Product adoption process is a five step process which is underwent by nay prospective buyer of a product. This process takes place from the actual awareness of the prospective consumer of the existence of the product to the actual regular consumption or total rejection of the product.
In the awareness stage, the consumer meets or finds the product in the market. Curiosity is what drives the potential consumer into demanding more information on the product. This brings about research about the products to deduce its importance and customization on the side of the consumer. Depending on the first impression made by the product in the minds of the prospective consumer, the acceptance or rejection process initiates (Polls, 2012).
The second step works closely with the first whereby the consumer develops interest in the product. This interest results in the consumer carrying out some research to ascertain the adaptability of the product to fulfilling the demands of the consumer.
The third step is evaluation. In this step, the user buys the product for and users it as a form of evaluation. This results in the person learning more about the actual fulfillment about the product and its level of fulfilling the demands of the consumer. It is this level that fully determines which stand the user will take about the product (Polls, 2012).
Closely and working almost simultaneously to the third step is the trial step. This is part of product usage whereby the user makes some preliminary uses of the product to determine what the product is in actual sense.
After the testing or trial step, the user has enough knowledge on whether to accept or reject the product. This forms the last step whereby the user makes some decisions based reason. This means that the user moves from cognitive state to emotional state whereby tastes and preferences determine the final stand on the user’s decision (Polls, 2012).
In a much simplified manner, product absorption follows a curve which is almost symmetrical about its center. In the curve, percentage of adoption is plotted against the time taken for the adoption. In the curve, about 2.5% of people adopt the product as soon as it is available in the market. This group comprises of innovators who are risk takers. This group is followed by early adopters who study the technique of innovators closely and soon adopt the product. This comprises about 13.5% of the total adopters and takes an educated opinion of the innovators. The other group which is about 34.0% of the total adopters is the early majority. These people are slow into accepting the products but with time, they adopt the product after a length of product examination. Following after the early majority is the late majority. The group is also approximately the same size as the early majority and follows a similar analysis. The last group is the laggards. This group avoids adoption but the change eventually changes them.
Looking at the type of adopter I am, I can claim to be an early majority. This is due to some preliminary research that I carry out about a product before I adopt it. Also, I don’t take too long before I decide to take any risk which might caught me off guard.
Reference
Polls M, 2012. Marketing and product promotion, retrieved from
