Smart Home Insights: Unlocking the Potential of Smart Locks and Overcoming Barriers to Adoption

37% of US internet households are familiar with smart locks, compared to 28% in 2016.

Perceived affordability of smart home devices is also increasing but not perceived value. Price reductions, product bundles, and promotions are likely contributing to perceived affordability, but data suggests this concept is not strictly a question of income vs. costs. Even those households with sufficient income to afford premium-tier products have difficulty relating to the benefits offered by smart home devices and the relevance of technology to their lives.

After affordability and lack of personal benefit, the third top purchase inhibitor is the consumer’s concerns over data privacy and security—31% of those without a smart home product and no intention to buy one cite data privacy and security concerns are keeping smart home devices out of their homes. Accordingly, two of the top five incentives that would help convince non-owners to buy a smart home device are security related. Savvy consumers seek assurances from third-party testers and for security to be baked into product design, with data stored locally when possible.

Evolving Product Strategies for Mass-Market Buyers

The strategies that attract early adopters may not be sufficient to reach new customers. Where early adopters seek out new technologies, customers new to the smart home experience will be skeptical and need to be drawn to the product. These new customers will be unforgiving of bugs or setup difficulties and will need excellent technical support for the return or disuse of products.

In a given year, 2-4% of US internet households report buying a smart home device and later returning it.

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Connected Health Summit is co-located with CONNECTIONS?: The Premier Connected Home Conference at the Omni Frisco Hotel. Sessions will address investments in digital health and security solutions, new choices in care, and new value provided through data integration. Parks Associates’ Connected Health Summit is a three-day executive conference focused on the impact of connected devices and IoT healthcare solutions on consumers at home.

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