When Leah Marcus and Yasaman Bakhtiar started Good Girl Snacks, their Hot Girl Pickles were “really big,” the founders explain on an episode of the Shopify Masters podcast. But thanks to their online community of early adopters, customers jumped in with feedback, and they pivoted to smaller gherkins.
That organic feedback wasn’t just helpful—it was foundational. Early adopters are the first customers to buy and try new products. They’re eager to share honest feedback that can shape your business direction.
This guide takes a deeper look at early adopters, why they’re important, and how you can attract them to your own business.
What are early adopters?
Early adopters are people who purchase new products before they’ve caught on with the mainstream. They have the means and desire to embrace new things, even though products may still be rough around the edges and cost more than they will after they’ve been on the market a while (known as the early adopter tax). For example, early adopters lined up outside Apple Stores to buy the original iPhone model, which cost $599 at launch; just three months later, Apple dropped the price to $399.
These trailblazers spend time on internet forums, Reddit, and YouTube to research and discuss the latest products. Although early adopters tend to be particularly interested in how technology works, they’ll research everything they buy, including low-tech items. They may even help with product development, serving as beta testers early in the process of a product’s rollout.
Early adopters are key in influencing others to adopt new products. They’re lighthouse customers, lighting the way for others by demonstrating their purchases and offering advice to friends, family, and online communities.
The early adopter terminology comes from Everett Rogers’ 1962 book Diffusion of Innovations, which investigates the spread of innovations through a social system. Rogers recognized early adopters as one of five categories of adopters: innovators, early adopters, the early majority, the late majority, and laggards.
5 stages of adoption
In Diffusion of Innovations, Everett Rogers defined five adopter categories in his social system, all of whom adopt new products or technology at different speeds. According to Rogers, the distribution follows an S-shaped adoption curve over time. Adoption starts slow, speeds up, and then tails off again, with innovators and early adopters at the beginning and other adopter categories later. Here are Rogers’ five stages of adoption:
1. Innovators
Innovators are a smaller and earlier group than early adopters—about 2.5% of the market, according to Rogers. They tend to be thought leaders and risk takers, and they generally have a high enough income to absorb the cost of products that end up being duds. (Just ask the innovators who purchased HD-DVD systems, Blu-ray’s losing rival.) In the realm of smartphones, innovators were those consumers in the early ’90s who used personal digital assistants in tandem with mobile phones and purchased the first hybrids.
2. Early adopters
Early adopters tend to have higher social status and influence than the average consumer, but they’re still closer to mainstream tastes than innovators. They’re also more numerous than innovators, at 13.5% of the market, and they tend to be pickier about how they spend. Early adopters lined up outside of Apple stores for the launch of the first iPhone in 2007.
3. Early majority
These later adopters are the beginning of the mainstream market, representing about 34% of the market as a whole. Think of them as your tipping point. They are not opinion leaders, but have good connections and average social status, including connections with early adopters. In the realm of smartphones, the early majority piled in shortly after early adopters—especially once prices lowered.
4. Late majority
These are the people who didn’t buy a smartphone until the whole family had been bugging them for years. The late majority needs compelling evidence of a product’s benefits before they commit. They’re somewhat attached to the status quo, more frugal than prior categories, and tend to have a “wait and see” attitude about new tech. They make up about 34% of the market.
5. Laggards
As the name suggests, laggards are the very last people to get on board with new products. They’re the ones still using flip phones. They favor tradition, avoid risks, are skeptical of new things, and typically don’t socialize outside of close friends and family. They make up only 16% of the market.
How to attract early adopters
- Identify early adopters
- Test your product with enthusiasts in your life
- Appeal to core beliefs and principles
To market to early adopters and the influential people within your target audience, you can appeal to their love of novelty and their desire to be on the “inside” for new innovations.
Your approach will vary greatly depending on what kind of product you are marketing, but always remember to appeal to their core principles. Let’s take a deep dive into how you can market to and attract early adopters.
