Brands Must Alleviate Concerns around Technology in the Home to Win Consumer Trust - Seite 2

Consumers are more likely to agree with positive statements about technology - over seven in ten (71 percent) agree that it makes their lives easier and almost six in ten (57 percent) agree that it makes them more connected and makes their home life more fun. However, almost half of global consumers feel technology can be intrusive (46 percent). Half of the respondents agree that it can be a barrier to social interaction (50 percent) and this view is most prevalent in Europe (62 percent), the US (66 percent) and Australia (65 percent) – in contrast, just 14 percent of Japanese consumers agree with this.

Claire continued, “Consumers need to rationalize the tensions created by their relationship with technology, especially around dependency, intrusiveness, and isolation. While many brands can sell smart-home products that make people feel more connected, those brands that will deliver real value in the future home are the ones that produce connected products, which also allay their customers concerns about feeling isolated in the modern technological environment.

The opportunity is here and now

As future home owners and potential smart-home customers, younger generations are crucial markets. Conversely, many brand’s understanding of this group’s anxieties around technology is limited. Meanwhile those aged 65 and over emerge as an avenue for opportunity.

• The youngest respondents are the most negative about the way technology is affecting their lives. Almost half (49 percent) of 18 to 34-year olds worry that they are too dependent on technology, while 43 percent of respondents in this age group are also fearful that smart devices in their homes know too much about them. Rationalizing the fears of the 18-34 consumer will be vital to the product design strategy of the future.
• By contrast, the group most positive and trusting of technology are those aged 65 years and over — precisely the part of the market that many technology companies have been neglecting. This group see smart devices as making life easier (62 percent), more fun (51 per cent) and keeping them connected (51 percent). Their fears around the isolating effects of technology are lower than any other age group (53 percent) and just 31 percent of this sector perceive technology as making them lazy. Only a quarter (25 percent) of the respondents in this group are worried about the addictive nature of technology, the lowest across all age groups.

Claire concluded, “There is no single technological solution to the future home – but to design smart home products that will have longevity, companies need to better understand what’s happening in the black box of their customers’ behavior in the home. This means understanding customer attitudes throughout their various life stages, what the idea of home actually means to them and getting a better appreciation of their surprising behavior behind the front door.”