Early Adopters

Also known as a lighthouse customer are people who help to launch new products, technology, and also in politics, fashion, art, and other fields and online services. These are the people that any given marketing person or department want to capture and maintain as a customer, client or part of their social networks.

Generally, these individuals are customers who, in addition to using the vendor’s product or technology, will also provide considerable and candid feedback to help the vendor refine its future product releases, as well as the associated means of distribution, service, and back end support.

These relationships are also considered synergistic, with the customer having early, and most times unique, or at the very least uniquely early access to an advantageous new product or technology. In the case of a new product launch or beta test, these early adopters are used as participants in a test bed or could be considered a kind of a guinea pig. In many cases, the customers who choose to invest in a new product or service are also exposed to the problems, risks, and annoyances common to early-stage product testing and deployment.

Early adopters are also provided a reduced price, terms, conditions, attentive customer support and extra help with implementation, use, or operation assistance. The business then benefits from customer feedback which in all cases is a valuable resource for R&D departments.

Early adoption does come with pitfalls- early versions of products may be buggy and/or prone to malfunction. Additionally, more efficient, and sometimes less expensive, versions of a product usually appear a few months after the initial release, as have been the case with smartphones, tablets, and other similar technology, which is commonly referred to as an “early adopter tax.”