What is the Innovation Adoption Curve?

The innovation adoption curve is a way of modeling and tracking individuals' use of new products or technology over time. When sketching the curve, time is on the x-axis. The Y-Axis measures the number of adopters. 

So, the graph measures the number of adopters over a period of time. 

The idea behind this innovation adoption curve is that at first not a whole lot of people are gonna jump out and grab the product as soon as it's available. Over time the number of users going to increase and then it's going to level out. There are different groups of customers or people out there who are going to be more or less quick to adopt a new product. 

We actually have five groups of people who we will need to target with our promotional strategy at different stages of our product's existence. The groups are as follows:

• Innovators - About three to five percent.
• Early adopters - Anywhere from 10 to 15 percent.
• Early majority - This could be about a third of people
• Late adopters - Roughly another 34 percent 
• Laggards - Anywhere from five to fifteen percent.

Each groups represents the order of adoption of a product. Each has unique characteristics, which requires unique approaches to reach them with a promotional strategy. 

Related Topics

• What is a Product?
• What Types of Product are There?
• Durable Goods
• How are Goods Different from Services?
• What Components do Products Include?
• What is Product Quality?
• Perceived Value of a Product
• Why is Product Packaging Important?
• White Label Product
• What is Product Warranty?
• Innovation Adoption Curve
• Product Life Cycle