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Crossing the Chasm

How to market and sell disruptive products to mainstream customers

There are 5 groups of customers:

  • Innovators – 2.5% of the population
  • Early Adopters – 13.5% CHASM IS HERE
  • Early Majority – 34%
  • Late Adopters – 34%
  • Laggards – 16%

Innovators: They get it. They see the vision you see. They will jump through multiple hoops to make your product work in the way it is intended.

Early adopters: They also get it, but have somewhat higher expectations. They will happily deal with some bugs in the programs, but they won't be happy if they have to code their own solutions. They see your product as providing them a competitive advantage, so they will happily deal with the inconveniences.

Early Majority: These guys want to know that it'll work. And they only trust people that are also in the Early Majority. This is a catch-22. How can you get any early majority "pragmatists" if they all want to see it being used by other "early majority" customers first?

Late Adopters: More conservative and cautious. These guys want a product that works just like a car. You don't need to know what goes on inside the engine, just push the gas and the car goes fast. These people need lots of technical support and hand-holding. They are scared of new technology, and the only reason they're buying your product is because they're even more scared of falling behind.

Laggards: The stubborn people that don't get it. Don't bother converting them. Rather, focus on mitigating the negative effects they'll have.

The First Crack​

The first crack is between innovators and early adopters. You have to show that your tech is innovative otherwise the only people who will 'get it' are other innovators who can read between the lines.

The Second Crack​

The second crack lies between the early majority and late majority segments.

The Chasm​

The gap between the "early adopters" and the "early majority". The early majority wants to see an immediate improvement by using your product, and they aren't as willing to tolerate risk. Creating a product that will cater to the early majority of a market takes a lot of work, and it's important to get it right.

The chasm is dangerous because the innovators and early adopters will eventually become saturated. You'll lose steam, and if you can't cross the chasm, you'll run out of money and fail.

Crossing it​

Focus on a niche market. Make sure you find the correct niche market. Getting this right or wrong is make or break.

The problem is, choosing your niche market requires lots of data, and most startups don't have that much data.

You can create your own data by coming up with the target customer scenario template (Here's a good example)

Once you have found the niche and are ready to attempt crossing...

  1. Create the “whole product” – don’t try to cross the chasm without a complete feature set and all major bugs eliminated
  2. Position the product appropriately for skeptical pragmatists who make up the early majority
  3. Price the product relative to competitive comparisons rather than using value-based pricing
  4. Distribute the product through the right channels

Positioning​

Positioning is a communications process with four components:

  • The Claim: A two-line statement of indisputable market leadership in a particular segment. You must define the position based on the target segment and value proposition.
  • The Evidence: To make the claim incontestable. Market share is the most compelling evidence for pragmatists. In its absence, they look for the quality, number of partners, and their commitment to your product.
  • Communication: Identify and address the right audience with the right message.
  • Feedback and Adjustment: When competitors poke holes in the initial effort.