INMA_A01.QXD

or e-mail marketing be used? Deciding on the best mix of traffic building techniques is

discussed further in Chapter 8.

The manager may have read articles in the trade and general press or spoken to col-

leagues which has highlighted the potential of a new technology-enabled marketing

technique. They then face a difficult decision as to whether to:


 ignore the use of the technique completely, perhaps because it is felt to be too expensive

or untried, or because they simply don’t believe the benefits will outweigh the costs;


 ignore the technique for now, but keep an eye on the results of other companies that

are starting to use it;


 evaluate the technique in a structured manner and then take a decision whether to

adopt it according to the evaluation;


 enthusiastically adopt the technique without a detailed evaluation since the hype

alone convinces the manager that the technique should be adopted.

Depending on the attitude of the manager, this behaviour can be summarised as:

1 cautious, ‘wait and see’ approach;

2 intermediate approach, sometimes referred to as ‘fast-follower’. Let others take the

majority of the risk, but if they are proving successful, then rapidly adopt the tech-

nique, i.e. copy them;

3 risk-taking, early-adopter approach.

Different behaviours by different adopters will result in different numbers of adopters

through time. This diffusion–adoption process (represented by the bell curve in Figure 3.4)

was identified by Rogers (1983) who classified those trialling new products from innova-

tors, early adopters, early majority, late majority, through to the laggards.

Figure 3.4 can be used in two main ways as an analytical tool to help managers. First,

it can be used to understand the stage at which customers are in adoption of a technol-

ogy, or any product. For example, the Internet is now a well-established tool and in

many developed countries we are into the late majority phase of adoption with large

numbers of users of services. This suggests it is essential to use this medium for market-

ing purposes. But if we look at WAP technology (see below) it can be seen that we are in

the innovator phase, so investment now may be wasted since it is not clear how many

will adopt the product. Secondly, managers can look at adoption of a new technique by

TECHNOLOGICAL FACTORS

Early adopters
Companies or
departments that
invest in new
technologies and
techniques.

Figure 3.4 Diffusion–adoption curve