{"id":2393,"date":"2020-05-20T09:00:15","date_gmt":"2020-05-20T13:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog3.canny.io\/wordpress\/?p=2393"},"modified":"2024-04-02T12:12:38","modified_gmt":"2024-04-02T16:12:38","slug":"product-adoption-how-to-get-team-to-use-new-tools","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canny.io\/blog\/product-adoption-how-to-get-team-to-use-new-tools\/","title":{"rendered":"Product adoption: How to get your team to use new&nbsp;tools"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>When it comes to adoption, there is a universal law any family will tell you: If everyone\u2019s not on board, it\u2019s not going to go smoothly\u2026if at&nbsp;all.<\/p>\n<p>The same is true for software product adoption. If a team is splintered across disparate tools, don\u2019t expect their product to be&nbsp;unified.<\/p>\n<p>This is where so many companies struggle: <strong>Every member of the team has their own tool, versus the team as a whole adopting a single&nbsp;tool.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>We have run into both the struggle of getting the whole team to adopt a tool, and having our tool be fully adopted by other&nbsp;teams.<\/p>\n<p>Both can be frustrating. But, we\u2019ve picked up some best practices along the way to&nbsp;help.<\/p>\n<p><!--HubSpot Call-to-Action Code --><span id=\"hs-cta-wrapper-e1d55d08-a2cf-44a3-a9a0-f3ca5ff21dfa\" class=\"hs-cta-wrapper\"><span id=\"hs-cta-e1d55d08-a2cf-44a3-a9a0-f3ca5ff21dfa\" class=\"hs-cta-node hs-cta-e1d55d08-a2cf-44a3-a9a0-f3ca5ff21dfa\"><!-- [if lte IE 8]>\n\n\n<div id=\"hs-cta-ie-element\"><\/div>\n\n\n<![endif]--><a href=\"https:\/\/cta-redirect.hubspot.com\/cta\/redirect\/5705808\/e1d55d08-a2cf-44a3-a9a0-f3ca5ff21dfa\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img decoding=\"async\" id=\"hs-cta-img-e1d55d08-a2cf-44a3-a9a0-f3ca5ff21dfa\" class=\"hs-cta-img aligncenter lazyload\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 1300px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 1300\/642;border-width: 0px;\" data-src=\"https:\/\/no-cache.hubspot.com\/cta\/default\/5705808\/e1d55d08-a2cf-44a3-a9a0-f3ca5ff21dfa.png\" alt=\"Canny free trial\" width=\"1300\" height=\"642\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" \/><\/a><\/span><script charset=\"utf-8\" src=\"https:\/\/js.hscta.net\/cta\/current.js\"><\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> hbspt.cta.load(5705808, 'e1d55d08-a2cf-44a3-a9a0-f3ca5ff21dfa', {\"region\":\"na1\"}); <\/script><\/span><!-- end HubSpot Call-to-Action Code --><\/p>\n<h2>Getting your team to adopt a new tool<\/h2>\n<p>We\u2019ve all been there. It\u2019s a happy day. You\u2019ve just come from a session on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.capterra.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Capterra<\/a> or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.producthunt.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">ProductHunt<\/a>. Now you have the <a href=\"https:\/\/canny.io\/blog\/free-saas-tools-for-budget\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">perfect productivity tool<\/a>. The one that\u2019s going to cure your every&nbsp;ailment.<\/p>\n<p>You introduce it to your team with a company-wide post. Everyone chats back with \ud83d\udc4d emojis. A week later, only your three or four example entries are there. The engineers haven&#8217;t gotten around to integrating the JavaScript&nbsp;snippet.<\/p>\n<p>A month later, and even you&#8217;ve forgotten. Later that quarter, (after a quick chat with the company bookkeeper), it&#8217;s all over. But this other new&nbsp;tool&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>So what went&nbsp;wrong?<\/p>\n<p>Well, adopting a new tool is a bit like adopting a new puppy. You can&#8217;t just show up with one and expect the entire household to be thrilled. There are other stakeholders&nbsp;involved.<\/p>\n<h2>Building consensus around what tool to use<\/h2>\n<p>People are more likely to use a tool if they agree that they want to use that tool. It&#8217;s the difference between, &#8220;Honey, let&#8217;s talk about getting a puppy,&#8221; versus, &#8220;Look, honey! I got us a&nbsp;puppy!&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>This doesn&#8217;t necessarily mean you need to schedule a meeting. But it does mean you need input and buy-in from your team. Otherwise, it&#8217;s a bit like informing the office that you&#8217;re changing your hair color. It&#8217;s all well and good, but it doesn&#8217;t really affect&nbsp;me.