Why ‘Better’ Products Fail: The Hidden Forces That Drive (or Kill) Adoption

Collaborative Strategy Session: Mapping the Path to Product Adoption

You built the better product. Faster, smarter, and loaded with features your competition doesn’t have. And yet — no one’s switching. Here’s why adoption isn’t rational.

People don’t choose the best option. They choose the least risky, the most familiar — the one everyone else is already using.

This is where product teams screw up. They assume adoption is linear:

• Build something better
• People switch
• Success!

Wrong.

Adoption is chaos. There’s a giant chasm between early adopters (who chase shiny things — have we met?) and the mainstream market (who avoid change like it’s radioactive). That’s where good products go to die.

In this post, I will show you why your “better” product is struggling — and how to actually get people to switch.

The Great Adoption Myth: Why “Better” Doesn’t Win

Most product teams make the same fatal mistake: they assume users make rational choices. I have heard product managers having this conversation:

“If we build something 20% faster, 10% cheaper, and 30% shinier, people will obviously switch.”

It sounds logical, but let me tell you, it’s also completely wrong.

Here’s what actually happens:

• Users don’t make spreadsheets comparing your features or time themselves in their current and your product's main workflows to see if yours is ‘faster’.
• They don’t care about your roadmap.
• They definitely don’t read that 50-page white paper.

Instead, they ask themselves one question: “What happens if this goes wrong?”

• Will I lose my data?
• Will I have to explain this switch to my boss?
• Will my team hate me for dragging them into this?
• Will my ROI assumptions hold up, or will I look foolish justifying an investment based on potential benefits and many assumptions (on my part)?

This is switching cost — and it’s why “better” products lose every single day.

Just ask Google+. It was slicker than Facebook. More private. No algorithm nonsense. And it still bombed. Why? Because Facebook was safe. Everyone was already there.

Better doesn’t win. Easier, safer, and more familiar do.

Why Users Stay Stuck: The Real Forces Behind Adoption

Adoption isn’t just about adding value — it’s about overcoming resistance.

Every potential user is caught between two competing forces:

Forces pushing them toward your product:

• It solves a real pain point
• It’s objectively better than what they have now
• Others are using it, creating social proof

Forces pulling them back to the status quo

• It’s unfamiliar — what if it doesn’t work?
• Switching takes effort — do I really have time for this?
• I already have a system that kinda works — why risk change?
• Re-learning cost — even if this is better, how long will it take me to get back to full speed?
• ROI is a lie — the “return” is unknowable upfront, just a bunch of assumptions about potential benefits.

If the forces pulling them back are stronger, they won’t switch — no matter how much better your product is.

The 4 Forces of Switching: What Pushes and Pulls Users Between Solutions

Adoption Is Chaos: Why Your Growth Model Is a Lie

Product teams love smooth adoption curves. They draw nice, predictable lines:

• Early adopters love it.
• Then, the mainstream follows.
• Then, world domination.

Too bad that’s not how reality works. Adoption is a system of tipping points, inertia, and outright resistance. Instead of a smooth curve, you get this:

1. Early Adopters: Love shiny things. Willing to suffer through bugs, bad UI, and clunky onboarding if the upside is big enough.
2. The Chasm: A gaping void where most products die. Early adopters had fun. The mainstream? They don’t care. They need safety, trust, and guarantees.
3. The Mainstream Market: Doesn’t want innovation. It wants risk-free. It will switch when it has to, not when it can.

This is why “better” doesn’t cross the chasm.

• Google+ had better privacy than Facebook — flopped.
• Zoom wasn’t more advanced than Skype — it was just easier to use.
• EVs were better for years — adoption only took off once charging stations were everywhere.

Adoption isn’t about how good your product is. It’s about how easy, safe, and inevitable it feels.

How Adoption Actually Works: The JTBD Timeline

People don’t just wake up and decide to switch. Adoption happens as a slow burn, then all at once. Here’s the real timeline for switching:

The Switching Timeline: How Users Move from First Thought to Adoption

1. First thought: “Hmm… my current solution kinda sucks.”→ But not enough to change yet.
2. Passive looking: “I wonder if there’s a better way…”→ They’re noticing problems but not taking action.
3. Active looking: “Okay, I need something better.”→ Now they’re comparing options.
4. The switch moment: “Screw it, I’m making the leap.”→ This is where your product needs to be ready and frictionless.

Most products fail because they try to sell to people at Step 1 or 2 — before they’re ready to switch. Instead, you need to design your adoption strategy around where people actually are in this journey.

How to Make People Switch: Engineering Adoption

Now that we’ve torched the myth that better means adoption, let’s talk about how to actually get people to switch. Forget features. Forget incremental improvements. You’re fighting against inertia, not competition. Here’s how to tip the scales in your favour:

1. Reduce the Risk: Make It Feel Safe

Users don’t fear your product — they fear what happens if it fails.

• Lower the stakes: Free trials, freemium models, and “no-commitment” options work because they make switching feel less risky. (For example, Slack lets teams onboard together before asking for a credit card.)
• Let them double-dip: People won’t abandon what they know overnight. Make coexistence easy; e.g., Apple lets you run iOS and macOS apps side-by-side before fully merging.
• Show them they’re not alone: Social proof crushes hesitation; e.g., Figma exploded when design teams saw other teams using it.

2. Remove the Friction: Make Switching Effortless

Users are lazy. If switching takes effort, they won’t do it. Period.

