DALLAS – Parks Associates' latest consumer research reports over one-third of smart home device owners experienced technical difficulties in 2022. The firm's new whitepaper, Self-Service Support: Improving Home Automation, developed in partnership with RouteThis, addresses support needs across the connected home at the network and device level and strategies to address technical issues.

The whitepaper also reports 21% of those experiencing a technical issue with a smart home device used a self-help application with the device to resolve the problem; this is nearly double the rate of self-help app usage in 2018. Smart home and connected device owners use several options to address technical issues with their devices. In fact, 91% of smart home device owners who experience technical problems with their devices will try at least one self-help approach.

Users need tools to discern what specific issues are impacting their networks and devices, with special attention to testing for and diagnosing Wi-Fi issues, followed by clear guidance about how to fix the specific problem. To that end, self-help apps and solutions with advanced diagnostic features have experienced strong growth in the last four years.

Read the full press release here.

Parks Associates