Continuing with the series about onboarding metrics, we’ll look at two more, activation rate and feature adoption.
Activation rate
Activation rate measures the percentage of users who complete a specific action (or actions) indicating they are active users. Each product will have different trackable actions, but an example could be sending messages in a social media app. For SaaS products, it could mean users completing the guided setup process. Or, it could be someone setting up a project within your app.
How to improve activation rate
One of the ways that I’ve improved activation rate for products is by offering in-app assistance. One product I worked on was intended for an audience that was not familiar with the subject matter of the product. These were users straight out of a training program and working for the first time in a field with a lot of jargon and terms. I created in-app help documentation, FAQs, and knowledge base articles to help them understand the terms they’d need to know.
Another way to improve your activation rate is through the use of guided product tours. Product tours are helpful beyond the product setup, and can be used to highlight features you know lead to adoption. You can utilize a tool like Appcues to create product tours to showcase your app to users.
I know I probably say this with every metric, but optimizing the user experience of your product is another great way to improve activation rate. Do some user research to find out where users are getting stuck. It could be as simple as rewriting the content of a button, or it may involve a redesign. You’ll only know when you talk to your users and find out what would make for an intuitive experience that keeps them coming back.
Feature adoption
Once your users are onboarded and actively using your product, you can track feature adoption rates to find out which features are used the most, and how users are adopting new features you release. By tracking this, you’ll understand what your users find most valuable about your product.
Are users adopting your more advanced features, or are they only spending time with the initial features you launched with? This knowledge will help with roadmap planning as well as things like marketing and what to lead with in sales presentations.
How to improve feature adoption
To improve feature adoption, it often starts with education. Provide users with tutorials, knowledge base articles, or help docs that gives them the information they need about features you’d like them to adopt. You can implement user education in a traditional way, or through the use of gamification, where you reward users for engaging. To gamify or not depends on your users, and the best way to understand them is through research (I will say this over and over again).
Another way to improve feature adoption is through recommendations. Based on what users have done so far in your product, you can suggest specific features that would make sense for them to try. You can do this through in-app messaging, or through email education. You can highlight those specific features you know your users would get value out of.
For example, if you’re working within integrated developer environments, you could analyze your user’s coding preferences and patterns and offer them specific recommendations based on the coding languages they use the most. You could also suggest things like debugging tips, or test case suggestions to help them validate their code.
A case for tracking both activation rate and feature adoption
What are your thoughts? Do you currently track activation rate and/or feature adoption in your application?
Both are incredibly important for the longevity of your product. While activation rate is primarily concerned with the initial onboarding and adoption, feature adoption is more about ongoing engagement and adoption of new features. Both work hand-in-hand to create a great experience from day 1, leading to increased retention.
Have questions about how to implement these tactics? Get in touch and I can help.