• No painful setup: If they need an IT team to install your product, forget it; e.g., Zoom wins because “click the link to join the meeting” beats Skype’s logins and downloads.
• Automate migration: Users won’t copy-paste their data. Do it for them, e.g., Superhuman scanning your Gmail setup to configure your inbox for you.
• Reduce decision fatigue: Give them one simple, obvious action to take, e.g., Calendly’s “send a link, pick a time” model, removing email back and forth.

3. Make It Inevitable: Engineer the Tipping Point

You don’t need every user to switch. You need enough of them to tip the system in your favour.

• Create network effects: If people’s friends, colleagues, or competitors use it, they’ll feel pressured, e.g., LinkedIn’s aggressive “connect your email” strategy.
• Make the old way feel outdated: No one wants to be left behind, e.g. when iMessage turned non-iPhone texts green, and suddenly, switching to iPhone felt like the smart move.
• Turn switching into the default choice: The best way to win is to remove the decision altogether, e.g., Microsoft bundling Teams with Office365, making it the “easy” option for businesses.

The Hidden Levers of Adoption

Beyond removing friction, there are non-obvious forces that help new products win:

1. The Wow Moment: The first-time users experience a transformational benefit. If users don’t hit this early, they’ll churn before adoption even begins, e.g., Figma’s magic moment when two or more designers work on the same design and collaborate in real time.
2. Status & Identity: People don’t just use products; they use them to signal who they are. If adopting your product elevates their status, they’ll push for it, e.g., Tesla buyers aren’t just driving electric; they’re part of an elite movement.
3. Urgency & Scarcity: People move when they have to. If switching isn’t time-sensitive, it drags out forever, e.g., limited-time offers, expiring free tiers, or the iPhone hype cycle.
4. Emotional Buy-In: People justify purchases with logic but make the decision emotionally. If your product makes them feel smart, safe, or ahead of the curve, they’ll sell it internally themselves, e.g., Apple’s marketing making users feel like innovators.
5. Zero Switching Effort: Adoption happens fastest when the transition is seamless. The closer your product is to plug-and-play, the lower the resistance, e.g., Zoom’s instant meeting links vs. Skype’s convoluted login.

The Unfair Advantage of Familiarity

Switching costs don’t just come from effort. They come from the brain’s need for familiarity. If something feels too new, too different — it feels risky. That’s why the easiest way to win adoption is to make users feel like they already know how to use your product before they even start.

People don’t want to learn new things. They want to recognise them — hijack their existing mental models.

• Slack didn’t “invent” workplace chat — it made it feel like an email inbox, AIM, and a group chat had a baby.
• Notion didn’t “reinvent” docs and wikis — it made them feel like an infinite whiteboard.
• Superhuman didn’t create a “new” email experience — it optimised Gmail’s mental model for power users.

The best products don’t just feel ‘better’ — they feel inevitable. They borrow mental models people already understand and subtly improve them. Dropbox felt like a folder on your desktop, so people used it instinctively. Zoom felt like a simple phone call with a link, so people didn’t overthink it. You’ve already lost if users have to ‘learn’ your product.

Takeaway: What is the easiest way to drive adoption? Make users feel like they already know how to use your product before they even start. Familiarity reduces switching costs more than any feature improvement ever could.

The Power of Defaults

Even if your product is better, it’s invisible if it’s not the default option. Users are lazy — they go with whatever is easiest.

• Microsoft crushed Slack by bundling Teams with Office365 — companies didn’t “choose” Teams; they just had it.
• Google Chrome overtook Firefox because it shipped as the default browser on Android.
• Apple’s Safari & iMessage dominance? They came preinstalled on iPhones, making them effortless to use.

Takeaway: If your product isn’t the default, you need to embed it where users already are — or make the old way feel obsolete.

The Adoption Ladder: How People Actually Switch

Switching isn’t an event — it’s a series of tiny commitments. Users don’t go from “interested” to “evangelist” overnight.

1. Awareness: “Oh, this exists?”
2. Interest: “Maybe this could help.”
3. First Use: “Let’s see if this actually works.”
4. Habit Formation: “This is how I do this now.”
5. Evangelism: “I tell others they have to use this.”

Takeaway: Most products fail because they don’t help users climb this ladder fast enough.

Final Takeaway: Adoption Is a System, Not a Choice

If your product isn’t taking off, it’s probably not because it’s not good enough. It’s because switching still feels too risky, too hard, or too optional.

Too many teams waste time trying to convince users instead of eliminating barriers. But adoption isn’t won through persuasion — it’s won by making switching feel like the only obvious choice.

The products that win aren’t just better. They’re the easiest, safest, and most natural option.

Familiarity makes your product feel safe. Defaults make it feel inevitable. Get both right and adoption doesn’t become a debate but a foregone conclusion.

Look at your own product. What’s the biggest friction point stopping users from switching today? Fix that, and adoption will follow.

What’s the biggest barrier to adoption you’ve faced? Drop your experience in the comments — I’d love to hear!

About Me

I’m Paul, a Partner at Thrivve Partners and a Product & Flow Practitioner, focused on data-informed, evidence-led ways of working. As a ProKanban trainer, I help teams and organisations navigate complexity, optimise flow, and deliver value — without getting trapped in rigid frameworks. I believe in leading with curiosity, not judgment — helping teams uncover better ways of working through exploration, learning, and continuous improvement.

On the yellow brick road…