Adoption Process - Big Business Strategic Planning

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Your competition is listening and so should you! Hosted by LaTanya Junior.

A great topic on one of the shows this week was the consumer adoption process.  I'm not talking about children, pets, or habits either.  I'm talking about YOUR product and YOUR consumers and where your consumer is psychologically (did I spell that right?).

Understanding the adoption process... it's what takes a business from a small business to a market dominator.  Whether you have 10 customers or a 1,000, you need to know where your consumers are in the adoption process.  This critical information helps you to understand what you need to communicate, what promotions you need to push..etc. It takes your product or brand to another level.  Make sense?  i hope so but if not, please listen to the lecture.  I've said it many times before, I am just a fan offering my humblest understanding on subjects that move me and I believe will empower entrepreneurs everywhere.  Plus I like to write in my bunny slippers, it's my thing.  But I digress. Back to the adoption process....

Start to dominate and control your share of voice.  BUZZ: SHARE OF VOICE...Be sure to look it up on www.TCB360.com.

The official definition of the adopter category....the classification of consumers according to their readiness to purchase a problem.  This affects all aspects of your business and it has a direct correlation to your sales.  You will be empowered to segment the market and convert sales more effectively.  BUZZ: SEGMENTATION...Be sure to look it up on www.TCB360.com. 

As you probably already know, people don't just wake up and decide to but a product. Think about your own last new product purchase.  When was the last time you saw or heard an advertisement for a new product (FOR THE FIRST TIME) and from that initial advertisement immediately went out and bought it? I can't remember the last time I did that either.  Whether its a new sandwich at McDonald's or a new car, consumers, including ourselves actually contemplate a new product purchase. Lucky for us it's not rocket science, but it is a science. 

Okay let's get a little deeper and trust me, I am not doing the subject justice.  Listen to LaTanya's lecture and get the real nitty gritty. This is my humble interpretation for my fellow entrepreneurs who may be interested in the subject but missed the show.

There are apparently five adopter categories....

Innovators, Early Adopters, Early Majority, Late Majority and Laggers.  They all purchase a product for slightly different reasons at different times.  The categories are important toward dictating how quickly you generate revenue.  

Innovators are the first users of a product.  Ever heard new entrepreneurs say "everybody's going to use this...".  Wishful thinking is basically what that amounts to.  The first users of a product roughly represent only 2.5% of the target market. They are those adventurous people wiling to take risks.

Early Adopters represent 13.5% of the target market.  They are attracted to your product because it is fresh.  This group of people enjoy leadership, prestige and tend to be opinion leaders.  They will tell their friends about the new great thing they have found.  Be careful with this group though because if you don't treat them right they will let you AND all their friends know it.  

Early Majority are those consumers who are among the first part of the mass market to purchase a product.  For whatever reason when your sales go from 200 to 800 sells, your product has reached category three among consumers. Although rarely leaders the early majority have a tendency to adopt new ideas before the average person and represent 34% of the market.

Late Majority also represent 34% of the market.  They are typically skeptical of change and will adopt an innovation only after the early majority.  Late majority members are influenced by the early majority.  They are the group who may say "I want this because everybody else is wearing it".  By this time, the innovators have already been there, done that and are on to the next best thing by the way.  Combined the early majority and late majority equal roughly 68% of your consumers.  

Laggers represent 16% of the target market.  Laggers are the last to purchase.  They are very suspicious and not really that much into change. They don't like to break traditional bonds, they are extremely sort of set in their ways so you will have to convince them a little more.

 

Those are the five adopter categories. Why is that important? As you can see, consumers differ greatly in their readiness to try a new product.  Know where you are in the adoption process before your spend those marketing dollars.  If you wait to see who will purchase your product, it may be too late for you to get the best return on your investment.  Know who you are targeting and get the best return on your investment.  The lecture goes on to explain what to do with this info but I've let you copy my notes long enough.  Tune in and change the life of your business.

The saying at www.TCB360.com is leaders are learners and learners are leaders so be sure to pass this information on to others. 

Thanks for reading and if this blog moved you to listen to the lecture, please let me and my bunny slippers know.  Ha ha, see you guys on the French Riviera one day soon.

Huriyyah Muhammad

www.tcb360.com - Online Business Radio

Entrepreneur and Fan