Alexa, why are voice-controlled devices booming in Switzerland?

One in six Swiss uses voice-controlled devices such as Amazon Echo every day Keystone

More than a third of Swiss use voice user interfaces (VUIs) on their smartphones, computers and smart speakers – with the figure expected to double within a year. 

Speech functions are already used by 37% of Swiss – 15% use them every day – mostly to discover and compare products, particularly electronics, household items and entertainment, according to a representative study on VUIs by consultants Farner and the University of Lucerne, published on Wednesday.  

In future, respondents said they wanted to use voice commands more often when dealing with household appliances or when doing the shopping. 

In a statementExternal link, Farner cited US market researcher ComScore that estimates that by 2020 voice commands would power 50% of all searches in the United States. More and more voice-controlled devices, such as the Apple HomePod, Google Home and Amazon Echo, are everyday household items in this market. 

Corporate consequences 

The increasing use of VUIs also has implications for corporate marketing and communication. “Companies and brands must learn how to speak, if in the coming years most search requests will be done by voice,” the authors wrote. 

Until now, brand managers and creatives have focused on the visual appearance of brands, they added. But with the spread of language-based technologies, the relationship between companies and target groups was changing considerably. 

“The greater the spread of VUIs, the more brands have to find a voice that fits their identity,” the authors concluded.