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Consumers are divided into 5 adopter categories based on their behavioral patterns and values. The 5 adopter categories, in order of their speed of uptake, are:
1. Innovators
3. Early Majority
4. Late Majority
5. Laggards
When a new product first emerges in the market, it must be accepted by the different adopters that make up the market.
Identifying adopters is valuable for crafting marketing messages. By addressing any adopter category’s values, maximum impact is more likely.
The adoption curve for new products illustrates the sequence in which different categories of consumers adopt innovations. It typically consists of five stages: Innovators, Early Adopters, Early Majority, Late Majority, and Laggards.
These groups adopt products at different times, influenced by their willingness to try new things, social status, and other factors. The curve provides insights into market penetration and the potential growth of new products. For a deeper dive into this topic, including how early adopters influence customer adoption patterns, read the article 'Understanding Early Adopters and Customer Adoption Patterns' on the Interaction Design Foundation.
Consumer adoption of a new product refers to the process by which an individual or group uses an innovation. It's typically depicted by a curve that breaks consumers into five categories: Innovators, Early Adopters, Early Majority, Late Majority, and Laggards. Each category represents a specific segment's willingness and timeframe to adopt new products. Factors like perceived benefits, risks, and social influence can impact the speed of adoption. For comprehensive insights into how consumers transition through these stages and the influence of early adopters, explore the article 'Understanding Early Adopters and Customer Adoption Patterns' on the Interaction Design Foundation.
Laggards represent the final group on the adoption curve for new products. Unlike earlier segments, they're typically skeptical of change and innovations. Laggards often wait until a product has been established in the market and, even then, might resist adopting it. In the video discussion about product improvements and design changes, there's an emphasis on understanding user behaviors and the reasons behind their actions. While innovations might cater to early adopters and the majority, it's essential to recognize the hesitancy of laggards. Dive deeper into this topic by watching the video discussion on the Interaction Design Foundation.
No, early adopters are typically not risk-averse. They're risk tolerant. Early adopters are individuals who eagerly embrace innovations before the majority of the population. They're willing to take risks by trying out new products or technologies, even when there's limited information available. Their adventurous nature and willingness to experiment often place them ahead of the curve in adopting new solutions.
The five stages are:
Innovators - The first group to adopt a new product, open to risks and exploration.
Early Adopters - Enthusiastic about new ideas and willing to champion them.
Early Majority - More deliberate in adoption, influenced by feedback from early groups.
Late Majority - Skeptical about innovations, adopting only after the majority have tried them.
Laggards - Last to adopt, typically resistant to change.
Each stage represents a segment of consumers with distinct characteristics.
New product innovations can be categorized into two main types:
Incremental Improvements: These involve enhancing existing product features. Examples include refining user interfaces or adding features that customers expect. It's like allowing job seekers to search for jobs near them – a seemingly minor addition that can significantly impact user experience and metrics.
Disruptive Innovations: These radical changes create new markets or reshape existing ones. It might involve reimagining how a product functions. For instance, allowing job applicants to use video resumes instead of traditional text or pivoting into training and certifications to meet user needs.
To truly understand user needs and drive innovation, in-depth research and agile, quick usability testing are essential.
Dive deep into adopter categories and understand their implications on product design by enrolling in the Get Your Product Used: Adoption and Appropriation course on Interaction Design Foundation. This comprehensive course offers insights into user behavior, adoption strategies, and methods to ensure your product resonates with target audiences. Stay ahead by equipping yourself with essential knowledge. Visit Interaction Design Foundation for more expert-led courses on UX and product design topics.
Make learning as easy as watching Netflix: Learn more about Adopter Categories for New Products by taking the online IxDF Course Get Your Product Used: Adoption and Appropriation.
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Customer adoption patterns are important to understanding how to market new product for adoption. Without a clear understanding of what each type of adopter values it can be difficult, if not impossible to target them through marketing.In his book, Diffusion of Innovations (1962), Everett M Rogers t
Customer adoption patterns are important to understanding how to market new product for adoption. Without a clear understanding of what each type of adopter values it can be difficult, if not impossible to target them through marketing.
In his book, Diffusion of Innovations (1962), Everett M Rogers the communication scholar and sociologist, describes 5 types of adopter for products and provides insight into each of those types.
Rogers presents a social system for adopters of recent innovation; the adoption of innovation varies throughout the course of the product-life cycle as shown in the diagram above.
Innovators
Late Majority
Laggards
Let’s take a look at each type and how they differ from each other:
Innovators are the first customers to try a new product. They are, by nature, risk takers and are excited by the possibilities of new ideas and new ways of doing things. Products tend to be more expensive at their point of release (though some products do defy this trend) and as such innovators are generally wealthier than other types of adopters (though in some cases they may adopt products in a very narrow field and devote much of their financial resources to this adoption).
