The Modern Customer Podcast

It’s the time of year when everyone is making New Year’s resolutions and setting goals for the coming year.  What do you hope to achieve in 2021? How do you want to improve yourself and your career?  For many of us, it’s been a complicated year and we’re looking for some change and improvement.  But too often we fall into the trap of thinking we have to reinvent the wheel and start completely fresh. If we want to make more money, we have to start a brand new business. If we want to lose weight, we have to go on a crash diet.  But that’s not true—you don’t have to start completely over to find success and happiness.  Instead of setting New Year’s resolutions, I follow the 5% rule. Each day, I try to be 5% better than the day before. I’m not starting over from nothing; I’m building on what I already have and trying my best to improve every day. I don’t have to start over to get healthy or build a successful business. I work with what I have and improve it piece by piece. Over time, the 5% rule ends up increasing and accelerating the changes I’m trying to make.  2020 was a rough year. Instead of beating ourselves up when we don’t achieve our lofty goals, we need to show ourselves grace and kindness. Talk to yourself kindly and do the best you can. Instead of feeling the pressure to create this big, amazing thing over night, the 5% rule lets you try your best every day and make small, incremental improvements.  We don’t need more rules. Instead, we need to give ourselves love and nourishment. We need to check in with ourselves emotionally to really see how we are doing and how we can grow and improve.  Make 2021 your year, but don’t feel like you have to do it all at once. Be kind to yourself. Aim to be 5% better each day and simply do your best. Over time, you’ll find you’ve reached where you want to be and become the best version of yourself. To keep improving yourself and continue your entrepreneurial journey in 2020, be sure to check out the BYOB Podcast and our YouTube Channel for proven tips and useful advice.   Blake Morgan is a customer experience futurist, keynote speaker, and author of the bestselling book The Customer Of The Future. Sign up for her new course here. For regular updates on customer experience, sign up for her weekly newsletter here.   

What’s the word of the year for customer service?  According to business and CX expert Shep Hyken, it’s empathy.  Hyken has years of experience in customer service and is a popular speaker and author. Like all of us, he saw the dramatic challenges businesses faced in 2020 and the pivots they had to make. Businesses and customers are adjusting to their new way of interacting and facing constant change, especially as we head into the new year.    Here are some of Shep Hyken’s predictions for 2021:  Customers Continue To Get Smarter Today’s customers know what good customer service is. They experience it every day from companies like Amazon and Zappos and have come to expect and demand it from other businesses. Customers are learning from great companies and want that level of service in all their interactions.  Customers Are Becoming Impatient Modern customers want what they want now. They’ve gotten used to getting their shipments within hours or overnight and now want everything right away. Companies need to meet that demand with quick service and delivery.  Customers Expect Convenience Today’s busy customers are willing to pay for convenience. A study by Hyken found that more than 67% of consumers are willing to pay more for a convenient experience, and that number jumps to 90% if that experience includes delivery. Convenience matters and goes a long way with customers, and they are willing to pay for that convenience.  Personalization Is Getting More Personal Customers want an experience that is unique to them. They want and expect companies to know their preferences and experiences. Some companies are going further with micro-personalization that is tailored to each person’s unique experience with specific product recommendations and preferences, not just general genres.  Companies Are Getting Automation Happy Companies need a strong digital system to compete and deliver great experiences, but so many companies fall into the trap of relying too heavily on automation and not enough on the human experience. Hyken believes some companies get enamored with technology and use it to replace the human experience, which is a big mistake. The best companies create digital experiences but can seamlessly transition customers to humans if needed. There needs to be a balance between human and digital.  Problems Can Be Predicted In a perfect world, if a problem can be predicted, it can be solved before the customer even knows about it. The most successful companies are continually looking for potential problems big and small and then proactively solving them before customers even realize they have a problem.    The bottom line of delivering great customer service in 2021 is simply to be nice. Customers expect convenience and personalization, but more than anything they want to interact with individuals and companies who are nice. No matter what happens in the future, kindness will always be on-trend. Blake Morgan is a customer experience futurist, keynote speaker, and author of the bestselling book The Customer Of The Future. Sign up for her new course here. For regular updates on customer experience, sign up for her weekly newsletter here. 

