Why is the smart-home customer not popping the cork?

LOS GATOS, CA: A new report from Argus Insights shows that consumers are overall more frustrated with the applications that dictate, schedule and manage each device than with the actual devices themselves.

The Smart Home ecosystem comprises both hardware devices and software apps and together they are supposed to make an efficient system for consumers. Past Argus Insights reports looked at the hardware component and the challenges and irritations customers were experiencing with installation and connectivity, but this new analysis introduces a new data set to uncover the fact that consumers are experiencing even more issues with the apps that run these devices.

According to data compiled from nearly 50,000 Smart Home device and app reviews from August 2015 to the present, the incumbent home security companies like ADT, Comcast and AT&T are failing to delight consumers with their apps while the more innovative and newer Smart Home-focused companies like Vivint and Honeywell appear to be cultivating a more synchronized hardware and software ecosystem and are doing better among consumers.

“Companies that have aligned their entire ecosystem to delight consumers will outperform the rest of the market in the long term. Look how Honeywell came from behind to beat Nest with an overall better experience,” said John Feland, CEO and founder, Argus Insights.

Argus Insights also says to have found that while software is very important in the consumer perception of the Smart Home experience, it is sometime very different from consumer perception of corresponding hardware. For example, Philips devices receive a higher delight score than Honeywell devices, but Honeywell’s apps are the most delightful according to the research, while Philips apps are the least liked. This scenario results in Honeywell providing a better overall experience across the entire Smart Home ecosystem, while Philips consumers report a foreboding gap in the experience between hardware and software.

“Companies like Philips must mind the gap between the devices and the experience of using the app,” said Dr. Feland. “Once consumers have installed and connected their device, the app becomes the primary touch point for their new Smart Home. Unfortunately, our analysis shows a looming lag in app experience which are a blemish on an otherwise improving end-to-end user experience.”

Other takeaways from the report tell that delight for Smart Home apps as a category is far below delight for the devices, but is very slowly starting to improve. Philips represents a market trend of devices that are far more delightful than their apps, creating a dangerous gap in the overall customer experience.

App functionality is a major consumer pain point, with frequent complaints of slow video streaming , long load times and the video blacking out, the report pointed out.