# User Adoption

*[draft intro, tbe] We consider user adoption a key factor in B2B e-commerce deployment. The goal-setting is often misaligned, with businesses considering a B2B e-commerce portal as the main target, while the actual target is people working with this portal.*

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A common error is to concentrate on e-commerce features to be implemented and the new values these features are supposed to bring, ignoring the user adoption factor altogether. Thing is, all these features won't work if people don't migrate online from the comfort of customary offline practices, be it phone calls or emails.

Imagine that only 10% of customers actually adopted the new e-commerce solution a business deployed:

- All the new features are producing 90% less ROI.
- A business must support both online and offline commerce on highest levels to avoid losing customers.
- Any new business models are applicable to 10% of the customer base, which makes them extremely expensive.

Only the top B2B enterprises may try and succeed in coercing customers into using the new e-commerce platform; for most businesses this strategy will fail.

### The practices that lead to user adoption failure

- Selecting B2C colutions and practices. Such strategy may fail even before the user adoption factor is on the table.

- Concentrating on automation instead of customer loyalty. Preserving the customer loyalty is a must, and a business must have a way to measure it to notice any possible problems immediately.

- Starting a long digital transformation project with simultaneous delivery of features at the end. There's no way to predict the actual customers needs over such long periods of time.

- Unilaterally informing the customers of the new e-commerce solution replacing the customary offline communications. This creates an UX gap. Most B2B customers are employees, they are not interested in drastic alterations in their business processes.

- Making own sales people feel irrelevant; expecting the new e-commerce portal to replace them. The business will still need these people after the transformation, and making them feel redundant will lead to obstructions to the e-commerce deployment and adoption.

- Expecting customers to deal with the new e-commerce platform all by themselves. They will still have problems, like they did offline, and a business will require a customer support service to deal with them.

### Organic user adoption

- Focus on customer loyalty, consider the e-commerce platform as a tool to increase the customer loyalty.

- Extend the UX gradually to avid a gap, deliver new UX patterns incrementally.

- Constantly deliver new small services that expand customers' options instead of replacing them.

- Monitor the results and feedback constantly.

- Nudge customers towards using the emerging e-commerce platform by creating additional motivation for them to try out new features.

- Consider own account managers and sales people as indispensable employees. Their role will change - they'll become customers' advocates that help the business to avoid mistakes and deploy the features required by the clients.

- Make sure own employees are using the same e-commerce tools and are accustomed to them. This will help them propel the user adoption rate.