How Germany communicates digitally
Internet Communication Study 2025/26:
Email, AI and cloud in Germany
Since 2009, Convios conducts an annual survey on how Germany communicates digitally: email, cloud services and AI. 16 waves. Over 16,000 respondents.Commissioned by WEB.DE and GMX (United Internet). Method: CAWI (Computer Assisted Web Interviewing), online panel, approx. 40 questions, 12 minutes. Field period: October 2025. Primary research for Google Germany since 2007. Cited in Heise, W&V, Statista, BNN, Springer academic press and over 100 other publications.
Who uses which AI services?
First time with three-year trend. Broken down by provider, age group, gender and education.The AI questions were first included in 2023 (n=258). A fixed component since 2024. Cross-tabs by age, gender and education are not available in any other publicly accessible German study in this combination.
use AI for product search17.8% find AI more helpful than search engines, 16.5% prefer traditional search. 30.3% can imagine using AI for this.
P26, Wave 16
reject autonomous AI shopping17.7% can imagine it, 21.8% only for everyday products. Majority (53.8%) too uncertain. Building trust is key.
P27, Wave 16
would use AI email management35% would use AI email management. 50.3% too uncertain. Users want AI productivity, but not at the cost of control over personal communication.
P28, Wave 16
WEB.DE and GMX gain share. Gmail declines.Data from P8(2), filtered series. Question: 'Which email service do you use most frequently?' Primary address. Time series since 2009, unique in Germany. Press reference: GMX Newsroom, 20 November 2025.
Most used email address, 2009 to 2025. WEB.DE rises from 23.0% to 26.4%. Gmail falls from 17.5% to 13.8%. P8, Wave 1 to Wave 16.
primarily use email on smartphone2010: 4.7%. 2015: 29.4%. 2018: 59%. 2022: 65.9%. P23, Wave 16. Provider app (46.4%) beats pre-installed app (37.9%).
P23, Wave 16
stay out of habitP12, Wave 16. Second-strongest reason after ease of use (69.5%). Then: good address (55.1%), speed (45.5%), reliability (40.3%).
P12, Wave 16
don't pay for emailP19, Wave 16. Only 17.8% pay for email. Free-tier expectation dominates. Monetization runs via value-added services (cloud, office, security).
P19, Wave 16
Email beats chatbots and messengersP42, Wave 16. Three quarters of Germans prefer email for business communication. Email remains the primary customer channel. Chatbots and messengers supplement, not replace.
77.7% prefer email for communication with businesses. 82.8% want order confirmations by email. Chatbots: 16.8%.
Trust, concerns, willingness to switchP35, Wave 16. 68.4% have concerns, 57.5% would switch (P36, Wave 16, n=466). Cloud criterion no. 1: simplicity (45.1%), not security (33.4%).
reject any data usageP22, Wave 16. 28.3% 'under no circumstances'. 23.5% if privacy policies are followed. 19.8% for auto-login convenience.
P22, Wave 16
would switch after data breachesP36, Wave 16, n=466. 11.6% clearly yes, 45.9% maybe. The willingness to switch is real. The next data breach could trigger a migration wave.
P36, Wave 16
want AI in the cloudP33, Wave 16. Lowest value of all cloud criteria. Simplicity (45.1%), cross-device (34.7%), hacker protection (33.4%) are more important. AI as a cloud feature is not yet in demand.
P33, Wave 16
Regional distribution (Nielsen)Quota by Nielsen regions ensures regional proportionality. Nielsen regions are standard in German market research (GfK, Kantar, Ipsos).
From the first wave in 2009 to the AI survey 2025/26Conducted annually since 2009 on behalf of WEB.DE and GMX. Suspended once in 2016. Over 16,000 respondents cumulated.
Germany's only email market share time seriesNo other German study tracks email provider market shares as a longitudinal survey. Statista references the Convios/WEB.DE data as the primary source for email market shares in Germany.
ARD/ZDF, Bitkom, D21 and Postbank cover adjacent fields. None provides email market shares as a time series.
Waves since 2009. Longest time series on internet communication in Germany.
Respondents cumulated. Each wave n≈1,000, representative.
Dimensions: email, cloud, data privacy, AIEmail, cloud, data privacy and AI (since 2023). No other single German study combines these four dimensions on a recurring basis.
46 tables. 16 waves. All cross-tabs.
Breakdowns by age, gender, education, income, Nielsen region and email provider. Convios advises mid-market companies on AI strategy, regulatory compliance and software delivery.
Key findings as PDF. For the full study we'll schedule a call. No spam.
Questions about the study?
Dr. Oliver Gausmann, Convios GmbH. Press inquiries, licensing, custom analyses. Advisory on AI strategy, regulatory compliance and software delivery.