šŸš€ How to drive product adoption?

3 tactics, 2 traps and 1 tool to drive product adoption

Hello founders!

Welcome to ā€˜Tactical Tips’ by Jerel and Shuo at DECODE, where we cover one new idea to help you build and grow your startup – every week in <5 minutes!

Today, we’ll be answering the question: ā€œHow to drive product adoption?ā€

And here’s advice inspired by Jonah Berger, marketing professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, who also consults for Apple, Google, Nike, Amazon, and The Gates Foundation.

If you're struggling to win over customers and get them to adopt your product, today’s newsletter is for you.

šŸ”„ Inside this issue:

āœ… 3 tactics to drive product adoption
āœ… 2 traps to avoid 
āœ… 1 tool to leverage 

šŸ‘‡Let’s dive in.

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3 tactics to drive product adoption

āš ļø Raise attention to the problem

  • Quantify the cost of inaction 

    • Show the hidden losses of sticking with current behavior

    • Present concrete numbers to make inaction feel costly and action feel worthwhile

    • E.g. Spending 5 seconds manually on a frequent task adds up, while a 5 minute automation set up saves hours over time

  • Express need for urgency

    • Frame problems as ā€œmajor injuriesā€ rather than minor inconveniences—people act when pain exceeds a threshold

    • Highlight threat of getting left behind in a competitive industry

  • Convince why you are the right solution for the job, ahead of others in the race

šŸ”Ž Drive discovery of value

  • Map out the effort, money, or time needed before seeing value 

  • Determine where friction occurs and design to reduce uncertainty:

    • Lack of trust -> Offer a freemium version, test-drive, or sample that lets people experience value without upfront commitment

    • Hesitation over integration -> Provide white glove service with dedicated support

  • Embed trials in existing behaviors (e.g. luxury hotel rides for car brands, events inside model units to showcase properties)

  • Deliver products to users (e.g. 7-day at-home testing)

āš–ļø Offer choices to reduce resistance

  • Frame decisions as options, not directives, to reduce resistance and increase autonomy

  • Offer a menu of options rather than a single solution:

    • Present multiple tiers, features, or approaches and ask, ā€œWhich fits best?ā€

    • Clarify tradeoffs and shift focus toward comparing and selecting options instead of reasons to reject

    • Avoid rattling off reasons to pick the solution or a certain option

  • Highlight gaps between needs and current actions, ask guiding questions, and encourage self-reflection

2 traps to avoid

🚨 Selling to C-suites without considering end-users

  • Economic metrics (e.g. replacing headcount, reducing costs, or driving revenue) sell well to C-suite, but day-to-day end users may react negatively (e.g. job elimination or full task visibility)

  • End users respond well to messages about boosting capabilities and cutting mundane work

  • Tailor messaging of value differently for key stakeholders to encourage adoption—one message does not fit all

🚨 Asking for huge leaps instead of small changes

  • Change does not need to happen overnight

  • Big, sudden changes trigger resistance and stall adoption

  • Break the big change into smaller, low-friction steps

1 tool to leverage

šŸ“– Best practice on driving change

  • Customers overestimate switching costs by 2–3x and assign up to 2.6x more value to features they use regularly

  • Leverage these frameworks and resources by Jonah Berger to understand the five barriers to change, and make change more likely in any situation

Bonus: 1 trend to spark startup ideas

šŸ“ˆ Healthcare admininistration is a $1T crisis slowing care

  • Administrative overhead make up 25% of total healthcare spending

  • Clinicians spend 33% of their time on admin work and 89% of payors and 66% of providers are concerned about human errors 

  • Layers of middlemen, tangled regulations, and manual workflows create bureaucratic bottlenecks that inflate costs without improving outcomes—America spends nearly $12K per capita yet life expectancy lags behind nations spending far less

  • Key pain points ripe for AI disruption include:

    • Patient communication: 29% of calls go unanswered; AI can automate scheduling, billing queries, and insurance navigation

    • Scribing: Docs spend more time on EHRs than patients; real-time AI transcription boosts care and accuracy. 

    • Prior authorization: Nearly 50M annual requests cause treatment delays; AI can automate submissions and approvals

    • Claims & coding: 70% denials overturned, 80% medical bills with errors; AI-driven error detection and coding reduce costly rework

Startup knowledge check

Which of these is NOT a sign of repeatable sales?

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Hint: Read our past newsletter on building repeatable sales.

Founder spotlight

Meet Jamie,

Jamie Lim, Founder & Creative Director @ KAYU

Jamie connected to DECODE through her husband, Eric Tan, CIO & Chief Security Officer at Flock Safety, who spoke at our conference twice and loved it. 

She spent the past decade growing Kayu, a sustainable fashion and home brand featured in Vogue, Elle Decor, The Wall Street Journal, and earning recognition from the Conde Nast Innovation & Design, Ecco Domani, and Earth Awards. Now, she is building an AI compliance and certification platform for sustainable IT asset disposal. 

If you are interested in working with her, reply to this newsletter. She’s looking for a talented student engineer to build the first version of the platform.

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