How to choose a digital adoption platform: 12 questions to ask vendors

Most digital adoption platforms look similar in a demo: a guided tour pops up, a tooltip appears, a dashboard shows usage. The differences show up later, when you try to roll them out across real applications with real users. These questions help you find those differences before you sign.

Start with your use case

1. Who are the users?

Employees using internal software, customers using your product, or both? Some tools are built mainly for one audience. If you need both, ask whether that means one contract or two.

2. Which applications must it support?

List the applications you care about, such as your CRM, ERP, HR system, ticketing tool or custom internal apps, and ask the vendor to demo on those specific applications, not on their demo site. Pay attention to how they handle:

• Single-page applications and dynamic pages
• Applications inside iframes
• Desktop applications, if you need them
• Mobile apps

3. What problem are you measuring?

Write down the outcome you need: faster onboarding, fewer support tickets, better data quality, higher feature usage. Ask each vendor how their analytics would show progress on that specific outcome.

Building and maintaining content

4. Who will create the content?

Ask to try the editor yourself. A content author on your team, not the vendor’s solutions consultant, should be able to build a walkthrough in a reasonable time.

5. What happens when the underlying app changes?

Enterprise applications update several times a year. Ask how the platform detects broken guides, how it alerts you and how much rework is typical after an upgrade.

6. How does targeting work?

You will want different content for different roles, regions, languages and stages of onboarding. Check whether targeting can use data from your identity provider or HR system.

7. Does it support your languages?

If you operate in several countries, check translation workflows and whether the platform can auto-translate content or import translations.

Analytics and integrations

8. What can the analytics actually tell you?

Look past the dashboard. Can you track a specific business process end to end? Can you export the data to your BI tool or data warehouse?

9. Which integrations are included?

Common integrations include single sign-on, LMSs, knowledge bases, ticketing systems and analytics tools. Ask which are included and which cost extra.

Security and procurement

10. How does it handle data?

The platform runs inside applications that contain sensitive data. Ask what it collects, where data is stored, how sensitive fields are masked, and which security certifications it holds. Bring your security team in early.

11. How is it priced?

Clarify the pricing unit (users, applications, monthly active users or a platform fee), what triggers a price increase, and whether implementation services are extra.

Rollout

12. What does implementation look like?

Ask for a realistic timeline for your first application, who does the work, and what ongoing support you get. Many vendors and independent consultancies offer implementation services; ask for references from customers with a similar setup to yours.

A simple scoring sheet

Criterion	Weight	Vendor A	Vendor B	Vendor C
Works on our key applications	High
Ease of content creation	High
Analytics for our main outcome	High
Maintenance after app updates	Medium
Security review passed	Must-have
Total 3-year cost	Medium

Score each vendor from 1 to 5 on every row after a hands-on trial, not just a demo.

Running a proof of concept

A short, structured proof of concept (POC) reveals far more than any demo. A simple four-step plan:

1. Pick two real workflows on your most important application, ideally one simple and one complex.
2. Ask each vendor to build them with your team watching, then have your own content author recreate one.
3. Put them in front of real users, even a pilot group of ten, and collect feedback.
4. Review the analytics each vendor produces from the pilot and judge how useful they are.

Keep the POC to two to four weeks and agree success criteria before you start.

Red flags during evaluation

• The vendor won’t demo on your applications, only on their own demo environment.
• Building a simple walkthrough requires their professional services team.
• Pricing is unclear about what happens as you add users or applications.
• Security questions get vague answers or are deferred to “later in the process”.
• References are all from different industries or very different application stacks.

Who should be on the evaluation team

Role	Why they matter
Business process owner	Knows which workflows matter and what “good” looks like
Content author	Will build and maintain guidance day to day
IT and security	Validates deployment, data handling and access
End-user representatives	Tell you whether guidance actually helps
Procurement	Negotiates pricing and contract terms

Where to start

Shortlist three vendors from the digital adoption platforms category. If you’re onboarding customers into your own SaaS product, look at product onboarding tools instead.