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How Millennials and Gen Z Are Changing the Future of Customer Service

Customer loyalty is changing: Brands need to keep up with and exceed customer expectations more than ever, especially for younger generations. The main drivers of brand loyalty aren’t what you might expect, and there are some key generational differences worth noting.

November 1, 2022

When it comes to customer service, most of us want the same thing: an exceptional, smooth and painless experience that keeps us coming back for more.

Brands must meet this increasing customer demand to develop and maintain brand loyalty and drive operational success.

What this entails won’t always be obvious — and will differ depending on the demographic — but getting it right is key to understanding how contact centers and brand ambassadors drive businesses forward.

Winning the up-and-coming Generation Z (or “Gen Z”) — an increasingly important target demographic across many industries — depends on implementing the right strategies for customer loyalty. Customers don’t just want to be satisfied, but inspired by companies that demonstrate shared values on a range of social issues.

Generation expectation: Keeping up with the customers

Younger generations — particularly Millennials and Gen Z — are more demanding than ever. As a proud “Zillennial,” I speak from experience. We’re an increasingly busy group, therefore we want to use our time in the best way possible. That means we’re less forgiving of poor retail experiences.

Surprisingly though, it isn’t about a shift in expectations: Instead, it’s about brands realizing that they have to keep up with generational expectations.

Most of us in younger generations have grown up with cell phones. Instead of going to a library, we now look up answers digitally. As kids, we didn’t need to ask the teacher for help except as a last resort. In other words, we don’t ask unless we absolutely have to, and that behavior has carried through into our lives as consumers.

On top of this, we're used to an ever-accelerating pace of life and we expect brands — and the world — to keep up. We want fast, immediate interactions across the board.

How to drive brand loyalty

In our hyperconnected world, consumer convenience is everything.

Word travels fast: If a trusted friend has a bad experience with a particular brand, we’re not going to approach that brand ourselves. These days, how we shop is rooted in visibility and transparency.

Pandemic-related supply chain issues demonstrated the transience of customer loyalty with a massive 39% of customers buying from a competitor — and this isn’t even related to something in a company’s control. But by openly sharing company struggles, brands can better retain customers.

These days, brands cultivate loyalty by embracing personification: Just like we follow our friends on Facebook, Instagram or TikTok, we expect a similar relational experience from the brands we follow, too.

Just as it’s okay for a friend to struggle through the pandemic,it’s okay for brands to struggle, too.We understand that companies face challenges because we know the people behind the brand — they’re not just faceless individuals, but our friends and family. And with the right messaging, the brand itself begins to feel like a close confidant or a member of our family.The key for a company to develop empathy and compassion within its customer base lies in whether or not it’s transparent and open about the challenges it faces.

When we personify brands, we deepen the relationship with our customers.

Real friends take a 3AM call if you desperately need help. They remember your birthday is coming up, and that you love to wear yellow. Are our favorite brands doing the same?

Brands need to balance supply chain issues with relationship maintenance. If we reach out for help, the availability of support is what keeps us loyal. Loyalty is a two-way street: if we give it, we get it.

Customers are holding brands accountable

Just as we hold our friends and family accountable for their actions, we expect equal accountability from the brands we know and love. Gen Z (and often Millennials) will push back against brands that are behaving in socially irresponsible ways, easily changing their allegiance when brands don’t respond in timely and appropriate ways.

A diverse upbringing across a broad range of communities — especially for upwardly mobile minorities coming from cosmopolitan backgrounds — sheds light on the social causes held dear by customers. Every scroll on a social media platform reveals callouts to brands and supporters of those brands to be more accountable for their social choices.

Being committed — not just to servicing customers, but communities as well — is essential to generate brand loyalty among younger consumers. This is a practice that Tuft & Needle exemplifies with its commitment to its Gives Back program.

Ultimately, each post on our social media feed tells a story of who we are — from the brands we wear to what we believe and stand for.While we were once defined by the five people we spend the most time with, we are now defined by the five brands to which we’re most loyal. What do those brands say about us?

There's a lot of pressure on those of us with highly visible, public social media lives to ensure that the brands we represent — by default — are consistent with our identity, beliefs and values. It’s therefore essential that brand representatives have the ability to communicate wellandproactively with customers.

Contact centers: An untapped resource for building brand loyalty

Individual issues are one thing, but in order to strategize effectively in the contact center ,we need to think holistically about the company’s relationship with its customers.If you’re a brand ambassador in a contact center, you should be talking to customers like friends. Regardless of how they’re making contact — calling, DMing or otherwise — you’re on hand to help.

A successful strategy fundamentally comes down to the way that brands view their contact centers. For too long it’s been acostcenter — a must-have (rather than a want-to-have) — which is there to cut costs, with no eye on the immense opportunities to add value to a brand.

A traditional call center won’t meet current business needs.But contact centers are the heart of operations, out of which stem all communications and engagements. Brands should be there for their customers who want to deepen the relationship. Unfortunately, many companies don’t fully harness the power of a proactive and robust contact center.

Brands that want to build loyalty via their contact centers can improve their operational strategy in the following ways:

Increase access to information. Agents should be able to conveniently viewallof a customer’s past interactions, buying history, and potential needs.Knowing a caller’s name and their reason for making contact — instead of having to ask — can go a long way in the eyes of the customer.
Empower agents to be decision makers. Everyone working with a brand is an ambassador, so there shouldn’t be a difference between the freedom to make decisions given to an employee working in-store and someone in a contact center. If a loyal customer is calling, agents should have the ability to put them first in line or share information that gives customers direct access to specific departments.
Break down the silos between social media teams and contact centers. Not only does clear and concise communication reduce tension and conflict between departments, but it will alsostrengthen the brand as a whole.
Roll up your C-suite’s sleeves. Getting executives and company leaders on the phones during the holidays sends a powerful message that the company is united at difficult and stressful times. Luxury fashion retailer Farfetch has found great success with this strategy.
Pay attention to labels — they matter. Brands should empower employees to seethemselvesas brand ambassadors, not just contact center agents (Farfetch calls them advisors). This simple shift in word choice creates a ripple effect, putting the contact center at the forefront of operations and positioning contact center employees as essential players in brand identity and messaging.
Pump the breaks. Instead of pushing employees to minimize their average handle time, instead incentivize your team to build connections with customers. Listening to grandma talk about their grandchild for 20 minutes (without fear of it negatively impacting their metrics and scorecard) will do wonders in improving the quality of customer conversations.
Leverage your data. Glasses USA automatically analyzes trends based on the tens of thousands of monthly calls handled by its contact center employees. That data is then turned into valuable insights that can (when shared with the right teams) eliminate friction.

Shifting the contact center paradigm

The days of the outsourced cost-cutting call center are dead. Yet even some of the most tech-driven companies have not truly considered the vital role of their contact centers in strengthening brand loyalty.

Brands that want to maintain and grow brand loyalty must utilize the huge amounts of data now at their disposal — not just to shorten hold times, but to build better relationships with customers.

When a company embraces the potential of its contact center it begins to value contact center employees and contact center-generated data in new ways — taking customer experience and brand loyalty to new heights.

For more information on this topic, watch this conversation with Talkdesk’s Head of Industry Marketing for Retail and Consumer Goods Génesis Miranda Longo.

Build lasting connectionswith your customers through smart contact center solutions.