Magic Pills for 5G Growth

??The next generation of wireless connectivity has already arrived in the market; 5G can support many connections simultaneously while providing better and improved speed, latency, and lower power consumption for handsets and IoT devices. The 5G-ready smartphones have already hit the market, and network deployment has nearly been completed everywhere.

?Hence, the next generation of wireless connectivity, 5G, is becoming a universal topic for every industry, but many myths and misconceptions are still floating everywhere. Although various use cases are emerging and supporting the benefits of 5G in our day-to-day life, only a few are compelling enough to create strong demand in a short period.

??Now the big question is how 5G will succeed in the current scenario; what will help 5G to grow at 5G speed? The answer is innovation at every level; simultaneously, massive Diffusion of that innovation at every level will make 5G grow at 5G speed.

?The mostly individual user of innovation consists of four basic questions.?

?1) What is innovation??

2) How does it work??

3) What are the innovation consequences?

4) What are the advantages and disadvantages of that specific innovation?

?Consumer innovativeness or curiosity is a significant personality attribute contributing to a person's propensity to acquire and utilize new technology or products more rapidly and frequently than others.

?The relationship between consumer innovativeness and the intention to adopt or buy new technology or products is well-known nowadays. Still, more focus is required in creating proper visibility, correct guidance, affordances of 5G handsets, and safety concerns that support this relationship to a greater extent.

?Common sense suggests that only some customers will instantly adopt the 5G technology. Some customer rushes out and buy first and try to get an early version of this new 5G technology before it is widely available. Many Other customers will wait until many people have adopted 5G technology before reluctantly considering it.?

?The main goal of Telecom Company is to convince the right set of individuals or potential customers to embrace or accept the new 5G technology, even if it goes against their better judgment and even if they have to exhibit behaviour they haven't shown before.

?Technological advancement has altered consumer behaviour. Today, social media has played a crucial role in setting such buying environments and behaviours. Furthermore, 5G technology will inspire consumers to connect and provide additional novel and complicated services. Therefore, the factors like proper visibility, correct guidance and affordances of 5G handsets help instigate consumer buying decisions.

?Many studies have found that consumers make their purchasing decisions solely depending on their habitual decision-making approach. Hence innovative consumers will predominantly apply the cognitive decision-making process to make 5G product decisions.

?Therefore, factors such as the various uses of 5G and correct guidance can better comprehend the more practical benefits of 5G technology.

Consumers usually form their views regarding items by assessing alternatives depending on the knowledge gained. Hence companies with better visibility and a bouquet of relevant information will be more likely to succeed.

?Hence more attention needs to be given to consumers' innovation, awareness, useability, and affordability of 5G handsets. Proper visibility, correct guidance, and knowledge about the handset's affordability will impact consumer innovativeness toward adopting 5G products. Therefore this generates the need to supply personalized invitations and provide counsel to consumers' preferences and their specific needs.?

?Moreover, allowing consumers to experience different experience zone and properly guiding them on what they are about to purchase can foster confidence;

?Telecom Companies should increase the guidance and visibility of 5G products to assist consumers in understanding the relative benefits of 5G products in semi-urban and rural markets, resulting in favourable views toward 5G products.

Furthermore, before consumers adopt 5G, there will be an assessment period. Hence, enhancing the availability of relevant and specific information and guidance to consumers at this level will raise their intent.?

?Simultaneously creating information about the affordability of handsets and their usability at every level, even in semi-urban and rural markets, can boost the acceptability of 5G technology all across; for instance, aggressive marketing and sales practices can be introduced to raise consumer awareness of the health benefits of 5G technology in rural market can influence purchase intent towards 5G more rapidly.

?In 1962, Everett Rogers established the phenomenon as the "diffusion of innovation." He developed a theory to support it, describing how, why, and at what rate innovation will be adopted by participants in a market or any social system. The approach divides adopters into different groups with shared characteristics. The?Diffusion of innovation?is a phenomenon where telecom companies can deduce why and how Their target audiences will accept 5G.

