Picking The Best Digital Adoption Platform of 2021.
The best digital adoption platform for most businesses is Nickelled.
If you're looking for help with end user training for Salesforce, Workday or any other platform, we'd love to talk.
What Is A Digital Adoption Platform?
Digital adoption platforms are designed to help people get the most out of other applications. They normally work by overlaying guidance on the screen (as in the example shown here).
By providing step-by-step help inside an application, digital adoption platforms can help users learn to use unfamiliar software quickly.
What are the benefits of using a DAP?
The benefits of a digital adoption platform include:
- Lowering user resistance and increasing adoption of new software.
- Reducing burdens on IT support during a digital transformation project.
- Reducing time to train new employees.
- Allowing businesses to complete digital processes faster, increasing productivity.
Because DAPs provide the guidance in-app (at the click of a button), they make complex software easier to use, and task completion more accurate.
Nickelled Products Are Trusted By The Best
DAPs and third party tools (e.g. Salesforce)
Large-scale implementations of tools such as Salesforce often run into teething problems. Users are habitual creatures – as former consultants, we've seen what happens when these kinds of digital transformation implementations go wrong.
These kinds of projects are where a digital adoption platform can shine – by offering an overlaid software that can be accessed from inside Salesforce (or other tools) in real time. For their part, companies can create easy to access tutorials, support, and guide-throughs for their users.
Examples of digital adoption platforms include Nickelled, WalkMe, Whatfix, Apty and Pendo. See the full comparison list.
What can I do with a digital adoption platform?
Well, lots of things. But it's normally one of these...
Guide users, without intensive support
An on-screen interactive guide is changing the way we utilize digital products exactly as GPS changed the way people drive. Through a digital adoption platform, you don’t need to worry about training users in person or hiring additional onboarding support. The DAP handles the process for you through an automated and seamless on-screen step-by-step instruction to users on how to use your digital product(s).
Maximize IT investments
There's no point spending thousands (or millions!) on products that your team don't get the most out of. Digital adoption platforms are a way to drive adoption, and minimize additional support costs, by making sure that your team understand how to properly use features.
Get detailed insights and metrics
Understanding what people are doing can help you make better decisions about what needs to happen inside your company. With a digital adoption platform, you can gather insights that allow you to understand if users are using your features, or whether they need more support.
Conduct automated and continuous onboarding
Getting employee onboarding right is what makes and breaks careers. Digital adoption platforms ensure that users who are new to your products get the training that they deserve.
Hear it from our customers
Nickelled was the only company that we found where we could create tutorials to our liking without needing to add HTML code to our website.”
Lara Fernandez,
Community Manager Gengo
Our Pick: Top Digital Adoption Platform of 2021
Nickelled is a top choice digital adoption platform because it has many of the necessary features small- and medium-sized businesses need, is affordable, and requires no coding knowledge to set up. This tool focuses on increasing product adoption through continuous and effective onboarding.
- Product adoption tools with extensive UI elements: guided tours, tooltips, nano bars embedded videos, multiple triggering functions, etc.
- Nickelled does not retain user data, period.
- Localization features allow you to onboard users in different languages, similar to how Gengo uses Nickelled.
- Automated on-demand support.
- Real-time recording of how customers interact with your product.
- No coding required – easy to set up without login and installation.
All Nickelled pricing plans include 14 days free trial and 30-day money-back guarantee.
Plans include a starter plan ($299/month with discounts when you pay annually) and a custom plan.
The Full Comparison List
Digital Adoption Platform | Comments | Further Reading |
Nickelled | The simplest solution for most businesses – a lightweight digital adoption tool that's rapid to set up and easy to deploy. Can run inside or outside of applications. The sales process is fast and transparent, and Nickelled includes a 14 day free trial and 30-day money-back guarantee. | |
WalkMe | The most established name in the digital adoption platform space. Fully-featured and scalable – but extremely expensive. WalkMe is likely to be a good choice if you’re looking for a digital adoption platform for Salesforce. The company is an official Salesforce partner and well-trusted in the SFDC space. | |
Whatfix | Great for enterprise businesses with complex requirements. A direct WalkMe competitor. Whatfix’s tools are more geared towards providing training materials, and complementing learning management systems. Catering towards large organizations, Whatfix can be deployed in the cloud or as on-premise software. | |
Apty | A digital adoption platform which is also well suited to the enterprise. A little complex, but generally cheaper than WalkMe and Whatfix. | |
EdCast MyGuide | A simple DAP with a strong focus on Salesforce guidance. Basic, but functional. | |
Pendo | Though technically a product analytics and digital adoption platform, Pendo is a strong name in the marketplace, with a valuation of over $2.6bn according to VentureBeat. |
The many pitfalls of digital adoption
Adoption of digital technologies is a challenge for most businesses. The most common challenges include:
- A lack of support from the business
- Poor training
- A lack of business processes to integrate applications into the business.
- Resistance to change.
Let's examine these problems one by one, to see how a digital adoption platform can help.
Problem #1: Lack of support from the business
The business is always a step behind, and never on top of digital technology. They are not on a continuous upgrade cycle so they are not always ready for the next wave and the latest technology. This makes the adoption of digital technology a challenge for most businesses. The business may be willing to adopt some digital technology, but not all. They may be interested in some new applications, but not all.
In this circumstance, digital adoption software can help by highlighting the benefits of newer digital systems, especially when the change curve is steep.
Problem #2: Poor training
A lack of training on technology is one of the biggest challenges to adopting new software. This is why businesses need to support their staff with training on the technology. They also need to understand the cost of adoption.
The business needs to ensure every employee knows the new technology, and has the skills to use it. Digital adoption software can help by training and educating employees. It also helps to increase efficiency by automating and standardizing processes, so that the technology can be adopted in a controlled, predictable, and measured method.
Problem #3: A lack of business processes
Technology is not used when a business has no established processes to use it. The business may have some processes in place, but they are outdated and not in line with the way technology used in the business. These outdated processes make it impossible for the business to leverage the new applications. The business has no idea how to use the technology, and it is not considered an integral part of the business.
The digital adoption platform can help by providing a solution that makes the software rollout a part of the business, and provides all the necessary processes to integrate the technology. It can also support new business processes, and help with standardized business processes, so that integration is easier. In this way, the new application becomes a part of the daily routine.
Problem #4: Resistance to change
The new technology must be adopted by everyone in the business. If even one employee is resistant, there is no point in investing in the technology. The business must be prepared for a change like this. In this case, a digital adoption platform can be an effective approach. It can educate and engage all employees, showing the benefits of digital technology.
Dodge the pitfalls, with a free trial of Nickelled's digital adoption platform. A free trial is available today, simply request a demo using the form at the top of the page and a sales associate will be in touch.