crossing the chasm
'Crossing the chasm' model developed by G.A. Moore helps to successfully drive the adoption of the product in the market, across different customer segments.
Any new product's adoption is not only dependent on the Product's quality itself, but also on the Customer's characteristics in terms of their willingness to try something new or affinity to the change. This concept was captured first by a social scientist Everett M. Rogers’ in his book 'Diffusion of Innovations', where he introduced five customer segments as Innovators, Early Adopters, Early Majority, Late Majority, and Laggards, based on their affinity to the change.
Later on, G.A. Moore, in his book "Crossing the Chasm" in 1991, talked about the concept of 'Chasm' (gap) between these customer segments, which must be crossed to progress to the next segment. These gaps exist because each segment of the market looks for something different when they buy the product. The bigger the difference, the bigger the gap. Though these gaps exists for all the kinds of products, they are more significant for the Technology Products. The marketers must tailor their approach to each segment's unique characteristics. Marketers should focus on one group of customers at a time, using each group as a base for marketing to the next group. The most challenging step is making the transition between the chasm of Visionaries and the Pragmatists.
1) Tech Enthusiasts (Innovators): They look forward to get the latest technology, and are less concerned with functionality and benefit. Innovators are ready to dive in headfirst, experiment with the new product, and report back on their experiences with it—good or bad. As the biggest risk-takers among all of the adopters, Tech Enthusiasts aren’t turned off by technical issues. They are also used as Beta Testers of the product. Their feedback are incorporated in the next phases of product development. Though constituting a small 2.5% of the market, Tech Enthusiasts ensure that the product is successfully seeded in the market.
2) Visionaries (Early Adopters): Similar to Tech Enthusiasts, the Visionaries group is all about trying out new products. They have a direct need for the product, and need less of convincing to adopt the new product, if it meets their need. However, they are a tad more change-averse than Tech Enthusiasts. They read reviews from Tech Enthusiasts committing to the new product. Visionaries are willing to tolerate some technical issues, but they’re going to need a greater level of support than the Tech Enthusiasts. The feedback from this group of people is most important to win over potential customers in the mainstream, as they constitute a reasonable 13.5% of the market.
3) Pragmatists (Early Majority): They are open to innovation and embrace changes, however they only buy when the product is proven to provide the said benefit. They are less tolerant of technical issues than Visionaries. There exists a wide Chasm (gap) between the Visionaries and Pragmatists group of people. The main reason for the same is that “The value proposition has to switch from ‘look at all the great things that can happen’ to ‘look at all the tough problems you can solve if you’re willing to step up to the new technology.’ (G.A. Moore, 1991)” Therefore, we must have strong testimonials and case studies from Tech Enthusiasts and Visionaries, for the product to progress to this Customer segment. With entry to the Pragmatists customer segment, the product enters into the mainstream market, as by end of this stage, the product covers 50% of market segment.
4) Conservatives (Late Majority): This group adopts a new product only when they feel a loss by not adopting the product. Most users in this stage are aware of the product, however, they are hesitant to adopt (and spend money on) something new. The Conservatives group wants to make sure a new product is thoroughly vetted by the majority before trying it out for themselves. We don’t necessarily have to convince this group much, as we already have success stories from Early Majority. However, we need to help them overcome any residual skepticism they may have. They constitutes same percentage of the market as Pragmatists (34%), and therefore a significant part of the market to ensure success of the product.
5) Skeptics (Laggards): They only buy product when it's forced upon them. They are very resistant to change, risk-averse, and not easily persuaded. They finally come around once all of the buzz about your product has quieted down. A product’s popularity does little to convince laggards to adopt it