This is What Millennials Expect From Your Customer Service

The influential millennials have a purchasing power to match, but how do they actually differ from other generations when it comes to customer service expectations?

Millennials, those roughly between 18 and 35 years-old in 2015, are incredibly powerful. In fact, Accenture has predicted that by 2020 the largest generation in history will annually spend £1.4 trillion in the US alone. That is an incredible amount and it is clear that you cannot afford to alienate this influential generation.

So what can you do to ensure that the service you're providing matches their requirements?

Salesforce has released new research from Desk.com, which highlights what millennials expect from customer service compared to other generations.

The findings make it clear that social media is the way forward for customer service, as four in five millennials prefer it over web, phone and online chat. That's nearly twice the number of baby boomers, who prefer to call customer service over any other support channel.

SEE ALSO: What Social Media Channel is Right For You?

Out of the social customer care channels available, Facebook is the most popular one among millennials, which is used twice as much as Twitter, the second most-used social media site for customer service.

Speed is key for this generation, as nearly 25 per cent of millennials expect to get a response within ten minutes of reaching out for customer service via social media, and more than 30 percent expect the same speed of response when posting a query via text messaging.

The one option they avoid the most is having to call customer service, with 34 percent of millennials stating they would rather have their teeth cleaned, 32 per cent said that they rather go shopping on Christmas Eve and 26 per cent would rather go to the DMV.

Checking an online FAQ is still an option for 39 per cent of millennials, but generation X is more likely than other generation to turn to the web for help, with 45 percent of them referencing a company's FAQ for information.

Whichever the channel chosen to contact a brand of company with a customer service query, millennials are unforgiving when it comes to poor service as early one quarter of them would boycott a company after one bad experience.

Across generations, 82 per cent of people would stop using a company after the third bad experience.

In short, social media and speediness of response are key. And you have to make sure you provide an excellent customer service straight away, or you may have lost the millennial customer forever.