Question

When companies innovate new products, consumers follow a pattern of when they adopt the new product into their lives.

1. Use the Categories of Adopters chart to help you define each category and provide an example of a person buying a product for each
2. Once you have defined and understand each category, explain how you fit into the chart, providing examples of when you bought certain products and how that made you fit into a specific category.
3. Lastly, pick a product that you purchased and then explain how a company could augment the product or the marketing to speed up your category position, so you would adopt the product even faster.

Answer 1

The Categories of Adopters chart follows the Technology Adoption Lifecycle, delineating Innovators, Early Adopters, Early Majority, Late Majority, and Laggards. Each category reflects a segment of consumers who adopt innovations at different times, and companies can use various techniques, such as foot-in-the-door or bandwagon fallacy, to accelerate product adoption.

Step-by-step explanation:

The Categories of Adopters chart describes how consumers adopt new innovations over time, commonly referred to as the Technology Adoption Lifecycle. The categories include Innovators, Early Adopters, Early Majority, Late Majority, and Laggards. Each category represents a different segment of the market that adopts a new product at distinct times.

• Innovators: They are the first to try new products. An example would be someone buying the latest tech gadget on the day of its release.
• Early Adopters: These consumers adopt new products early but after a careful review. For instance, someone using a new health app a few months after its release.
• Early Majority: They adopt new products before the average person but are not the earliest. An example may be someone buying an electric car once they become more common.
• Late Majority: They are skeptical and will only adopt after the majority. An example is someone who starts using smartphones when they become the norm.
• Laggards: They are the last to adopt an innovation, often due to discomfort with change or waiting for a decline in prices. For example, someone who just switched to streaming services from DVD rentals.

My personal adoption pattern can vary; for example, I am an Early Adopter when it comes to educational software but a member of the Late Majority for gaming consoles, buying them years after release.

To accelerate adoption, companies can use the foot-in-the-door technique or appeal to the bandwagon fallacy by showing that many others are buying the product. For example, offering a basic product at a low cost and gradually introducing more advanced, expensive options.