Introduction
A month back, we asked a question in the company’s common group.
How many Gen Z work at purpleScape?
The answer was a whopping 35%.
It was a pretty huge number considering the oldest gen Z member would be 24 years old and the youngest would be 9. With a few searches on the internet, I soon figured that out.
I was really surprised about this information and went on to read about Gen Z. That led to figuring out the most fascinating facts and trivia about Gen Z. Jeez! I was oblivious to the paradigm shift happening across the globe.
Thought of surmising the facts and trivia that I read that may or may not be news to you!!
Intriguing Facts of Gen-Z
Gen Z, a cohort of over 1.8 billion people, accounts for a quarter of the world’s population. So, what is interesting or new about it? It is the way the demography works right?
Gen Z are also known as digital natives. What does it mean? They were born with a gadget in their hand, started with a desktop and now they have smartphones as their sixth finger, or is that a third hand? Let Homosapien evolution give us another hand to hold our smartphones. Gartner says 70 percent change their smartphones every 3 months to 6 months(Trivia).
Does it make them special? Here comes the interesting part. They comprise more than half of the global workforce as of 2022 and will become 75 percent globally in 2025. And.. And… Here comes the fascinating part, they have a combined spending power of $2.5 trillion. That’s the piece of the cake or the full cake that everyone wants. They decide where to spend what to spend on… Decision-makers of the economy.
The prime target of every business is now Gen Z. Lots and Lots of research is undertaken to understand Gen Z, and millions of dollars are spent for this purpose. Spending millions to gain billions from Whom? None other than Gen Z, aka YOU. You are in the limelight and that is what your generation enjoys.
Your affinity for technology is impeccable. It is no more a show-off wielding a smartphone, it is the utility and the VFM, value for money for you. The most important thing in your life is no more your family, home, or car, but your smartphone. The panic button goes on/off when your cell phone goes missing!! We all know it is still under the heaps of your unwashed clothes or under the clutter on your bed. But you can’t find it. Why? Because your phone is in silent mode, Hey! forgot to tell you that you are paranoid about sound. (Trivia)
You are very different from others. What’s the big deal about it? Everyone is unique is your USP. But how different are you? You are more educated than your parents and tech-savvy. You no longer believe your parent’s words, but search or cross-check in Wikipedia or in articles on the internet (It could have been blogged by your dad/mom). You don’t want to share your life events with your family but document all your life on social media. You dislike being told what to do and like to always explore on your own. Is it right or wrong? Do you really care about being right or wrong?
What are you actually? You are an outward-looking, aspirational population who wants easy access to anything that you wish for. Is that enough? No, You want instant access. I want Gongura Biryani, Vegetable lollipops, and Margherita Pizza. Are you really going to rely on your mom to make it? No way. She will give you a grocery list. Better call Swiggy, Zomato. Wait a minute. Did I say call? You never like to talk. What do you do then? You have apps for everything, Fitness, banks, food, grocery delivery, utilities, shopping, and everything on or in the multiverse.
Then, do you like mobile apps? Not at all. Technology is not keeping up with your likes and dislikes, whims, and fancies. The sequential ToDo list does not work for you. FIFO does not work for you either. LIFO is what you want. Instant gratification.
What are you comfortable now with? You like messaging. You like to chat. How long will this tango with the chatbot go on for you? Google or Microsoft or Apple may know.
You like to talk on the phone for a max of 45 seconds (Trivia). If the call extends more than that, it is boring for you, leave alone the GF or BF or BFF out of it.
You like chatbots to communicate for the services that you want. Are you comfortable with automated chatbots? No, you want a customized, personalized one. You will go for a readymade shirt, but you need a chatbot with a personalized humane touch. This is were Conversational AI plays a crucial role in customer engagement.
You are very good at determining what is important to you and what is not. Does advertising work for you? If you don’t like it, you will just swipe and won’t even remember that you swiped past it. (Left swipe or right swipe in Tinder?)
If the chatbots are having a personal touch, are you comfortable with it? Not at all, you need effective community management. A community manager should be available to take over customer support issues that crop up on chatbots and answer your problems on social and messaging platforms. God only knows on which platform you will vent out your anguish. They should instantly reply to you without asking multiple questions about the problem you faced.
Given a choice, you are more likely to give a bot a chance to provide an immediate answer than to send an email or pick up the phone.
As a generation, you will wait in line at midnight for the latest iPhone release but will cancel the delivery order if it is late by 5 minutes. If you are enthusiastic you are ready to go to any lengths to embrace it. Be it new technology or the latest gadgets. But the most commendable part is you understand and embrace your role as influencers of developing technologies, that is where bots thrive, where they learn your needs and preference to grow and improve themselves.
You are used to being connected all of the time. If you need information, if you want to make a purchase, or to interact with someone, you can do so at any time. It’s just a matter of grabbing your phone and opening up the app of your choosing. Chatbots have been designed to work within these apps.
When it comes to the Instagram mobile app, you are spending approximately 26 hours in a week(trivia) or all your waking minutes on that alone. It only makes sense that brands would create bots to meet the largest consumer group where they have put their tent on. We have millions of chatbot accounts on Instagram for shopping, services, and what not? Perennial tracking of your browsing, likes, and most visited pages is all fed into the chatbots.
I messaged my daughters (Gen Zs) that I am writing about Gen Z and chatbots, will they be able to read and provide feedback?
The instant message was how long is it? I messaged it should be around 1500 plus words.
Again the instant message was sent as a voice note can’t read that big stuff.
I understood why podcasts like Spotify and other audiobooks came into the foray, but you don’t like sound right? And you like to message or chat? Why this Anomaly?
