technology

Smart Home Consumers Willing To Give In Order To Get

Consumers are willing to give a little to get a little when it comes to their smart home devices. 

According to new research from Parks Associates, just about half of U.S. broadband households are willing to share their data and device control in exchange for discounts on electricity. Indeed, the findings are pretty much stable across the range of device ownership: 51% of smart thermostat owners, 50% of hot water heater owners and 48% of smart clothes dryer owners all said they’d be willing to share data and control in exchange for electricity discounts. 

“That’s a significant opportunity for energy companies and consumers as well,” Tom Kerber, director of IoT strategy at Parks Associates, tells Marketing Daily.  

According to the survey, consumers are more likely to share their data in exchange for a variety of non-monetary incentives like warranties, product improvements, product education and remote technical support, rather than intangibles such as product recommendations or simplified ordering. As such, service providers and utilities should work to make sure their messaging aligns with those consumer priorities. 

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“It is essential for all IoT players to understand consumers' willingness to exchange data for services, their views on privacy and security, and the conditions under which they will grant access to their data,” Kerber says. “When you have data about how products perform in the field, you can roll out patches or fixes or new products at a faster rate.”

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