When it comes to customer service, companies of all sizes and segments have strived to offer the most modern and follow trends, but in doing so, they end up neglecting a part of the market that still likes or just knows how to do things “the old fashioned way” and which has the most characteristic representatives in the analogue natives.
Understanding how the “modernization” of the many modalities of care has produced the removal of an important contingent of consumers, is the main focus of our conversation today.
Who are analog natives?
Analog natives are usually considered to be those born before 1980 , a time when digital transformation was not yet significant and did not later affect them significantly in their way of life.
Those born after 1980 – Generation Y or Millennials, Generation Z and Alpha – to a lesser or greater degree, have already experienced many of the changes that technology and specialization between the Internet, produced in consumer and even interpersonal relationships.
In terms of Brazil, the analogue natives represent, according to the IBGE age pyramid, more than 40% of the population.
Digital Transformation and Analog Natives
Naturally, there is a contingent of analog natives who were not totally stuck in the past or in the times when everything was done on paper, in person and in more traditional consumer relationships and between people.
Find a Baby Boomer who has accounts on the most popular social networks, knows everything or a lot about new technologies, has a lot of digital content stored in the cloud, use one of the most expensive state-of-the-art cell phones and just buy it over the Internet, it’s not the most difficult task.
There are certainly a good amount of them and some even do as well as the digital natives, when it comes to involvement in the digital environment. However, they are not the majority.
Unlike those who cannot imagine a world without Instagram or Facebook, shopping other than through an app, or communicating with others without WhatsApp or Telegram , some of the analog natives who try to venture into this universe, often only do so out of absolute necessity.
For many of those who are halfway there, with one foot in the past and the other in the present, adhering to the modernization imposed by the market and by most companies, as well as by the new generations, is necessary so as not to be alienated and often literally excluded from the world.
Maybe it’s the only way to order a pizza or watch your favorite team play. To read the news from Brazil and the world. To talk and know what is happening with your children or grandchildren. Or even if you need to complain or have your right guaranteed.
In the midst of all this transformation, companies have played an important role, restricting their service channels and “relationship” to digital media, moving away from or limiting face-to-face contacts or where there is human interaction.
How many companies already offer only intelligent virtual assistants and have completely abolished human attendants? In many cases, telephone service is the last and most difficult option.
And even in small businesses this change has taken place, which is evidenced by the increasing number of pizzerias in the neighborhood that only accept orders through a cell phone application and which abolished the traditional leaflet with the list of flavors and prices.
It became increasingly common, when trying to obtain any type of information, to hear: “just access our ‘Insta’, our ‘Zap’ or our app”. Some even disclose phone numbers, but for exclusive service by Whats!
These companies seem to think that everyone is on social networks, that everyone has a smartphone, has access to the Internet and they are all advanced users in all associated tools.
They are unaware of the statistics and if they know each other, all consumers who are outside should not be important to them.
Why are there consumers outside the digital environment?
In fact, technology, modernization and much of what the Internet has made possible, has brought many facilities and conveniences. It saves time, economy, reach, availability, among other advantages and, therefore, it may seem strange to many people, to say the least, those who do not behave like them.
The main reason is the lack of empathy, that is, lack of ability to put yourself in the shoes of consumers and understand that they also have their motives and reasons for doing so:
- Eye to eye – many of the analog natives grew up in a world of face-to-face relationships, handshake, eye to eye and seeing the face of whoever was selling you something or paying you a service and that friends may even exist on social networks, but their bonds and memories with them were created in the real world;
- Trust – partly due to the above reason, it is difficult to trust – in a person or company – that he has never physically seen and that the most that can be seen is through a few photos. The process of building trust for many analog natives, goes through the type of relationships that prevailed in the past and that this lot of technologies have left in the background or worse, they no longer have any space;
- Insecurity in the digital world – the increasingly common cases and related news of data leakage, ransomware, website intrusions, phishing , spam and all the other problems that are so common in the digital world, contribute to making them feel insecure or even afraid to enter in a more participatory way;
- Social networks – if for some it is difficult to imagine what the world was like without social networks, for many analogue natives, human relationships were much richer, more profitable and incomparable to “friends” that you do, but you could never have a beer together or even give a hug;
- Lack of knowledge – for those who argue that nowadays there is a tuto rials that teach you how to do everything on the Internet, remember that for analog natives, the word “menu” was just a list of dishes in a restaurant and not the set of clickable options on a website or application. That is, before they learn how to do any procedure, they still need to learn a whole new language and terminology with which they are not familiar;
- No Internet access – if I lack confidence or fear, if I prioritize face-to-face and past human relationships, if I have no knowledge, why do I need access to the Internet? In addition to the fact that those people who do not have it for financial reasons, there are those who do not have it by choice;
- Averse to technology – a little because of everything we have seen so far and even by choice and/or conviction, there are in the analogue group those who are averse to new technology and innovations and only prefer the models they have grown up with -se.
