Why Digital Adoption Is Crucial for Your Mobile App Startup's Success

The rapid transition to extensive use of digital tools and subscription software, also known as digital transformation, is a challenge for countless businesses today.

As this so-called digital revolution erupted, companies bought digital tools and software subscriptions in the hopes of improving their workforce’s productivity and overall business performance.

However, while digital transformation has been welcomed by almost all companies, many businesses have failed at correctly adopting digital technology and making the most of it.

Part of the problem arises from the simple fact that several business leaders don’t understand what digital adoption really is. It’s one thing to purchase a tool that will help boost your startup productivity, and it’s entirely another thing to use all the features offered by that tool so you can maximize your business output.

To appreciate the importance of digital adoption for your mobile app startup, you must first understand what it really is.

What Exactly is Digital Adoption?

In essence, when everyone in your startup uses the digital tools available to them to their fullest capability, you can say that total digital adoption is achieved.

Consider a common household analogy of failed digital adoption: you gift the latest iPhone to your father as a birthday gift. All he uses it for is to call people, exchange texts, and occasionally browse social media. The best features such as the camera are hardly used, if ever.

One could say that the iPhone’s greatest advanced features are wasted on him. Why he doesn’t make the most of his phone doesn’t matter. It could be because he doesn’t know how, or because he doesn’t feel the need to. The reason is immaterial.

The bottom line is that he hasn’t achieved true digital adoption. Now, if he was an employee and the iPhone an enterprise software, his company would not be getting the best possible ROI from the technology (and him!).

In the modern, digitally connected workplaces, the state of digital adoption impacts the entire startup’s performance. So, digital adoption doesn’t merely mean introducing software tools to make people’s work easier, but it means making the entire team more efficient by focussing on making the most of those digital tools.

Sure, in the early stages of your startup you may feel it’s a bit unnecessary to invest your time, money, and efforts in streamlining your team’s usage of tools. Because as a startup, your core focus is expected to be solely on activities that directly contribute to company growth.

However, making sure everyone in your company is on the same page, right from the outset, in terms of using all available tools to their fullest potential, is also important to your startup’s long-run success.

Importance of Digital Adoption for Your Startup

Digital adoption affects both internal and customer-related activities. It can help your company be more efficient and lead to greater productivity and profits. In fact, data from Forbes shows that startups using a digital-first strategy grow their revenue by a whopping 34%.

Here are just a few of the many ways in which successful digital adoption can be a big boon for your business:

Managing Remote Employees

As you know, remote working is on the rise. Chances are, your mobile app startup has remote workers or freelancers who are working from home or other parts of the world.

So, if you’re paying for a project management software like Asana or Basecamp, ensuring that everyone knows how to make the most of these tools will greatly contribute to maximizing the team’s productivity and your ROI on these digital tools.

Automating Internal Processes

Proper usage of modern digital tools can help you automate internal processes and repetitive tasks so that your teams can focus on the actual work that results in startup growth.

For instance, you can automate stuff like invoicing and inventory management using tools like Invoicera and Orderhive, but make sure your teams are using these tools to their fullest capabilities.

Likewise, if you’re planning to use an elaborate, enterprise-level ERP software like Workday to automate employee onboarding, training, and finances, you may also consider using a Workday adoption tool to maximize your ROI.

Enhancing User Experience

Digital adoption is important not just for your own startup, but also for your customers i.e. your mobile app’s users.

In a world of endless options and purchasing power, your startup’s primary goal must involve keeping your users happy by providing outstanding user experience. And it starts with onboarding your users for the first time.

According to OptinMonster, “user onboarding is the process of actively guiding users to find new value in your product or service.” So, user onboarding is a bridge between new signups and happily paying loyal users.

Now, a well-designed user onboarding process can facilitate better usage of your mobile app. It’ll also make your app look more professional, boost user engagement, and create a strong first impression. Nobody likes the idea of spending extra time to figure out how to use your app, and that’s why a focus on enabling digital adoption for your users is key.

If your mobile app isn’t quickly and conveniently adopted by new users, their experience won’t be splendid and it won’t take long for them to ditch your app. Simply put, a bad user experience due to a lack of proper digital adoption will result in higher churn.

And so, you must take digital adoption seriously not just for optimizing your startup’s daily activities but also for improving the user experience.

Over to You

Long story short, digital adoption is key to consistently high levels of startup efficiency in the long-term. While achieving complete digital adoption of your business isn’t always easy, it’s the single most influential factor that turns your technology stack into truly profitable assets.

From managing remote teams and automating internal processes to enhancing the user experience, proper digital adoption will enable you and your team to become more productive than ever before. This, in turn, will put on track for greater profitability and success in the new decade and beyond.

(Image Source: Freepik)