Consumer Behavior

Older consumers most loyal to AI customer service

Generated by AI/Adobe Stock

August 13, 2026

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The older consumer population, those 60 years or older and not typically viewed as digital natives, are the most loyal demographic when it comes to AI-powered customer service, according to Parloa's 2026 Consumer Patience Index.

Parloa helps companies to build, train and manage AI agents for premier customer experience.

The study's data up ends the long-held assumption about who trusts automation as loyalty to AI-powered customer experience climbs with age rather than falls, according to a press release.

When automation works, consumers 60 and older are the most likely of any age group to keep using it. Nearly 90% would stick with an automated system that reliably solved their issues, the highest of any age band and 6.4 points above the average across all younger groups.

"The demographics tell an interesting story, but the real signal is that consumers aren't opposed to automation itself, including AI," Latané Conant, chief marketing officer at Parloa, said in the release. "The group often assumed to be hardest to win over turns out to be the most loyal to automation if the technology consistently delivers. When the experience improves, loyalty to agentic CX and to the brand providing the journey follows, regardless of age."

Among consumers 18 to 29, 46.5% are confident or extremely confident that automated systems could resolve their requests accurately while just 16.6% of those 60 and older said the same.

"Demographics aside, the fact is that nobody is against automation if it works," Conant said in the release. "The distrust is earned one broken chatbot at a time. Fix the experience, and loyalty to CX automation and to the brand follows, at any age."