Are you a product manager looking to update the software for your company? If so, there are a few things that you need to keep in mind to ensure everything is as smooth and seamless as possible.
When handled correctly, this transition period can be a great way to please existing customers while bringing in new ones. When it is done the wrong way, however, it can be a literal nightmare for customers as well as your staff.
As a product manager, you are tasked with determining the best way to introduce everyone to the new software, which can feel daunting.
Before you even try to bring in new customers and clients, you need to get the basics of the software down.
Understand that your current customers are the ones you should be mainly focused on, and think about ways to ease them into this new transitional phase. It’s one thing to introduce new software to your consumers, and another thing entirely to get them excited about new features.
If your current customers don’t like the changes, what would entice new customers?
Change is something people fear, but it’s also a necessary evil in the business world. Companies that don’t evolve or adapt are left in the dust, putting businesses in very difficult positions when it comes to adopting new tactics as well as software.
The key to making changes is to keep it simple. Explain the new features in a way everyone can understand, and make sure the software is user-friendly.
At the same time, it’s expected that not everyone will catch onto all of the features at once. Thankfully, there are ways you can still be present as a product manager to do damage control to ease the anger and frustration.
For starters, be sure you migrate over previous accounts to keep everyone from creating new ones.
This keeps everyone on a solid foundation while opening up several different doors for them.
The right technology teaches your customers what’s new in a natural and simple manner, getting rid of the need for lengthy Q&A searches or boring tutorial videos. Exploring is part of learning, and your customers will be able to learn what the new software does by experiencing it firsthand.
Customers need to feel like they have the upper hand over software. No one wants to think that technology is smarter than they are, and customers should enjoy using your new software.
If they are unable to understand the changes or support the new updates, they may end up switching services and trying to find something easier to use. At the end of the day, you want your customers to see what you changed for the better.
Of course, your customers are not the only ones that are effected when you upgrade software.
Your customer support staff must be able to learn about the software quickly and effectively so there is as little downtime as possible. Mistakes made during this period are expected, but they must be learned from quickly.
If your teams don’t know how to use the software or are frustrated with how things work, that will end up spilling over into the quality of support for customers, which simply cannot happen.
Thankfully, there is software out there that can be used to guide team members to success. A program known as WalkMe has been designed from the ground up for your team to excel. .
It serves as a GPS of sorts, guiding staff members from one point to the next until they arrive at their destination. This is a great way to ease your staff into the new software or train new members with a short turnaround time.
From a customer perspective, using WalkMe makes the whole conversation feel smooth and natural; they won’t know there is a program guiding the representative through each step.
This means there will be very little frustration from the service end, and issues can be resolved in a timely manner.
The most important thing to learn is how the software works and all the little details. One survey showed that 71.7% of participants believed ensuring effective usage and gaining user buy-in were the two most important aspects of enterprise software. If you are a product manager, don’t take the risk.
Do the right thing and take the necessary steps to ensure everyone is happy with the software upgrade and understands the entire process. This way you’ll not only keep your current customers happy, you’ll bring in new ones that are curious about all of the hype as well.