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min read
April 30, 2026
Voice of the customer: Air conditioner preferences in the US
Pat Osorio
Listening to the voice of the customer is a strategic step to companies understanding what these customers are looking for and developing products capable of delivering what they really need. For example, every Summer, thousands of consumers look to purchasing air conditioners as a utility product necessary to generate a comfortable environment. What really matters to them? What kind of features are they looking for?
According to one industry report, the global air conditioner market is projected to register a CAGR of greater than 5% until 2026 on account of factors like changing customer behavior, technological advancements, and climate changes. The air conditioning industry is expected to witness massive growth due to the soaring temperature and humidity levels across the world. According to World Meteorological Organization - WMO, the average global temperature in 2021 was about 1.11 °C above the pre-industrial levels.
Methodology: Air conditioner voice of the customer report
In this inaugural Birdie Air Conditioner (AC) Voice of the Customer Report, the study analyzes consumer reviews on retailers' apps and websites to understand US consumer preferences for evaluating these AC categories: Window, Portable, and High Wall. To understand these points, Birdie's proprietary platform crawled and analyzed more than 63,000 US-based user reviews from nine retailers from January 2019 to May 2022. The retailers included Amazon, Best Buy, BrandsMartUSA, Costco, Home Depot, Sam's Club, Target, Walmart, and Wayfair.
To quantify the findings, Birdie leveraged its proprietary Artificial Intelligence technology to discover the most mentioned topics in AC products reviews using NLP-Sentiment Analysis to quantify each topic's share of positive and negative feedback. This positive and negative feedback ratio is the basis for the Birdie Score, also called bscore.
Birdie also presents another metric, the Impact, which represents the positive or negative influence exerted on overall performance. Through this and other Birdie's proprietary metrics available in the application, companies can quickly assess their products strengths and weaknesses, identify whitespaces in the category, and learn more about their customers and other players in the market.
What are customers saying about AC?
Birdie's Consumer Insights Team curated the most relevant quantitative and qualitative information from the available data to get a snapshot of the market.
US AC Models
- Window AC Brands
- Frigidaire (+28 score and 24% SoV) leads healthy in the number and sentiment of reviews related to the most popular AC model market in US.
- General Electric and LG follow the leader in this order of importance. The last one highlights with +22 net sentiment, over the Window ACs' average bscore.
- Midea appear at the lower right quadrant, with relevant SoV and low net sentiment: +2.
- Portable AC Brands
- SereneLife presents the most interesting performance by combining the most significant number of portable model reviews (13%), and a high net sentiment score: +30.
- Performing in a critical quadrant, with a large number of reviews, mostly negative, we find the following brands in ascending order of bscore: Whynter (-2) and De'Longhi (-6).
US AC Model Types
- Window ACs are the most popular (56%) and best evaluated in consumer reviews. Its bscore is +4 points higher than the category (+12).
- On the other hand, Portable ACs, the second most popular model (37%), are -4 points compared to the overall average.
- High Wall ACs, have a small share of voice (7%) among consumers reviews, also presenting a low level of satisfaction through score (+6 bscore).
AC Category Overall Takeaways
- Cooling (+37% Impact), Value (+22%), and Quality (+14%) are the most positive impactful attributes of the AC category.
- Installation, especially Assembly (-6% Impact) and Fan (-4%), is the greatest pain regarding the product itself.
- ACs Post-Sale stage perform poorly. Product Issues (-21% Impact) and Return Process (-13%) are the most impactful offenders here.
- Frigidaire (+17% SoV, +26 bscore), General Electric (+16% SoV, +19 bscore) and LG (+14%, 18 bscore) lead in reviews' performance (SoV x bscore).
As the report shows, consumers now consider air conditioners a utility product. With the increase in demand and a volatile world, knowing what consumers are saying about your brand and what they expect from a product can put a company ahead of the competition. Getting spontaneous feedback about details such as the noise level, the remote control usage, and functions for kids "“ and how they are changing over time "“ can be critical for strategic decision-making said Pat Osorio, Birdie CRO and Co-Founder.
For more information, and to download the report, please visit https://birdie.ai/blog/voice-of-the-customer-air-conditioner-study.
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What is voice of the customer?
Voice of the customer is the practice of systematically capturing and analyzing what customers say about a product or brand to understand their needs, preferences, and satisfaction. Sources include online reviews, ratings, surveys, and support conversations. In a study like Birdie's air conditioner report, it means analyzing thousands of real consumer reviews to reveal what buyers actually value.
How do you conduct a voice of the customer study?
You conduct it by collecting a large body of real customer feedback, then using NLP and sentiment analysis to identify the most-mentioned topics and quantify positive versus negative feedback for each. Birdie's air conditioner study, for example, crawled more than 63,000 US reviews from nine retailers between 2019 and 2022, then scored topics with metrics like the Birdie Score (bscore) and Impact. The output is a ranked view of a category's strengths, weaknesses, and whitespace.
What is the difference between voice of the customer and a satisfaction survey?
A satisfaction survey asks customers direct questions and gives you structured scores like CSAT or NPS, while voice of the customer draws on spontaneous, unstructured feedback such as reviews and comments that customers write on their own terms. Surveys tell you how satisfied people are; voice of the customer often tells you why, and surfaces issues you did not think to ask about. The richest programs combine both.
What did the air conditioner voice of the customer study reveal?
Analyzing over 63,000 US reviews, the study found Window ACs are the most popular model at 56 percent of reviews and the best rated, while Portable ACs made up 37 percent. Cooling had the strongest positive impact at plus 37 percent, while installation and post-sale product issues at minus 21 percent were the biggest pain points. Frigidaire led on both share of voice and sentiment, showing how review analysis can rank brands and expose category gaps.
Do I need a voice of the customer study if I already track NPS?
Yes, because NPS tells you how loyal customers feel overall but not what is driving that number or which specific features win or lose them. A voice of the customer study surfaces the concrete attributes customers praise or complain about, like noise level, installation, or the remote, so you know what to fix or promote. NPS is a scoreboard; voice of the customer is the game footage that explains the score.
Can review analysis tell you everything about your customers?
No, review analysis captures the experiences of customers who chose to write publicly, which skews toward strong opinions and specific moments like purchase or a problem. It is excellent for spotting patterns, ranking attributes, and comparing brands, but it should be paired with surveys, interviews, and behavioral data for a full picture. It shows what vocal customers say, not necessarily what every silent customer experiences.
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