Millennial and Gen Z employment: 7 things young talent wants in a job
Millennial and Gen Z employment are entering the labor market in full force. While companies witness new sets of expectations when it comes to work life.
The architects of customer experience design have their hands full – and today all experiences must tie into an e-commerce CX strategy.
For one, the era of the fully manual customer experience has reached its end. The customer- facing departments of today’s e-commerce business must be equipped to deliver a compelling customer experience that relies on both manual and automated touch points, all while maintaining a “one brand” consistent look and feel across channels.
Just as significantly, the architects of today’s CX programs need to find a way to simultaneously address the divergent needs of different generations, particularly millenials (Generation Y), the first generation to see online shopping as ‘the norm’ rather than a new experience.
Millennials, those born between 1980 and 1994, now make 60% of their purchases online.
Companies also can’t forget about Generation X (birth years ranging from 1964 to the early 1980s), Baby Boomers (born between 1944 and 1964), and Generation Z (those born between 1996 and 2010).
Here are some tips to help operators craft the contours of their e-commerce CX strategy to satisfy the needs of both millenials and Generation Z — without forgetting their parents.
Millennials: The high-demand generation
Compared to older generations, Millennials have both higher overall expectations from CX processes and specific requirements that e-commerce owners need to address.
Here are some of the most salient differences and some ways to address them and create an outstanding e-commerce CX strategy:
1. Personalization is key across both B2C and B2B
Millennials strongly prefer personalized purchasing processes. According to research from SmarterHQ, 70% of millenials are frustrated by irrelevant marketing messaging and prefer personalized communications over poorly segmented mass email campaigns. They were raised in an era where everything from social news feeds to Spotify playlists could be tweaked to meet their exact preferences, so they are naturally disdainful of any customer experience that feels too generic or doesn’t give them a sense of control.
For starters, these customers should be welcomed by name after logging in, and email campaigns should make extensive use of customization, aggregating information from across business systems to automatically create unique pieces of content. Cross-selling and up- selling campaigns that follow purchases can draw on order histories, observed shopping habits, and other digital breadcrumbs to give the look and feel of an individualized relationship.
Netflix — a staple of millennial culture — unsurprisingly does this well. Think about the user messages “Welcome back, user” and the automatic AI-built suggestion playlists that are presented immediately after login. Or how Chipotle has encouraged customers to think creatively about how to combine the ingredients they offer in their “build your own” burrito bowls — launching social media videos and even an online comic series to tout the value of customizing their menu.
Those with higher CX ambitions who have the budget for a more extensive technology stack can take things further.
Enterprise e-commerce retailers are already feeding this data into artificial intelligence (AI) systems, which can draw deductions about customers’ demographics and automatically segment consumers based on this information.
In addition, virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) solutions are poised to see widespread adoption within CX. Apple’s announcement to roll out a development platform specifically for AR apps was a landmark moment for the industry. We can expect CX designers to begin incorporating this technology to enrich their buyer experiences, both pre-sales and post-sales, as adoption accelerates.
It’s important for online retailers to develop a CX journey that is efficient for the user. According to Adobe’s CMX Index, 68% of Millennials surveyed said they had to resupply personal information or order details simply because they engaged with a company from a different channel. In a well-tested CX experience, in which login greetings, wish lists, and order histories auto-populate irrespective of the channel used, this shouldn’t be an issue.
CX designers should also understand that Millennials attach great intrinsic importance to the CX experience itself, regardless of whether they are shopping for themselves personally or are buying on behalf of their organization.
2. Millennials feel a need for speed
It’s not surprising that speed and responsiveness are also must-haves for Millennials when interacting with online retailers. Millennials consider themselves digital masters and spend a significant amount of time online, so “live chat” functions and rapid customer service are universally expected.
Online retailers should deploy every means possible to optimize their user experiences for speed, including deploying chatbots to handle initial customer order queries and then passing questions on to human agents if they can’t resolve the issue automatically.
3. Cross-channel accessibility is key
According to data from Pew Research, 96% of cellphone owners in the 18 to 29 age group have smartphones, compared to 79% of those 50 to 64 years old and only 53% of those 65 and older.
Other mobile devices like laptops and tablets remain the internet-accessing tools of choice among desktop-averse Millennials. (70% of millenials own a laptop vs. just 57% that own a desktop. Gen Z’s preference for smaller, mobile devices is even more pronounced: 98% of the generation owns a smartphone and 52% described it as their most important computing device).
In addition to using a plethora of devices to remain constantly connected, Millennials want to engage with online retailers through diverse channels, including social media and mobile apps. CX designers who wish to cater to Millennials must strive to make e-commerce functionalities, including order placement, order editing, and post-order review, accessible from all devices at all hours.
Cross-pollination between teams supporting different channels is also key to avoid the common frustration of customers having to repeatedly provide the same information to multiple agents, as Adobe’s research highlighted.
4. Don’t forget older generations
While Millennials are a powerful buying force, Generation X and Baby Boomers continue to comprise a sizeable portion of the customer pool for online retailers.
Research has demonstrated that these generations are quickly catching up technically with younger people, but their preference for the human touch remains a noteworthy difference between the two age groups.
When researchers asked a cohort of millenials, Gen X-ers, and Baby Boomers whether — to resolve the same issue — they would rather speak to a human agent or an automation tool such as a self-service bot, only 54% of millenials said they would prefer to speak to the human vs. 70% of baby boomers.
Belarusian airline BELAVIA is a company that has evidently taken this to heart. The company has integrated an omnichannel support add-on and allows customers to contact its agents through Skpe, Viber, Telegram, WhatsApp, and Facebook — with bots on hand and able tomacabb handle capturing initial details, like customers’ booking numbers. Of course, if customers wish to interact with a human, they can contact the company’s toll-free booking number, which operates on a 24/7 basis. This way, customers across all age demographics can find a support channel that is likely to meet their expectations.
Relative to Generation X, Millennials are less concerned with interacting with a human rather than a chat bot. In fact, according to research from the UK, 10% of millenials would be happy to delegate speaking to robots — versus only 4% of those over 55.
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An e-commerce CX strategy: Retailers can serve all generations
Research into buyers’ satisfaction levels with customer experiences reveals that although Millennials can justifiably be regarded as the more demanding demographic to serve, both younger and older age groups share some fundamental priorities as they seek trustworthy support, timely response times, and, of course, the ability to resolve order issues both before and after sales.
Even with modest resources, those selling online today can create design experiences that accommodate both sets of needs.
For example, a simple “speak to a human” button during an automated live chat interaction, for example, can be enough to keep both sets of users happy. And email campaigns can leverage both personalization and prompt users to speak with a member of the customer service or success team, should they wish. To satisfy the needs of generation Z, support and post-sales bots could automatically deal with common post-order issues.
It’s an exciting time to be at the forefront of customer experience and designing an e-commerce CX strategy. Whether your audience comprises Millennials, Baby Boomers, or more likely a mixture of both, leveraging these research findings will help keep all parties satisfied.
