Did you know there are 5 types of Early Adopters for your startup?

I have got to be honest, I have met plenty of entrepreneurs and startups that work on months preparing for the launch of their product, and I am sure you know them too. Months of strategy on how to attract early adopters, identifying early adopters which we call market segment and its marketing channels yadi yada yada… All the product startups know the difference between getting head start with early adopters to cross over the chasm. A lot of accelerators like YC, 500startups do help these startups find their niche and reach out to these early adopters quickly.

But did you know that there are various types of Early adopters that exist in Your Market Segment.

Yes, a total 5. Never thought it was like that huh? I thought so too…

It is easier to think of a Early adopter of new breakthrough technology, product or service as Someone who has strong interest, excitement or affinity of trying new stuff. These are the types of people who like your Facebook page or follow your twitter account even when you haven’t launched a product and are waiting in line to try it out. Their motivation is based on trying on new things, be at the forefront of technology or may be figuring out issues with it (sometimes sharing it on Blogs, YouTube or Reddit). Contrary to popular belief what most entrepreneurs do is to go hire PR firm, marketing agency, HSN promotions, Tech reviews and are shooting all these canons with no real idea of what’s going to work and what’s not. They plan little in thinking that its not just sales that matter, its also generating word of mouth that matters. Early adopters are pretty vocal and they need to handled with care otherwise your marketing can get in trouble and your goodwill in the marketplace might suffer.

Guess what, well all early adopters are NOT equal!! Its true that in your market segment it is comparatively easy to find early adopters, however these Early adopters have their own psychological barriers they need to overcome to try out your reason. Why? You may ask? Because these early adopters are inundated with too much information these days with hundreds of product trials, services that it is really hard for them to distinguish which one should they spend their valuable time and money on.

Its true that early adopters are the first kind of people who would buy your product or would be likely to buy your product depending upon how promising or compelling the product is.

However, there are 5 DIFFERENT kinds of Early adopters in a Sales Funnel that would bring your first sales and each of them must be accommodated for product launch to push them from being iffy to saying YES and buying the product.

5

If you are launching a new startup or are in the phase of attracting early customers, these tips will benefit you to devise a focused plan and strategy to get conversion on your product. Lets analyze these 5 different PERSONAS (Mr. or Ms) of the Early Adopters and how should you approach them in your strategy to woo your customers.

Mr. Who Cares:

1. Signature: These are the kind of people who don’t know if they have a problem. They don’t know it they need it or if it matters to them
2. Solution: Find something they care about, and show them how your solution will help them with the thing that they already care about. This helps them to understand the extra mileage that your solution can help them go (Like save more money or time)

Mr. Skeptic:

1. Signature: These are the kind of people who are always questioning and don’t trust your brand. They don’t believe you, your company or your claims.
2. Solution: You need to build credibility for your company to alleviate these fears. Address their doubts of credibility before they ask. Build Trust fast

Mr Doubtful:

1. Signature: These are kind of people that worry about the cost or benefit for your solution. They seem to get it but they never seem to buy from you. Will always ask questions like — Doesn’t work for me? I cant afford this? Don’t have time to experiment
2. Solution: Try to lower the barrier to entry to try.

Mr. Procrastinator:

1. Signature: These are the kind of people who always delay and don’t have urgency to buy even if they know they will benefit from the solution.
2. Solution: They are not 100% sure of their decisions and base their decision by looking at something or someone. So create scarcity. Give them small wins. Eliminate fear of trying. Give them trailer of how it works and how can it help.

Mr. Bring it On:

1. Signature: These are your ideal first clients. They are always excited to try everything that comes out, Tech savvy, (Kickstarter is an excellent example -want to try every gadget)
2. Solution: Show them vision, breakthrough, innovation in your category to woo such customers

This has helped me and hopefully this will help you build a better strategy for attracting all 5 types of Early adopters.