Learn customer experience the millennials way!

While half the millennials are busy making a fortune, the other half are in pursuit of it. Nothing out of the blue, at least that’s what the baby boomers have to say. Yes, we acknowledge this sense of competition to be a bitter truth that every generation faces. However, it would be quite fair to say that the millennials have withstood the test of time and aced it!

At times we are cranky, at times completely insane, we go pedal to the metal like a beast unchained. Been there done that, now we seek some change. And now we’re challenging the age-old stereotypes of buying and selling. A mere exhibition of cutting-edge technology just won’t suffice because as customers we expect a lot more than just a great product or service from brands. To a handful of broken records this might be hard to digest, for those who wish to be an early bloomer, it’s time you buckle up and listen! Speaking of which, here are 5 things millennials want your brand to know about customer experience.

1. ENOUGH GIZMOS ALREADY! WE WISH FOR ABSOLUTE EXPERIENCES

Millennials wouldn’t really care about quality and magnanimity if you’re not giving them an experience to cherish along with it. Inventories stacked up with state-of-the-art technology might get them to try out your brand at best. But turning millennials into loyal customers is purely down to what MORE you can provide.

It’s not arrogance, it’s how demanding millennials are today! We find it hard to settle for anything else but the best. And great experiences happen only when you know precisely what millennials want. So, start ASKING and LISTENING! Collect feedback and acquire deeper insights about millennial aspirations and needs to form strategies that will result in delightful experiences.

2. BEING QUICK IS THE ONLY TRICK

What if the turtle from the famous turtle and the rabbit tale could run as fast as his competitor? Imagine that! Well, the turtle is no longer slow and it is steady as always! Accepted, the millennials need lessons on patience, but it is our rapid pace in thoughts and actions that has caused all this exponential change. To turn tides in the favour of your brand, you need to learn to strike a competent balance between the turtle and the rabbit – know to deliver quick service that is also exceptional.

The worst thing any seller can put us through is an automated answering call which swallows half our patience and most of our time. Simple applications, easy-to-navigate sites and portals, less-complicated customer support assistance – that’s a start for brands looking to make customer service and customer experience a hassle-free process!

3. WE LIKE TO BE SELF-SUSTAINED, NOT SPOON-FED

It’s definitely great to have intricate guides, FAQs for technical guidance. But millennials don’t necessarily enjoy queuing on customer call portals to solve issues that are common and minute. We wish for controlled access, if not complete, of any product or service purchased. By which there should be provisions for a customer to get his/her queries addressed, get quick tips to proceed and a simple manual which preferably is an easy read-through.

So, in essence, brands need to provide Millennials with just the right amount of information and knowledge, packaged in a very simple and understandable way so that they can find easy workarounds. Multi-tasking is our default trait, we wouldn’t mind if you put that to test!

4. WE DEMAND TO BE AT THE CENTRE OF ATTENTION, PERIOD!

Let us take the driver’s seat, that’s the only way we could shake hands and say ‘it was pleasure doing business with you’. There was a time in the past when customers would run after brands. The tables have turned now. Millennials wish for sellers to reach out and grab their attention. With digital becoming the most popular mode of engagement today, every single nook and corner of the globe is stringed – we are now educated and aware as customers and open to try out new, different experiences.

Social selling is booming at the moment and brands have started to come up with more innovative ads and campaigns, funny and quirky messaging, highly personalized targeting, proactive service to get millennials hooked. In addition to all this, millennials appreciate authenticity. You need to have that authentic vibe for millennials to trust you long term just because of the fact that there are many hoax brands out there!

5. YOU NEED TO BE AVAILABLE – ANYTIME, ANYWHERE!

If you’re still using paper feedback forms and taking note of email IDs post any customer interaction, then you’re only surveying a very small sample size. To make massive strategic changes, you need to know what nearly every single customer of yours feels about your brand, and this includes millennials. But here’s the thing – Millennials hardly fill out lengthy e-mail questionnaires and more often than not these mails decorate the spam/trash folder of their mailbox.

Some of us use a smartphone, while the others work on a notebook, we’ve learnt music via an MP3/iPod and dance on YouTube. When that’s the case, brands need to devise a complete, full-fledged omni-channel feedback strategy just so that they can be available to millennials all the time across multiple touchpoints. This not only helps is collecting more feedback but you get to generate relevant and valuable insights on how millennials engage with your brand.

Millennials might seem like a hard bunch to satisfy. But make no mistake – once you’ve won over their trust and confidence, they’ll spread the word about your brand and do the marketing for you. But, to get to this ideal state – where the customer becomes a loyal evangelist – your organization needs to focus on creating relevant, personalized and memorable experiences day in and day out. Wouldn’t that be cool?

This post originally appeared at CloudCherry's Blog