Desk.com Research Uncovers What Millennials Expect from Customer Service

Millennials want social, fast customer service, and can be unforgiving of brands that fail to deliver great service

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Jun 25, 2015, 08:00 ET

SAN FRANCISCO, June 25, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Salesforce [NYSE: CRM], the Customer Success Platform and world's #1 CRM company, today released new research from Desk.com, "Crossing The Generational Divide: Providing Customer Service for Today's Consumers," which highlights what millennials expect from customer service compared to other generations.

Millennials—defined as 18-to-35-year-olds in 2015—are an increasingly influential generation, comprising more than one-third[1] of today's U.S. workforce. They also hold significant purchasing power, spending an estimated $200 billion annually. That figure is forecast to double by 2020[2]. The new third-party research[3], commissioned by Desk.com, shows how millennials will influence the future of customer service and that businesses need to adapt their offerings to meet the expectations of this increasingly powerful generation.

"You wouldn't give millennials an 8-track tape when they're asking for streaming music. Unlike boomers, who prefer traditional support channels like phone and in-person support, and generation X, who are more likely to search the web and online FAQs, millennials grew up in a social media culture of immediacy and personalization," said Hana Mandapat, director of customer evangelism, Salesforce Desk.com. "To connect with this important generation, every fast-growing SMB must deliver modern customer service that is seamlessly integrated with the social networks and apps used by millennials."

Millennials' Expectations for Customer Service: Social, Fast and Unforgiving of Brands that Don't Deliver

  • Four in five millennials would use social media for customer service and prefer it over web, phone or online chat. That's nearly twice the number of boomers, who prefer to call customer service over any other support channel.
  • Millennials ardently avoid calling customer service. In fact, 34 percent of them would rather have their teeth cleaned, 32 percent would rather go shopping on Christmas Eve and 26 percent would rather go to the DMV.
  • While 39 percent of millennials would first check an online FAQ, generation X is more likely than any other group to turn to the web for help, with 45 percent of them referencing a company's FAQ for information.
  • Among millennials, Facebook is the most popular social channel for customer service questions and is used twice as often as Twitter, which is the second most-used social media site.
  • Nearly 25 percent 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.
  • Millennials are unforgiving when it comes to poor service: nearly one quarter of them would boycott a company after one bad experience. Across generations, 82 percent of people would stop using a company after the third bad experience.

The research, commissioned by Desk.com, surveyed more than 2,000 individuals ages 18-65 between April 29 - May 12, 2015. The study examined generational preferences regarding customer service.

Desk.com is the all-in-one customer support app that empowers fast-growing companies to instantly deliver exceptional customer support and get a help desk up and running in hours or days. Fast-growing companies such as Luxe, Munchery and SoundCloud are using Desk.com to deliver amazing customer support. Desk.com customers on average experience a 42 percent faster response time, 38 percent increase in agent productivity, 36 percent increase in customer satisfaction and 27 percent decrease in support costs, according to research commissioned by Desk.com[4]. The full report, "Desk.com Customer Survey: Results & Analysis," is available for download.

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[1] Mary Meeker Internet Trends 2015
[2] http://www.bloomberg.com/bw/articles/2014-04-25/millennials-are-careful-frugal-shoppers-who-buy-for-the-long-term
[3] Survey conducted between April 29 and May 12, 2015 among 2,007 Americans ages 18-65. The margin of error is +/- 2.2 percent.
[4] Desk.com Customer Survey, February 2014, http://webassets.desk.com/resources/documents/casestudies/customer-survey-metrics.pdf

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