Innovators will often have some connection to the scientific discipline in which a new product is generated from and will tend to socialize with other innovators in their chosen product categories.
It’s also important to realize that innovators are comfortable with the risks that they take. They are aware that some products that they adopt will not deliver the benefits that are promised or will fail to win mass market appeal.
Author/Copyright holder: Story Bots. Copyright terms and licence: Fair Use.
When designing for innovators it might be best to remember what Larry Marine the UI expert says; “It is far better to adapt the technology to the user than to force the user to adapt to the technology.”
Early adopters are the second phase of product purchasers following innovators. These tend to be the most influential people within any market space and they will often have a degree of “thought leadership” for other potential adopters. They may be very active in social media and often create reviews and other materials around new products that they strongly like or dislike.
Early adopters will normally have a reasonably high social status (which in turn enables thought leadership), reasonable access to finances (beyond those of later adopters), high levels of education and a reasonable approach to risk. However, they do not take as many risks as innovators and tend to make more reasoned decisions as to whether or not to become involved in a particular product. They will try to obtain more information than an innovator in this decision making process.
As a product begins to have mass market appeal, the next class of adopter to arrive is the early majority. This class of adopter is reasonably risk averse and wants to be sure that their, often more limited, resources are spent wisely on products. They are however, generally, people with better than average social status and while not thought leaders in their own right – they will often be in contact with thought leaders and use the opinions of these thought leaders when making their adoption decisions.
Author/Copyright holder: Abdul Rahman. Copyright terms and licence: CC BY 2.0
The late majority is rather more skeptical about product adoption than the first three classes of adopters. They tend to put their resources towards tried and tested solutions only and are risk-averse. As you might expect, in general terms, this category of adopter has less money, lower social status, and less interaction with thought leaders and innovators than the other groups of adopters. The late majority rarely offer any form of thought leadership in a field.
Laggards are last to arrive at the adoption party and their arrival is typically a sign that a product is entering decline. Laggards value traditional methods of doing things and highly averse to change and risk. Typically laggards will have low socio-economic status and rarely seek opinions outside of their own limited social set. However, it is worth noting that in many cases laggards are older people who are less familiar with technology than younger generations and in these cases they may still have a mid-level of socio-economic status.
Note: It is important to realize that, as with any generalization, not all members of a class of adopter will conform to the general patterns of that class. There will be high-income, well-educated, risk-taking, laggards as well as low-income, poorly-educated, non-thought leader early adopters. There are also plenty of older people familiar with technology. These categories are useful for generic planning for market entry and should not be used to stereotype individuals.
Author/Copyright holder: Sigismund von Dobschütz. Copyright terms and licence: CC BY-SA 3.0
If we know that the path taken for adoption runs from innovator to laggard with three stops on the way; we can seek to target our marketing accordingly to each audience.
Innovators will be the first section to be targeted. You would expect the marketing team to identify these people very early during the product development (and not following a launch). Marketing would be expected to gain the interest of these people, involve them in early user trials and generally win their support.
From a design perspective user research conducted with innovators can be very useful in developing prototypes prior to a more mass market final design.
Early adopters will be targeted following innovators, they too may be approached prior to a product launch and again emphasis will be placed on research into what this sector needs. Marketers may choose to support early adopters with additional technical insights or behind the scenes perspectives of development to encourage them to share their thoughts with those who follow their thought leadership.
The mass market release of any product must be appealing and beneficial to early adopters if it is to convince those thought leaders to support further adoption of the product.
The early majority, on the other hand, is likely to be targeted through more general marketing approaches and it is hoped that their connection with the early adopters will drive word-of-mouth sales. Designers may end up catering to the early majority through product iteration and offering improvements to the product.
The late majority, will probably arrive as product differentiation occurs and the product has established itself in a particular niche in the market. Marketing to this group is likely to be less aggressive in direct marketing and more based on special offers and promotions to incentivize a choice of one product over another in a competitive arena.
It may be completely uneconomic to target laggards with direct marketing and it is likely that by the time they adopt a product, it is going into decline, and that pricing and general awareness of the product will most likely drive adoption from this group.
There are 5 types of adopters for products; innovators, early adopters, the early majority, the late majority and laggards. Understanding where these fit into the product-life cycle can enable selective marketing and design activities which are focused on tapping into these adopters' specific needs. This can improve a product’s chances of success.
Course: Get Your Product Used: Adoption and Appropriation
Rogers, Everett M.(1962). Diffusion of Innovations. Free Press of Glencoe, Macmillan Company
Hero Image: Author/Copyright holder: Pnautilus. Copyright terms and licence: CC BY-SA 3.0
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