How to Drive Feature Adoption for Your SaaS Product

Feature launches are an exciting way for companies to improve their existing product and ensure the product remains relevant for the end user. However, these launches mean little if users don’t actually use those features.

When it comes to SaaS companies, the game doesn’t end with getting users to notice a new feature; it involves driving adoption and integrating those features into a user's workflow, until they can’t imagine their process without them.

In this guide, we will explore what feature adoption is, how to map it, measure it, and boost it using multichannel strategies.

What is feature adoption?

Feature adoption refers to the integration of a new feature into a process or the workflow of a user. It is a critical metric for as it reflects how effectively a new feature meets the needs of users. A high feature adoption rate indicates that the feature solves a relevant problem and is well received by the users.

Feature discovery vs feature adoption vs product adoption

While often used interchangeably, feature discovery, feature adoption, and product adoption refer to distinct stages in the user journey; here’s a quick breakdown:

Term	Definition	Example
Feature Discovery	When users learn that a specific feature exists.	A user notices a new dashboard and clicks on it out of curiosity.
Feature Adoption	When users start integrating a specific feature into their regular workflow or routine.	The user keeps returning to the dashboard to pull performance reports.
Product Adoption	When users adopt the product as a whole—even if they only use one or a few features.	The user consistently uses one key feature, so the product becomes part of their workflow.

Why does feature adoption matter?

Feature adoption helps bridge the gap between what a product offers and how it delivers recurring value to users. While many SaaS teams focus heavily on launching new features, studies show that up to 80% of those features often go unused or unnoticed. Without proper adoption, users may not experience the full value of the product—putting them at risk of churning. Feature adoption not only improves retention but also helps product teams understand which features are truly useful and worth investing in.

Feature adoption is important because it:

• Maximizes product value: When users adopt features, the overall perceived value of your product increases.
• Improves retention: When users adopt features, engagement increases over time, leading to stronger retention. As users become more familiar with and reliant on specific features, their satisfaction and likeliness to stick around, grows, leading to long-term loyalty.
• Enables monetization: Adoption often leads users to opt for higher tiers or plans and allows for upsells and cross-sells.
• Promotes advocates: Adopters become advocates who promote your product internally and externally.
• Justifies the investment: High feature adoption shows that a feature meets user needs and was worth building in terms of resources invested.

Feature adoption lifecycle

Feature adoption is a journey instead of being a single event. By understanding where your user is in the product lifecycle, you can tailor stronger and more targeted interventions to ensure the user adopts the features offered by your product.

Here’s what the feature adoption lifecycle looks like:

• Discovery: The user learns about a new feature and how it can be helpful.
• Trial: The user experiments with the feature by checking out how it works.
• Activation: The user experiences an "aha" moment — understanding firsthand how the feature is useful to the user.
• Adoption: The user integrates the feature into their workflow.

Each of the above stages come with their points of friction and it is up to you to identify them and help the users move forward to the next stage in the lifecycle.

5 metrics to measure feature adoption

By tracking the right metrics, you can gain visibility on how well the features are received after you launch them. Here are 5 key metrics for you to track to analyze that::

1. Feature adoption rate

Feature adoption rate measures the percentage of active users who have used a specific feature during a defined period. It indicates overall adoption across your user base.

Feature adoption rate = Total no of users who used the feature / number of total active users of the product x 100

Example: You launch a new “Team collaboration” feature. Out of 5,000 active users of your product, 800 actively used the feature. Your feature adoption rate = (800 / 5000) × 100 = 16%

2. Time to first use

It is the average time taken for a user to begin using the feature after signing up or release of the feature.

Example: A user signs up on Monday and is shown a new “Drag-and-drop builder” on the dashboard. If they first use it on Wednesday, their time to first use is 2 days. Low time to first use suggests strong feature clarity or high immediate value.

3. Frequency of use (DAU/MAU per feature)

This metric tracks how often your users use the specific feature. It helps you understand how engaging and sticky the feature is.

Example: Your new “Analytics dashboard” is used by 3,000 users daily and has 9,000 monthly active users. Feature DAU = 3,000 / 9,000 = 33%. This suggests a third of users engage with this feature daily.

4. Depth of use

This metric measures how thoroughly users engage with or use the feature. This can include time spent, steps completed, or advanced options used.