<\/p>\n<h3>To get buy-in from your team, focus on answering these points:<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>What&#8217;s the&nbsp;problem?<\/li>\n<li>What happens if we don&#8217;t address&nbsp;it?<\/li>\n<li>Why don&#8217;t our current tools&nbsp;work?<\/li>\n<li>What tools did we look&nbsp;at?<\/li>\n<li>Why are you recommending this tool in&nbsp;particular?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Let&#8217;s break that&nbsp;down:<\/p>\n<h3>1. What&#8217;s the problem?<\/h3>\n<p>It happens in software. There&#8217;s a temptation to take a brilliant solution and go looking for a&nbsp;problem.<\/p>\n<p>But, there may not really be a problem to solve. And if it is a problem, does the solution make things easier or more&nbsp;complex?<\/p>\n<p>A good example of this is data tracking. Sometimes people want as many data points as&nbsp;possible.<\/p>\n<p>But, they&#8217;re not being used for anything. Nothing&#8217;s being done with the data. Collecting them adds cumulative man-hours to the team processes. But just in case, we pay for an awesome tool that helps us collect&nbsp;them.<\/p>\n<h3>2. What happens if we don&#8217;t address it?<\/h3>\n<p>The old &#8220;less is more&#8221; adage. Play it out and think it through. What happens if we don&#8217;t &#8220;fix&#8221; this perceived problem? Will it actually hurt us? Or is it just a minor&nbsp;annoyance?<\/p>\n<p>Scale is an important point here. A minute of work from a three-person team is an inconvenience. A minute of work multiplied across a hundred people is downright&nbsp;expensive.<\/p>\n<h3>3. Why don&#8217;t our current tools work?<\/h3>\n<p>This is a classic blind spot. Why have a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dropbox.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Dropbox<\/a> account when we already use <a href=\"https:\/\/gsuite.google.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">G Suite<\/a> and thus have Google Drive? Why sign up for <a href=\"https:\/\/monday.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Monday<\/a> if we&#8217;re already using <a href=\"https:\/\/clickup.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">ClickUp<\/a>? Why not just take two minutes a day to update a spreadsheet versus signing up for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.grow.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener&nbsp;noreferrer\">Grow<\/a>?<\/p>\n<p>Don&#8217;t let a good discount or the appeal of a shiny new toy fool you. Don&#8217;t go to a completely new tool <em>just\u00a0<\/em>because it&#8217;s&nbsp;new.<\/p>\n<p>However, let\u2019s say you\u2019ve evaluated your current toolkit and it genuinely doesn\u2019t fit the bill. If that\u2019s the case, keep&nbsp;reading.<\/p>\n<h3>4. What tools did we look at?<\/h3>\n<p>The &#8220;rule of three&#8221; is a good one here. Present at least three options and take the time to do some&nbsp;math.<\/p>\n<p>For example, let\u2019s say your problem is that you need to be able to make phone&nbsp;calls.<\/p>\n<p>This could mean you sign up for <a href=\"https:\/\/aircall.io\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">AirCall<\/a>, since they have the nicest website and the most&nbsp;features.<\/p>\n<p>But notice that &#8220;make phone calls&#8221; is a pretty limited&nbsp;scope.<\/p>\n<p>You may not need all the bells and whistles. Decide on what \u201cboxes to check.\u201d Does it have a decent UI? What does setup look like? How about&nbsp;price?<\/p>\n<p>Decide what\u2019s important to you and filter for that criteria. You may find that a more minimal option like <a href=\"https:\/\/toky.co\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Toky<\/a> is actually going to give you what you need for a much lower&nbsp;price.<\/p>\n<h3>5. Why are you recommending this tool in particular?<\/h3>\n<p>Make your case! Which one do you think wins and why? Your team should see that you&#8217;ve given this serious&nbsp;thought.<\/p>\n<p>That being said, encourage dissent (that&#8217;s a whole other blog post) and be willing to lose. You&#8217;re presenting options and building consensus, not handing down&nbsp;edicts.<\/p>\n<h2>Implementing the new tool with your team<\/h2>\n<p>Congratulations! You&#8217;ve got the team on&nbsp;board.