Identify early adopters
Before you can market to early adopters, you have to know who they are and where they hang out. The good news is that early adopters tend to self-identify. They’re the folks who are already plugged in, constantly scanning the horizon for the next big thing. They congregate in niche online communities, attend industry meetups, read trendspotting blogs, and follow thought leaders on social media.
If you’re active in your product space, you’ve likely brushed shoulders with them already. Start by mapping the ecosystem: look for Reddit threads, Discord servers, X circles, Substacks, YouTube channels, and trade shows where people are talking shop. Who’s asking the smartest questions? Who seems to have a disproportionate influence on the conversation? Those are your early adopters.
Before they sold a single Hot Girl Pickle, Leah and Yasaman built a following on social media, posting silly videos about the drama of bringing their product to market. This drummed up interest with early adopters before their products even launched, and it gave them a sense of who their audience was.
You can also analyze your own customer base for signals about what works for them. Keep an eye on who’s signing up early, offering unsolicited feedback, or resharing your content with enthusiasm. These individuals are gold: Not only are they likely to convert early, but they also help shape your product and evangelize it to the broader market. Once you spot them, engage them directly by offering sneak peeks, insider access, or limited-edition perks to bring them closer into the fold.
Test your product with the enthusiasts in your life
You can find early adopters in all sorts of places. The goal is to find an enthusiastic crowd with the financial resources to take advantage of your product. Start close to home and branch out to people with a deep need and tangible reason to benefit from your products or services.
Simon Donato was the “healthy guy” in the office, so when he co-founded premium oatmeal superfood company Stoked Oats, it made sense to test the product on fellow fitness freaks. “[The true test is] if you can get somebody who’s not a friend or family member to try the product and actually like it,” says Simon on the Shopify Masters podcast. “We ran big taste tests with my running club and had everybody show up on Saturday morning. We had our clipboards. We had our samples. We had our hot water.”
Next, they went to farmers’ markets to test their products on complete strangers with a special interest in healthy eating. “What we found really worked well there was hitting the senses,” says Simon. “And what I mean by that was we would cook a big pot of what is now our Buckingham oatmeal blend, which has apples, mulberries, cinnamon, and it smells fantastic.”
Appeal to core beliefs and principles
Early adopters aren’t just looking for the next shiny object—they’re driven by values. Many see themselves as visionaries or catalysts for change, so your messaging should reflect that. Position your product as a way to solve a real problem, shake up the status quo, or push a category forward.
Highlight the why behind what you’re building: Is it more sustainable, more inclusive, more efficient, or more creatively liberating than what’s out there? Speak to their desire to be part of something meaningful—not just ahead of the curve, but helping to define it. Appeal to their identity as tastemakers. Early adopters want to feel like insiders, not just customers.
Offering exclusive access, behind-the-scenes updates, or direct input into product development makes them feel seen and respected. Frame your product not as a polished, finished product, but as a living experiment they get to co-create. They’re not afraid of imperfections—they’re excited to be part of the product journey. Give them a role in the story, and they’ll be more likely to champion your brand to the wider world.
Early adopters FAQ
What is the meaning of early adopters?
Early adopters are people who are willing to take a risk by trying brand-new products and services. They usually have income to spare and can become change agents for your products. Being the first individuals to adopt a new product is a status symbol for them, and they build interest in the product with a wider audience.
How to target early adopters?
To effectively target early adopters, meet them where they already hang out—whether online or off. These individuals are often active in niche communities on platforms like Instagram, TikTok, Reddit, YouTube, and Discord, where they share insights, post reviews, and discuss new trends. You can also tap into local meetups, events, or enthusiast forums tied to your industry. The goal isn’t just visibility, it’s building credibility within the circles where early adopters thrive.
Who comes after early adopters?
After early adopters, you’ll want to target the early majority. This larger group is open to new ideas, but does not seek them out to the same extent as early adopters. They will be more risk-averse and careful with spending on the unknown. However, they still exert an influence on friends and family in the subsequent group—the late majority.
