79% of U.S. Consumers Expect Tech Savviness from Their Home Service Providers

Staff Report

Wednesday, February 14th, 2018

Two out of three consumers won't use a home service professional again if they aren't technologically savvy, according to a new survey of 1,026 U.S. consumers. The survey was commissioned by Verizon Telematics to raise awareness of how technology benefits service-based businesses and their end customers.

In partnership with Verizon Telematics, KRC Research surveyed service professionals across five industries (heating, ventilation and air conditioning; construction; landscaping; plumbing and trucking/delivery) with the following results:

  • 70 percent of service professionals recognize that technology adoption needs to be a top priority in order to ensure future business success

  • 78 percent of service professionals who utilize mobile technology, which includes work applications or software available on a phone, tablet or laptop, reported an increase in customer satisfaction

  • 69 percent said that sales have grown as a result of mobile technology use

Some of the most common issues consumers encounter when working with service professionals include unexpected costs (34 percent), projects taking longer than planned (31 percent), quality of work (26 percent) and late arrivals or missed appointments (25 percent).

"In an age where nearly everyone has a smartphone, customers expect that mobility, connectivity and tech savviness will extend to the home service vendors they choose to work with," said Jay Jaffin, chief marketing officer at Verizon Telematics. "By simply connecting their vehicles and technicians, businesses can anticipate changes to schedules, handle more last-minute jobs, send a different technician to the next job if one is running late and most importantly, drive huge gains in customer satisfaction."