Generation Z is the future customer of every business.
Generation Z, the first generation born in the 21st Century, is the generation born with the Internet in their pocket. Their first digital device was a smart phone! They connect to the world, and your business, through social media. Importantly, they spend a higher percentage of their money online than any other generation.
This is a generation shaped by a world created by their parents and grandparents. They were born into global terrorism, a Great Recession and climate change. As a result this generation is fiscally conservative.
They are also engaged on social equality and environmental issues.
Their global connectivity cuts across country boundaries. Through this connectivity they feel a stronger affinity for fellow Generation Z members than with members of other generations in their own country. As a business your Generation Z customers will have a lot in common even if they live in Paris, Beijing, Mexico City or New York.
Generation Z is the future customer of every business. Today they represent approximately 25% of the U.S. population. They currently have $44 billion of annual buying power.
If you thought your business had to adopt to the millennial generation then get ready for really big changes from a Generation Z that feels a strong sense of urgency and expects businesses to be part of their solution to the issues they confront.
How Generation Z Views Your Brand
Generation Z uses their social media connections to evaluate your company and products. A company that does wrong in one country will lose credibility with Generation Z around the world. It is not what you advertise that will engage Generation Z.
What is posted around the world by Generation Z on their social media with define your company’s brand. Corporate social responsibility is the path to product brand engagement for Generation Z.
How To Win The Generation Z Customer
Generation Z was also born into the Green Economic Revolution. They expect the businesses they work with to have green supply chains that minimize human and environmental impacts.
They question the ownership of things . They embrace the sharing economy for its ability to leverage their money and reduce waste. Renting, sharing and downloading are their preferred commercial paths.
You win a Generation Z customer by offering them a fiscally prudent path to a meaningful result. They seek to rent, share or download from businesses that have a purpose beyond the transaction.
This is not idealism. Generation Z expect their expenditures to align with the solutions they seek around social equality, climate change, individual freedom and human health. To win the business loyalty of Generation Z you need to be viewed a solution to one of their key issues.
Four Steps To Selling Generation Z
1. This is the generation with the 8 second filter.
It is incorrect to believe they have a short attention span. They are the generation born into Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.
Their attention is overwhelmed by tweets and posts. They have developed the attention capacity for dealing with this volume by scanning things in 8 seconds.
So step one in winning a Generation Z customer is to have social media postings that are relevant to them with eye catching visuals.
Next- Three More Steps to Sell Generation Z
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2. The second step is to give them membership in a community where they pioneer the experience.
Think opening the shop door and then letting them take the lead in engaging. Apple is a leader in this type of membership building engagement. Their customers identify themselves as being part of the Apple community.
Apple engages them to explore their physical stores, work at the Genius Bar, shop the iTunes store and run their lives off of downloaded apps. Apple’s business model is what Generation Z was born into!
3. A third step is to give Generation Z their voice.
They were born in a digital world of sharing their experiences online and viewing the experiences of fellow Generation Z members. Creating a path for them to amplify their sharing will keep them engaged around your business and products.
Even more so, can your business create for them added social currency? How can your business enable their posted pictures or experiences to be viewed by a larger audience of their peers?
Successfully answering those questions will push your business to loyal engagement with Generation Z. If you need a business example then think Disney, masters at engaging Generation Z around the world.
4. Finally, the most telling step for winning Generation Z is to enable them to make an impact.
60% of them want to make a difference. Inspire and engage them with unconventional solutions to the traditional problems they inherited. This is a generation with a strong sense of urgency to act. Focus on their now…actions really speak louder than words to this generation.
Enable them to realize the sustainable solutions this generation seeks that are more efficient, less wasteful and have lower environmental impacts to win their loyalty and commercial transactions.
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3 Actions to Win Millennial Customers