It’s a dated book. I will grant you that. It was originally written in 1991 and even the revised edition is from 1998. But it is mere 174 pages and to be frank, I don’t reach out for marketing books in my sane frame of mind :-)
So what’s the chasm? Basically, it has to do with the technology adoption life cycle with its 5 distinct phases – Innovators, Early Adopters, Early Majority, Late Majority and Laggards. The chasm exists between Early Adopters and Early Majority and so the book talks about what needs to be done to make sure that the product travels smoothly from Early Adopters to Early Majority – without ever losing momentum, and thus market share, profitability etc. Etc. The author also makes it clear that the efforts have to be made by all parts of the organization and not just the marketing folks. There are many reasons for the existence of this chasm but chief among them is the fact that the Early Majority is seeking maximum discontinuity from the old ways of doing things whereas the Early Adopters are looking to minimize it. It also doesn’t help that while the Early Majority can live with a few bugs, the Early Adopters are far less tolerant of them. The net effect is that Early Adopters cannot be referrals for Early Majority. Hence the chasm. That basically is the gist of the first chapter.
In the second chapter, the author sets about explaining how to close this chasm. The definition of a market consists of the familiar terms – customers, their need and the product that promises to fulfill it. The addition here is the reference that the customers seek from each other before making a buying decision when it comes to high-tech products. What follows is a description of salient characteristics of each phase of the technology adoption life cycle, the gotchas and must-dos of marketing to them.
The third chapter starts by talking about the unsavory characters - such as ruthless competitors & predatory investors - that seem to inhabit this chasm and emphasizes the need to select a target niche market as the first point of targeted attack on the way to heading into the major market. The analogy of Allied Invasion of Normandy on D-Day fits it like a glove. Though I don't know the ABC of marketing, the scenarios described in this chapter are so logical that I found myself nodding in understanding. There is also an interesting section about 4 companies that seem to have navigated this chasm successfully. Unfortunately, the chapter doesn't offer any tips about how to effectively deal with the unsavory characters that are talked about at the beginning.
The 4th chapter is about how to make your decisions about the high-risk low-data market that's going to be your springboard into the wider market. And the interesting subject of Target Customer Characterization. The fifth chapter deals with how to shape the market for your company's whole product offering. The main poitnt that the author makes is that while the early market (consisting of innovators and early adopters) can get by without the Whole Product, the other side of the chasm needs it.
Chapter 6 is about fighting it out with the entrenched competitor and forcing him or her out of the target market segment. Oh, and creating competition if it doesn't exist. Sounds counter-intuitive? It sure does. But then you got to read the chapter to know what the author has in mind. I found the section on 'Positioning' a bit hard-to-digest but that could be because I am not the marketing type.
The last chapter tackles distribution and pricing i.e. customer-oriented distribution and distribution-oriented pricing. I don't know for sure but I suspect that this is perhaps the most dated chapter of this book because the Internet has come a long way from what it was in the 90s.
P. S. It was amusing to read the following about neural networks - the software has shown little commercial success because there has not yet emerged a unique and compelling application that would drive its acceptance over other, more established alternatives. Oh, and also the following one - Today, however, AI has been relegated to the trash heap. :-)
So what’s the chasm? Basically, it has to do with the technology adoption life cycle with its 5 distinct phases – Innovators, Early Adopters, Early Majority, Late Majority and Laggards. The chasm exists between Early Adopters and Early Majority and so the book talks about what needs to be done to make sure that the product travels smoothly from Early Adopters to Early Majority – without ever losing momentum, and thus market share, profitability etc. Etc. The author also makes it clear that the efforts have to be made by all parts of the organization and not just the marketing folks. There are many reasons for the existence of this chasm but chief among them is the fact that the Early Majority is seeking maximum discontinuity from the old ways of doing things whereas the Early Adopters are looking to minimize it. It also doesn’t help that while the Early Majority can live with a few bugs, the Early Adopters are far less tolerant of them. The net effect is that Early Adopters cannot be referrals for Early Majority. Hence the chasm. That basically is the gist of the first chapter.
In the second chapter, the author sets about explaining how to close this chasm. The definition of a market consists of the familiar terms – customers, their need and the product that promises to fulfill it. The addition here is the reference that the customers seek from each other before making a buying decision when it comes to high-tech products. What follows is a description of salient characteristics of each phase of the technology adoption life cycle, the gotchas and must-dos of marketing to them.
The third chapter starts by talking about the unsavory characters - such as ruthless competitors & predatory investors - that seem to inhabit this chasm and emphasizes the need to select a target niche market as the first point of targeted attack on the way to heading into the major market. The analogy of Allied Invasion of Normandy on D-Day fits it like a glove. Though I don't know the ABC of marketing, the scenarios described in this chapter are so logical that I found myself nodding in understanding. There is also an interesting section about 4 companies that seem to have navigated this chasm successfully. Unfortunately, the chapter doesn't offer any tips about how to effectively deal with the unsavory characters that are talked about at the beginning.
The 4th chapter is about how to make your decisions about the high-risk low-data market that's going to be your springboard into the wider market. And the interesting subject of Target Customer Characterization. The fifth chapter deals with how to shape the market for your company's whole product offering. The main poitnt that the author makes is that while the early market (consisting of innovators and early adopters) can get by without the Whole Product, the other side of the chasm needs it.
Chapter 6 is about fighting it out with the entrenched competitor and forcing him or her out of the target market segment. Oh, and creating competition if it doesn't exist. Sounds counter-intuitive? It sure does. But then you got to read the chapter to know what the author has in mind. I found the section on 'Positioning' a bit hard-to-digest but that could be because I am not the marketing type.
The last chapter tackles distribution and pricing i.e. customer-oriented distribution and distribution-oriented pricing. I don't know for sure but I suspect that this is perhaps the most dated chapter of this book because the Internet has come a long way from what it was in the 90s.
P. S. It was amusing to read the following about neural networks - the software has shown little commercial success because there has not yet emerged a unique and compelling application that would drive its acceptance over other, more established alternatives. Oh, and also the following one - Today, however, AI has been relegated to the trash heap. :-)
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