How CTOs Can Drive Product Adoption and Retention
The excitement of onboarding a new customer is a high point for any company, driven by the structured process and momentum that both the customer and the company bring to the table.
Deals are closed, implementation kicks off, and the product's core value is on full display. Mapping customer use cases during this phase ensures a strong foundation for long-term engagement and sets the stage for expanding their journey with the product.
But what happens when the honeymoon phase ends and the day-to-day realities set in? For CTOs overseeing the technical and product strategy, ensuring customers stay engaged and expand their usage of the product is a complex challenge—one that determines whether your product thrives or stagnates.
In this article, I’ll share how to approach this challenge effectively: Adopt specific frameworks for tracking customer use cases to identify where users are in their journey and take actionable steps to manage the transition from onboarding to ongoing engagement.
These frameworks ensure that initial momentum is not lost and customers continue to discover value as product use evolves.
One Use Case Isn’t Enough
During onboarding, customers often focus on a single use case that aligns with their immediate needs. The problem is that this focus can lead to significant risks, such as when an organization pivots its priorities or the internal champion driving adoption leaves the role.
In both cases, the product's relevance can quickly diminish, leaving it underutilized or even abandoned.
To counteract this, identify secondary use cases early and collaborate with customers to integrate these into their workflows. This approach mitigates risks and embeds the product as a critical part of the customer’s operations.
For example, mapping multiple use cases during onboarding discussions can protect against vulnerabilities like reliance on a single champion or sudden organizational changes. A Gartner study supports this strategy, showing that diversification in SaaS applications across departments can boost operational efficiency by 30%.
CTOs who fail to expand beyond initial implementations risk losing engagement and missing growth opportunities.
Map the Customer Journey Beyond Onboarding
Expanding product adoption starts with a deep understanding of how customers use the product—and where they’re getting stuck. Here are some steps to take:
- Define and Track Use Cases: Begin by identifying and categorizing the key use cases your product supports. Then, map out which customers use which features and at what level. This process can be enhanced by implementing effective ticket prioritization strategies.
- Segment Use Case Adoption Stages: Break down the journey into clear stages, such as:
- Idea: A customer expresses interest in exploring a new use case.
- Build: The customer starts experimenting or setting up workflows.
- Initial Rollout: Limited use begins, often within a small team or group.
- Full Rollout: The use case is fully adopted across the organization.
- Identify the “Aha Moment”: Analyze user behavior to pinpoint the moment customers realize the product’s value. This insight can help you tailor the onboarding experience and guide customers toward success.
People care more about outcomes than features, and it’s your job to help them reach those outcomes as easily and predictably as possible. Focus on user success metrics.
- Monitor Customer Signals: Use data to pinpoint where customers drop off. For example, are they stuck in the build phase? Are some features seeing little to no engagement? These insights can guide your team’s priorities.
Metrics such as user engagement frequency, feature exploration, and conversion rates from free trials to paid subscriptions are crucial indicators of onboarding success.
Build for Change Management
Scaling use cases isn’t just about having the right features – it's about enabling customers to integrate new workflows without disrupting existing processes.
Here are practical ways to achieve this:
- Provide Visibility: Add tools that help customers see what’s happening within their product instance, such as metrics on feature usage or user activity. This transparency reduces resistance to change.
- Empower Admins: Ensure admins have the tools to manage and coordinate changes, such as tagging, commenting, or annotating changes directly in the system. The role of admins is often underestimated, but they are the key to successful adoption.
- Facilitate Collaboration: Include features that allow team members to communicate about changes directly within the product. This reduces offline friction and helps teams align on the next steps. When admins and champions are on board, momentum builds more easily.
Drive Momentum With Intentional Design
Momentum is crucial when introducing additional use cases. If customers don’t feel supported during the transition from one use case to another, they’re likely to deprioritize your product in favor of competing solutions or workarounds.
To prevent this, consider implementing:
- Intent Tracking: When customers express interest in a new use case, ask them to set a "go-live" date and estimate user adoption numbers. This creates a sense of commitment.
- Lightweight Experimentation: Offer sandbox environments where customers can safely test new features without affecting their live workflows.
- Guided Expansion: Provide resources, templates, or AI-driven recommendations to help customers quickly set up and deploy additional use cases while ensuring robust cloud security measures are in place.
One notable case is Salesloft’s use of a customer interface during onboarding. By employing EverAfter’s tools, Salesloft achieved measurable improvements, including a 5-6% enhancement in setup quality and a 12-13% increase in customer adoption metrics.
Product Success Requires Ongoing Support
We're usually focused on "the next big feature," but true product success is seen when features deliver continuous value. A substantial expansion strategy helps retain customers and strengthens the business case for future sales and renewals.
By focusing on post-onboarding stages, CTOs can:
- Build products that adapt and grow with customer needs.
- Increase retention by embedding the product deeper into organizational workflows.
- Drive revenue by unlocking new use cases and opportunities for upselling.
Advanced churn management tools like Pecan and Churnly can provide predictive intelligence and real-time alerts to ensure customers stay engaged.
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Final Thoughts
Scaling beyond the first use case is a challenge and an opportunity. CTOs must prioritize long-term adoption, create tools for change management, and foster collaboration across teams to turn their product into an indispensable tool for customers.
Continuous innovation is the key. Engage directly with users and align strategies to customer needs. As McKinsey & Company notes, "Continuous innovation is linked with a 70% increase in product success rates."
Move beyond the honeymoon phase and ensure your product becomes a permanent part of your customer’s success story.
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