Two out of three German consumers use chatbots on consumer websites. One-third of German consumers are dissatisfied with those chatbots.

 

Just over a quarter of German consumers who have used a chatbot say that the chatbot answered the question quickly and completely. Another 38,6% describe the answer as predominantly satisfactory, but well over a third (35,2%) had a difficult or negative experience: the bot did not answer easily (12,5%), satisfactorily (17,7%), or did not help at all (5,0%).

This is evident from research figures from the German Splendid Research commissioned by HighText Verlag, publisher of the German e-commerce platform iBusiness.

Germans who use chatbots complain most about chatbots not understanding the question (65,4%) and not escalating to a human agent (40,6%). There are also frequent complaints about irrelevant follow-up questions (37,7%) and incorrect answers (35,1%). Failure to transfer and incorrect answers do not differ significantly by age. They occur equally often among younger and older users.

Usage is strongly correlated with age. In the 30-39 age group, 83,7% have used a chatbot at some point, and in the 18-29 age group, 77,2%. After that, the share drops: 69,9% in the 40-49 age group, 56,1% in the 50-59 age group, and 54,8% in the 60-69 age group. This difference is statistically significant (p<0,0001) and represents the strongest demographic association with usage in the iBusiness study.

The survey was conducted in April 2026 among 1.003 respondents from a German consumer sample. The gender distribution is virtually equal, with 501 men, 499 women, and 3 respondents identifying as diverse. The age distribution is reasonably balanced across five groups, ranging from 162 respondents in the 18-29 age category to 237 in the 50-59 age group. No weighting is known, so the results are indicative and not necessarily representative of the German population.

(Ziptone/editors)

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