Technology is not only changing the way that brands interact with their customers, it also seems to be opening a gig generational gap between customers themselves. New research from Narvar and YouGov shows that contacting a company via email is falling out of favour with younger consumers.
The survey of 2,994 UK consumers, all of whom had bought something online in the previous six months, showed that millennials are 20% less likely to contact a retailer via email than baby boomers.
However, both age-ranges listed fast and direct communications as the number one factor in securing their loyalty.
“A best-in-class communications experience is one which helps to build brand loyalty,” Amit Sharma, CEO, Narvar commented.
“That means authentic, personal, thoughtful communication across any channel – both pre and post-purchase. Building long term customer relationships is crucial considering that acquiring a new customer is at anywhere from five to 25 times more expensive than retaining existing ones, and that increasing customer retention rates by just 5% increases profits by 255 to 95%.”
Touchpoints
Among the respondents, Amazon was cited out as the standout online retailer in terms of communication by 35%. Nearly one in five (19%), however, said that they had not encountered a retailer that offered the best post-purchase communications experience.
The differences between baby boomers and millennials in terms of how they like to interact with brands was further illustrated by the figures. For millennials, live chat is the number one channel for brand communication with a third picking it, compared to 16% of baby boomers. On the other hand, 22% of baby boomers prefer to talk to someone on the phone compared to 14% of millennials.
Interestingly, among 35-44 year old Gen X’ers, being contacted via text message was twice as popular as it was with millennials.
“We are increasingly finding that a one-size-fits-all approach to customer communications is no longer suitable,” Harsh Jawharkar, CMO, Narvar said.
“The advent of new communications channels such as digital assistants, chatbots and IM present unlimited opportunities for retailers to have new touchpoints with their customers. Offering personal, authentic and thoughtful experiences across these channels only has positive outcomes for loyalty and sales levels.”
