Rapid growth of digital voice assistants creates new consumer needs
Already, one in two Swiss people use voice assistants on their smartphones, in their cars, or at home with smart speakers—and this is increasingly happening as part of the purchasing process. This is shown by the second Voice First Barometer from the University of Lucerne, the communications agency Farner, and Swisscom. The rapid growth of this technology is having a major impact on brand and marketing strategies.
According to the Voice First Barometer, the annual representative survey on the spread and use of voice user interfaces (VUIs) in Switzerland, 51% of the Swiss population are already using voice assistants. In the previous year, this figure was only one-third. By the end of the year, the proportion of voice users in the population is expected to rise to 68% according to self-reporting.
New everyday companions
Voice assistants are already taking over many everyday tasks and making life easier. The study participants stated that they like to use the technology primarily because it allows them to keep their hands free and get things done in parallel.
The most popular functions are:
- Request information ("What will the weather be like today?")
- Navigating ("How long does it take me to bike from home to the office?").
- Locate ("Where is the nearest post office?")
Voice assistants are most frequently used via the smartphone (42%). In second place is the car (16%), which overtakes the desktop computer (12%). At 2,63%, smart speakers are still rarely used compared to other devices. Smart speakers have also only been officially available in Switzerland since October 2019. Nevertheless, their use has already more than doubled compared to the previous year.
Voice commerce on the rise - from search to sale
The combination of wage inequality, part-time work, longer life expectancy and investment behavior have a major impact on women's overall wealth. And these factors carry the risk that women will have significantly less money available than men in old age. Addressing the facts and making provisions are therefore important measures.
Data on voice banking for the first time
The willingness of voice users to use voice assistants to perform banking services is examined in greater detail. Only 11% can imagine doing so, for example, to call up transactions or account balances. Of these users, a large majority (78%) prefer the bank's own voice assistant rather than an intermediary such as Siri or Alexa. "This is most likely due to consumers' already high privacy concerns, which are likely to be additionally heightened in the banking context," says Reto Hofstetter, Professor of Marketing at the University of Lucerne and co-author of the study.
Requirements for brands
The increasing use of voice assistants is creating new opportunities for brands and companies to communicate with their customers. According to the Voice First Barometer, every second voice user wants brands to have their own voice at voice touchpoints, matching the brand identity.
If marketers and communicators want to meet this customer need, they must strategically extend their brand and marketing activities with voice applications. And digital touchpoints such as the company website must be optimized with structured data for voice search. Voice strategies will thus soon be part of every integrated brand strategy.
About the study
The Voice First Barometer Switzerland is the first representative annual study to record and monitor the spread of Voice User Interfaces (VUI) in Switzerland, as well as the attitudes of the Swiss population towards these new technologies. The barometer was initiated in 2018 by Farner Consulting and operationalized together with the University of Lucerne as an equal founding partner.
The University of Lucerne has been collecting and analyzing the survey since its inception. The first edition was collected in fall 2018 and published in January 2019. Swisscom joined the two founding partners after the first publication of the Voice First Barometer in January 2019 as a supporter of basic research at the University of Lucerne.
Methodology
- Quantitative online survey
- Representative sample with 1027 persons
- Online panel of the LINK Institute
- only language-assimilated people who use the Internet several times a month
- all three language regions, quota control by the Link Institute
- Period: October 3 - October 15, 2019
- Average age: 45 years
- Gender: 49 % female
The summary of the study with the twelve most important insights for marketing and communication can be downloaded from the Voicefirst.ch website can be downloaded free of charge. The complete study is offered by the University of Lucerne at its Website an.
Farner launches the Content Hub in parallel with the publication of the study Voicefirst.ch as information portal and first point of contact in Switzerland around the development and distribution of Voice User Interfaces.
