Sustaining Momentum After Launch

Overview

Every technology launch follows the same pattern: initial excitement, a dip as novelty wears off, and then either sustained growth or permanent plateau. Copilot is no exception. The organizations that sustain adoption momentum don’t leave it to chance—they plan for the dip and build strategies to push through it.

This video covers the typical adoption curve after launch, strategies for maintaining engagement during the critical post-launch period, how to use new feature releases as re-engagement opportunities, and the ongoing rhythm needed to prevent plateau.

What You’ll Learn

• The Adoption Curve: Where dips happen and why
• Engagement Strategies: Content, challenges, and peer sharing that sustain usage
• Feature Releases: Using new capabilities as reasons to re-engage
• The Momentum Cycle: Monthly, quarterly, and annual rhythms for sustained adoption

Script

Hook: the post-launch dip is normal

Every technology launch follows the same pattern. Week one: excitement. Everyone tries the new tool, shares what they found, asks questions. Weeks two and three: continued engagement as people explore and discover use cases.

Then the dip. Weeks four through eight. The novelty wears off. The easy scenarios have been found. Some frustrations have accumulated. Other priorities compete for attention. Usage starts to flatten.

This dip is normal. It happens with every technology, every organization, every time. The difference between organizations that achieve sustained Copilot adoption and those that plateau is what they do during and after this dip.

The adoption curve and where dips happen

Understanding the pattern helps you plan for it.

Initial enthusiasm runs from week one through roughly week three. Users are curious, engaged, and forgiving of imperfect results. Usage data looks great. This is the honeymoon period, and it will end.

The dip typically starts around week four and can last through week eight. Several things happen simultaneously. The novelty of AI assistants fades. Users who had poor early experiences have stopped trying. The quick wins have been found, and deeper use cases require more effort. Other work priorities that were deferred during the launch period reassert themselves. And some users hit the limitations—Copilot doesn’t work perfectly for every scenario, and the gap between expectation and reality creates frustration.

At month three and beyond, you’re either growing or plateauing. If you intervene during the dip—with fresh content, targeted support, and new reasons to engage—you push through to sustained growth. If you don’t, usage flatlines at whatever level it reached during the dip.

The key is recognizing the dip before it becomes permanent. Watch your usage data weekly during the first three months. When you see active users decline for two consecutive weeks, that’s your signal to act.

Strategies for maintaining engagement

You have five levers to pull during and after the dip.

Regular new content keeps Copilot visible. Send weekly tips through email or Teams—one scenario, one prompt, one concrete benefit. “This week’s tip: Ask Copilot in Outlook to prioritize your inbox by urgency.” Monthly deep dives explore advanced scenarios in more detail—a 30-minute session on cross-application workflows or advanced prompting techniques. Quarterly showcases feature user success stories and celebrate the most creative Copilot uses from across the organization.

Scenario challenges create low-pressure motivation to try new things. “This week, try using Copilot to draft an email you’d normally write from scratch. Share your experience in the Copilot channel.” Challenges work because they’re specific, time-bounded, and social. The combination of a clear task and a community sharing results drives experimentation.

Peer sharing scales your adoption message. Champions demonstrating new use cases in their regular team meetings—five minutes at the start of a staff meeting—reaches people in their natural work context. “Here’s what I used Copilot for this week” is more compelling from a colleague than from the IT department. Enable and encourage this by giving champions a steady stream of new scenarios to share.

Gamification works when done appropriately. Usage milestones—”You’ve used Copilot 50 times this month”—acknowledge effort. Prompt-sharing contests—”Share your best prompt and the community votes on the winner”—create engagement. In government environments, keep gamification professional and focused on learning, not competition.

Refresh training based on what you learn from the dip. If users stopped using Copilot in a specific app, offer a targeted refresher session. If prompting quality is low, run an advanced prompting workshop. The dip tells you exactly where to focus—listen to it.

Introducing new features

Microsoft releases Copilot updates regularly—new capabilities, improved features, expanded availability. Each release is a natural re-engagement opportunity.

Create a communication plan for new features. When a significant update launches, send a focused communication: what’s new, why it matters, and how to try it. Frame updates as reasons to come back to Copilot. “If you tried Copilot in Excel three months ago and found it limited, try again—formula generation is significantly improved.”

For major new capabilities, run a quick training session. Fifteen to thirty minutes, focused specifically on the new feature with hands-on practice. These sessions re-engage users who drifted away by giving them a fresh reason to try Copilot again.

In government environments, new feature availability may lag commercial. Monitor Microsoft’s government cloud feature release schedule and communicate accurately about what’s available in GCC, GCC High, or DoD. Don’t create excitement about features your users can’t access yet.

Close: the momentum maintenance cycle

Sustained momentum requires sustained effort—but less effort than the initial launch.

Monthly: distribute new tips and scenario spotlights. Share usage data so teams can see adoption progress. Highlight success stories from across the organization.

Quarterly: run deep-dive training sessions on advanced scenarios or new features. Review and refresh your champions network—recruit new champions, re-energize existing ones. Update your internal knowledge base and prompt library with new discoveries.

Annually: review your overall Copilot adoption strategy. Reset goals based on current maturity and new capabilities. Evaluate program effectiveness and adjust your approach. This annual review prevents your adoption program from running on autopilot.

The effort required to sustain momentum is real, but it’s a fraction of the effort needed for the initial launch. Monthly tips take an hour to prepare. Quarterly sessions take half a day. Annual reviews take a week. This ongoing investment protects the far larger investment you’ve already made in licenses, deployment, and initial training.

Don’t let the dip become permanent. Plan for it, act during it, and build the rhythms that sustain momentum beyond it.

Sources & References

• Microsoft Copilot adoption resources — Ongoing engagement and adoption strategies
• Microsoft 365 Copilot overview — Feature updates and new capabilities
• Microsoft Work Trend Index — Research on sustained technology adoption patterns