Why bother with analog natives?
As we informed you, 4 out of 10 Brazilians are native speakers, which represents an immense universe that has been placed on the sidelines by many companies.
This by itself – more than 40% of “forgotten” – would be reason enough. But there is a good set of additional reasons, many of which are backed up by numerous surveys and studies:
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- Income – it is between 40 and 50 years of age that most people reach their peak income;
- Expenses – also from this age group that many people have already raised their children, they already have greater financial stability (own home, car, etc) and can direct their expenses with themselves and with what they think is appropriate;
- Loyalty – unlike younger people who are more fickle, analogue natives tend to be more loyal to brands , especially those who were able to experience more “traditional” consumption experiences;
- Competition – in a world in which companies increasingly favor digital natives, those that do not forget the analogue ones will have less competition from the former;
- Humanization ão – the humanization and personalization of the service, are aspects of high relevance for this segment of consumers, constituting an essential differential. When the company provides a service that takes into account personal characteristics and differences, it moves towards true personalization;
- Indications – the power of influence and indications are more consistent within the group itself than in the younger generations.
How to attend / treat analogue natives?
Once you have arrived here and you are convinced that it is necessary do something not to exclude such an important portion of consumers, you must be wondering what to do to serve them properly, right?
It is important to emphasize that it is not giving up the service chat or the area of your website that has dozens of tutorials, nor about abandoning social networks or retiring the app in which time and money was invested.
It’s not about going back to the past, to paper and to fax. But don’t forget that there are people for whom it is necessary to go a little further.
1. Survey
Nothing will be effective if it doesn’t start with a survey.
Give a voice and listen to your customers at every opportunity service, whether in person or remotely.
Create mechanisms for them to evaluate your service channels, make suggestions and disseminate them. Let them know how important it is to participate and, above all, how to do it.
Know how to interpret the criticism and propose the solutions that you like the most.
Not only a survey, but several and permanent, so that new information can always be fed for the constant improvement of the service channels, as in a PDCA.
two. Empathy
As already said, the essence is to have empathy for your customers.
That tutorial that can be basic or even expendable to a 10-year-old, it may seem Greek to a 65-year-old customer and therefore useless.
For this customer, a patient attendant who can spend a few minutes on the old man, but reliable and enlightening telephone service, it will be the difference between keeping you satisfied, or talking bad about you to the four winds and worse, looking for a competitor who does what you were not willing to do for him.
High chances of having a detractor in these cases.
3. Costs vs satisfaction
Many of the technologies that have been implemented, rather than being “better” according to customers’ evaluation, involve cost reduction, either in the short term , whether in the medium or long term.
It is undeniable that cost is an important component of the equation, but customer satisfaction should also be.
How many times have you considered losing or just letting go of that 40%+? Did what you reduced make up for it?
4. Standardization vs Customization
Standards are important, but even more so is distinguishing a standard operating procedure from mechanization or impersonal care, or worse yet, lack of sensitivity and interest by the customer.
The “parrot” attendant who repeats service scripts and always points out the same solutions, regardless of the customer, is not following standards, but is being a robot and going against the grain of personalization service.
A true service professional must be able to identify when his client needs to receive something more, when to resort to alternatives and even when necessary, make exceptions.
5. Customer that doesn’t complain
Customer that doesn’t complain is not synonymous with satisfied customer!
Remember everything we’ve talked about this group so far. If it is difficult for him even having the basics of service, it will also be difficult to complain and often it just shuts up and you will only know your dissatisfaction when you have lost it, or at most, when – and if you do – a survey to identify the Net Promoter Score (NPS) .
Here at this point, we return to the first point, that is, it is important that you give him a voice, but through the means that he feels comfortable speaking. It’s no use using a search form that is difficult to understand or find.
Conclusion
New technologies and the Internet have driven companies away from the natives analogue. It is essential to understand this audience and how to relate to it.