Example: For your “Email Campaign Creator” feature, you notice most users stop after drafting the email but don’t configure advanced automation. This reveals a low depth of use and may highlight usability issues or poor awareness of deeper functionalities.

5. Context of use

Context of use refers to the specific conditions, scenarios, or user goals under which a feature is accessed and used. Understanding the context helps product teams design more relevant, intuitive experiences.

Example: You release a “Smart Send Time” option to optimize delivery. If most users still manually schedule their emails or use it only during off-peak hours, the feature isn’t being used in the right context. This insight can guide changes in UX, education, or feature placement.

Best practices to drive feature adoption

Driving adoption requires intentional design across the product, right marketing, and timing. Here are a few things you can do to drive feature adoption:

1. Time feature announcements and launch thoughtfully

In SaaS, timing is very crucial. Therefore, you need to launch a feature when your users are ready to use it, not just when you think your product has reached a plateau. To find the right timing to launch a feature, you should use metrics like product usage data to better understand the needs of your users.

For example, if a user has completed X setup steps, you can trigger an interactive email that introduces an advanced reporting feature. Launching a feature too early (before users need it) or too late (after users have already formed habits) can kill feature adoption potential.

2. Guide users with contextual in-app experiences

In-app guidance in the form of tooltips, walkthroughs and checklists help to significantly increase feature adoption. However, you need to tailor these specifically as per the context.

To ensure that the in-app prompts are effective, you must show them when they’re most relevant (e.g., after a user performs a related action). You must also explain why the feature matters instead of what it does and break down complex concepts so users can easily understand it without getting overwhelmed.

For example, show users a detailed a checklist or hotspots to guide them on how to use the feature.

3. Identify and remove friction

When using a product, users doesn’t randomly drop off; they drop off because they are confused on how to use a specific feature, find it complex to use, or find it irrelevant. This is where you need to make use of funnel analysis to find out where the friction is and take steps to remove the friction.

For example, if users start a multi-step onboarding for a feature but abandon midway, then you need to investigate if the UI is confusing or if they are feeling overwhelmed with too much information.

4. Collect continuous feedback on features

Once a feature goes live, you need to make use of surveys, NPS modules, and CSAT to gather intel on how well the features are being perceived and adopted and if they actually align with the user’s vision. You can also collect feedback to identify friction points and even ask them for suggestions or tweaks that would make the feature more useful and easier to use.

For example, you can ask users how they liked the feature and also use a survey pop-up to collect their suggestions.

5. Use multiple channels

Feature adoption doesn't just happen inside the product. You need to make use of interactive and dynamic emails, onboarding, webinars, in-app messages, push notifications, etc. to ensure that you reach all the users where they are and whichever stage they are in. For instance, you can nudge them:

• Before the user enters the product: Use welcome screens or onboarding emails to highlight specific features.
• Inside the product: Use in-app messages and tooltips to guide discovery and activation.
• Outside the product: Use follow-up emails, educational content, webinars, and notifications to reinforce learning and re-engagement.

A multichannel approach ensures that if a user misses one nudge, then they catch the next; this makes the chances of feature adoption stronger for your product.

Drive feature adoption with Mailmodo

Mailmodo believes that feature adoption should begin even before a user logs in, and the nudges should be relevant and timely. Here’s how you can use Mailmodo to drive feature adoption:

1. Use interactive emails

You can embed videos, walkthroughs, and carousels inside your emails that users can go through and discover the usefulness of the feature. You can embed demo previews to do this. Additionally, you can conduct surveys and collect feedback within the emails to better understand how well the features are being received.

2. Send automated emails based on behavioral triggers

Automatically trigger campaigns when users exhibit certain behaviors. You can also collect specific event data from multiple sources to set up customer events. These events could be anything from clicking on a button to visiting a page.

For example, if a user hasn’t used feature X within 5 days, you can trigger an email to nudge them to do so.

Takeaways

Feature adoption, therefore comes down to helping your users realise the value in your product, instead of simply discovering it or using it once. To ensure stronger feature adoption, you need to map the user journey lifecycle; right from the discovery stage to the adoption stage. This will ensure that your users habitually use your product’s features. By integrating Mailmodo, you can also use email marketing as an additional channel to drive feature adoption.