We love to talk about experience. Customer experience? Yep! Employee experience? Absolutely. Just scroll down our "Trending Topics" page and you will see more than a few experience-based posts. This one has to do with how Gen Z is actually raising the bar on customer experience. Their expectations across the board raise the standards on rating customer experiences.
A recent PWC study entitled, "Experience is Everything," explains why it's so imperative that companies get this right. A portion of the study looked at what Gen Z had to say about experience, and companies that want to be successful in the future need to take note. The reality is that Gen Z is not that different after all. Consider what Gen Z participants said with regard to what matters to them: (percentages of consumers who would pay more for elements of customer experience)
- Mobile experience: Gen Z = 63% - rest of generations = 54%
- Fun: Gen Z = 60% - rest of generations = 52%
- Design: Gen Z = 59% - rest of generations = 50%
- Company loyalty (5 yrs ago): Gen Z = 47% - rest of generations = 32%
- Company loyalty (1 yr ago): Gen Z = 40% - rest of generations = 24%
- Trust: Gen Z = 39% - rest of generations = 28%
- Brand personality: Gen Z = 32% - rest of generations = 19%
PWC asks and answers this question about customer experience: "What truly makes for a good experience? Speed. Convenience. Consistency. Friendliness. And one big connector: human touch—that is, creating real connections by making technology feel more human and giving employees what they need to create better customer experiences."
The demand is for a seamless integration of technology and human customer interaction...instantaneously. There is not a lot of room for error either! Even when people love a company or product, more than half will walk away after several bad experiences and nearly one in three say they would walk away from a brand they love after just one bad experience.
Lastly, the article leaves us with three points to grapple with:
- Really know what your customers want! Your customers have demands and they may not be what you think.
- Customers generate revenue. Employees drive the experience.
- Technology can't solve experience problems so focus on the employee experience to improve and drive up customer experience.
For more insights on improving the customer experience, try: What's the best way to achieve a positive customer experience?