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% of service professionals recognize that technology adoption needs to be a top priority in order to ensure future business success; 

·         78% of service professionals who utilize mobile technology, which includes work applications or software available on a phone, tablet or laptop, report an increase in customer satisfaction; and 

·         69% say 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%), projects taking longer than planned (31%), quality of work (26%) and late arrivals or missed appointments (25%).  

“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.” 

Additional survey statistics can be found here. 

This information was gathered by KRC Research through an online survey of 506 of service professionals working in five key service industries from Sept. 28 to Oct. 9, 2017. At least 100 professionals were included in each of the five industries. The survey of U.S. consumers was conducted between Nov. 2 and Nov. 6, 2017 using an online survey of 1,026 individuals who were at least 18 years of age.