AMA: Gainsight Director of Customer Success, Meenal Shukla on Product Adoption

Here are several top reasons why customers might not adopt a product: 1. Complexity and Usability Issues Problem: If the product is perceived as too complicated or non-intuitive, users might feel overwhelmed and reluctant to integrate it into their daily routines. Solution: Streamline the user interface and user experience. Offer comprehensive onboarding, easy-to-follow tutorials, and responsive customer support. 2. Poor Onboarding Experience Problem: Ineffective onboarding can confuse users abo ...Read More

Here are some key roles onboarding plays and practical techniques for ensuring a smooth process: Educating Users: Onboarding educates users about the core functionalities and value of the product, helping them understand how it can solve their problems or enhance their workflow. Reducing Time to Value: Effective onboarding shortens the time to value, enabling users to experience the product's benefits as quickly as possible. This is crucial for retaining interest and commitment. Lowering Initial ...Read More

1. Best practices framework Purpose: This is the framework for how we talk about Gainsight’s value proposition and ideally this begins in the sales cycle to understand the business challenge that brings a prospect to us in the first place Usage: Our value realization program, commonly known as Operationalizing Outcomes or O2, enables our customers with the building blocks to quickly define and achieve value with Gainsight. Depending on the outcome our customers like to achieve, we have a set of ...Read More

Collaborating effectively across teams like product development, marketing, sales, and customer support is crucial for enhancing product adoption efforts. Here’s how you can foster such collaboration: 1. Establish Clear Communication Channels: Set up regular meetings, shared digital workspaces, and communication tools to keep all teams aligned. Tools like Slack, Microsoft Teams, Product Board or Asana can facilitate seamless communication and project tracking. 2. Define Common Goals and Metrics: ...Read More

. Here are some common early warning signs that a customer may not fully adopt a product, along with strategies to address these concerns: Early Signs of Poor Adoption Low Engagement Levels: Sign: Infrequent logins and low interaction with key features. Strategy: Implement targeted onboarding that highlights the value and utility of key features. Use engagement tools like email reminders or in-app notifications to draw them back into the product. Have customer success managers actively work with ...Read More

Here’s a strategic approach to effectively use customer feedback to enhance product adoption: Collecting Feedback Across Various Channels In-app and email feedback tools: Use prompts and surveys within the application to gather real-time, context-specific feedback. Use emails for stakeholders who are not logging in regularly to engage and cover all your bases. At Gainsight, we use in-app NPS for end users and email NPS for our key decision makers. We also use CES (Customer Effort Score) surveys ...Read More

Online communities play a pivotal role in driving product adoption and enhancing customer success. When done right, they serve as vibrant hubs where users can engage with each other, as well as with the product team, creating a dynamic ecosystem that supports learning, feedback, and advocacy. Here are key ways in which online communities facilitate these processes: 1. Peer-to-Peer Support Online communities allow users to help each other by answering questions, sharing tips and tricks, and offer ...Read More

When dealing with accounts that have frozen their subscriptions and later choose to reactivate, it's essential to implement a strategy that not only welcomes them back but also addresses the reasons they paused their subscriptions in the first place. Here’s a strategy that can be effective in such cases: 1. Welcome Back and Re-onboarding When an account reactivates, it’s important to make the customer feel valued and welcomed back. Sending a personalized welcome back message can make a big diffe ...Read More