Enhancing Consumer Trust and Innovation in Smart Homes Through Standards

Standards and certifications play distinct yet complementary roles in the smart home space. Standards establish foundational guidelines for smart home product safety, reliability, and interoperability, while certifications verify compliance through rigorous testing and assessment.

UL Standards & Engagement conducted research that reveals how this framework of standards development and subsequent certification builds consumer trust and fosters business innovation.

The report findings point to the evolving role of standards in smart home innovation. Industry leaders must now align compliance strategies to standards with technological advancement, particularly as environmental and safety certifications reshape consumer expectations and product development. In addition to certification trends, this report showcases several ULSE standards designed to mitigate critical safety, security, and sustainability issues in smart home products.

As part of a special release at CES 2025, this report also highlights a range of standards on connected devices, cybersecurity, AI-driven products, and energy efficiency that are managed by the Consumer Technology Association (CTA), owner and producer of CES, the world's most powerful tech event.

Key Report Insights

Standards build market trust and growth in the smart home sector

Certifications influence both consumer trust and business innovation. Certification marks and labels (32%) indicating compliance to standards now match consumer trust ratings for traditional indicators like brand reputation (32%) and expert reviews (29%).

Nine in ten (92%) senior executives believe that following industry standards and obtaining certifications helps their companies innovate more effectively, and organizations prioritizing certification report significant market advantages.

Standards create a foundation for innovation while maintaining trust

Companies can gain measurable advantages by certifying their products to industry standards, with 44% reporting competitive and innovation benefits. Product certifications serve as both an innovation catalyst and trust signal – 69% of consumers express greater confidence in certified products, enabling faster market adoption of new features.

Market response reinforces this approach: 77% of companies report earning pricing premiums with products certified to standards, and 69% achieve additional advantages through multiple certifications.

Consumer adoption patterns and device categories drive standards impact

Certification importance varies both by who is buying (early adopter vs. mainstream) and what they're buying (safety-critical vs. other devices). Early technology adopters demonstrate the strongest interest in certification, with 32% willing to pay more for certified products compared to mainstream (17%) and late adopters (16%).

The importance of specific certifications varies markedly by device category, especially for products that are safety critical devices. In a direct comparison of safety vs. environmental considerations, safety certifications (38%) outweigh environmental (26%) ones in CO/smoke detectors adoption. Meanwhile the opposite is true for smart appliances (32% for environmental vs. 29% for safety).

These category-specific patterns are reinforced by certification awareness levels, which peak for safety-critical devices such as connected sensors (61%) and smart locks (57%).

Advancing Innovation Through Standards

Standards enable manufacturers to create safer products while building trust and instilling confidence in consumers' technology choices. Taken together, standards form a framework that protects public safety and fosters innovation everywhere.

Learn more about some of UL Standards & Engagement and CTA’s standards that are shaping the future of the smart home.