Are You Actually Listening to Your Customers’ Adoption Signals?

Johan Gedde
May 28
2 min read

A framed print on a white shelf against a warm peach-colored wall reads: “Your customers are sending you signals every day. Are you listening?” The first sentence is in black bold font, and the second line, “Are you listening?”, is in a larger red cursive font for emphasis. To the left of the frame is a hanging black pendant light, and to the right is a green plant in a turquoise pot. A few colorful books in shades of teal, orange, and red are stacked on the left side of the shelf, creating a balanced, modern composition. — our customers are sending signals every day. The question is—are you listening in time to act on them?

How to Map the Behaviors That Drive Real Customer Outcomes

Your customers are sending you signals every single day.

Most teams just aren’t listening.

🧠 The Problem with Most “Adoption Metrics”

If your current approach to adoption metrics looks something like this:

→ Logins per month
→ Features clicked
→ Minutes spent in-app

You're seeing what your customers did—but not why they did it, or whether it created value.

And if you don’t understand how your customers are using your product, you're not managing adoption—you're tracking noise.

✅ What Real Adoption Mapping Looks Like

Real adoption mapping means understanding behavior that leads to success, not just activity.

Ask yourself:

🟢 What exact moments did customers reach along their journey?
🟢 How did different teams extract value from the product?
🟢 What specific behaviors consistently lead to outcomes?

This shift changes everything—from onboarding to renewal.

🛠️ A Quick Exercise to Refocus Your Adoption Strategy

Try this with your team this month:

1️⃣ Identify Leading Indicators That Drive Value

These are the behaviors that correlate with successful outcomes. Examples:

First completed integration
Number of users added in the first 10 days
Specific workflows launched in-app

2️⃣ Map Those Indicators to the Customer Journey

Look at:

When and where these behaviors happen
Which features are involved
What milestone they align with
What engagement patterns precede or follow

3️⃣ Look for Patterns Across Segments

Break it down by:

Industry
Account size
Use case
Maturity level

This helps you build segment-specific playbooks that are proactive—not reactive.

📈 What Happens When You Do This Well?

When you embed adoption checkpoints into your customer journey and act on the right signals, you get:

✅ Higher activation rates
✅ Faster time-to-value
✅ Lower churn
✅ Clear expansion opportunities

It’s not magic—it’s system design.

🚀 Adoption Isn’t Usage. It’s Success.

Adoption isn’t about how often a customer logs in.It’s about whether they’re making measurable progress toward their goals.

You don’t drive adoption to increase product usage.You drive adoption to help customers succeed.

🔎 What Are You Seeing?

What’s the most surprising behavior you’ve identified from your most successful customers?

Let’s compare notes.

✅ Follow me on LinkedIn for no-nonsense, execution-first Customer Success strategies.

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