People Differ in Readiness to Try New Products
Rogers defines a person’s innovativeness as “the degree to which an individual is rel-
atively earlier in adopting new ideas than the other members of his social system.”
In each product area, there are consumption pioneers and early adopters. Some peo-
ple are the first to adopt new clothing fashions or new appliances; some doctors are
the first to prescribe new medicines; and some farmers are the first to adopt new farm-
ing methods. Other individuals adopt new products much later. People can be classi-
fied into the adopter categories shown in Figure 2-6. After a slow start, an increasing
number of people adopt the innovation, the number reaches a peak, and then it di-
minishes as fewer nonadopters remain.
Rogers sees the five adopter groups as differing in their value orientations. In-
novators are venturesome; they are willing to try new ideas. Early adopters are
guided by respect; they are opinion leaders in their community and adopt new
ideas early but carefully. The early majority are deliberate; they adopt new ideas
before the average person, although they rarely are leaders. The late majority are
skeptical; they adopt an innovation only after a majority of people have tried it.
Finally, laggards are tradition bound; they are suspicious of change, mix with other
tradition-bound people, and adopt the innovation only when it takes on a mea-
sure of tradition itself.
This classification suggests that an innovating firm should research the demo-
graphic, psychographic, and media characteristics of innovators and early adopters
and direct communications specifically to them. For example, innovative farmers are
likely to be better educated and more efficient. Innovative homemakers are more gre-
garious and usually higher in social status. Certain communities have a high share of
early adopters. According to Rogers, earlier adopters tend to be younger in age, have
higher social status, and a more favorable financial position. They utilize a greater
number of more cosmopolitan information sources than do later adopters.^45Personal Influence Plays a Large Role
Personal influenceis the effect one person has on another’s attitude or purchase prob-
ability. Although personal influence is an important factor, its significance is greater
in some situations and for some individuals than for others. Personal influence is
more important in the evaluation stage of the adoption process than in the other
stages. It has more influence on late adopters than early adopters. It also is more im-
portant in risky situations.Characteristics of the Innovation Affect Rate of Adoption
Some products catch on immediately (e.g., rollerblades), whereas others take a long
time to gain acceptance (e.g., diesel-engine autos). Five characteristics influence the
rate of adoption of an innovation. We will consider them in relation to the adoption
of personal computers for home use.Developing
Marketing(^356) Strategies
16%
Laggards
34%
Late majority
34%
Early majority
131 / 2 %
Early adopters
21 / 2 %
Innovators
Time of adoption of innovations
FIGURE 2-6
Adopter Categorization on the
Basis of Relative Time of
Adoption of Innovations
Source: Redrawn from Everett M. Rogers,Diffusion of In-
novations(New York: Free Press, 1983).