Sonos has introduced seven new commitments aimed at improving its wireless audio system and regaining customer trust following the troubled release of its app in May. The company, renowned for its high-quality audio products, underwent an internal review to address the issues with the app.
CEO Patrick Spence acknowledged the missteps and emphasized that Sonos’ priority is to fix the app and learn from the situation. “We must always do right by our customers, and I am confident that, with these commitments, we will,” Spence stated.
The commitments fall into two categories: addressing the root causes of the app release problems and regaining customer trust. Key actions include:
- Focus on customer experience: Sonos will establish high-quality benchmarks during product development and ensure tools are in place to measure and maintain these standards.
- Stricter pre-launch testing: The beta program will expand to include more diverse customer setups, allowing quicker identification of issues before launch.
- Gradual app updates: Future app changes will be rolled out gradually, allowing customers to adjust and provide feedback.
- Appointment of a Quality Ombudsperson: A new role will oversee quality and customer experience concerns, reporting regularly to Sonos’ leadership.
To regain trust of its user base, Sonos will also:
- Extend warranties: Sonos is extending its warranty by one year for home theater and plug-in speakers.
- Improve app experience: Regular app updates will be released every 2-4 weeks, even after the current issues are resolved.
- Establish a Customer Advisory Board: This board will provide feedback to ensure customer voices are considered during product development.
These initiatives are already underway, with others to be implemented by year-end. Additionally, the executive team will forgo bonuses for fiscal year 2024-2025 unless the company’s app quality and customer trust improve.
Since May, Sonos has rolled out frequent updates, with more than 80% of the app’s missing features restored. Spence expressed confidence that the company is making significant progress: “These new commitments will drive us to emerge from this period with an even stronger commitment to quality.”
Personally, having been a Sonos user for many years now I agree that there was a significant misstep along the way. I can see that there is a lot of work going into resolving the issues, and that there’s still some way to go to regain the users trust in the direction of the company.
I’m not unplugging my Sonos speakers becasue they sound amazing, and I feel confident with this direction that things wil be fine in the long run… but I’m going to hold off buying more until this is resolved.
