Please no voicemail! Why they are not very popular in Switzerland

“Hello, I’m currently on the road…”: Instead of typing a short message on their mobile phone, many people prefer to send a voice message. Because this is often faster and easier. But: are they popular with the recipients? Migros’ online subsidiary Galaxus wanted to get to the bottom of this question and surveyed 2,500 people in Germany, Austria, France, Italy and Switzerland about their communication preferences via smartphone.

So far: in all five countries, text messages are by far the most popular means of communication on mobile phones. The Swiss in particular like to use finger work: 77 percent of respondents in this country say they most often contact their friends via text message. That is considerably more than in the surrounding countries. The Austrians follow in second place with 58 percent.

The French like to send photos

In return, people in Switzerland are not very keen on calling: only 15 percent say they are most likely to call someone. Approximately twice as many people in the four neighboring countries answer the phone.

It is also striking that French (9 percent) and Italians (6 percent) say they send photos and videos more often than people from the three German-speaking countries, while in Switzerland only 1 percent mention this type of communication as a top priority. .

What about the voice messages? 13 percent of Italians often use this option – significantly more than in other countries. In Switzerland that is only 4 percent. It’s not surprising that almost every second person in this country says they don’t like audio messages. That is considerably more than in the surrounding countries.

The audio message can wait

Respondents give different reasons for their negative attitude. Voice messages often cannot be listened to discreetly. Moreover, you will not quickly find out what it is about. They are also often very long and if you don’t answer them right away you will have to listen to them again at a later time.

In France, audio messages are answered the fastest. One in three people claim to listen to the message immediately. Italian mobile phone users are also not hesitating: none of those surveyed said they would not listen to the message until the next day or later. However, in Austria and Switzerland it takes considerably longer.

Pace remains normal

Voice messages are usually listened to at normal speed. However, one in four people surveyed in France say they want to increase playback speed.

But why is online department store Galaxus spending money on these findings? The investigations that are carried out are always business-related, says spokesperson Stephan Kurmann when asked. “We sell telephony products and have our own subscription with Galaxus Mobile. That is why we are interested in people’s communication behavior.”