The Journey of Business Adoption to Realize Benefits of Social Media
The Complete Guide to Product Adoption: from Product Life Cycle to Customer Decision Journey
Transcript of The Complete Guide to Product Adoption: from Product Life Cycle to Customer Decision Journey
The Complete Guide to Product
Adoption: from Product Life Cycle to
Customer Decision Journey
Contributed by David Tang on May 27, 2013 in Strategy, Marketing, & Sales
Product Adoption is a compelling and important topic. It affects every single business.
There are numerous whitepapers, frameworks, and discussions focused on Product
Adoption. They discuss various elements, from market conditions to product attributes to
tactical engagement. The purpose of this article isn’t to present anything new. Rather, it’s
an attempt to synthesize various established frameworks from reputable strategists and
businesses to present a comprehensive, holistic look at Product Adoption.
Let’s start at the highest level–the market.
1. Select the Right Market
Segment
At the macro level, we have
market forces at play. This
concept is captured best by
the Product Life Cycle . The
essence of this framework is
that a product will go through
4 stages of development from
creation to obsolescence.
The Product Life Cycle is
often mapped against the
Consumer Adoption Curve
(one of the best known marketing frameworks). By doing this, we can determine the ideal
market segment to go after at each stage of the product’s lifecycle.
To use this framework, we need to determine two things:
1. What stage in the Product Life Cycle we are in.
2. What segment on the Consumer Adoption Curve to go after.
Each stage of the Product Life Cycle is typified with a unique set of
characteristics. Likewise, different strategies are best suited for the different stages. They
are as follows:
Introduction. In the initial stage, pricing is critical. We need to address the key
question that drives Pricing Strategy : do we want to penetrate or to skim the
market? Penetrating the market implies stronger consumer adoption, but at the
trade off of higher margins and possibly profits.
Growth. In this stage, the focus shifts to Customer Satisfaction, so that we can build
customer loyalty and drive repeat purchases. As portrayed in the diagram above, we
are now at the brink of breaching the Early Majority market.
Maturity. Depending on the competitive dynamics in the industry, companies will
elect to employ one of three strategies: Maintain, Defend, or Innovate.
Decline. In the final stage of the product’s lifecycle, we need to make the decision to
focus on innovation or make a calculated exit.
By knowing what phase of the lifecycle we are in, we have identified the general corporate
strategy. We can now also identify the prevailing customer group, as defined by the
Consumer Adoption Curve. There are five distinct customer groups, each characterized by a
set of beliefs, motivations, and behaviors:
Innovators. Innovators are the first to adopt a new product. They are willing to
take risks, youngest in age, have the highest social class, have great financial
liquidity, are very social and have closest contact to influential sources and
interaction with other innovators.
Early Adopters. This is the second fastest category of individuals who adopt an
innovation. Early Adopters have the highest degree of opinion leadership among the
other adopter categories. They are typically younger in age, have a higher social
status, have more financial lucidity, advanced education, and are more socially
forward than late adopters.
Early Majority. Individuals in this category adopt our product after a varying
degree of time. This time of adoption is significantly longer than the Innovators and
Early Adopters. Early Majority tend to be slower in the adoption process, have above
average social status, have contact with Early Adopters, and seldom hold positions of
opinion leadership or influence.
Late Majority. Late Majority folks will adopt an innovation after the average
member of society. They approach a new product with a high degree of skepticism
and only after the majority of society has adopted the product already. They are also
typically skeptical about an innovation, have below average social status, very little
financial lucidity, in contact with others in late majority and early majority, very little
opinion leadership.
Laggards. These guys are the last to adopt. These individuals typically have an
aversion to change and tend to be advanced in age. Laggards typically tend to be
focused on “traditions,” likely to have lowest social status, lowest financial fluidity, be
oldest of all other adopters, in contact with only family and close friends.
Please note the customer group percentages displayed in the image above (e.g. 2.5% for
Innovators) are merely illustrative. These percentages are only accurate in the case of a
normal distribution and thus do not apply to all situations.
Thorough Product Life Cycle analysis provides us with the backbone to our overall product
marketing strategy.
The drawback of Product Life Cycle is that it is only a market-focused framework. It doesn’t
address other critical drivers to adoption, such as the Product itself and Consumer
Psychology.
