Your newest customers will affect how you deliver service.
The youngest consumers, who are in their early 20s and younger, and make up about a quarter of the population, have a different set of expectations than their predecessors. While Gen X built and monetized the Internet and Gen Y socialized it, Gen Z speaks it as a first language.
New insights from Genesys predict how companies will have to connect with Gen Z:
1. Hang up the phone
Consider this: Nearly 75% of Gen Z is plugged in within an hour of waking up every day. Their preferred modes to connect with anything or anyone is social media. Behind that is text, chat and email. They aren’t very interested in phone conversations. They even prefer face-to-face interactions over the phone.
So charge up your digital channels to help this emerging generation.
2. Let them explore
By the time they reach out to you for help or with questions, they’ve almost always already conducted a Google search for you and gathered facts on Wikipedia. They’re looking to find solutions to their problems on your website and test them out. Even better, give them access to help forums where they can interact with like-minded customers to solve issues or learn more.
A major help: YouTube videos. More than 90% of Gen Z tunes into YouTube at least once a week.
3. Choose your social media carefully
When you make those YouTube videos, make them brief. Gen Z loves loves their information in short bites — as shown by their attachment to Snapchat. Some companies are embracing this kind of flash marketing by putting short-lived sales on Snapchat.
And you can probably ease up on Facebook. Only about half of Gen Z checks Facebook and Twitter at least once a week.
Bottom line: If you want to get through to Gen Z, you have to make your message short and interactive.
4. Listen
This generation is easy to access. They make homemade fan videos for Vine clips. They share selfies for the brands they love. That’s unsolicited, informal feedback that you can tap at anytime.
You can use what they’re posting to figure out the best ways to meet their needs.