?There are five well-known adopter categories in this theory, which are explained below:

?1. Innovators 2.5%?

2. Early adopters 13.5%

3. Early majority, 34%?

4. Late Majority, 34%?

5. Laggards 16%?

?1. Innovators

?Innovators are about 2.5 % of your subscriber base;?they love exploring New ideas and technology; Innovators buy things because they are unique in the market and always want to be the first to try new things or products, irrespective of any doubt or consequence. Hence they play an essential role in introducing a new idea, product, or practice into the market and social system.?

?They are trendsetters. Eventually, the product will become increasingly popular, and sales will increase; therefore, winning them over is very important for the 5G growth journey because their mere endorsement reassures the other consumers in the marketplace that the new product works fine.

?Innovators are essential in introducing a new idea, product, or practice into the market and social system. In this way, innovators play the role of gatekeepers and help new ideas and products flow into a social system.

?2. Early Adopters

?Early Adopters are about 13.5% of the subscriber base. They can be considered influencers, and they initiate the first opinions on products. Hence promoting 5G to them is extremely important to telecom companies. These individuals mostly have the highest level of opinion leadership among the other adopter categories.

??Primarily known as the flagship customers, early adopters play an active role in Word of Mouth and influence other potential 5G customers. They occupy the position of dignity in their social network and have the highest command of opinion leadership amongst all available adopter categories. People approach them for advice, and the fact that they have adopted the innovation reduces risk and uncertainty in others. They usually provide information and convince others to buy.

?3. Early Majority

?The Early Majority of consumers are approximately?34% of the subscriber base. People in this category adopt an innovation after a certain degree of time, and their usual time of adoption is longer than the innovators and early adopters.?

?The most important part over here is that until telecom companies reach this Early majority segment, they cannot claim that 5G growth has achieved momentum. Getting to the Early Majority is a clear sign of 5G success or not.

?Consumers who fall into this category are above average in age, education, and medium socio-economic status. They are careful about their purchases and buy a new product after a thorough investigation. The early Majority are highly local and integrate with people in their community very well, and the opinions of others are essential to them while they interact with others. Hence, getting to them is an integral part of the 5G success journey; to achieve 5G success, we need to get them as early as possible.

?4. Late Majority

?The late Majority constitutes the next 34 per cent of the subscriber base. They are made up of sceptics who don't like change, and they often adopt a new product when pressured into believing they could fall behind if they don't assume this innovation.?

Social proof is an excellent method to get more favourable decisions from the late majority kind of consumers. The more social proof your product will provide, the faster the late Majority will adopt the product. This is the level where the Diffusion of innovation has almost happened.

As long as the potential customer in the late majority category is constantly exposed to product placements and reviews on social media and various retail platforms, they will soon start their journey to get onboard as quickly as possible before they miss the train.

?5. Laggards

?Laggards are almost 16% of the subscriber Base. They are the last to try a new product or service and will finally begin to pursue a new product or idea only after their "regular" options are no longer available.

Laggards generally take the longest to adopt an innovation, and the innovation-decision process is the lengthiest. To convince them, one requires all kinds of statistical data, appeals & testimonials from other adopters.

?Leveraging Diffusion of Innovation for 5G Growth.

?The Diffusion of innovations theory describes the system and speed at which new technology, practices, or products spread through the market. This theory of Diffusion is usually applied to help understand and promote the adoption of new technology or products in the market. In an environment of curtailed budgets and stiff market competition, conscious re-application of the "Principles of Diffusion" can prove extremely useful for 5G market growth.

?The Diffusion of adoption is vital to current telecom players because it considers 5G adoption in the context of a more wide-ranging market and social system. The target is to support an individual customer through the 5G adoption process and an entire market and community.

Understanding each step in the Diffusion Process of adoption will allow you to creatively analyze how you might influence your subscriber base and potential customers at each stage of 5G adoption, including the final stage of confirmation or decision-making.

