LAS VEGAS—It seems credit unions discuss the issue on a daily basis, but there remain a lot of misconceptions around Millennials, according to one Millennial.
Curt Steinhorst of the Center for Generational Kinetics, which does generational research and solutions, especially with Millennials (Gen Y) and Gen Z (iGen), agreed the generation comes with all kinds of challenges, the likes of which most in credit union management and boards have never seen. Steinhorst is a Millennial himself.
“But it also comes with strategic opportunities, the likes of which you have never seen,” said Steinhorst in remarks to the Directors and CEOs Leadership Convention here.
Many of those opportunities, however, require those in earlier generations, especially Baby Boomers, to see Millennials from the Millennial point of view and to challenge their own biases.
“We’re the easiest generation to please,” said Steinhorst. “You just have to stop talking to us. We have the least established loyalty. That’s not disloyal, we just haven’t established loyalty. This is a generation that is totally up for grabs, and credit unions are uniquely suited and their values align with the very things we’re talking about. You must understand we research, we purchase, and we decide where to put our money differently than any other generation. If you don’t understand this, you will assume we do these things like you did.”
Steinhorst offered three trends as drivers of Millennials, based on research his organization has done:
1. Parenting
“The number one trend you have to understand is parenting,” said Steinhorst. “The way we are raised by our parents is the greatest indicator of how we are going to want to engage with you. And Millennials’ parents are Baby Boomers. You Boomers want it to be easier for your children than it was for you. Hear me clearly, Boomers: Mission accomplished! Why is this so important? Because it’s what this philosophy has created, and it’s the number-one characteristic associated with this generation: Entitlement.”
One irony, said Steinhorst after his audience made clear they agreed Millennials demonstrate attitudes of entitlement, is that the group that is most offended by this attitude is other Millennials, especially those who are on the front-end of the generation.
“We have one segment entering their worth accumulation years, getting what we call ‘real world traction.’ No one talks about that group. We have this other group everyone is talking about. Often what is thought of as entitlement isn’t entitlement, its just that we don’t know any better. If you don’t do this, someone else will.”
Where the effects of parenting are also being felt is in delayed childhood among Millennials, according to Steinhorst.
“Every major marker of adulthood has been pushed back later than ever before,” he said. “Debt impacts this. The economy impacts this. But parenting is the number-one factor. We asked Millennials at what age do you become an adult? Most in this room will say 18. Millennials said 30.”
What credit unions misunderstand, in particular, said Steinhorst, is the myth that Millennials don’t want to own a car or house. “That is absolutely not true. The #1 goal of Millennials is to buy a house. Only a quarter of us currently own houses, but by 2020 more than 70% will.”
2. Technology
Steinhorst noted that while his audience has seen tremendous change in technology during their lives, many Millennials, especially younger members, have not.
“Technology is only new when something comes before,” said Steinhorst, noting for Millennials the technology they use has always been available. “It’s very important to understand how this has shaped us. Many of the things you hear about Millennials are wrong. Millennials have a reputation that they are tech savvy. It is not true. We do not know how technology works. We get this reputation because we’re always on our phones. Who created the iPhone? Boomers. It’s actually Gen X that’s tech savvy. We are not tech savvy, we are tech dependent. We need it, we do not know how it works. By the time technology got to us the question was how easy is the user experience. Often, people try to add all this complexity to grab the Millennial generation, when what we really need is for it to be simple. It has permanently altered the way we want to communicate.”
Steinhorst said the number-one way Millennials want to interact with their credit union is via text. Number two, often misunderstood, is email, but that comes with a caveat.
“Millennials, distinctly, only read the subject line of emails; other generations open the email and decide,” he said. “Millennials aren’t even going that far before making a decision. There is a lot of noise the Millennials hate email, but the volume doesn’t align with that.”
3. Social Media
Millennials, said Steinhorst, have come to believe that if they have a problem with an organization, the fastest route to resolution is using social media as a channel.
“Two things that are absent here: the telephone call, which we think is rude and an invasion of privacy. I’m not saying that’s right or wrong, it’s just the perception. The second one that makes us uncomfortable is face-to-face communication. You learned communication at the dinner table and talking to one another. We didn’t.”
Some Practical Advice & Suggested Tagline
So how can credit unions better engage Millennials (and the generations that will follow) as members or prospective members?
“I have had the opportunity to work with several credit unions on this issue,” said Steinhorst. “You should be encouraged. One person said to me, ‘We can’t compete with the big corporate brands.’ Millennials don’t like the big corporate brands. We like the local, the human, but you have to spotlight that. We are looking to work with individuals we can trust. Here is a tagline for working with Millennials: ‘As unique as you are.’ How are you not like every other bank? Spotlight it. If you treat us like a number, we’re out.”
Steinhorst urged credit unions to recognize it’s critical that all communications with Millennials need to be “as visual as possible. Literally, everything needs to be visual. We have low attention spans. Make every step easy and visual. If you are making the steps hard and complex, all you’re doing is making sure we don’t come to you.”
As an example, internally, Steinhorst cited the dress codes at CUs and what’s meant by “business casual,” which often has a different connotation to Millennial employees than it does their bosses. “Take a photo of how you want an employee to dress, and show it to them.”