Generations have different needs and preferences when it comes to customer experience.
Marketing and Customer Experience by Generation Infographic highlights the different consumer expectations and trends. Their needs differ according to their current age and societal circumstances that formed their worldview as while they were coming of age. We will discuss each and how they influence marketing and customer interactions.
While there is some overlap, the most commonly agreed upon timeframes for the 4 most recent generations are:
- Baby Boomers born between 1945 and 1964
- Gen X born between 1965 to 1979
- Millenials born between 1980 and 1994
- Gen Z born between 1995 and present
Some highlights you will find in our Generation Infographic:
Baby Boomers: 77 Million
Baby Boomers make up $3.39 Trillion in buying power. While this is considerable, they are considered the “Value” Generation. They prefer to ‘make do’ and reuse to protect their considerable savings. The value here means they want a product that will stand the test of time. Due to this fact, they commonly interact less with customer service less than all the other generations.
Generation X: 61 Million
Generation X comprises the ages of 38 to 52 and echoing their parents’ generation (The Silent Generation) are commonly called the “Lost” Generation. They are frustrated that bands ignore them. This is counterintuitive as they make 31% of the total US income and have more spending power than any other generation. This will only increase as wealth tends to increase as generations reach middle age. Customer Service is more important and influential than it is to Baby Boomers. It takes 2 years for a company to bounce back from a bad interaction with a Gen X’er.
Millennials: 92 Million
Many brands have been buzzing about Millennials as they are aging into more spending power at age 22-37. Much of the buzz is because of their digital native position and “Social Influence”. High-level leadership are not the digital native and thus struggling to provide digital integration. By 2020, Millennials will account for 30% of retail spend and much of this is online shopping. Digital customer service for the online experience is even more important here as Millennials with stop doing business because of 1 bad customer service interaction.
Generation Z: 69 Million
Digital natives have morphed into a “Digital Addict” generation aged under 21. This generation is still growing and will reach 84.7 million and 40% of US Consumer spending by 2020. Despite the Digital Addict nomenclature, this age group prefers the in-store shopping experience. Customer Experience will need to marry this face to face responsiveness to human digital interactions.
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