Smartphone Satisfaction Rates Higher Among IoT Users

Consumers who are using their smartphones to connect with the Internet of Things are more satisfied with their devices overall than those who use their phones primarily as communication or entertainment devices. 

According to J.D. Power’s latest Full-Service Smartphone Satisfaction study, consumers who have voice-activated assistants (like Amazon’s Echo or Google’s Home) scored 49 points higher on the company’s 1,000-point satisfaction index than those who do not have the assistants (881 vs. 832, respectively). Similarly, satisfaction rates were higher among consumers who had smart thermostats (865 vs. 831) and smart appliances (866 vs. 832). For consumers who had all three, satisfaction rates were particularly high (865). 

Customers who used their smartphones more frequently in concert with connected home devices were also more satisfied with their devices than those who used them less frequently. The notion that higher satisfaction rates would be found among IoT users is not particularly surprising, considering that those who might be using their phones for functions beyond the basics must be pretty happy with them, says Kirk Parsons, senior director and technology, media & telecom practice leader at J.D. Power. 

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“In order for people to use their smartphones for other things, they have to be satisfied with their device to start with,” Parsons tells Marketing Daily. “It all starts with usability and ease of use with the device.”

As the U.S. smartphone market has been leveling off over the past few years, any advantage a manufacturer can have over its competitors will be an important differentiator, Parsons says. With IoT a growing area among technology, the ease of use with those devices could be a “huge” difference maker, he adds. “For them to increase their share, one of the ways to do that will be how easy and intuitive it is,” he says. “The next great inflection point is the connected home and other lifestyle services.

Although iPhone users were more likely to have connected home devices than Android users, Google’s heavy investment in its “Home” voice-controlled assistant could give it an edge moving forward (particularly if Apple doesn’t present its own Siri-powered devices soon), Parsons says. “The next big trend will be voice control, and [given] the popularity of the current stand-alone devices, that will navigate to the smartphone,” he says.

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