<\/p>\n<p>But now the rubber needs to meet the road. First thing to do is add this tool to your <a href=\"https:\/\/help.canny.io\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">internal knowledge base<\/a>. New employees should be able to find a guide that will walk them through using this tool with minimal&nbsp;effort.<\/p>\n<p>It helps to set a date on this&nbsp;beforehand.<\/p>\n<p>So, the conversation isn&#8217;t, &#8220;Hey everyone, let&#8217;s start using ____ for our&nbsp;____.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The tone is much more, &#8220;Hey, as we discussed, we&#8217;re going to transition to using ____ for our ____ as of 2026. Here&#8217;s a link to our knowledge base for using that tool. Reach out to me or [person] if you have any&nbsp;questions.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>There should be some formality to this. Send reminders beforehand, then the day of implementation. Then follow up with anyone who&#8217;s not using it. A simple one-on-one chat should&nbsp;do.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Hey, [name]! Just a friendly reminder that we&#8217;re using ____ now for all our ____. Let me know if you&#8217;re having any trouble with getting set up or have any questions using it!&nbsp;\ud83d\ude42&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Be sure to shut down any alternatives as quickly as possible. The best way to ensure the wrong method isn&#8217;t used is to make it&nbsp;unusable!<\/p>\n<h2>Product adoption is a process<\/h2>\n<p>Bottom line: Getting your team to adopt a new tool is never as easy as &#8220;plug-and-play.&#8221; It takes effort, like anything&nbsp;else.<\/p>\n<p>But if you&#8217;ve taken the steps above, you&#8217;ll no doubt see the payoff in the form of a smooth and (hopefully) permanent&nbsp;transition.<\/p>\n<p>Here at <a href=\"https:\/\/canny.io\/features\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Canny<\/a>, we understand the challenges around product adoption. As with any tool, Canny users sometimes struggle to get their teams on&nbsp;board.<\/p>\n<p>But, by going through this process outlined above, getting buy-in and company-wide product adoption is much easier. It\u2019s ultimately up to users to drive product adoption with their teams and&nbsp;customers.<\/p>\n<p>That said, we\u2019re here to help\u2014we hope this guide has been useful, and don\u2019t hesitate to reach out with questions. You can also start by\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/canny.io\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">trying Canny&#8217;s product feedback software for free<\/a>, and learn more about <a href=\"https:\/\/canny.io\/blog\/should-you-be-collecting-customer-feedback\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">why collecting customer feedback&nbsp;matters<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Most teams use a lot of tools\u2014and it can be hard to get everyone on board with a new one. Here&#8217;s how to get product adoption from your team from the very beginning.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":6363,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2393","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-building-saas","category-product-management"],"aioseo_notices":[],"modified_by":"Maria Vasserman","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canny.io\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2393","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canny.io\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canny.io\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canny.io\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canny.io\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2393"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canny.io\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2393\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canny.io\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6363"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canny.io\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2393"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canny.io\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2393"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canny.io\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2393"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}