Blockchain Blurbs is a bi-monthly article published by Leon Di, Head of Product Marketing for the WeTrust project. In these articles, he shares his thoughts and digressions on how to encourage more people to become engaged in the cryptocurrency community, and ways to drive broader usage of cryptocurrencies. Blockchain Blurbs is published on the 1st and 3rd Thursday of every month. Community participation and commenting on these articles is encouraged, and the best comments will receive coupons for additional crowdsale discounts!

Since the introduction of the Ethereum blockchain, numerous exciting projects based on distributed apps and smart contracts have been created. Many of these projects have had successful crowdfunded Token Crowdsales, raising millions of dollars to support the software development, administrative, and marketing costs necessary to launch a new cryptocoin. Once the Token Crowdsale is released, an active exchange market on websites such as Bittrex allow the public to buy and sell these cryptocoins based on their level of confidence in the project’s future success. This model has been very effective, and has allowed cryptoenthusiasts all over the world to support and participate in many crowdfunded Ethereum projects.

However, those of us in the crypto-community, particularly those of us who are active developing or investing in cryptocurrencies, should keep in mind that we represent a minority of the general population. In the end, the success of our projects will only come about when more people learn about cryptocurrencies and become comfortable purchasing and using them.

In the classic technology marketing book “Crossing the Chasm: Marketing and Selling High-Tech Products to Mainstream Customers”, management consultant Geoffrey Moore suggests that there are 5 stages in which different groups of people accept a new product or innovation. The new product is first adopted by innovators, followed by early adopters, the early majority, the late majority, and the laggards. Together, these stages of technology acceptance form a product life cycle. The proportion of each type of adoption can be shown on a Bell curve, as shown below. The figure shows that there are fewer innovators and laggards, and that most people belong to the early majority and late majority categories.

Innovators aggressively seek out new technologies. They are excited by advances in technology, and will often actively seek out new technology in the very early stages. They then work to improve and “hack” the new technology, often finding new use models or improving upon features in the process. The Innovator is like the geeky friend of yours who began to experiment with building new apps as soon as the iPhone came out.

The early adopters also buy into new technology concepts very early in the process, but unlike the innovators, they don’t have the technical abilities to drive the new technology forward. Instead, they are non-technical people who can easily understand and appreciate the benefits of the new technology. Think of the friend who has to own every new gadget, and downloads every new app as soon as it’s released. Because they themselves are not ingrained in the technical world, but instead rely on their personal vision of what technology can achieve, early adopters are the key to the initial opening of any high-tech market.

The early majority share the early adopters’ ability to grasp new technology, but they are more driven by a sense of pragmatism. They feel that many new inventions end up being nothing but hype, so they prefer waiting to see whether a new technology really “catches on” before they purchase and use it. They want to see other people praise a new technology before they themselves begin to use it. As the chart above shows, the early majority forms a large part of the population, and winning their support is the key to significant profits and market growth. The people who didn’t immediately get a Netflix account, but who signed up for Netflix after they saw how seamless the viewing experience was at a friends’ house, would be an example of the early majority.

The late majority shares the early majority’s concerns about new technology, but don’t have their comfort with new technology. As a result, they wait until a new technology has become an established standard before they adopt it. The people who were never comfortable using a personal computer until Windows and Microsoft Office made the operating system and common applications completely standardized would be an example of the late majority. By the time the late majority adopts new technologies, most of the necessary initial sales and R&D costs have already been amortized, making any additional sales to this group highly profitable.

The laggards are people who don’t want anything to do with new technology, whether out of an irrational fear of change, an inability to grasp new products and services, or a lack of economic resources to participate in new technology. Laggards don’t interact with new technology unless it is buried deep inside products and services they are already comfortable with — such as a computer chip being buried inside a microwave. If you have a grandparent who refuses to touch anything related to a computer or smartphone, then they would be considered a technology laggard (though I’m sure that grandparent is still a wonderful person!).

So, what does all of this have to do with cryptocurrencies? It seems that at the moment, distributed app (dApp) based projects have mainly been adopted by the Innovators. Many of the people who participate in Token Crowdsales are hardcore cryptoenthusiasts who also participate in multiple crowdsales. In fact, it isn’t uncommon to see the founders of one cryptocurrency project investing in the crowdsales of other cryptocurrencies. It seems that the same Innovators are driving much of the activity in crowdsales and altcoin trading. These are the same people who are attending Ethereum meetups and Bitcoin conferences, and regularly posting on blockchain forums. They are deeply passionate about the potential of blockchain, and are actively exploring new applications of the technology.

This model of investment among the Innovators has worked well, as shown by the many successfully funded projects. However, in order to expand both interest in blockchain and usage of currencies, it is worthwhile to take the next step and reach out to the Early Adopters. So how should we define who the “Innovators” and “Early Adopters” in the cryptocurrency world are?

