There’s a moment in every product’s life where momentum slows. Adoption flatline. Growth gets expensive. The hype wears off.
You’re out of early adopters. But the mainstream still isn’t convinced.
This isn’t bad marketing or a buggy feature. This is the chasm. And most products fall into it.
What is “The Chasm”?
Geoffrey Moore’s Crossing the Chasm framework breaks users into five adoption stages:
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Innovators – curious technologists
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Early adopters – visionaries looking for an edge
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“The Chasm”
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Early majority – pragmatic, risk-averse
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Late majority and laggards – cautious, slow-moving
The chasm sits between the visionaries and the pragmatists. And crossing it takes a completely different playbook.
Why Fintech is Especially Prone
Early adopters love sleek UIs, fast sign-up flows and punchy pricing. They’ll tolerate friction because they believe in the mission.
But the early majority want:
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Guarantees
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Proof
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Trust
This is where many fintechs get exposed. What looked like rocketship growth was often just early adopter saturation.
What Crossing Looks Like
BehindLogin has tracked, analysed and benchmarked hundreds of logged-in journeys across financial services, and the products that actually cross the chasm look different under the hood.
✅ They’ve nailed one use case end to end
Instead of chasing every persona, they double down on one. A single clear job to be done. No noise.
✅ The onboarding doesn’t just sell. It reassures.
You see FAQs, human customer support, transparent terms, step-by-step guidance. It’s not flashy, but it builds trust.
✅ There are proof points baked into the flow
💰 “£1.2bn assets managed.”
👥 “Used by 300,000 customers.”
🛡️ “Authorised and regulated by…”
Not hidden in the footer. Not a vanity slide. Embedded where confidence dips.
✅ The product helps them feel in control
Mainstream users want clarity over cleverness. That means clear navigation, simple interface, relatable and jargon0-free language, and handholding through key decision points.
Spotting Who’s Ready (and Who’s Not)
When we do competitive teardown work at BehindLogin, this lens helps us diagnose go-to-market risks early.
You’ll often see:
| Player A | Player B |
|---|---|
| Solution-led copy | Outcome-led copy |
| Feature-packed products | Simplified, prioritised actions |
| No trust indicators | Smart social proof placement |
| Features prioritised over fixes | Errors flagged, feedback loops obvious and often |
How You Can Cross the Chasm
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Audit your flows like a pragmatist – Where would a risk-averse, non-technical user hesitate?
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Pick a beachhead – Nail one segment before chasing the next.
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Benchmark competitors behind login – Not just what they say, but how they actually guide users through core jobs.
The chasm isn’t just theoretical. It’s a real set of behaviours. And it shows up inside your product.
If you want help spotting where competitors are still stuck with early adopters and who’s really built to scale, we can show you.
