Five stages of technology adoption & five stages of customer awareness!
Now, you are aware of what is startup company and eureka moment. Also, you have some ideas about MB, PMF, PoC, prototype and MVP.
If don’t, check my previous articles!
So, we have MVP or prototype. What is next? Founders mostly think that the product sells itself.
No!
They solve a problem. That is okay but their product is just lovely for themselves. Do you think that potential customers were only waiting for you?
Fate has chosen you! I am inevitable!
I am sorry but nope!
This is another emotional reaction. It is the most common mistake taken by founders in first months at their startups. For some of, in first years!
Maybe founders of hardware startups accept the brutal truth more lately against founders of software startups.
Your product is just a product that noone can’t find in internet from the first moment, if there is no marketing activity.
It is alone itself in the universe whether you invent something very important for the humanity or not. You should always be aware of:
1- Five stages of technology adoption life cycle,
2- Five stages of customer awareness.
These are going to affect your marketing strategies. In the way of these, people will explore your product. For example, you are going to write blogs etc. as inbound marketing. Your product can be R&D, P&D, S&D or innovative something whatsoever.
There are five stages of technology adoption life cycle:
- 2,5% innovators: They are willing to take risks and very close to technology!
- 13,5% early adopters: They are a little bit like innovators and don’t want missing anything!
- 34% early majority: They mostly walks after success stories and don’t want to become late!
- 34% late majority: They have skepticism but much more success stories atract them!
- 16% laggards: The hardest part! They are traditional and don’t often change something!
Of course, there are any other factors affecting groups like ages, financial conditions, social status, cultures and so on…
That is why startups reached $500K-$1M MRR (monthly recurring revenue) creating a market from innovators, early adopters, maybe early majorities. This shows us that there is a market at our market research after eureka moment!
There is a curve of market entry barrier — product market fit, I mentioned before.
If there are startups reached $1-$10K MRR maybe local or global, it means, they reached innovators. Maybe early adopters… It depends on which kind of startups and target markets as well!
It is not so easy to reach all groups together. Yes, it is possible but very strong world of mouth or viral affect needed like in examples: Zoom, Clubhouse or the last one ChatGPT?
They also have different marketing stories behind scenes! They are well prepared to WoM or viral affect!
Those cases are very small group of total at the end of the day.
Total comes from the beginning: Innovators. For example, $1-$10K MRR start up is at the illusion of product market fit step. It means, focused on innovators and early adopters.
So, who are those innovators and earyl adopters? Who are early majority, late majority and laggards? Let’s check closer from the view of awareness levels!
There are five stages of customer awareness:
- Unaware: They don’t know what the problem is!
- Problem aware: They know the problem but don’t know existing solutions!
- Solution aware: They know the problem and solutions but they don’t know your product!
- Product aware: They know solutions and your product but haven’t bought from you yet!
- Most aware: They bought your product and can be loyal!
Most sales people talk about questioning customers.
Wheter it can be a startup or any other businesses, most sales people actually don’t know which kind of questions they are going to ask in their sales meetings.
Sorry but this is also one of brutal truths!
As you can see, questions depend on customer awareness levels. If the potential customer <lead or prospect> is unaware you should talk/ask more about the problem and customer.
Think about your start up?
If your potential customers are mostly “unaware”. it also means that you have to educate them first and it will cost extra because educating always takes time and money!
If they are “problem aware” and “solution aware”, you can be more lucky but remember that market entry barrier also rises with awareness.
Now, you can compare five stages of technology adoption and five stages of customer awareness level!
As it is seen that the group of “unaware” can hardly become “innovators” or “early adopter” or can’t.
They are mostly “laggards”. They are happy about their lives. “Problem aware” and others are too close to become your customer.
Most startup founders try to talk much more about market in their investors pitching.
It is about how market share is huge or giant and that market is just only waiting for those lucky people in that room. Investors are also curious. They listen carefully, take notes.
They try to imagine about cake! I think, this is just a funny dream for sides. Like a kind of brainstrom session? Mostly ends with waste of time.
After that, investors and founders discuss about so-called becoming global or potential of business matters in Q&A section. Than, they focus how to dominate their own country first. Then let’s keep in touch! Forever good bye! Ho-ho!
So, is that the dream of scalable startup? What kind of vission do we have in that case?
Then some of those startups become SME with 120 people team trying to reach more and more investments to become global with the strategy of hiring sales managers or finding distributors outside of the country…
Anyway,
you can also search about TAM (total addressable market) or SAM, SOM, earlyvangelists about those matters as well! (Maybe we can jump into these in next articles. Tech marketing&sales?)
The truth is most startups can only reach 2,5% first, then 16%. Please be aware of this matter! It also means that founders will be rejected by potential customers in so many cases.
Millions or billions of market don’t matter. Everybody should focus on first sales, than first ten sales, a hundred sales, a thousand sales, ten thousand sales… step by step.
As a result of all:
-Try to group people according to five stages of adoption & awareness.
-Try to reach “innovators”,
-Take most of your time with “problem aware” and “solution aware”,
-Question them and try to learn,
-Don’t pit your wits against “unaware” or “laggards”,
-Become prepared for so many rejections,
-Then again become well prepared for many rejections after many!
Finally,
there can be right product for right customer but not right time in sales. That is why, there is a process called “lead nurturing” to find out the right time!
Remember always! “Product & Customer + Timing”
Chao!
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P.S. in the next article we are going to dive early step marketing and Which factors are affecting an execution? Team, time, business model, investment, idea?
