Familiarity breeds Consumer Inertia

My office table's got a desktop that sports a flatscreen. But I use it sparingly as I am hooked to my laptop most of the times. My laptop's convenient. The other day I forgot the laptop power cord home and so was compelled to use my desktop, day long. The experience was a very pleasant one. At the end of the day my eyes didn't seem as tired. The bigger screen had me squinting less and I even think the glare was way lower.

Since that day I am at my desktop more than my laptop. Now it might seem pretty foolish on my part to have stayed with the laptop when I had a better one on my desk. But the answer to my foolishness lies in the term 'familiarity'. I stuck to what I was familiar with, and didn't move to what I wasn't.

Consumers too do just that. Status Quo products and services are many a times acceptable, as that's familiar territory. For consumers to switch to newer solutions from existing ones, marketers must give them a compelling reason. A compelling reason that proves to the consumer that the discrepancy between the present product and the new one is wide enough for a trial of the latter. They must also press in a sense of urgency too to provoke trial. That's the only way to rouse the consumer out of his 'inertia'.

Speeds up the process of new product adoption.