Ryan Sullivan, SVP, Performance Services, Performics states that the ‘Generation Gap’ has been a hot topic for marketers as millennials take over baby boomers as the largest consumer segment. With this, marketers need to learn how to fit into the Generation Gap by addressing expectations in digital satisfaction
The generation gap has been a hot topic in marketing for quite some time and many argue that millennials have even overtaken the baby boomer generation as the largest marketing segment. But what does this really mean for brands and marketers trying to fit into the generation gap? The Digital Satisfaction Index™ (DSI)—a joint research study from Performics and The Northwestern University Medill School of Journalism, Media and Integrated Marketing Communications—revealed that millennials have much higher expectations than baby boomers when it comes interacting with brands online.
Millennials grew up in the age of technology and have come to expect much more from retailers and brands than their baby boomer counterparts. Millennials are more likely to make an online purchase vs. the general population (Ipsos, February 2016), and companies are making moves to best appeal to America’s largest generation (U.S. Census, April 2016), like Walmart and its recent acquisition of ecommerce company Jet.com.
In order to create the Digital Satisfaction Index, Performics and Northwestern University Medill School surveyed over 3,000 participants and identified four key factors of digital satisfaction: Utility, Privacy, Social and Trust, across four verticals: Retail, Household, Finance and Travel. Through the DSI, marketers gain valuable insight into how their brand can fit into the generation gap, and appeal to millennial satisfaction with regard to areas of interest like online privacy, information collection and personalization, the internet as a utility and general satisfaction with site and app experiences.
According to the DSI, millennials skewed higher than baby boomers in privacy satisfaction simply due to familiarity with topic. As digital natives, millennials are more accustomed to digitally sharing their lives with friends, family, and—increasingly so—like-minded consumers. They are also more likely to understand the implications of sharing personal details, in that the sharing platforms will use personal content to deliver more relevant advertising and commercial content. Though millennials are more tolerant when it comes to sharing private information, they have higher expectations for brands and platforms that trade in their personal details. The DSI reported lower millennial satisfaction scores in the utility category, indicating that many sites are missing the mark with millennials experientially. These sites are struggling to appeal to millennial expectations and will continue to see engagement lost to sites that better service millennial needs.
Baby boomers have issues with utility as well, but for different reasons—boomers may not fully grasp the power of the digital experience. Older users are less satisfied with a number of auxiliary factors like personalization (recommendations based on personal preference) and information gathering (the extent to which they can find what they need). In addition to understanding the depth of the experiences, baby boomers are also less familiar with the breadth of site options and nuance found online. Baby boomers’ narrowed view of digital experiences is likely a key factor in their generational dissatisfaction within the utility factor.
So, how can marketers use these generational satisfaction insights to create better experiences that drive performance?
- Understand Audience Intent: The foundation of any brand experience should be a deep understanding of audience needs, wants and barriers. For instance, the DSI shows that millennials are more open to sharing their own personal information with a site, and they are also more open to evangelizing their brand experiences with their peers. Marketers catering to millennials should embrace and enable this by creating functionality that allows millennials to personalize their experiences as well as comment, rate and evangelize to other customers.
- Put an Eye to Privacy: Depending on the intent of your generational audience, consider implementing privacy safeguards like cookie opt-in consent on your website. The DSI shows that baby boomers lack trust in brands when it comes to sharing personal information.
- Recognize that One Size Doesn’t Fit All: Digital satisfaction isn’t one-size-fits-all. To illustrate, a site that earns high marks in utility for millennials could fall flat with baby boomers. If catering to millennials, the DSI shows that brands can drive satisfaction in utility by delivering on any promise to personalize experiences using user data. But with baby boomers, utility satisfaction depends more on enabling users to fully grasp the functionality of the site.
As a marketer, catering to distinct differences in generations is a challenge. But understanding the intent behind a consumer is the first step to a satisfying digital experience.
