Millennials are Needed to Provide Customer Service

The shorthand used for webchats and social media is unique.

Most of us will recognise "lol", but how many who are not of the Millennial generation will know that "4COL" is a  sign of customer frustration - it means "For Crying Out Loud"?

Businesses need Millennials to provide customer service to the burgeoning number of Millennial customers; Millennials already see jobs in customer service as a career move.


Over 95 per cent of the Millennial generation uses a social network - not just to communicate socially, but to gather all sorts of information about new products, services and events in a peer-to-peer environment, and then, armed with this information, more and more consumers are starting to shop online.

With this growth in online communication and consumerism, comes the requirement for a customer service model that can deal with the needs and language of the Millennials.

Businesses need to be able to offer customers the same 'shop experience' on the web as they would get if they visited a high street store. In order to deliver this new wave of service demands and keep up with the changing nature of consumer demands, organisations can either re-train their most experienced employees, or they can recruit new advisers that are already fluent in these skills.

Millennials already have the skills necessary to interact with customers online and many of them are already looking at customer service
as the first step on a career ladder.

Keith Pearce, Senior Marketing Director, EMEA, Genesys explains:

"The Millennials are big consumers and most prefer chatting across the Internet. Businesses need to create and build new channels of communication to address their needs. Adding employees of the same age to conduct webchats and social media-related activity is far more effective and authentic than attempting to force another agent into the role.

"There is a distinct difference between the skillset required for telephone communications and those required for social media or email. Aside from the transition from spoken to written interactions, there is a new language to be learned - the shorthand used for webchats and social media is unique and not understanding it can mean lost customers. In addition, it is becoming increasingly important for agents to also be able to conduct multiple webchats simultaneously - as this approach makes it easier for a company to satisfy numerous consumer demands with one agent.

"A recent study by Hays, in conjunction with the Top 50 Call Centres for Customer Service, has showed that more graduates are seeking to start their careers in the contact centre, because of the opportunities and experience that they can be exposed to. In fact, according to the survey, a quarter of contact centre employees are already educated to degree level or above. As a result, businesses should be looking to profit from this source of Millennial employees, as the benefits to providing an authentic customer experience for the new generation of consumers is clear: it will increase revenue per customer and boost loyalty, which has proven long-term benefits to profitability." Info: http://www.genesyslab.com/.

Read more customer service news