So, how often do us Brits adjust our central heating?
It turns out that we’re pretty hands-off when it comes to adjusting our heating controls. Whilst many of us rarely interact with our heating, a high percentage of us barely ever give much thought to our thermostats either! Here are some of the most interesting facts that we uncovered…
– 50% of people surveyed tweak their thermostat temperature less than once a month.
– 80% change their heating schedule less than once a month.
– 1 in 4 never adjust their thermostats!
We don’t know about you, but we were quite surprised to see these stats – especially since we’re willing to bet that most of those polled have jobs, families, lifestyles, or other commitments that mean they aren’t able to follow the exact same schedule month in, month out. How does your thermostat use compare with these stats?
Which features would make us use our heating more often?
In our heating survey we were also keen to hear which features people would like to use if they had a smart thermostat. On the smart thermostat wish list we had…
– 26% of people wanted to be able to set daily temperature profiles to suit their lives. This came in as the most appealing feature of a smart thermostat.
– The ability to easily change your heating program to account for changes in seasons and changes to your daily routine.
– Being able to control your heating before you return home via an app.
Good news then that smart thermostats (like our very own Cosy which lets you create up to seven unique daily schedules and easily adjust the temp of each heating mode to suit the seasons) offer quite a few of these features already. How many of these features would also make it onto your wish list?
Which smart features are we not too bothered about?
As well as finding out what people want from their heating systems, we also looked at what people didn’t want in their home. Here’s what we found out…
– Over 29% don’t like the idea of location-based control (geo-location).
– 28% dislike intrusive, in-app notifications.
– Many people cited privacy concerns as a reason for not liking the idea of these features.
How would you feel about having these features on your smart thermostat?
What does this research mean for homeowners, smart tech companies and retailers?
For the makers of smart tech, this research shows that smart thermostats – or any smart tech device for that matter – need to be designed with people in mind. That’s why, here at Cosy Towers, we believe that smart should be simple too. We also believe that smart home tech should be accessible to anyone and everyone – regardless of age, gender or tech-savviness.
For homeowners, this research shows us that no matter what type of thermostat we have in our home, we could probably do with paying it a bit more attention! And if your reason for not fiddling with those dials is because your thermostat is too complicated, then maybe it’s time to think about upgrading to a simpler, smarter model…
For smart tech retailers, this research shows that it’s not always the newest, most high-tech features that make smart thermostats appealing to shoppers. This also applies when it comes to talking about the products themselves – where clear, simple and jargon-free language works best when explaining how smart heating controls can work around a person’s particular lifestyle.
Now it’s over to you! We’d love to hear what you think about the findings of this research. Whether you were surprised by some of the results, or you’d just like to share your thoughts on smart heating tech with us, then please do write your comments in the box below. We look forward to hearing from you.
