3 June 2026 · Maya Ellison

Adoption is not installs

Shipping a feature and watching download or session counts rise still leaves the real question unanswered.

Installs and daily actives describe presence. Feature adoption describes whether a specific capability became part of how people work.

Define the behaviour that counts as adoption before you instrument anything. First click, first successful outcome, and weekly repeat use are different stories.

Separate discovery failure from value failure. If people never open a feature, the problem may be navigation or messaging — not the feature itself.

Compare adoption by the cohort that received the release, not the whole account base. Older users often never see what you just shipped.

Write the decision you will make from the number. If no decision follows, you are collecting decoration.