Survey Reveals that 71% of Consumers Prefer Self-Service to Install New Home Electronic Devices

68 Percent Of Consumers Are Willing To Spend More Than 15 Minutes Trying To Self-Install In Order To Avoid Contacting A Call Center

TechSee, a leading SoT (‘Support of Things’) company merging artificial intelligence and augmented reality to streamline technical support, released the results of a wide-ranging survey exploring customer experiences and preferences for in-home electronics installation. The research revealed self-installation – the process that enables customers to install home electronic devices without the help of a technician or a contact center – was preferred by 71 percent of consumers.

While 67 percent of consumers self-installed home electronics in the last 12 months, 30 percent had to abandon their efforts mid-process to contact customer support, costing consumer electronics and telecommunication companies additional time and money, with costly technician dispatches or no fault found refunds, estimated in more than 16 billion USD each year.

The survey further explored consumer sentiment toward new technical support guidance tools, including visual guidance and AI-powered virtual assistance. Key findings include:

• Self-installation was preferred over any other support model:

○        68 percent of consumers are willing to spend more than 15 minutes trying to self-install in order to avoid contacting a call center

○        70 percent would rather visit their dentist than fail at self-installation and wait for a technician

• Complexity is a barrier to mass adoption of self-installation:

○        59 percent of respondents did not find the installation process easy

○        Baby Boomers were the demographic that struggled the most with self-installation (87 percent)

• 71 percent of consumers preferred “visual guidance” – pictures, videos, and visual prompts over other any other methods such as user manuals or online forums
• The majority of respondents preferred to receive instructions via their smartphones, and 28 percent already prefer receiving help via a virtual assistants such as Siri and Alexa

“As technology becomes a commodity in our homes, the traditional customer support model does not scale economically or organizationally to meet the greater need for assistance driven by the exponential growth of smart devices,” said Eitan Cohen, CEO of TechSee. “Organizations realize that they need better tools to engage their customers at scale. TechSee’s AI-powered Visual Assistance platform empowers consumers to install and operate their devices without the need to call for assistance or read manuals. Technical guidance is simply teleported to their mobile device and visually augmented into their environment, creating a simple visual and interactive customer experience.”

“The Survey results reconfirm what we all know. Consumers don’t like to call tech support or wait for a technician. They rather do things themselves if they had the right knowledge and tools. TechSee makes that possible with its Virtual Technical Assistant powered by AI & Augmented Reality to bring technical expertise to the masses,” said Cohen. “TechSee empowers consumers to install and operate their devices without the need to call for assistance or read manuals. Technical guidance is simply teleported to their mobile device and visually augmented into their environment, creating a simple visual and interactive customer experience.”

The “Internet of Things” has become a buzzword for an increasingly networked world where everything from the garage door to the coffee machine is assigned an IP address. As the IoT matures, and the range and complexity of connected devices multiplies, there will be an increasing need for assistance with installations. In light of the inevitable shift to self-service, self-installation becomes a move necessary to enhance the customer experience and reduce costs.

TechSee is global Leader in Visual Support technologies for the smart home. TechSee revolutionizes the customer support domain by providing the first intelligent visual support solution powered by artificial intelligence and augmented reality. TechSee empowers technical support teams across the globe to execute visually-interactive remote diagnoses and resolutions of problems. The company is building a massive database of interactions and resolutions to enable customers to experience rapid, fully automated, robotic visual resolution of technical issues via their smartphones. TechSee is headquartered in Tel Aviv with offices in New York and Madrid.