Customer acceptance of Change:

The Ultimate Learning Experience

Some products or services are entirely new to the world.

Such a product called an innovation.
A product, a service, or an
that a customer perceives as new.

idea

Newness has two dimensions:

Uniqueness-how different it is from existing products.
Age-how long it has existed in the market place.

Categories of Adopters

Opinion Leaders
Opinion leadership is the giving of information
and advice, leading to acceptance of the advocated
position by the recipient of the opinion.
Opinion leaders have two qualities:
Expertise-is possessing knowledge about the innovation
that is not yet common knowledge.
Trustworthiness- refers to the perceived benevolence
and dependability of the opinion giver.

Innovators Among Business

Customer
Innovators and opinion leaders are just important among
business customer. Marketing expert Eric Von Hippel calls
them lead users.
use the products of today in ways that predict how
those products should be modified to meet the needs of
tomorrow.

Adoption Process
The adoption of an innovation refers to the customer acceptance of an
innovation for continued use. Some innovation are adopted relatively
quickly, while others take a long time before the receiving widespread
adoption.
Two principal distinguish innovations from current products and cause
people to be cautious:
1. As new product categories, innovations lack evaluation criteria, so
customers dont know how to appraise them.
2. Their benefits and negative outcomes are unknown or unestablished
by experience.

Stages in the Adoption Process

Awareness

Interest

Desire

Action

Stages in the Mental Processing of

the Innovation
Exposure

Information
gathering

Evaluation

Trial
Adoption

Acceptance
of rejection

Desirable Characteristics of
Innovations
Relative advantage- refers to how much better the innovation is compared to the
current product for which it will substitute.

Perceived risk- refers to uncertainty about whether their relative advantage will
accrue and whether unanticipated harm will occur.
Complexity- customer prefer an innovation that is easy to comprehend. The
easier it is to comprehend, the less complexity it has.
Communicability- refers to the extent to which an innovation is socially visible or
is otherwise easy to communicate about in social groups.
Compatibility- customers want products that are compatible with their behavior
and values. Behavioral compatibility consist of qualities that do not require
customers to alter their behavioral routine. Value compatibility is consistency with
customers deeply held values.
Trialability- refers to the extent to which it is possible to try out the innovation on
a smaller scale.

Identifying Opinion Leaders and

Innovators
Characteristics of innovators:
Risk takers.
Variety seekers.
Upper socioeconomic status.
Product interest.
Less well integrated with other
members of the society.
More individualistic and
independent in their thinking.

Characteristics of opinion
leaders:
High product involvement.
Are recognized as leaders.
Are socially well integrated.
Are more exposed to a variety
of media sources especially
news and information media
programs.
Hold leadership and formal
office positions in social,
political, and community
organizations.