Get out there and sell indoor air quality! Your audience awaits!

In a survey of 30,060 U.S. homeowners, the issue of residential indoor air quality (IAQ) continues to be important. Only 15% of all homeowners live in homes that do not require improved air quality. Some homeowners have already modified or otherwise improved their home IAQ, some don’t know they should or that they can, and three in ten would like to improve their IAQ. And, the survey finds that the desire for better indoor air quality is similar across homeowners regardless of income, home size, or community.

Key findings of the study  include:

• When asked, most (85%) of all homeowners mentioned having smokers, asthmatics, excess dust, or pets in the home which signals the need for better IAQ products.
  
  
• Only 26% of homeowners’ rated their home air quality as “good/high” while 22% believed their home air quality is “poor/low.”
  
  
• Nearly one-third of American homeowners agreed completely that IAQ is as important as energy efficiency.
  
  
• Nearly 3 in 10 homeowners desired better IAQ in their homes in 2008, as in past years. Retailers seemed to get closer to the issue with homeowners than did contractors as portable IAQ equipment was found in significantly more homes than the central system product at 39% of U.S. homes, which was up slightly from previous years, and the highest penetration of all IAQ equipment.
  
  
• U.S. homeowners were willing to spend an average of $636 to improve their indoor air quality by 25%, more than a 10% increase compared to 2006.
  
  

“The study reveals a significant market for IAQ products. This unmet interest in indoor air quality provides an opportunity for manufacturers, contractors, and retailers to offer homeowners an effective air quality solution, but only if marketing and sales efforts are better focused and relationship selling becomes the rule and not the exception,” says Garry Upton, executive vice president of Decision Analyst.

“It's important to identify and compare solutions offered by portable and whole-house air quality equipment so that homeowners have the total picture to make the best decisions about their own homes,” Upton says.

Survey Methodology

Decision Analyst’s “Indoor Air Quality: American Profile Revisited” is a report derived from the 2008, 2006 and 2004 versions of the “American Home Comfort Study.” The survey of 30,060 homeowners, conducted in August and September 2008, is a nationally representative sample drawn from Decision Analyst’s American Consumer Opinion® Online panel (www.acop.com).

About Decision Analyst
Decision Analyst, Arlington, TX, is a leading global marketing research and analytical consulting firm specializing in advertising testing, strategy research, new product development, and advanced modeling for marketing decision optimization.

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