This item, which appeared in Internet-on-a-Disk #20, April 1997, is part of a book in progress entitled The Social Web. Permission is granted to make and distribute complete verbatim electronic copies of this item for non-commercial purposes provided the copyright information and this permission notice are preserved on all copies. All other rights reserved. To correspond with the author, send email to seltzer@samizdat.com
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It's embarrassing when you don't read a "must-read" book until six years after it first appeared. I had heard the main points and concepts presented and discussed numerous times. Finally, on my way to Internet World in Los Angeles, I read Crossing the Chasm cover-to-cover in one gulp.
For a high-tech company to successfully introduce a product that is significantly new and different, the product has to appeal to different kinds of customers in sequence -- to "innovators" and "visionaries" in the early going, then to "pragmatists", followed by "conservatives." The "chasm" refers to the gap between the visionaries and the pragmatists, who have very different needs and who evaluate products in very different ways. While the visionaries are relatively quick to adopt new technology, there are very few of them. And while the pragmatists represent a large market, they will only buy after a product has been proven effective by other customers like themselves.
Much in this book rang loud and clear and true. In other places, it was evident that Moore was writing prior to the era of the Internet business.
p. 28, Moore defines "market ... for the purposes of high tech" as --
Before the dawn of Internet business, a market was a given (you decided to "enter" an existing market), or it took a long time to establish and define a new market for a new class of products/services.
Now, with Internet capabilities, instead of "finding" a market, you can create one.
"Community" -- a loyal Internet audience -- is a set of people who will "reference each other when making a buying decision." Build a self-sustaining on-line community, and you build a new niche market.
Bear in mind, that for this approach to work, you need to do more than just provide marketing information at your Web site, and more than have your people interact with your potential customers and partners. You also need to provide a means for the members of your audience to interact with one another, otherwise they won't "reference each other".
Is the chasm something that will be with us forever (something we keep doing to ourselves because of human nature) or is it a temporary phenomenon?
I believe that it can, at least, be narrowed, and that the Internet provides the mechanism that makes that possible.
Yes, people have different personality characteristics. Yes, technology moves very fast, and different people relate to change in different ways. But gaps can be narrowed and bridged through relationship building and community building.
The ideal situation would be a market defined by an on-line community, which acted as a "learning community" (in the sense of "learning" organizations/companies).
In its most rudimentary form, such a community can be built around mailing lists and scheduled chat sessions (like my Thursday sessions at http://www.web-net.org) and forums for threaded thoughtful dialogue. In such an environment, people feel free to speak up not because they feel they are experts, but rather because they want to understand. They express their suspicions, inklings, instincts, guesses, seeking discussion that will help refine, correct, and validate their thoughts.
As technology advances, you incorporate the latest means of connecting people-to-people (like Firefly's collaborative filtering methods http://www.firefly.com, which help link together people with similar tastes and interests). Pragmatists and conservatives become familiar with the latest advances as new mechanisms for continuing an on-going dialogue, rather than as discontinuous innovation.
The "chasm" (like the old "generation gap," which we no longer hear of) is a communication gap. You narrow it by getting people to talk to one another, to treat one another's ideas with respect, and to learn from one another.
Ideally, the community would welcome and involve technology gurus, visionaries, pragmatists, and conservatives -- all talking about matters of common concern and interest.
And community interaction need not be limited to on-line activities, but rather could involve face-to-face meetings, and focus-group feedback (both remote and face-to-face) and even formal training sessions (both remote and local).
Hence, in this model, techniques of training and distance education become central to the business proposition.
In the learning market-community outlined above, communication is central -- but not just "two-way". It's not just a matter of vendors talking to and listening to partners and customers. It's also a matter of creating an environment where the customers and potential customers and partners regularly and naturally talk to one another. And the customers and partners in this process are also learning how to build relationships with and serve their customers and partners.
Given this orientation, the focus, for any company doing business on the Internet should be not on the transaction, but rather on the relationship. Ease of handling secure on-line transactions is important only insofar as it is a convenience to the buyer. Other factors are often far more important in building and maintaining relationships with customers, (and perhaps far less expensive to implement).
For instance, an established retail business with a large chain of physical stores probably has little to gain from investing in an on-line transaction system to try to compete head-to-head against Internet-only no-inventory retail operations. Every sale that happens entirely on-line deprives them of the opportunity of building a closer relationship with the customer and encouraging the impulse purchase of other related items. Yes, if the chain has limited geographic coverage, an on-line presence could extend their reach to new customers. But for chains that are wide-spread -- that have already made an enormous investment in bricks and mortar, in inventory and organizational infrastructure, and in broadcast advertising, there is much more to be gained from using the Internet to better serve their customers. The on-line presence should support the physical stores, make them more attractive and useful. In many cases, people would prefer instant gratification, getting the goods they want the day they decide to buy them, rather than having to wait a day or a week for delivery.
Over the Internet, a retail chain could offer store-specific on-line inventory status, with the ability to reserve an item for pickup later that day. Based on previous purchases, they could send automatic email reminders when the customer is likely to be running out of an item and need more, and sales alert messages about special offers and prices. Depending on the product, perhaps they could/should provide on-line pre-sales and post-sales support, supplementing and, in part, replacing telephone support; and done in such a way that answers are saved and are searchable and that customers have ways to help one another. If appropriate for the kind of goods sold, the retailer should also try to create an on-line community for customers, and supplement the on-line interaction with face-to-face special events at the physical stores. Make the physical stores an asset rather than a liability.
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