Every year, I make predictions for what’s to come in the world of customer experience. After doing this for seven years, I’ve gotten pretty good at predicting trends that really do end up influencing businesses and customers. But in 2020, no one could have predicted the COVID-19 pandemic.   It’s been a tough year. Between the pandemic, shutdowns and economic downturn, we’ve also faced environmental issues, a divisive election in the U.S., racial injustice and much more.  These events might not seem tied to customer experience, but we don’t live or work in a  bubble—we’re affected by what happens all over the world. And we’ll definitely be feeling the effects of this year for years to come.  With that in mind, here are my five customer experience predictions for 2021: 1 . How We Live And Work Has Forever Changed Thanks To COVID. Nearly every aspect of life and business this year was upended because of COVID. Although a vaccine is making great progress, we will be seeing the impact of the pandemic for at least the next five to ten years. Although most people want to get back to some semblance of normal life, they are hesitant to go back to how things were.  2 . 2021: Year Of The Uncomfortable Conversation. 2020 brought about a lot of uncomfortable conversations on topics ranging from health and safety to layoffs, Black Lives Matter and supporting women and essential workers. These conversations will intensify in 2021 as individuals and companies will have to look inwardly to address these major concerns and help support underrepresented groups that have been hit especially hard this year. Customers will expect companies to take a stand and really make a difference. 3 . Putting Employees And Customers Above Profits. Many companies made huge efforts in 2020 to support their employees and customers, even if that meant their profits suffered. They invested in employee relief funds and increased benefits, while also listening to customers and providing great service. That trend will continue, and the companies that focus on people instead of profits will see great success. 4 . Ecommerce Rose Immensely And Touchless CX Makes Unignorable Leap. Companies were forced to pivot this year as stores were shut down and in-person shopping was limited. Companies across all industries have increased their e-commerce offerings. And now that customers have experienced delivery and pickup, they don’t want to go back to how things were. Touchless CX will make huge leaps in 2021 as brands work to build experiences for customers who feel vulnerable. In the coming year, brands will have to adopt digital models and creative touchless solutions. 5 . B2B Pivot. B2B companies struggled in 2020 because they depend on in-person conferences and networking that was cancelled or moved online. A number of B2B companies have already pivoted to new ways to connect with customers, and other companies must follow suit. B2B companies have to double down on customer experience through digital transformation and using thought leadership to generate leads because what worked in the past doesn’t work anymore.  In many ways, 2020 has set the stage for CX in 2021. As we come out of a difficult year, customers are looking for ease and personalization. They want companies to adapt and make a real difference in society. These trends show just how much 2020 changed us and how we can continue to recover and evolve in 2021. Blake Morgan is a customer experience futurist, keynote speaker, and author of the bestselling book The Customer Of The Future. Sign up for her new course here. For regular updates on customer experience, sign up for her weekly newsletter here. 

After a wild 2020, many companies are looking forward to 2021 and hoping to proactively engage with customers instead of reactively building or changing programs and services.  But just because 2021 is a new year doesn’t mean 2020 is gone and forgotten. The global pandemic and unrest of the year will stick with customers for the long term and greatly influence how they interact with companies going forward. With more virtual events and interactions than ever before, customers want human connection.  The 2021 Deloitte Global Marketing Trends Report highlights seven trends shaping customer experience and business growth in 2021: Purpose, Agility, Trust, Talent, Participation, Fusion and Human Experience. Understanding these trends can help brands drive connection and engagement.  Although each trend is unique and stands on its own, Deloitte CMO Suzanne Kounkel says the trends also work together to support and influence each other. A company that has built strong trust will also likely have a strong sense of participation, for example, while a company lacking in trust likely won’t have as strong of customer participation or human experience.  Of the seven trends, Kounkel says the most important may be purpose and agility. If a company or brand isn’t grounded in a purpose, it’s hard to land any of the other trends. Customers want to see the purpose of a brand and feel trust in an organization. It’s no longer just about making a purchase or doing business—it’s about building real connections with a brand, participating and believing in its greater purpose.  Kounkel says that in a roller coaster year like 2020, it’s important for companies to have purpose as their guiding course. People need to understand why things are being done because how they are being done is changing so quickly. The purpose keeps employees, customers and organizations moving steadily towards a goal or vision, even with the turbulences of chaos and uncertainty.  An organization’s purpose has to start at the top. Kounkel believes most organizations have a purpose, but many companies fall flat because their purpose isn’t embedded or understood in a way that helps the company move forward. She recommends organizations and leaders perform a soul-searching exercise to determine their purpose. Be pragmatic and dogmatic, but do it quickly, because customers expect companies to have strong purposes that resonate in everything they do.  Agility is also a powerful trend going into 2021. The year 2020 showed just how crucial agility is as companies were forced to pivot quickly with little warning. COVID has changed customer expectations, and consumers now expect brands to be more agile than ever before. Now, as we work through the pandemic, brands are starting to get back to doing what they want to do. For months we spent time doing what we had to do, but the agility now in place gives brands more freedom to get back to what they and their customers actually want to do.  A new year brings a new slate. Customers want more connection than ever, and companies that tap into these seven trends can make that happen. Start with a sense of purpose and build those strong connections that will last into the future. Blake Morgan is a customer experience futurist, keynote speaker, and author of the bestselling book The Customer Of The Future. Sign up for her new course here. For regular updates on customer experience, sign up for her weekly newsletter here. 