You may have your overarching marking mix right, but if you fail at the tactical and
execution level, your product will fail.
2. Architect the Right Product
What product attributes drive rapid market diffusion and consumer adoption? Tough
question.
But, good thing we have the Rogers’ Five Factors framework. Credit goes to Everett Rogers,
who also created the Consumer Adoption Curve.
Rogers’ Five Factors proposes
there are 5 product-based factors
that drive adoption.
Relative Advantage.
This is the degree to
which our new product is
better than the
incumbent. This
advantage can be non-
economic (e.g. social
status, prestige). The
greater the relative
advantage, the faster the
adoption.
Compatibility. This factor accounts for the degree to which our product is
consistent with the customers’ existing values and experiences. The greater the
compatibility, the faster the adoption.
Complexity. This is the degree to which our product is difficult to understand and
use. The primary way to overcome complexity is education, but it is important to
assess how willing the customer is to be educated. The greater the complexity, the
slower the adoption.
Trialability. This factor measures the degree to which our product can be
experimented with on a limited basis. This factor is most important when our
product is in the early stage of its lifecycle–when uncertainty about the product’s
benefits are at its highest. The greater the trialability, the faster the adoption.
Observability. This is the degree to which potential customers can see others using
our product. For instance, highly observable products include cars and cell
phones. Difficult to observe products include medicines and home appliances. Many
companies leverage social media marketing–and specifically target “influencers”–to
increase their observability factor. The greater the observability, the faster the
adoption.
Let’s walk through an example of this analysis. Look at the telephone. Every home has a
phone. It’s something we take for granted, something that’s necessary part of our daily
lives, something we can’t imagine living without. One would assume it was adopted very
quickly. Yet, the reality proves otherwise…
The telephone was invented by Alexander Graham Bell in 1876. By 1900, 25 years later, it
would only be found in 10% of the households in the US. By 1935, 60 years after its
invention, it could only be found in 30% of households. In fact, it wasn’t until the 1980s
that the telephone reached 90% of US households.
Why was the adoption rate so exceedingly slow for this wonderful, useful invention?
A look at the Five Factors sheds some light. The Relative Advantage for the phone was low
when it was introduced. It was expensive–both installation and ongoing fees were high–and
you had few people you could call. It was also highly incompatible with the norms of the
time. The idea of speaking into a metal box was foreign and frightening. The technology
used in the phone was incredibly Complex and difficult to understand. People wondered,
can it transmit diseases? Can I get electrocuted? Does it only speak English? Trialability
was low–only the very wealthy and businesses had telephones installed. In fact, in its early
years, the only factor the telephone had going for it was Observability, since people could
the telephone wire running into a house.
3. Understand the Customer
If you are targeting the right market with the right marketing mix, have a compelling
product that fosters adoption, the third essential element to analyze is the customer. What
makes the customer tick? Rogers’ Five Factors touched a bit on this already, but let us take
a deeper look into Consumer Psychology.
In my last article ( Why People Won’t Buy Your Product Even Though It’s Awesome ), we
discussed three key principles of behavioral economics that drive consumer adoption:
Losses Loom Larger than Gains
Reference Points Matter
The Endowment Effect
You can read that discussion here .
4. Complete the Customer
Journey
In most cases, the product you’re
selling is not an impulse
purchase. The path to purchase is
a long process–it’s a journey that
can take from several days to
several months. This journey is
captured in a framework
developed by McKinsey & Co
called the Customer Decision
Journey.
The Customer Decision Journey
proposes that the customer goes
through four phases in a cyclical process. Each phase represents a potential marketing
battleground where companies compete for the customer’s purchase and loyalty.
These phases along the customer’s journey are:
Initial Consideration. When the customer first conceives the notion of buying a
product, she will develop an initial set of brands to consider buying. Brands in the
initial-consideration set are three times more likely to be purchased than brands that
aren’t in it. This means that Brand Awareness is vital. In this phase, we should focus
on push marketing.
Active Evaluation. In the evaluation phase, the customer is seeking information
and shopping around to make an informed purchase decision. She will ask for
recommendations from friends and family, read reviews online, go to the store to test
out products, and so forth. This phase empowers both the customer and the
company. How are companies empowered? Companies have the opportunity to
enter the consideration set–and even force out companies in the Initial Consideration
Set. Big brands can no longer take their position for granted. With increased online
and social presences, companies are increasing the number of touch points with the
customer–thus increasing their influence over the customer’s purchase decision in
the Active Evaluation phase.
