| Nov 13, 2017

3 MIN READ

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The Millennials and Gen Z – and their ‘Digital’ habits!

We all have very busy lives. And even busier social media lives. Our digital consumption today is far, far heavier and our smart phones have made us fidgety fingered without an ounce of rest. Our phones have become so crucial to us today that our necessities list would literally read like air, water, food and phone. And not necessarily in that order!

We had wallets, cards, cash, and newspapers – now we have a phone. We had habits, now we have digital habits.

The Millennials and Gen Zs are obviously designing the future ahead. So, its important we know and study them well. Simply because they are target audience we are or will soon be reaching out to.


Millennials are the demographic cohort following Generation X. Demographers and researchers typically use the early 1980s as starting birth years and the mid-1990s to early 2000s as ending birth years for this generation.

Generation Z is the demographic cohort after the Millennials. Currently, there are many competing names used in connection with them in the media. Demographers and researchers typically use the mid-1990s to mid-2000s as starting birth years for this generation.


new research with a concise group of this target age by LivePerson analysed the ‘digital habits’ and preferences among 18 to 34 year-olds and learned that a majority (61.8%) would rather leave their wallet at home than their phone. These young consumers’ digital habits matter, cos they will be our audience tomorrow.

A mobile, which is now hardly used to make phone calls, is becoming a device for communication instead between customers and brands – and friends. Messaging is more preferred than making phone calls. When asked in the study mentioned above, on choosing between the ability to make phone calls or use a messaging app, 69% chose the messaging app option.

Am sure even you notice that all this availability of information and the quickness of needing that information, has made us all thoroughly impatient. Customers, especially younger customers, want information fast. It’s referred to as the ’10-Minute Rule.’ The generation today wants answers when and from wherever they ask. For less expensive purchases (under $20), almost 75% of Millennials will give up within 10 minutes if they don’t get the answer they need. So imagine, what companies need to do, to be able to serve them well and not miss on that chunk of business. Check out this interesting read on their online buying behaviors!

Study also showed that across the globe, the younger generation would rather get customer support through a self-service solution or by messaging, which could include chatbots or real people communicating with the customer. Their No. 1 choice was to visit the company’s app or website, followed by chat or messaging, social media, and in the last place (surprisingly enough) was using a phone call.

Let’s take banking for eg: – it’s all about digital convenience. In fact, as digital as possible. Stepping into a bank is becoming a dated concept for us. See what some millennials said when asked how they prefer to bank.

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We maybe removing the ‘human’ out of human interaction. But like it or not, digitization is slinking in. In fact in this study, about 56% of millennials indicated that they’d prefer to handle certain bank processes without having to speak to a human. And interestingly enough, almost 40% of them said that they believe big technology companies such as Amazon and Google could replace banks in the future. Reason being the perceived superiority in technology and convenience!

So what does it mean to us? To keep tapping into an audience today and especially tomorrow, business needs to be done on their terms, not ours. Generations ahead are defining and defying trends. Hence, any business today needs to be quick in responsiveness, adopting the new and evolving constantly. Upgrading is not an option, but a valuable compulsion.


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