Who do you know who experiments with every new phone and phone-like device?
How about those who always buy the latest iPhone or Android phone the moment it is available?
And who only upgrades after the phone has been around for a while and its use and value proven by others?
Do you know folks who only upgrade when their existing phone is no longer able to run apps?
And who do you know who either has a flip phone or no phone at all?
Each of these are representatives of their slice of the Technology Adoption Curve, and each have very different buying and evaluation processes!
Wikipedia (the source of all truth today!) writes “The technology adoption lifecycle is a sociological model that describes the adoption or acceptance of a new product or innovation, according to the demographic and psychological characteristics of defined adopter groups.”
Equally or more commonly known as the Technology Adoption Curve, it provides extremely useful insights into the business buying habits of individuals and organizations by identifying five distinct categories:
- Innovators: Those who are eager to accept the risk of change and experimentation, often out of a love of technology.
- Early Adopters: This group seeks to gain the advantages of technology implementation ahead of the mainstream followers.
- Early Majority: These buyers, also known as “pragmatists”, are willing to change but do so carefully.
- Late Majority: This group wishes to avoid change but will do so grudgingly and only when required.
- Laggards: Forget it. These non-buyers resist change with every fiber of their being!
The amount and type of discovery and subsequent demos for these categories can be remarkably different!
Next: Into the Chasm!