Moment of Purchase. This is the point in the time when the customer goes to the
retailer and makes the purchase. Even at stage of the journey, companies can still
influence the purchase. This is done through in-store marketing and influence of
store salesmen.
Post-purchase Experience. After the purchase, the customer builds expectations
based on her experience that will impact her next purchase journey. This creates the
circular nature of the journey. In this phase, our goal is to foster customer loyalty,
which will drive repeat purchases and word-of-mouth marketing. Likewise, if the
customer is dissatisfied with the purchase, she will become a negative influence on
the purchase decisions of others. This is not limited to her immediate circle of
friends and family either. For instance, she can post a negative review on a
prominent website, which will be read by countless potential customers in the Active
Evaluation stage.
If our goal is to reach an emerging market, there are certain nuances that should be
highlighted and understood. Though the overarching process is the same, the emphasis in
marketing is different when comparing a customer in an emerging market versus a
customer in an established market. For instance, in an established market, customers often
rely on online reviews when making purchase decisions. In emerging markets, online sites
are not yet trusted by the customer. Learn more about this topic in this article: Craft a
Successful Strategy for Emerging Markets .
5. Maximize the Online Experience
The Internet is becoming more and more crucial in the Customer’s Decision
Journey. Because of the Internet, the number of customer touch points has increased
significantly.
In the online experience, there are 5 categories of customer touch points. They have varying
levels of importance along the path to purchase:
Paid . This category includes paid display and search advertising.
Social. This category refers to interactions with the customer though social media
(namely, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Youtube).
Email. Email marketing typically takes the form of recurring
newsletters. Newsletters are essentially the online form of offline store circular.
Referral. This category refers to external websites that “refer” customers to your
website.
Direct. This refers to your own website. It encompasses the customers who go
directly to your website.
Here is the typical flow of online interaction with the customer through her journey. At the
start, the goal is to create Brand Awareness. This is typically achieved through investments
in paid advertisements. As the customer begins to actively evaluate her various product
choices, Social and Email begin to play a more important role. Through social media,
companies can directly engage and influence customers. Email marketing is an effective
method of building rapport with a customer. Once a customer has subscribed to our
newsletter, we can send regular newsletters to constantly remind her of our company and
products. The customers that are most likely to make a purchase are Referral and Direct
visitors. Afterwards, in the post-purchase phase, Social and Email continue to play
important roles in nurturing that customer bond.
Of course, the relationship between the touch point and decision journey varies by industry
and varies by geography. Google created a useful tool that captures these differences:
Customer Journey to Online Purchase .
In summary, Product Adoption is driven by a number of factors. We need to…
1. Select the Right Market Segment;
2. Architect the Right Product;
3. Understand the Customer;
4. Complete the Customer Journey; and
5. Maximize the Online Experience.
Proper analysis involves both strategic and tactical planning–and ties all efforts and
thinking together. As Sun Tzu proclaimed:
Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the
noise before defeat.
Interested in business strategy? Check out Flevy’s collection of business frameworks and end-to-end business
toolkits , most created by former consultants of top tier consulting firms.
This article only presents high level takeaways from the business frameworks
referenced. For a more in-depth discussion, I recommend checking out the following:
Product Life Cycle (PowerPoint presentation)
Rogers’ Five Factors (PowerPoint presentation)
Psychology of Product Adoption (PowerPoint presentation)
Pricing Strategy (PowerPoint presentation with Excel model)
Value-based Pricing Strategy (PowerPoint presentation)
Consumer Decision Journey (McKinsey article)
About David Tang
David Tang is an entrepreneur and management consultant. His current focus is Flevy , the marketplace
for premium business documents (e.g. business frameworks , presentation templates , financial models ).
Prior to Flevy, David worked as a management consultant for 8 years. His consulting experience spans
corporate strategy, marketing, operations, change management, and IT; both domestic and international
(EMEA + APAC). Industries served include Media & Entertainment, Telecommunications, Consumer
Products/Retail, High-Tech, Life Sciences, and Business Services. You can connect with David here on
LinkedIn .
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