Feature adoption rate measures the percentage of users who start using a feature after it becomes available.

Many SaaS companies invest months building powerful capabilities, only to watch them sit unused. If users never discover or understand a feature, it creates no value for them or for your business.

What is a “good” feature adoption rate?

The answer to that question varies by industry and introduction type. Across all industries, the average core feature adoption rate is 24.5%. For products in the HR industry, it’s 31%, while fintech products see average adoption rates of 22.6%.

Features that have interactive walkthroughs as part of their onboarding process see adoption rates almost double that of features that rely on traditional documentation.

Every feature that goes unused represents engineering time, design effort, and product investment that never generates a return. It’s money wasted.

Improving adoption increases the value customers receive from your product. That leads to higher retention and customer satisfaction without building anything new.

IBM develops powerful enterprise software, but many customers struggled to realize its value. New users often abandoned products before learning how to use them, while existing customers overlooked advanced capabilities that could have improved their workflows. Complex products like IBM’s offerings are more likely to see abandonment due to poor onboarding experiences and a lack of support.

The products themselves were ground-breaking. IBM’s real problem was that users weren't receiving enough guidance to discover the value of those products. They turned to WalkMe, a digital adoption platform aimed at solving this exact problem, for help.

IBM introduced contextual in-app guidance throughout its software using digital adoption tools. Instead of relying on documentation and training sessions, users received interactive walkthroughs, tooltips, and step-by-step guidance directly inside the product. Help appeared exactly when users needed it, reducing confusion and making advanced features easier to discover.

After implementing the new onboarding and guidance experience:

Discovery. The number of features alone does not matter. What users want is to find the features that actually solve their problems. By putting teachable moments inside the product instead of expecting users to read documentation, IBM reduced friction at every stage of the user journey.

Imagine your SaaS platform has 2,000 paying customers generating about $1,200/year each. One of your most valuable collaboration features is used by only 30% of them. Your analytics platform shows that users who regularly use this feature get attached to it as part of their daily workflow and renew their subscriptions at much higher rates.

You implement WalkMe or a similar in-app tutorial experience to guide users towards this feature within proper context.

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