Describe the adoption process as explained by the diffusion theory

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

One of the basic elements of Rogers' diffusion theory is the concept of an adoption process–the mental stages through which an individual passes from the time of his or her first knowledge of an innovation to the time of product adoption or purchase. Rogers suggests that an individual passes through five different stages in proceeding from first knowledge of a product to the final adoption or purchase of that product:
1. Awareness: In the first stage, the customer becomes aware for the first time of the product or innovation. Studies have shown that at this stage, impersonal sources of information such as mass media advertising are most important. An important early communication objective in global marketing is to create awareness of a new product through general exposure to advertising messages.
2. Interest: During this stage, the customer is interested enough to learn more. The customer has focused his or her attention on communications relating to the product and will engage in research activities to seek out additional information.
3. Evaluation: In this stage, the individual mentally assesses the product's benefits in relation to present and anticipated future needs and, based on this judgment, decides whether or not to try it.
4. Trial: Most customers will not purchase expensive products without the "hands-on" experience marketers call trial. A good example of a product trial that does not involve purchase is the automobile test drive. For health-care products and other inexpensive consumer packaged goods, trial often involves actual purchase. Marketers frequently induce trial by distributing free samples. For inexpensive products, an initial single purchase is defined as trial.
5. Adoption: At this point, the individual makes an initial purchase (in the case of the more expensive product) or continues to purchase–adopts and exhibits brand loyalty to–the less expensive product. Studies show that, as a person moves from evaluation through trial to adoption, personal sources of information are more important than impersonal sources. It is during these stages that sales representatives and word of mouth become major persuasive forces affecting the decision to buy.