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Sonos announces major commitments to win back the trust of its customers

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By Cosmin Vasile

Published: Oct 03, 2024, 10:40 AM

Sonos mobile app | Image credit: Sonos

Sonos is the best example of how bad management and lack of communication with customers can destroy a company. The release of a new app that moved almost all the core features and functionality into the cloud proved to be almost fatal for Sonos, a company that’s now struggling to fix the issues and regain the customers’ trust at the same time.

In an attempt to prevent even more customers to switch to other products, Sonos recently published a public roadmap for its new app, which shows in advance what users can expect to get in the foreseeable future.

Sonos also delayed the launch of some of its products, which won’t be released on the market until the app is fixed. This isn’t something that Sonos is doing to show its commitment to address all the app’s issues, it’s simply a necessary decision because the new products would offer the same awful user experience to those buying them.

Earlier this week, Sonos announced new commitments “to show our renewed focus on software quality, customer experience, and delivering the excellence you deserve from Sonos.”

If you’re still using Sonos products on a daily basis and hope that the company will end up fixing the app sooner rather than later, then read on because here is what’s going to happen.

First off, all the commitments announced by Sonos this week focus on addressing the root cause of the app release issues, as well as on winning back the trust of its customers.

The first thing reiterated by Sonos is that the company will not launch new products until they meet the highest level of customer experience. Sonos also promises to enhance the tools needed to measure and maintain the standards customers expect.

Secondly, Sonos announced that its beta testing program will include a broader range of customer and more diverse setups, which will allow the company to diagnose and resolve issues faster.

More importantly, Sonos revealed that going forward, any major change to the Sonos app will be released gradually, allowing customers to adjust and provide feedback before it becomes the default. The company will also offer customers the option to opt in to test new features.

Last but not least, Sonos is creating a new role – Quality Ombudsperson, who will ensure employees “have a clear path to raise concerns regrading quality and customer experience. This person will report directly to executive leadership, publish reports twice a year, and present regularly to the Sonos board of directors.

Apart from the commitments above, which focus on fixing the app, Sonos also announced some commitments that are meant to regain the trust of its customers.

Sonos mobile app | Image credit: Sonos

In a surprising turn of events, Sonos announced that it’s extending the manufacturer’s warranties by an additional year for all home theater and plug-in speaker products currently under warranty.

The company also promised to continue to roll out software updates every 2-4 weeks to optimize and enhance the app experience, even after the current issues are addressed in full.

Furthermore, Sonos is forming a Customer Advisory Board to “ensure we never lose sight of our customer’s voices.” The newly created board will provide feedback and insights from a customer perspective, which in turn should help improve the company’s software and products before they are actually released.

Finally, Sonos says that its Executive Leadership Team will not accept any annual bonus payout for the October 2024 – September 2025 fiscal year unless the company succeeds in improving the quality of the app experience and regain the trust of its customers.

Speaking of which, Sonos revealed that since May, its teams of engineers reintroduced 80 percent of the app’s missing features, and the company expects to have almost 100 percent restored in the coming weeks.

All Sonos customers can track the progress of each release or specific improvements via the Sonos app improvement and bug tracker on Trello.

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Cosmin, a tech journalist with a career spanning over a decade, brought a wealth of experience to PhoneArena. His expertise lies in brands like Samsung and Nokia, and he has a keen interest in innovative technologies. After a brief stint in PR, Cosmin returned to tech journalism in 2016, committed to delivering clear and objective news. When he's not writing or appearing as a guest on TV and radio shows, Cosmin enjoys playing RPGs, watching Netflix, and nurturing his passion for history and travel.