar to the functionality in Zoom or Skype.

Product: Messenger with group video calling function

Feature Objective: To allow users to video conference with multiple participants directly through the application, improving the communication capabilities and competitiveness of the product.

1- Awareness

Actions:

• Advertising Campaign: Run ads on social media, YouTube, and mobile apps showing the benefits of group video calls.
• Email marketing: Send out information about the new feature to all existing users with detailed descriptions and use cases.
• In-app updates: Introducing a pop-up window when logging into the app that informs about the new feature.

Metrics to measure success:

• Number of users who clicked on the ad/link. - Number of views of the training video.

2. interest

Actions:

• Webinars: Organize online sessions where users can learn how to use group video calls for various purposes (e.g., educational classes or business meetings).
• Demo videos: Create and distribute videos that demonstrate successful use cases of the feature by other users.

Metrics to measure success:

• Number of webinar registrations.
• Level of engagement with content (likes, comments, reposts).

3. Trial use

Actions:

• Free Access: Offer new and existing users a month of free access to the group video calling feature.
• Technical Support: Making online help available to address issues that arise when using the feature for the first time.

Metrics to measure success:

• Number of users who activated the trial period.
• Number of video conferences conducted.

4. Adoption

Actions:

• Integration: Improve integration of video calls with user’s calendar for easy scheduling and reminders.
• User Feedback: Collect and analyze user feedback to further improve functionality.

Metrics to measure success:

• Percentage of users who continue to use the feature after the trial period has expired.
• Frequency of feature usage among activated users.

5. Recommendation

Actions:

• Referral Program: Introduce a bonus program for users who recommend video calls to friends (e.g., an additional free month of use).
• Case studies and testimonials: Publish stories from users who have successfully used the feature for their needs.

Metrics to measure success:

• Number of users using referral codes.
• Number of positive reviews and case studies published by users.

What is Feature Adoption Rate?

Feature Adoption Rate is an indicator that measures the proportion of users who start using a new product feature within a certain time period after its launch. This metric is critical for evaluating the success of feature adoption because it is directly related to user engagement and interest in product innovation.

Feature Adoption Rate helps answer the questions:

• How effectively do users start using the new feature?
• How well does the feature meet users’ needs?
• What marketing and training efforts have been most effective?

How do you calculate the Feature Adoption Rate?

The following formula can be used to calculate the Feature Adoption Rate:

Where:

• Number of unique users who used the feature — the number of users who used the new feature at least once during a specific period.
• Total active users — the total number of users who were active in the product in the same time period.

Calculation Example

Suppose a company has launched a new feature “Group Video Calls” in their messenger. One month after the launch, they want to calculate the Feature Adoption Rate.

Data:

Number of unique users who tried the new feature in a month — 15,000. Total number of active messenger users in the same month — 100,000. Calculation:

Feature Adoption Rate=(15,000/100,000)×100%=15%

This means that 15% of all active messenger users started using the group video calling feature within the first month after its introduction.

Use of the indicator

• Evaluating effectiveness: Helps to assess how successful a feature campaign was.
• Improvement Planning: A low adoption rate may indicate a need to refine a feature or change marketing and training strategies.
• Benchmarking: Comparing the adoption rates of different features helps you understand which features were most or least requested by users.

Conclusion

Adoption of functionality is not only about introducing innovations, but also about how these innovations can be embedded in the lives of users in a way that they find them useful and worthwhile for ongoing use. The best practices and techniques presented in this article can form the basis for a product management strategy in any organization seeking to maximize the success of its products in the marketplace.