2020 has been a strange year. Many people coped with the loneliness and uncertainty of lockdowns and quarantines by adding a furry friend to the family. Pet ownership is way up because of the pandemic and has caused the pet industry to pivot and adapt.  As the number of customers has greatly increased, the pet industry has also had to deal with pandemic restrictions and changing health regulations. The only way to survive has been to stay close to customers, adopt digital solutions and pivot.  Brian Garish, president of Banfield Pet Hospital, said that although the way of doing business is now different, the company’s focus is still on building connections with pets and keeping its associates healthy while they continue to give care.  As an essential business, Banfield Hospitals has stayed open throughout the pandemic, but the store had to create new measures to keep associates, pets and clients safe. One of its major changes was introducing curbside dropoff for pets. Instead of owners walking their pets into the store, they now drop them off at the curb where a Banfield associate takes the pet into the hospital to perform the procedure and then brings them back when they are done. To help customers feel comfortable leaving their pets, Banfield built on its trustworthy reputation and increased its communication so that customers are still involved in every step of the process.  One of the most crucial aspects of pivoting during COVID has been digital transformation. Banfield was already working on a digital transformation, but it was greatly accelerated by the pandemic. Now, clients can schedule services and access their pet’s records online. Everything can be done through an online portal or app to remove concerns and make clients’ lives easier and simpler.  The move to digital transformation helps both clients and associates, which then leads to a better experience for the pets. Instead of being weighed down by paperwork, Banfield associates can upload notes digitally to keep owners in the loop. Banfield is also working towards a green initiative to email all paperwork and receipts instead of printing hard copies.  Garish believes Banfield’s digital transformation has been effective because it is rooted in empathy. In his mind, strategy without empathy is wasted. To create the most effective digital transformation, Banfield encourages and facilitates conversations with its clients and its associates.  Digital transformation didn’t come about because it was a trend or an idea executives had—it came from listening to customers and having true two-way conversations. Banfield aims to be part of its clients’ lifestyles, even during a pandemic, but that can’t happen without real dialogue. Those conversations have continued during the pandemic as Banfield keeps in continual communication with its clients and associates about what is and isn’t working and how care can be improved.  Garish doesn’t see the pandemic pivot as temporary. He believes changes made in the last nine months will forever change the company and industry and re-affirm the need to put customers at the center of everything. Instead of a standardized path, customers want individual attention.  The pandemic won’t last forever, but the lasting effects of increased pet ownership will definitely stick around, and Banfield will be there every step of the way. Blake Morgan is a customer experience futurist, keynote speaker, and author of the bestselling book The Customer Of The Future. Sign up for her new course here. For regular updates on customer experience, sign up for her weekly newsletter here. 

