Accustomed to instant communication, millennials have higher customer service expectations than any previous generation. Salesforce research shows 64% of your millennial customers now expect service in real-time. 67% have higher expectations than they did just a year ago.
To meet the growing expectations of millennial consumers, contact centers are now in high demand. Cloud-based contact centers are taking over customer service. The contact center market is growing at an annual growth rate of 23.6%. It’s on track to increase from a value of $5.43 billion in 2016 to $15.67 billion by 2021.
Here are three reasons to consider a contact center to keep up with rising Millennial expectations.
Demand for Omnichannel Support
Traditional customer service prioritizes phone support. But for millennials, phone support takes a backseat to texting. Millennials use their smartphones for texting far more than they do for phone calls. 75% prefer texting to talking. At the same time, some service tickets require support over the phone or via other channels like email or social media.
Omnichannel marketing is the perfect solution for customers who use multiple touchpoints. This allows you to provide customers a seamless experience: Conversations migrate from one channel to another. You thus avoid the need to ask customers to repeat information they’ve already provided. This increases efficiency and boosts customer satisfaction.
The best way to meet millennials’ demand for omnichannel support is to adopt a contact center that provides a unified communications solution as your customer service platform. A unified platform provides representatives with a single, unified interface. They can field tickets from all support channels, including chat, texting, phone, email, and social media.
Preference for Self-Service Options
Another key to meeting millennial customer expectations is to provide self-service options. Millennials would rather solve their own problems than deal with a customer service representative. Four in 10 consumers now prefer self-service to human support, and seven in 10 expect websites to include self-service options. Nearly seven in 10 millennials say they feel good about themselves and about the company they’re dealing with when they can solve a problem on their own.
Unified cloud contact center solutions make it easy to integrate artificial intelligence (AI)-powered self-service channels. Chatbots and interactive voice response are two examples to tie into your customer service procedures. AI enables self-service options to rapidly distinguish between tickets that can be handled automatically. And those that need to be handed off to other channels can be transitioned in your unified system.
Other self-service options powered by AI include voice search in search engines and even in downloadable apps and business systems that millennial consumers have access to. On the other hand, some examples of content self-service options include how-to guides, video tutorials, FAQs, and Q&A sections of websites. Because these are tools that millennials can easily access, understand, and use, the number of calls that customer service departments receive is reduced.
Implementing a well-thought-out combination of various self-service options in your business can help you catch the attention and win the business of Millennial customers.
A desire for Personalized Service
Millennials also want customer service to be more personalized to their individual needs. Over five in 10 Millennials want access to personalized experiences and services. Half say they would be willing to share personal information in order to gain access to a rewards program.
Contact centers with unified communications capabilities make it easier to provide personalized service since you can integrate data from all support channels. This provides a 360-degree view of your customers’ purchase history and support tickets across all channels, enabling you to extend more customized service and marketing offers.
Offering personalized marketing services is possible with the help of an expert. For example, suppose you provide “software as a service” or a SaaS platform to your clients. In that case, it pays off to hire a digital marketing agency to help you create tailored marketing strategies for millennial customers. There are plenty of SaaS marketing agencies that you can choose from nowadays, offering complete and personalized services to help accomplish your business objectives.
In the retail or consumer market sector, digital marketing agencies can help e-commerce and brick-and-mortar entrepreneurs meet millennial customers’ expectations. For instance, a digital marketing agency can help you create your buyer personas (ideal customers) and segment your audience using social media marketing—a popular platform for marketing to millennials.
Meeting demands for omnichannel support, self-service options, and personalized service are three keys to satisfying millennial customer expectations. A cloud-based contact center is a great way to meet these expectations and ensure your millennial customers stay satisfied.