White paper addresses how support services can help companies differentiate among competition

Parks Associates’ new white paper, developed in partnership with Asurion, finds 57% of US internet households with children report technical problems with Wi-Fi. Turmoil in the Smart Home: Impact on the User Experience identifies the prevalent technical issues in US households and the challenges consumers face when they seek support. Wi-Fi issues are the most common problems in the home, including slow performance and lost connectivity.

“In many cases, support for consumers’ digital lifestyles can be provided remotely or virtually but with the added challenge of extending support to multiple devices and services in the home,” said Jennifer Kent, VP, Research, Parks Associates. “Households with children are especially prone to technical problems, a clear target market for premium technical support and an opportunity for additional revenue through a service that stabilizes the home network and ensures reliability of service.”

“For the many brands competing in the Smart Home OEM space, long-term sustained success depends on much more than exceptional products. It will also require exceptional customer experiences being developed around the products,” said John Leonard, SVP of Partnerships at Asurion. “Those that provide true, substantive value at each stage of the customer journey—from product discovery through onboarding and repairs—stand to win more customers and generate much greater customer lifetime value than competitors.”

Consumers want a unified experience, but often they have to use the individual apps for each product because they don’t have access to, or know how to achieve, one control point for a whole-home experience. Currently only 40% of connected home device owners have at least one multidevice integration or routine established, which means most device owners are unable or unwilling to tap into the full value of their products.

“The promise of the connected home is the whole-home experience, and support must extend to all devices and services and all points in the customer lifecycle,” Kent said. “Smart home products are moving to the early majority, where consumers have less tolerance for product issues, so there is less room for setup difficulties, product bugs, or ongoing complications.”

By offering robust assistance and troubleshooting solutions, support services mitigate the complexities often associated with smart technology adoption. The delivery of reliable support fosters a sense of trust and loyalty among consumers, encouraging long-term engagement and driving brand affinity and customer retention.

To schedule an interview with an analyst or to request specific data, please contact Mindi Sue Sternblitz-Rubenstein at mindi.sue@parksassociates.com or 972-490-1113.

About Parks Associates

Parks Associates, a woman-founded and certified business, is an internationally recognized market research and consulting company specializing in emerging consumer technology products and services. Founded in 1986, Parks Associates provides business intelligence and research services through its proprietary methodologies developed over decades, including quarterly surveys of 10,000 internet households.

The company's expertise crosses many industries: home security and smart home, streaming video, broadband and pay-TV services, digital media and platforms, gaming, Wi-Fi and home networks, connected health, support, consumer electronics, home control systems, energy management, and tech solutions for the multi-dwelling (MDU), small-to-medium business (SMB), and commercial building markets.

Each year, Parks Associates brings thousands of leaders together for its webinars and annual events. The firm hosts the annual executive research and strategy conferences CONNECTIONS™, Connected Health Summit, Smart Energy Summit, Smart Spaces, and Future of Video. https://www.parksassociates.com

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