Continuing the theme of product marketing frameworks that I think project managers would benefit from understanding, in this blog, I discuss the ACCORD framework for factors to consider that affect adoption of your product in a market. Product adoption does not happen by accident. Whether you're launching a new drug therapy or a medical device, your product’s adoption curve will be influenced by key psychological and practical variables. The ACCORD model, introduced by Geoffrey Moore in Crossing the Chasm, provides a strategic framework for evaluating how innovations diffuse across markets—and how to manage adoption friction. This framework was particularly introduced for direct to consumer products, but is still a valuable mental model for the biotech sector, as well whether you're considering adoption amongst prescribing physicians or end users of the healthcare treatment.
What is the ACCORD Model?
The ACCORD model is an acronym that captures six product characteristics influencing adoption:
Affordability
Compatibility
Complexity
Observability
Risk
Divisibility
Each factor directly shapes how quickly and easily a new product will be accepted in the market. The following is a break down of each dimension and how it affects adoption.
1. Affordability
Question: Can the customer afford the product—not just in price, but in time, effort, and opportunity cost?
Considerations:
Is the product priced appropriately for your target segment?
Are there significant costs for onboarding, switching, or integration?
Does your pricing model lower the perceived barrier (e.g., subscription vs. one-time purchase)?
Considerations for biotech/pharma:
Affordability is particularly challenging for expensive health care treatments that may or not be covered by insurance or have significant co-pay or deductible issues.
2. Compatibility
Question: How well does the product fit into the user's existing environment or behavior?
Considerations:
Does it work with existing hardware, software, workflows, or cultural norms?
Are there technical or organizational integration hurdles?
Considerations for biotech/pharma:
Treatment adoption can be dramatically impacted by how well the treatment fits into a patients lifestyle and hampered if treatment requires significant time and effort burden such as those requiring in-clinic infusions, significant amounts of blood draws, high pill burden, etc.
3. Complexity
Question: How difficult is the product to understand and use?
Considerations:
Is there a steep learning curve?
Is onboarding intuitive?
Are support and documentation readily available?
Considerations for biotech/pharma:
Ease of use is very important, especially when a users health and safety are impacted by potential misuse, overdose, or noncompliance.
4. Observability
Question: How visible are the product’s benefits to others?
Considerations:
Can others see the product in use or the results it generates?
Does the product lend itself to word-of-mouth or public demonstration?
Considerations for biotech/pharma:
How prevalent are the product's ads (ex. TV direct to consumer ads), earned media (ex. news stories about the product or treatment trends), or word of mouth (ex. social media influencers or online community groups).
5. Risk
Question: What are the perceived and actual risks of adopting the product?
Considerations:
Will adopting the product jeopardize someone's job, budget, or health?
Are there security, privacy, or compliance risks?
What long term side effects are there?
Considerations for biotech/pharma:
Healthcare product adoption is often slowed by high perceived risk. This is especially complicated by a multiparty marketplace like prescription products where both the physician and patient have to be convinced of the product's positive benefit-to-risk profile..
6. Divisibility
Question: Can the product be tried or adopted incrementally, without full commitment?
Considerations:
Can users test a limited version or sample?
Can adoption happen incrementally or in a scaled manner?
Considerations for biotech/pharma:
Divisibility is much easier for direct-to-consumer products such as skin care treatments than for prescription medicines since the former are much easier to offer free samples or other small trial size offerings.
Strategic Application: Using the ACCORD Model
Use Cases:
Product Design: Design onboarding, packaging, and pricing to reduce complexity, risk, and increase divisibility.
Market Segmentation: Choose early adopters whose environments are highly compatible with your product.
Sales Strategy: Highlight observable benefits and mitigate risks with guarantees or pilot programs.
Tactics by Characteristic:
| Characteristic | Strategic Tactic |
|---|---|
| Affordability | Tiered pricing, free trials |
| Compatibility | Native integrations, standard protocols |
| Complexity | UX/UI simplification, onboarding tools, reimbursement simplification |
| Observability | Share case studies, encourage social proof |
| Risk | "Ask your doctor" campaigns, patient testimonials |
| Divisibility | Modular rollout, freemium or sandbox offers |
Final Thoughts
The ACCORD model provides a concrete framework for evaluating a product's adoption potential, not only by assessing its features, but by aligning product strategy with customer psychology. Products with low complexity, low risk, high compatibility, and high divisibility tend to be adopted more rapidly. Recognizing which factors are holding your product back gives you a tactical advantage.
For startups, this means engineering your go-to-market strategy around ACCORD to increase velocity. For mature companies, this framework is a lens to diagnose adoption bottlenecks and optimize diffusion.
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