Believe it or not, Gen-Y (also known as Millennials) is already the largest generation in the Canadian workforce and I’m sure so is the case in most countries. They were being ignored for their lack of income and spending power. However, it has become glaringly obvious that Gen-Y is a gigantic population, holding significantly powerful positions in the industry, and growing their spending power.
But wait, it doesn’t end there. The first wave of Gen-Z has graduated and already entered the workforce. Dubbed as the first digital-native generation, extremely tech-savvy, masters of multitasking, risk-takers, and truly global, are already contributing significantly in the digital economy.
By 2020, both these generations will collectively account for the largest prime target customers. While past decades have been built on the axiom of “better, faster, cheaper”, Gen-Y and Gen-Z take stock in other values.
So let’s take a look at what these generations want.
They want immediacy
Immediacy is key with them. The era of “better, faster, cheaper” has evolved into an expectation of “NOW!”. They have short attention spans and it should come as no surprise, if you lose these generations due to lack of convenient access to your offerings, slow content loading, slow response time, or poor user or customer experience on any touch point. They know they can demand immediacy because of the multitude of options out there, while multi-tasking comfortably through several screens at one time.
They want mobile-first customer experience
With immediacy comes mobility. Growing up with digital devices, these generations are natural with technology. While Gen-Y adopt new technology a lot more quickly compared to previous generations, Gen-Z is born among digital devices and have no intentions of denying their device addiction. It is therefore critical for businesses to design platform relevant, intuitive, and contextual mobile-first experiences. Trust me, their mobile device is always at an arm’s length if not already in the palm of their hand.
They want hyper-personalized experiences
The biggest differentiator of Gen-Y and Gen-Z compared to previous generations is their craving for hyper-personalized experiences. Individuality is big with them and they want personalization from all brands. They want to be recognized, valued, and provided custom solutions to suit their individual needs. Start empathizing with them and build their trust. With integration of social listening, advanced analytics, design thinking, and machine learning – every business should be able to offer hyper-personalized content and experiences.
As compared to their predecessors, Gen-Y and Gen-Z’ers are reshaping customer experience management at a much faster pace. Already a gigantic population, true digital-natives, holding significantly powerful positions, and growing spending power – these generations should be at the heart of every business transformation to compete in this ever-increasing digital economy
