Home Security – It's Anyone’s Game

Following the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions, professional installation of home security systems has enjoyed some rebound. There remains a clear demand for professional installation among consumer segments with complex systems and with systems that integrate smart home devices and cameras. Self-installation across all systems continues to steadily increase and buyers of self-installed systems are now nearly equal to the number of buyers that have their systems professionally installed. ??

Overall, though, most security buyers are up for grabs when shopping for a security solution.??Parks Associates research shows that professionally monitored systems, stand-alone devices, and self-monitoring systems are all in the consideration set when most recent buyers shopped for systems.

From the start, most security system owners are not set on a security solution type when they start shopping, emphasizing the need for security solution providers to focus on brand awareness, features and pricing of systems. ?Understanding the customer journey for security solutions is complex.

Security system owners gravitate to new technology – and self-monitored households are particularly drawn to innovation.

Regardless of monitoring type, security system households are much more likely to use and even seek out new technology than those without a security system. This is, in part, due to higher-than-average incomes for many security system households as well as higher than average educational levels.?

It is also part of the reason why current subscribers show strong interest in new services and smart home devices. Self-monitored households may have confidence in their abilities to use technology to achieve sufficient peace-of-mind.

Parks Associates shows that almost half of professionally monitored system buyers report knowing they want that type of solution before purchase. ?Far fewer self-monitored security system buyers know what they want before shopping and are slightly more likely to have considered a stand-alone smart home device such as a video doorbell or security camera than a professionally monitored system.

Professional monitoring providers with a tiered service structure may attract new self-monitored subscribers by marketing their solutions technology and automation platforms, then seek to move them to a higher-fee tier with the compelling added value of professional monitoring.

Traditional security providers have the armies of technicians and the wherewithal to become installers, advisors, and support for whole house connectedness. This will not occur in a year, but rather across several years. That opportunity as well as new monitoring and topical services can keep traditional security powerful.

This is an excerpt from Parks Associates consumer study, Security Monitoring: Business Models, Pricing, Attrition. The residential security market is in a moment of fundamental realignment. Self-install and self-monitoring system options have expanded the market and resulted in millions of new security households. This flagship study quantifies and examines security system owners’ preferred business models, preferred price points, and reasons for attrition.

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