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In:“You can say you to me”: Address in German
Edited by Heinz L. Kretzenbacher, Horst J. Simon and Christa Dürscheid
[Topics in Address Research 7] 2026
► pp. 74–92

Chapter 4
“A case of du or die” in marketing?

A survey on the perception of pronominal address in service encounters

This content is being prepared for publication; it may be subject to changes.
Abstract
Many German businesses are switching from the Sie V address for customers to the du T address. For our experimental study, we produced short videos showing simulated initial phases of service encounters in a car dealership, a bank, and a sports footwear shop. Each video had two versions, with the salesperson addressing the customer either with Sie or with du. The quantitative evaluation of the survey shows different perceptions of the address forms in the videos both regarding the different industries represented in the videos and regarding gender, age group, and education level of respondents. It does not support the view that du address facilitates a more positive attitude toward the sales interaction or makes a sale appear more likely.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Research questions and design of the experimental study
  • 3.Results
    • 3.1Perception of the sales interaction
    • 3.2Measuring performance
  • 4.Discussion
  • 5.Conclusion
  • Author queries
  • Notes
  • References
References (26)
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