Last week, we looked at speed and how the cost of making customers wait is steeper than most businesses realise. This week, we’re looking at channel choice \u2014 and starting with something that will challenge a few assumptions.<\/p>\n
Picture how they prefer to contact you when something goes wrong.<\/p>\n
If you imagined a chat window or a social media DM, you’re not alone. Most businesses make the same assumption. Most businesses are wrong.<\/p>\n
According to McKinsey’s 2024 customer care research, around 70% of Gen Z customers prefer a phone call when facing a problem they can’t resolve themselves. One financial services company in the study found its Gen Z customers were 30 to 40% more likely to call than millennials \u2014 and used the phone as often as baby boomers.<\/p>\n
The generation that texts, streams, and scrolls more than any other still picks up the phone when it matters.<\/p>\n
Here’s the insight worth sitting with: channel preference isn’t really a demographic question. It’s a question of complexity.<\/p>\n
Customers across every generation<\/strong><\/span> are perfectly comfortable with digital channels and self-service for routine interactions. Check a balance, track an order, update an address \u2014 chat, SMS, and self-service handle all of that well.<\/p>\n