Industry surveyGartner, 2 Sep 2026

49% of customers say they would have been willing to use a chatbot if the company had offered one, but only 7% used one in their most recent service interaction

Onboarding & activation

Reader Note:: The two numbers answer different kinds of question: 49% is stated willingness, what customers say they would have done, while 7% is recalled behaviour in their most recent service interaction. The gap between the two is the finding, and Gartner's own advice is to plan chatbot adoption and ROI against the behaviour rather than the intention.
Evidence:: Self-reported behaviour
Vendor interest:: Moderate — This comes from a company with a commercial interest in this market, so it is not a neutral source.
Sample:: Survey of 3,566 B2B and B2C customers, conducted in February and March 2026. Sampling method not disclosed in this press release.

Good for

A rough sense of size and direction, and deciding what to look at first.

Not for

Exact numbers, or saying that one thing caused another.
This comes from a company with a commercial interest in this market, so it is not a neutral source.
The source says how much it looked at, but not how any of it was chosen.

87%

of customers say it's essential to offer an option to reach a human agent when using AI

53%

of customers would consider switching to a competitor if a company uses AI for customer service

14%

of users say they do not want brands on Reddit at all

Go deeper on this topic

Our Substack turns the data behind these cards into full breakdowns: what changed, why, and what to do about it.

Fixing your influencer marketing campaign: How to get into the top 10% of advertisers

Among customers unwilling to use AI in service, the most common thing that would change their mind is being able to switch to a human, named by 33%, ahead of accurate information at 20%

Factors that would make customers willing to engage with GenAI
Factor	Share of customers (%)
The ability to switch to a human representative if needed	33%
Accurate and reliable information	20%
Made tasks easier to accomplish	18%
Improved the speed of customer service	18%
24/7 availability	16%
Provided me with personalized responses	14%
Assurance my personal data is protected	12%
Educated me about a product or service	7%

Open full graph

27%

of customers would be willing to try a chatbot again after a negative experience

52%

of consumers say Facebook is their top network for building community

49% of customers say they would have been willing to use a chatbot if the company had offered one, but only 7% used one in their most recent service interaction

Good for

Not for

Related cards

Go deeper on this topic