Recent studies show that a burglary is committed every 15 seconds in the U.S. This means that millions of Americans are forced to deal with considerable financial losses and property damage on an annual basis. High crime rates are a major concern for a large segment of the population. However, an online survey conducted by ADT reveals that approximately 29% of the respondents own .
The saddest part is that only 30% of those who choose to invest in modern make the most of it 24/7. The rest simply forget to turn their system on and expose themselves to major safety risks.
The survey presented by ADT also highlights some of the most common reasons why numerous Americans still consider home security systems a luxury and not a real necessity. Firstly, residential security equipment is catalogued as expensive. Secondly, more than 20% of the participants stated that burglary attempts are not on their list of main concerns and that there are other security solutions worth considering.
A recent report issued by Parks Associates sheds some light on this matter and indicates that fence sitters can be easily convinced to invest in state-of-the-art security systems with much-needed home automation features. Such an advanced security solution could help them remotely control their appliances, save energy and money and preserve an ideal temperature inside their homes.
“To be able to do things like turn on and off your lights, program your thermostat and have these cameras, the whole value proposition is going up and that’s going to encourage what I’m going to call the fence sitters. […] I wouldn’t say it’s as simple as low hanging fruit [to turn them into customers]. However, they’re available and that’s a darn good start to getting higher volume,”
explains Tricia Parks, the CEO of Parks Associates.
Business savvy players operating in the highly competitive security industry know which buttons to push to turn even the largest pool of fence sitters into customers. In this case, they rely on extra features to seduce potential buyers. After all, who wouldn’t be tempted by a relatively that ensures effective fire prevention and burglary protection and on top of this, also turns the users’ homes into warm, cozy, energy-efficient environments?
In this context, providers that sweeten the deal by including smart-home elements have higher odds of boosting their popularity and profitability. It’s no secret that many potential buyers are still intimidated by prohibitive price tags and high monthly monitoring fees that come with their home security systems. Therefore, security companies delivering smart systems with extra features are usually the ones that get the larger piece of the pie.
Emily Stevenson
Author – Emily is a 10 year veteran of the home security industry working in sales. She was a top sales person at leading home security companies, but has shifted her focus to working on helping consumers make the right decisions.