[{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BlogPosting","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2022\/10\/12\/customer-service-for-digital-natives\/#BlogPosting","mainEntityOfPage":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2022\/10\/12\/customer-service-for-digital-natives\/","headline":"Service for digital natives: Make it fast, easy, connected \u2013 or lose customers","name":"Service for digital natives: Make it fast, easy, connected \u2013 or lose customers","description":"As members of the Gen Z generation enter the workforce and become customers, brands must consider their service expectations.","datePublished":"2022-10-12","dateModified":"2023-08-15","author":{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/contributor\/kirsi-tarvainen\/#Person","name":"Kirsi Tarvainen","url":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/contributor\/kirsi-tarvainen\/","identifier":151,"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/96ca9bf9158da317761f4e785e19819a740ab479d189dd529c081ea73b54193e?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/96ca9bf9158da317761f4e785e19819a740ab479d189dd529c081ea73b54193e?s=96&d=mm&r=g","height":96,"width":96}},"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"The Future of Commerce","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/logo-foc-schema-app-1.png","url":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/logo-foc-schema-app-1.png","width":172,"height":60}},"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Digital-Native_FTRx.jpg","url":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Digital-Native_FTRx.jpg","height":375,"width":1200},"url":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2022\/10\/12\/customer-service-for-digital-natives\/","about":[{"@type":"Thing","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/service\/customer-service\/","name":"Customer Service","sameAs":["https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Customer_service","http:\/\/www.wikidata.org\/entity\/Q1060653"]},{"@type":"Thing","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/service\/","name":"Service","sameAs":["https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Service","http:\/\/www.wikidata.org\/entity\/Q7406919"]},{"@type":"Thing","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/service\/service-general\/","name":"Service","sameAs":["https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Service","http:\/\/www.wikidata.org\/entity\/Q7406919"]}],"wordCount":952,"keywords":["Customer Service","Customer Service Trends","Digital Natives","Generation Z","Millennials"],"articleBody":"It’s easy (and lazy) to generalize about what Gen Z wants. It’s a big group of people, and they\u2019re only associated because of when they were born. They\u2019re not all alike, and don\u2019t all want the same thing.But as this generation enters the workforce and becomes customers, businesses must consider the expectations of digital natives when it comes to customer service.What Gen Z (and the millennials before them) want from their jobs and their interactions with businesses is what we all want: for things to work properly, to be quick and easy and to feel like they\u2019re being helped, not hindered.No one wants work to be harder or more difficult. No one wants processes to take longer than necessary, or for systems to work less efficiently. People want a consumer-grade experience everywhere, whether from the organization they work for or the organizations they do business with.      Gen Z and Generation Alpha rising: How brands can win customers for life                Gen Z is the current powerhouse in the retail space, but brands are already sizing up the next generation of shoppers. With Gen Alpha, it's a chance to start early and win customers for life.      Digital native expectations for customer service\u00a0The one thing the younger generations do have in common is the influence of technology on their lives, and an expectation that it will work for them. Digital natives have little time or patience for technology that requires them to work harder.This means your customer service agents expect an interface that’s easy to use and \u2013 crucially \u2013 is properly integrated with the rest of your systems.Customer service should not exist in isolation from the rest of the organization, and if there\u2019s one thing digital natives understand, it\u2019s the benefits of connecting things. They’ve grown up in an increasingly connected world, where their phone is their bank card and they can control their central heating from their tablet. They expect work to be the same.And like their heating apps, digital natives expect their customer service experiences to be easy, with the right outcome: the problem gets solved.Integration is key to creating this outcome. Integrating service into the organization means that case management becomes a way of solving problems rather than just handling them. This requires connecting agents with colleagues from outside of service: if expertise from other departments is needed to solve the problem, agents should be able to find it without huge amounts of time and effort.An efficient case management system will automatically find the right people, create a ticket and assign the job \u2013 tasks that could take an agent hours are completed in minutes.      Digital natives: How to win the trust of Gen Z and Millennials                73\u00a0percent of digital natives are involved in B2B product or purchase decision-making, and about\u00a0one-third\u00a0are sole decision-makers. Learn how to win their trust.      Service in the information age Digital natives are used to information coming to them, rather than having to find it. Social media and apps constantly update us, news is streamed everywhere, and with this comes impatience with slow or ungainly processes.Service agents don\u2019t want to read a paper manual. They want to find the information they need on their desktop, using a powerful search function. AI-powered knowledge management, using machines to find answers and information from the entire organization, gives agents the power to deliver solutions quickly.Customers are the same. They expect service to keep them updated on the progress of their case, and don’t want to have to repeatedly call to find out. Proactive customer service communication is invaluable as it does two jobs: it keeps the customer informed (and therefore happy) and stops them from calling, which frees up agents to do other jobs.By not doing this, you\u2019re making the customer do the work. As Philip Jenkins, a senior director analyst at Gartner says: \u201creactive service experiences place the burden on customers to find the best channel for resolution, whether it\u2019s to check on the status of a request, conduct a transaction or troubleshoot a repair issue.\u201dGartner also predicts that proactive \u201ccustomer engagement interactions\u201d will outnumber reactive ones by 2025.Regardless of age, upbringing or familiarity with technology, everyone appreciates being kept informed, and it becomes a point of difference between competitors \u2013 especially when goods and services become commoditized and bought on price alone. Service can make the difference between repeat business and no more business.      A business classic: Proactive customer service is the new black                Customer satisfaction and loyalty are hard won, but proactive customer service can assure your brand never goes out of style.      Customer service expectations: Don’t forget the generations bridging the digital divideIt\u2019s also worth mentioning that in the rush to satisfy the customer service expectations of a younger generation, it\u2019s easy to overlook the habits of an older one. Many older customers don\u2019t want to use self-service channels, social media, and SMS, so understanding preferences at an individual level is vital.We\u2019re always talking about a 360-degree view of the customer, and this is why. You need to know precisely how to talk to each person, or you\u2019ll fail to reach some of them.This isn\u2019t an either\/or situation \u2013 it\u2019s about improving service for everybody. What digital natives want and expect is good for all customers and employees, and what\u2019s good for them is good for business, too.  Customers want excellent service.Brands know they need to deliver it, but often fall short.Take a product tour to see how modern CRM powers great customer service HERE."},{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"2022","item":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2022\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"10","item":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2022\/\/10\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"12","item":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2022\/\/10\/\/12\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"Service for digital natives: Make it fast, easy, connected \u2013 or lose customers","item":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2022\/10\/12\/customer-service-for-digital-natives\/#breadcrumbitem"}]}]