With the move to subscription-based licensing, it’s more important than ever for users to see the value of a product. The best product managers use feature adoption to measure and improve their product’s value. Our benchmarking survey set out to evaluate how features are being received by users.
What is feature adoption?
Feature adoption aims to answer one core question: Are users discovering the value of your product and its core tools? By understanding how (or if) customers use specific features, you’ll get a clear view of if those features are achieving their goals.
How many users update new features?
Our benchmarking survey found that the average, feature adoption rate for products is 6.4%. So for every 100 features your team vets, builds, and ships, only 6.4 of them are driving 80% of click volume. For products in the top 10%, feature adoption jumps up to 15.6%— 2.5x higher than average.
We found that even the best product teams are focusing on features that aren’t being used by their end users. While 6.4% of features are driving 80% of clicks, almost 94% of features are untouched and ignored. Check out our findings on user uptake of AI features.
Feature adoption by industry
Upon first glance, industry might not seem important to feature adoption. However, little details like target audience, market saturation, and industry nuances all add up to impact your product benchmarks. A product in Business Services with a 7% adoption rate may be a success. However, 7% feature adoption for a social media app’s new messaging feature might ring some alarm bells.
On average, products in Manufacturing and Consumer Goods have the highest feature adoption rate. Products in Media are slightly lower, at 4.9%. Depending on your industry’s average feature adoption, it may be important to focus on improving adoption around your most important tools.
Feature adoption by company size
On average, companies with fewer than 200 employees have the highest feature adoption rate at 7.4%. This may be because smaller companies are in the earlier stages of product expansion, and their Core Events often compose more of their product. On the other hand, larger companies have a sprawling product ecosystem, with more resources to expand and enhance features.
Why is tracking feature adoption important?
Measure and understand success
Tracking feature adoption reveals if users find your product useful or not. Paired with your Voice of the Customer (VOC) program and product discovery, you can understand the “why” behind lower or higher adoption.
Know how to improve product engagement
Understanding which features your users actually value—and which they’re ignoring—is foundational to retain and keepusers. Use feature adoption to guide your priorities: What should you improve, and what should you remove within your product?
Eliminate wasted resources
Poor feature adoption leads to wasted resources, yet many products suffer from feature sprawl. Once you benchmark feature adoption, you can get a better sense of what your users need—and what they don’t.
Improve your bottom line
Unused features can hurt your bottom line in more ways than one. Paying for unused features lowers a customer’s perceived value and, ultimately, affects their willingness to renew at current price level, or even renew at all.
Four ways to improve feature adoption
- Make adoption simple with walkthroughs: It should be as easy as possible for customers to find and use features. Once you’ve announced a new feature, create in-app walkthroughs to guide users through the desired steps—especially for features that require multiple steps in the workflow.
- Announce new features in-app: One of the best tools to promote features is your product itself. When you announce features in-app via guides or tooltips, you reach users when and where the message is most relevant.
- Make the value and desired action clear: As you create in-app messages or other content about features, use straightforward language that clearly communicates its value. Then, point users to the next action you want them to take (like watching a guided demo).
- Target your communications: Not every feature is relevant to every user. Create segments within your product experience platform by role, permissions, and technical proficiency.
Plot your product’s feature adoption relative to your peers in Mind the Product’s interactive benchmark tool.
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