Brands are targeting early adopters first. Are You?

Product manufacturers work on the demand of the consumer and the future of a product lies in the hands of its consumer. Whenever new product is introduced in the market, it is on the high risk, whether consumer will accept the product or not, whether consumer will use the product or not, it all based on the Early Adopters reaction towards the product.

As we all know Early Adopters buy a product when it is newly launched in the market, and with that they also give real feedback about the product, so that production company can make required changes in the product for rest of the consumer.

Why Early Adopters are important for newly launched product:

1. They take the risk to invest their money in the product

2. They invest when product is still in the testing phase.

3. They accept a new product or a new technology or a new idea when it is newly introduced in the market.

4. They play important role for the success of the business/product.

5. They make their choices carefully.

There are five categories of Adopters:

• Innovators: Innovators eagerly wait for something new. It may be technology, product or idea but they want the product before anyone else. They want to keep themselves updated with the technology and industry.
• Early Adopters: They are 2nd in the rank of Adopters. They buy the product to influence their large amount of followers. They are very much active on social media and they review the product and post the the result in the form of blog, video or images. Their positive review impact positively on sales and if review is negative it can badly impact on the sales. They are different from innovators as they don’t buy all products but buy as per their interest.
• Early Majority: They are 3rd in the rank of Adopters. Every product want to have large market acceptance. Next adopter after early adopters are Early Majority. They buy the product after they get reviews from Innovators and Early Adopters. They do not take much risk, they usually avoid risking with their money and give proper thought before they buy any product.
• Late Majority: The late majority consists of people who purchase products which are tried and tested. They are usually middle-class people who don’t get influenced by the early majority.
• Laggards: Laggards are the customers that buy products at last. They believe in traditional ways and does not want to upgrade, they have fear to change. Laggards buy products when they need it and not to maintain their social status.

Why to target Early Adopters First:

Marketers should initiate their marketing strategy and execution keeping Early Adopters in mind they should learn about their psychology and methodology. They should know the conditions what makes early adopters to use the product.

Early adopters make 15% of the total population of adopters. Early adopters are well-educated, tech-savvy, financially good, and have the power to influence the millions of people. They believe in taking risks (as they can afford it) and getting rewards for it. These people are approached by companies.

Companies pay them to review their products on social media platforms such as YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, personal blogs, etc.

Early Adopters adopts product in Early Stage:

1. These people like to do, what others fear to do
2. They want to influence other consumers
3. They are afraid of being part of the huge crowd.
4. They want to show the path to other consumers
5. They have addiction of using new technology, new product and new idea.
6. They love to make decision on new things, which help other consumers
7. They want to be 1stto celebrate the product, technology or idea success.

Conclusion:

Marketers make sure that if you are targeting Early Adopters, they are not talking negative about your product, keep any eye on their reviews and make sure that you get the feedback on personal basis otherwise you may get negative impact on the sales.

In General: If you are not targeting early adopters at the time of your product launched, then you should be worried. Early adopters have the predictive sense to know about the products’ performance and way ahead.

For SMEs: If you are launching a new product before you figure out your supply chain, you must create a persona of your brand’s Early Adopters and initiate your marketing activity and communication with that only.