??A newly onboarded 5G user may impact others in their purchasing decisions. Application of the theory usually focuses on identifying and onboarding influential early adopters as early as possible to help accelerate consumer acceptance of 5G in future.

?Telecom companies are now trying to launch more and more 5G product lines and mixes in the market, and it will benefit them if they know how precisely Diffusion is happening in the market for these products.

?Hence, it is advisable for the telecom marketing and sales team to know about the Diffusion cycle of their 5G product in their market to help them get the 5G to penetrate the market at the highest level.

?Telecom companies are often tempted to focus their sales and marketing efforts on innovators because innovators are likelier to try the 5G products, making them a soft target than risk-averse consumers. This will be an inaccurate strategy in most cases. The early adopters are better positioned to influence the product's overall opinion and draw in the early Majority.?

?The most important part over here is that until telecom companies reach the Early Majority segment, they cannot claim that 5G adoption growth has achieved some momentum. Getting to the Early Majority is a clear sign of 5G success or not.

??Similarly, aggressive marketing to laggards is unlikely to affect their adoption pattern.

?It's time to make the Diffusion of innovation strategy an integral part of your 5G launch plan.

?You'll first need to understand your subscriber base and potential customers and show them that 5G is the final solution to their problems. Also, you'll need to understand your customer's maturity level. You can identify Innovators and Early Adopters from your subscriber base as early as possible and reach them quickly. The five categories of consumers can be derived from their past buying behaviour in various product categories, and selection based on past adoption rates and practice gives a more accurate picture of them in many ways.

?Most importantly, 5G adoption is to be inflation resilient. The intention to adopt or upgrade is likely to vary from market to market, per the adoption curve and inflation concerns. Most smartphone users do not intend to reduce their spending on mobile broadband, and consumer desire for 5G remains robust. Next, the next wave of 5G users will have high expectations of 5G performance, primarily network coverage, compared to early adopters — who care about new innovative services enabled by 5G.

?Despite the many benefits, 5G is not an immediate need.

?Not surprisingly, Mobile users under 40 are the most excited about a future with 5G technology. But for most people, 5G can be something other than a life-changing revolution. Customers will adopt it regardless because it is new and will upgrade them, which is inevitable. Still, they will take their own sweet time, which considerably explains their indifference.

?Bottom line: Educate people on how to make the most of the 5G

?Telecom operators should evaluate the energy and capital they invest in convincing their customers to switch sooner. Instead, it will be more critical to ensure customers have a positive experience when they finally switch – whether passively or proactively. An effective messaging strategy focuses on realistic advice to educate customers to get the most out of 5G.?

?Please keep it simple.

?Primarily, the art of selling is to steer your customer towards more available choices before drilling down into detail. So, when you write your sales plan or communication, please keep it simple.

?Confusing products and titles can be detrimental to the initial consumer experience. After all, we all live in the customer's age, and it's all about customer needs, opinions, voices, and changing conditions.?

?Vague and somewhat meaningless 5G product names like "turbo" and "ultra" don't provide clarity. Tackling this major issue can help improve satisfaction levels because customers may begin to view the telecom company they use as being more transparent and honest about services.

?Purchase decisions are generally motivated either by pleasure or pain. In telecom sales, most purchases are made because of pain, whether its mobile internet doesn't reach the back corner of the home or office, its conference calls keep cutting out, or its current telecom equipment needs to be updated. Hence 5G technology can be pitched as a single problem solver for all their pain.

Developing a successful sales strategy is one of the core activities every business will have to undertake. You can delay it until you've acquired your first 100 or 1,000 customers, but at some point, you'll need to find sustainable traction in the market to increase sales.

?Companies must implement various tactics in today's competitive market to ensure their attempts are well-spent. The key to all these marketing efforts is data collected from the consumers. Understanding, managing and applying this data allows for assessing marketing's successes and failures while also planning the strategy.?

?Understanding and knowing the exact adoption patterns and adjusting the 5G strategy With the proper customer segmentation models, telecom companies can develop sales and marketing strategies suitably to ensure it works.