We know that Millennials will be critical to our businesses in the next decade, but... How can we surprise them? What makes them significantly different from other generations? Let's review some of the most relevant insights about this generation:
1· Diversity and heterogeneity. They are a generation with more different and varied backgrounds and cultures than they were years ago. In addition, their demographic label is too broad. A 30-year-old Millennial will have more in common with a 35-year-old X gene than with another 22-year-old Millennial. This is why it is important to use other labels such as digital natives, generation X, Y and Z when designing commercial actions (and which, by the way, are more used in Sociology).
2· High levels of stress, anxiety and social pressure, to which they never get used to, due to the constant effervescence of new social networks. They are looking for brands that can help them with these tasks. They feel unprotected and are looking for brands that reinforce their personal brand, their status, their “digital” footprint. Because a generation overexposed to the tyranny of social networks needs to transmit an exciting life full of adventures. It needs brands to provide them with content and experiences worthy of being “told” and “shared”.
3· Addicted to fun. They expect to be entertained and amused in unlikely contexts for other generations. As we have said, they are addicted to positive reinforcement and praise. They reject messages that fuel uncertainty or their aversion to loss. They are not very disciplined and therefore demand gamified solutions (e.g. motivated savings).
4· They live in the present. They spend on experiences that transform them and/or help them explore the world. They contemplate sabbatical years and long breaks in their professional careers. They seek more balance between their personal and professional aspirations, they demand time for themselves... they know that, what they don't experience now, they won't live later. That's why they are willing to pay for all those shopping experiences that bring gratification closer to time and/or avoid procrastination. Millennials don't take out deposits, they open “subsidized” savings accounts that help them achieve their dreams faster and/or make their projects a reality.
5· Ambiguity about the future has made them more reckless and risky than ever. Somehow, they have become used to living with a certain amount of uncertainty, and have even become “hooked” on it, fleeing routine and monotony. The generation of the 70s had the most definite path. I knew that I could study, that I would then work and that later I would start a family... Today that path has become a labyrinth with very few safe options. That's why they don't think about the future... they don't save... for what? On the contrary, they assume greater risks and only consider vital projects in the short term. They don't want to be civil servants, but entrepreneurs... trusting that this way they will be more in control of their destiny. Only in the financial sphere are they more conservative than expected.
6· Fewer in-person visits and more self-service. Technology has made them independent long before they became adults. “Being young” ceased to be a stage of transition between childhood and adult life. When autonomy becomes a characteristic of today's youth, it is not necessary to be an adult or to become one quickly. This “widening of the world” causes young people to postpone classic social and cultural goals (jobsabbaticals, women who decide to become mothers at 40), but also, who demand more autonomy when it comes to solving their problems. They don't like to depend on a third party, and in fact, if they could, they would dispense with 25% of the companies they interact with today.
7· They can't stand “obvious” advertising. They penalize brands that interrupt them with boring or repetitive messages, disconnected from the time and place, and above all, not adapted to the channel (transmedia campaigns adapted to the broadcast channel, especially the mobile one, achieve 56% more effectiveness). They don't want 2x1 promotions, they want marketing campaigns worth counting on Facebook. And be careful! Because if you interrupt them while they're watching their favorite series, they'll probably remove you from their “Wishlist”. That's why Netflix opts for Product Placement in its original series. We are talking about the generation with the most Adblockers installed on their devices.
8· Fast-paced lives. They are extremely impatient and react aggressively when their plans are frustrated or slowed down. Millennials have a much lower degree of tolerance than Generation X. Millennials place high expectations on brands, as they compare us to apps and new business models that have broken service standards in countless sectors (Uber, Holaluz, Airbnb, etc.). In a way, technology has gotten them unused to it, and they expect us to rescue them from all kinds of obstacles and setbacks... in 1 click.
9· They seek in consumption a moral guide and a spirituality that they have lost in other facets of their lives, sometimes bordering on fanaticism or religion. Brand rituals... communities, a meaning beyond the commercial transaction... which is why more and more lifestyles or consumption options emerge, many of them incoherent with each other.
10· The importance of the context or vital moment. Many studies talk about Millennials without taking into account that many of them are starting to become parents. For example, the Study Meet the (Millennial) Parents offers a very complete view of Millenials who are taking up fatherhood for the first time, and explains how this vital moment completely changes their habits and priorities.
As we have been able to verify throughout these myths and findings, the Millennial generation faces the same challenges, concerns and challenges as previous generations, although they face them differently, manifesting new behaviors and motivations. And the best way to identify these new consumer habits and behaviors is using Experience Design tools adapted to this group.
It is worth starting to rethink our experiences based on what this group values and expects. The first step is to understand how Millennials talk, how they think and, above all, how they buy. And we wanted to make it easy for you with this kit of essential tools to enter the minds and lives of your new customers. Have a good time!
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