It’s been a disastrous few months after the company. To regain the trust of users, the company has developed a plan that includes a number of new commitments.
“Since release, our priority has been and continues to be fixing the app. There have been missteps, and we’ve dug deep to understand how we got here, and then put those learnings into action,” Sonos CEO Patrick Spence . “We are committed to making changes to return us to being the brand people love, offering the best audio system for the home and beyond.”
Sonos’ latest plan rests on two pillars: tackling the root causes of the app’s problems (it wasn’t fully ready and missing critical features) and regaining users’ trust. First and foremost, Sonos promises an “unwavering focus on customer experience.” This vague commitment involves deciding on “ambitious quality benchmarks” early in the product development cycle and not releasing products until those standards are met.
The Company will appoint a quality ombudsman who will be the point of contact for employees with quality and customer experience concerns. Sonos management will consult with this person throughout the development process and before introducing any product. The ombudsman will also provide a semi-annual report to management and staff.
After that, Sonos plans to tighten up its testing process, opening up its beta testing program to more users and different types of setups. Test times will also be longer. So Sonos thinks this will help resolve user concerns faster.
In addition, Sonos has promised to gradually implement major changes to its application. That way, users can provide feedback and allow the company to make adjustments before a major update becomes the default for everyone. As for the smaller-scale features, there will be an in-app opt-in link for those who want to try them out experimentally.
When it comes to regaining consumer trust, Sonos has a triple promise. First, as a goodwill gesture, Sonos is extending the manufacturer’s warranty for all home speaker products (home theater units and plug-in speakers) that are still under warranty. The company has promised to continue rolling out app updates every two to four weeks to “optimize and improve the software experience.”
Finally, Sonos will establish a customer advisory board. It will provide the company with “feedback and insights from a customer perspective to help shape and improve our software and products before launch.”
The company plans to implement all of these changes by the end of the year, although some of them are already in place. Sonos also notes that none of its executives will receive an annual bonus for the fiscal year that begins today unless it can restore trust with users and improve the “quality of the app experience.” However, the company did not disclose the parameters for achieving these goals.
Company debuted its new app in May is preparing for his debut Sonos Acehis first set of headphones. However, Sonos has been quick to introduce a redesigned app. It was buggy and lacked several important and basic features, such as the ability to set alarms (it was possible to do this in the desktop app, but it was inconvenient).
The company spent several months trying to fix the problems and said it would cost between $20 million and $30 million to fix. Problems forced Sonos to do so . He too .
Sonos says it has and expects to recover almost 100 percent in the coming weeks. It claims that “the app’s reliability and speed have improved with every release.”
