One Thing To Know About Millennials

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If you are still one of the many Bankers whose head still spins when trying to unravel the enigma that is the Millennial, you’re not alone. This group, among all customer types, comes up the most when discussing Branch Transformation projects, who to target, how to appeal, and who to attract.

These successors to Gen X, (who are also called Gen Y), and are now the precursor to Gen Z, are still mostly and universally referred to as Millennials, and are still just as misunderstood and continue to mystify marketers, bankers, and heck, even their parents to this day.

When you actually break this cohort down, depending on the varying timelines that are considered legitimate, Millennials tend to occupy about a 15+/- year time horizon. That alone is confounding when you think about it. The first Millennials born in the early 80’s have likely been parents for a while now, and the “youngest” of this group may very well be parents in their own right by now.

We’re not going to sit here and tell you we’ve figured it out. What we will tell you is that nobody has really figured it out, and maybe that’s just the point. There are simply too many variables based on age ranges, socio-economic classes and cultural influences for anyone to tell you Millennials are just one thing.

BUT – if there was one commonality among this group, especially when it comes to shopping (and banking), it is the need for an experience.

Afterall, this group’s formative years were developed during the digital age. Gen Xers still remember the days of rabbit ears on TV’s, writing letters (and mailing them) to friends across the country (girlfriends in the Niagara Falls area) and going to the library to research something.

With Millennials, video games were omni-present and the Internet Age matured to a point where friends were just a click away and research papers were started and finished on a couch in the Living Room.

What is missing in all this is the human experience.

Millennials want a company they can believe in and a company that gives them a good experience. It may actually be this simple.

In Banking terms, the “belief” part can be solved by running an organization with morals, a strong philanthropic arm and deep roots in the community. You likely already have that in spades. The “experience” part – maybe not so much.

Experience for bankers needs to be thought of in terms of Omni-Channel: online banking, mobile banking and in-branch banking. Many bankers have focused much over the past years to stand up best in class online and mobile banking experiences, but the retail banking component is now starting to catch up.

Afterall, the data still supports the fact that customers choose the branch as their primary vehicle when opening an account, applying for a loan, seeking financial advice and making a deposit.

So, this begs the question, if the branch is not in fact dead, and customers are still choosing to come into the branch – make their trip worthwhile and provide a great experience.

This is easier said than done.

If you’d like to discuss ways to improve your overall customer experience in the branch, LEVEL5’s team of experts will be more than happy to discuss ways others have executed strategies and how we can customize a way for you to implement best-in-class customer experience, Contact Us today.