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- š How to drive product adoption?
š How to drive product adoption?
3 tactics, 2 traps and 1 tool to drive product adoption
Hello founders!
Welcome to āTactical Tipsā by Jerel and Shuo at DECODE, where we cover one new idea to help you build and grow your startup ā every week in <5 minutes!
Today, weāll be answering the question: āHow to drive product adoption?ā
And hereās 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, todayās newsletter is for you.
š„ Inside this issue:
ā
3 tactics to drive product adoption
ā
2 traps to avoid
ā
1 tool to leverage
šLetās dive in.
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3 tactics to drive product adoption
ā 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 āmajor injuriesā rather than minor inconveniencesāpeople 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
š 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)
āļø 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, āWhich 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
šØ 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 adoptionāone message does not fit all
šØ 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
š Best practice on driving change
Customers overestimate switching costs by 2ā3x 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
š 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 outcomesāAmerica 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 checkWhich of these is NOT a sign of repeatable sales? |
Hint: Read our past newsletter on building repeatable sales.
Founder spotlight
Meet Jamie,
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. Sheās looking for a talented student engineer to build the first version of the platform. |
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