What is a digital adoption platform (DAP), and how do you choose the right one for your product? Before signing up for a DAP, it's essential to know that not all digital adoption tools are made equal. 

This article will give you the definition and benefits of this platform, plus guide you in choosing the right one. 

What is a digital adoption platform (DAP)?

A digital adoption platform is a no-code software tool that integrates on top of a platform to help the user learn how to use the product. 

Lou example experiences on demo platform image

Digital adoption platforms implement in-app guidance such as tooltips, walkthroughs, task lists, self-help menus, and more to guide users through important tasks and provide context as users move through the product. These platforms help facilitate proficiency in a product quickly and provide ongoing education to promote the adoption of new functionality and features. 

With DAPs, it's easy to implement product-led strategies to onboard users with ease, understand how users are adopting and engaging with a product, and create an intuitive user experience. 

Why are digital adoption platforms important?

For SaaS companies, digital adoption is critical and can make or break a product's success. If users can't learn to use and navigate the product, they won't become or remain customers. According to research, issues with onboarding and other user processes cause over 91% of enterprise software errors. Digital adoption platforms help ease the learning curve and mitigate these errors in a product by walking users step-by-step through different functions. 

Overall, these platforms promote digital adoption in these ways:

  • Automate aspects of user onboarding

  • Provide in-app software guidance and learning content 

  • Collect and analyze user engagement and usage data

  • Provide proactive support to solve user challenges as they arise

The benefits of implementing a digital adoption platform

Digital adoption platforms are an ideal solution for SaaS companies because they're uniquely suited to help users in these fundamental ways: 

Digital adoption platforms reduce churn 

Users want to see the benefits of a product right away. If they don't see its value early on, they'll simply leave, usually silently. According to research by thinkJar, 25 out of 26 customers churn without complaining if they encounter product difficulties. 

Implementing DAPs can combat this by swiftly and efficiently bringing users up to speed by providing in-app resources that decrease frustration and minimize the learning curve. 

They help users adopt new features

When users stumble upon an unfamiliar feature, they need to reach an aha moment. Optimizing this process means they are more likely to see the value of new features and adopt them. 

In SaaS products, feature discovery is valuable because it helps users consistently uncover the product's benefits. Feature discovery informs users that new features exist, highlighting the benefits of the features and encouraging user adoption. 

DAPs improve trial to paid conversion rate

Digital adoption platforms optimize user engagement during the trial period, giving them customized in-product experiences and interactive context and guidance as they navigate the product. As a result, users are more likely to continue using the product and subscribing once the trial period ends. 

They will improve retention

Providing users with targeted, high-quality guidance reduces the risk of losing a user to a competitor. DAPs give you insight into learning gaps in a user's experience so you can fix them quickly. 

A digital adoption platform aids in reducing time to value (TTV)

Time to Value (TTV) measures how much time it takes a new user to realize and gain value from a product or service. Assisting users through efficient product onboarding decreases TTV, which means users find the product's value as soon as possible. 

How to choose a digital adoption platform 

Choosing a platform that addresses your company's primary concerns can be complex. Consider the features that encompass the best digital adoption platforms by checking out this list:  

1. In-app learning experiences

The core functions of DAPs are their in-app guided content and learning experiences. DAPs offer companies the tools to create different kinds of guided content, like: 

  • Step-by-step onboarding flows

  • Tooltips

  • Task lists

  • Guided product tours

When choosing a platform, remember to check the content creation features in their offerings to align with your in-app learning requirements. 

2. Simple on-brand content creation and management

Digital adoption platforms call for different levels of content creation and management skills. Some require teams to use code, while tools like Lou allow you to create beautiful in-app experiences that match the look and feel of your product with no code required. 

When you create and publish your content, you may need to make updates frequently as the product changes. The ideal DAP should let you update your existing content quickly, and ship releases to users seamlessly. 

3. Analytics for user behavior

DAPs offer various levels of user behavior data by capturing how the product is being used and how in-app learning content is being consumed. Best of all, engineers don't need to intervene and build technical user event tracking. As a result, teams can better understand gaps in their learning content while improving onboarding. 

4. Built-in feedback

Some DAPs, such as Lou, allow companies to collect feedback from users at key moments through Net Promoter Score or custom surveys. You can launch them in minutes with a pre-built template or create custom surveys in Lou's no-code builder so that you can solicit feedback on user onboarding, learning, and support content during their workflow. 

5. Seamless implementation and integration

Some DAPs can be time-consuming and tedious to implement. It's crucial to do your research and choose a DAP that offers implementation services and customer support assistance. 

You'll want to check that the platform you select will seamlessly integrate with your software and has a low or no code installation process that is easy to manage. Lou’s implementation is the fastest in the industry, clocking in at less than one hour, all without writing a line of code.

If you're looking to drive product adoption with in-app onboarding and interactive user experiences, get a Lou demo. 

LOU FAQs

Why is Lou the ideal DAP for my business needs?

Seamless on-brand content creation solutions are the easiest way to create engaging in-product experiences, and Lou offers all the beneficial features mentioned in this article. You can scale user onboarding effectively with Lou product tours, drive product adoption with Lou feature announcements, trigger helpful hints, and more without writing a code line. 

Can I sign up for a free trial with Lou? 

Yes! Feel free to sign up for a free trial and give Lou a test drive here.

Does Lou work with any platform?

Lou's DAP is platform-agnostic. Lou can easily be installed on any web app, platform, or website. The only platforms Lou does not work on native mobile apps and desktop apps.

What is Lou's pricing? 

Lou scales with your business so you can focus on growth. Check out our pricing tiers here. 

What types of companies work with Lou?

Our clients range from startups, SMBs, and large enterprises—all handling their digital adoption challenges by empowering their users with Lou.  

Where can I read case studies of companies using Lou?

Check out how Vsble scaled their onboarding for 100k users while decreasing support tickets by 15% with Lou here. 

Where can I read Lou reviews? 

Lou is highly rated on G2. Check out reviews here!

Published on July 18th, 2022