You’ve built solid APIs. You’ve shipped integrations customers have been asking for. You’ve invested in the ecosystem story because you know it drives retention, expansion, and product stickiness.
So why is adoption still flat?
This is the moment every product team quietly dreads. The integrations exist, but they aren’t getting used. The reflex is to assume something is wrong with the tech. But in most cases, the tech is fine. What’s broken is the last mile, the part where customers discover, understand, and successfully activate the integration.
And that last mile is where adoption either takes off or dies.
When this gap exists, it doesn’t just slow down adoption. It erodes the perceived value of your entire integration strategy. Execs question the ROI. Customers see “supports integrations” as marketing fluff. Your partner ecosystem stalls before it even gets going.
Let’s unpack what’s actually happening.
The integration adoption paradox
Most teams think: if the integration works, customers will use it. But that’s not how adoption works.
You’re essentially building a Ferrari and parking it in a closed garage. No visibility. No guidance. No context for why someone should care.
Engineering carries the heavy load of building integrations, yet very little effort goes into the experience around discovering them, evaluating them, and getting them set up. That leads to the paradox we see across SaaS: strong technical foundations paired with weak engagement.
Customers aren’t uninterested. They just don’t have time to dig. If the value isn’t obvious and the setup isn’t painless, adoption stalls.
Breaking down the last mile problem
Here’s where the adoption gap actually forms.
The discovery gap: customers don’t know what exists
You can have ten great integrations, but if customers can’t find them, they don’t exist.
For many SaaS companies, integration info is scattered across old blog posts, docs pages, and occasional release notes. There’s no single, clean destination. This forces customers into detective mode, which is the fastest way to kill adoption.
This is why modern SaaS teams are moving to centralized integration marketplaces and developer portals. One place, clearly branded, always current, and easy to browse.
The value gap: customers don’t know why it matters
Feature lists don’t drive adoption. Outcomes do.
Most integration descriptions sound like API documentation. They explain what the integration does, not why a customer should care. Users want to know the real impact: less manual work, cleaner data, faster workflows, reduced churn risk.
If you don’t make the value obvious, customers won’t take the next step.
The setup gap: customers get stuck during activation
This is the silent killer.
You’ve convinced them it’s valuable, then hit them with confusing steps, unclear fields, partial docs, and brittle troubleshooting paths. Even highly motivated users abandon integrations when the setup flow feels like a maze.
This is why the best product teams invest in user-friendly activation experiences: step-by-step guides, in-app prompts, clear success states, and human-readable error messaging. Your API can be flawless, but if the setup flow is rough, adoption flatlines.
What product teams can do to fix the last mile
Closing the gap doesn’t require more engineering. It requires better enablement around what you’ve already built.
- Centralize discovery and simplify choice.
A dedicated integration marketplace or developer portal is the easiest way to solve this. Give customers a clean, searchable, filterable source of truth. It removes friction and increases visibility overnight. - Lead with customer value, not features.
Reframe every integration: what pain does this solve? What outcome does it produce? Give real-world examples. If you want customers to activate an integration, they need to see themselves in the story. - Make setup dead simple.
Short steps. Clear instructions. Helpful UI. No guesswork.
Prebuilt templates and one-click activation make a massive difference.
Test the flow as a non-technical user and fix every friction point you hit. - Listen closely to where customers struggle.
Support tickets, feedback tools, user interviews, and in-app surveys reveal exactly where the adoption path breaks. This data is gold. Use it to refine discovery, improve descriptions, and streamline setup.
This isn’t about building more integrations. It’s about unlocking the value of the ones you already have.
If you want a cleaner, more effective last mile, you need infrastructure that actually supports it. A modern developer portal gives you that foundation: centralized discovery, crisp partner listings, better onboarding journeys, and easier maintenance.
Ready to improve your integration adoption and build an ecosystem customers love?