At the moment, I would estimate that out of all the people who own Bitcoin or Ethereum, only ten percent of them have invested in altcoins such as Waves, Augur, Golem, etc. The people in that ten percent tend to regularly attend blockchain conferences, have usually participated in multiple token crowdsales, and have often had direct experiment using dApps, often going so far as to experiment with their own dApps. The people in this ten percent are the Innovators.

The Early Adopters, on the other hand, are those people who own Bitcoin and Ethereum, but who have not made the leap to participating in other altcoins. Per my estimate above, ninety percent of the people who have purchased Bitcoins would be in this Early Adopter category. As described above, Early Adopters “rely on their personal vision of what technology can achieve”. The Early Adopters who have purchased Bitcoins have already shown a basic understanding of what is possible with the blockchain, so why haven’t they been jumping at the chance to participate in crowdsales for other tokens?

It seems that many of the altcoin creators have not very clearly communicated the benefits of their innovations. For many Bitcoin users, even the crowdsale process itself can seem like a mess of intimidating jargon and esoteric procedures. The relationship between the tokens and their role in the underlying technology can also confound people who would otherwise be enthusiastic about altcoins. In order for the acceptance of cryptocurrencies to grow, the “Innovators” in this space must reach out to the “Early Adopters” to clearly communicate the benefits of the new technology, as well as how to participate in and use the new technology.

Accomplishing this would be a difficult task in any circumstances, and it becomes even more difficult given the rapid pace of cryptocurrency innovation. Here are three guidelines that I have found particularly helpful in communicating to blockchain Early Adopters:

Know Your Audience

These Early Adopters often have not been immersed in the world of altcoins, and don’t have a clear understanding of concepts beyond “smart contracts”. Whenever possible, use analogies and diagrams to explain the value that your cryptocurrency will bring. A narrative that describes a typical use case of the technology can also be immensely valuable. At the same time, don’t patronize the Early Adopter. Avoid wave-hand explanations that describe the cryptocurrency as “Internet money” or “just a way to have transactions.” Remember that as people who have already purchased Bitcoins or Ethereum, they are more technically knowledgable than the general population. The trick is to find the perfect balance between the “thousand mile view only” explanation and the “complete gory details of dApp implementation” explanation.

2. Educate to Participate

The process of buying altcoins can be intimidating for Early Adopters. This problem is compounded by the fact that at first glance, many cryptocurrency projects don’t have the mass name recognition of Bitcoin and Ethereum, making Early Adopters unsure if they can trust the team working on the project. The cryptocurrency community as a whole can do more to educate Early Adopters about this process. Clear step-by-step instructions describing how to participate in crowdsales, accompanied by detailed images or videos illustrating the process, would be highly beneficial. In addition, the many reasons Early Adopters should trust the project should be described. The way in which having a set market cap serves to protect investors during the initial crowdsale is one example of this. Partnerships with other organizations, and a very reputable public presence by the founders and project team is another way to build trust in a project.

3. Make Your Core Message “Stick”

In the book “Made to Stick”, professors Chip and Dan Heath discuss how to make ideas “stickier”, so that they will stick with people. A good cryptocurrency team should formulate a simple “message” encapsulating the ideas behind the project. If a blog post, informational video, diagram, or even a pithy quote can make this message “sticky”, then Early Adopters who may not be initially interested in a given token may eventually circle back to the idea. In addition, a “sticky” message makes it more likely that an Early Adopter will tell friends about a new cryptocurrency, further publicizing the new technology. In “Made to Stick” Chip and Dan Heath suggest that among other things, a “sticky” message should be “unexpected” in order to capture people’s attention, and “concrete” in order to focus their minds on the topic. For example, here at WeTrust, we often mention that over 2 billion people in the world don’t have access to banking — and we believe our product can help solve this problem. For most people living in the developed world, the idea that so many people still do not have access to banking is very unexpected — and is a memorable factoid. And because instead of saying “a lot of people don’t have access to banking,” we give a concrete number, people immediately focus their attention on the scale of the problem. From there, people will (hopefully :)) remember the idea that WeTrust is the cryptocurrency project trying to help the 2 billion unbanked people.

As more and more exciting cryptocurrency projects are developed, it becomes all the more crucial to encourage more people to participate in the crowdsale and usage of altcoins. These efforts to communicate the intent and benefits of altcoins to the Early Adopters can benefit all current and future blockchain projects, acting like the proverbial tide that lifts all boats.

Agree? Disagree? We’d love to hear your feedback! Comment below, or e-mail leon@wetrust.io with your comments, questions, nuanced talking points, personal anecdotes, and piercing insults regarding this article. The best comments we receive will be featured in an article next week, and the commenter will receive a coupon for a 20% bonus on TrustCoins during the token crowdsale! (Bonus applies up to a 5 BTC limit, and will be applied on top of all other bonuses)