What has been the biggest shift in customer experience in recent years?  It’s not the COVID-19 pandemic, though that has certainly played a large role. According to NICE inContact CEO Paul Jarman, the biggest change has been the democratization of opinion. Customers have more of a voice than ever before, which has forced companies to focus on experience. Brands learned that they have to provide an experience that individuals are excited about and will share with family and friends in order to gain customers. As Jarman says, the push towards customer experience has given more power to consumers in voice and choice.  But what does customer empowerment look like in the midst of a global pandemic? Worldwide shutdowns and restrictions changed how companies do business and interact with their customers. It placed a larger emphasis on digital interactions and mobile service. And even after the pandemic is over, digital will still play a large role in customer experience, especially in the contact center.  As companies navigate the new world with COVID-19, they need to know how things have changed and how those changes will impact the future.  NICE inContact’s 2020 Benchmark surveyed contact center leaders across the country to get a sense of how customer experience has changed this year and where it is going in the future. Here are four main takeaways to lead CX into 2021:  1 . A dramatic move to the cloud. After years of the technology growing and becoming more reliable, companies are now realizing that it is easier to be agile and innovative in the cloud. Nice InContact’s survey found that 66% of contact center decision-makers plan to accelerate their move to the cloud because of the pandemic. Cloud-based CX technology allows for seamless service and a consistent experience across all channels.  2 . Significant increase in digital channels. Customers have gone digital, with 62% of contact centers reporting more digital interactions since COVID started. Even after the pandemic is over, customers will still expect to be able to communicate with companies digitally. Jarman says one of the main difficulties of companies going digital is that they have multiple systems that don’t work together. The push from COVID to interact with customers digitally shows the importance of a single unified system to simplify the digital experience for both contact centers agents and customers. 3 . More mobile apps. Customers want to communicate with companies through mobile apps. Mobile apps saw the biggest growth in contact centers from 2019, increasing by 8% to 56% of companies using apps to communicate with customers. Mobile apps are especially important for younger consumers and Gen Z, who expect brands to interact with them in private social messaging apps. Effective mobile apps allow customers to contact a brand whenever it’s convenient for them.  4 . Room for improvement for chatbots. Chatbots have long been billed as the future of customer service, especially in contact centers, but many customers haven’t found chatbots to be reliable enough to use. Although many customers prefer self-service options like chatbots over other channels like talking to a human on the phone, 90% of CX practitioners believe chatbots need to get smarter before customers will be willing to use them regularly. Even with all of the digital growth in contact centers, the number of companies using chatbots stayed constant from 2019 at 46%.  Customer experience is more strategic than ever before. Understanding changes helps companies build effective strategies as they allow contact centers to have more creativity and power to get things done. Jarman believes customer experience now needs to be the key focus for every company, but the good news is that the sky's the limit. With creativity and technology, brands can create powerful digital solutions that are boundless.  ________________ This week's podcast is sponsored by NICE inContact NICE inContact works with organizations of all sizes to create extraordinary and trustworthy customer experiences that create deeper brand loyalty and relationships that last. With NICE inContact CXone, the industry’s most complete cloud customer experience platform, the company combines best-in-class Customer Analytics, Omnichannel Routing, Workforce Optimization, Automation and Artificial Intelligence, all on an Open Cloud Foundation to help any company transform every single customer interaction. ________________ Blake Morgan is a customer experience futurist, keynote speaker, and author of the bestselling book The Customer Of The Future. Sign up for her new course here. For regular updates on customer experience, sign up for her weekly newsletter here. 

How do you create an experience around an all-natural vodka that shows its history and sustainability? Learn to tell a good story.  Belvedere Vodka has long been known for its great quality and super-premium product, but only recently has the company began to focus on its historic roots and sustainable efforts. Sharing the story adds to the experience and helps customers feel more connected to the brand.  Shifting To Storytelling Instead of simply rattling off talking points and qualities of its all-natural vodka, Belvedere turns to the power of storytelling. As customers are transported to the 110-year-old distillery where the vodka is made and learn the process of turning simple ingredients into amazing spirits, they build a connection with the brand that can’t come in any other way.  Though the shift to storytelling has been in the works for a while, the pandemic has played a role in changing what customers are looking for. According to president and CEO Rodney Williams, luxury products like Belvedere Vodka are now less about exclusivity and more about the values the brand stands for. Customers are now more aware of the power of nature, what they’re eating and where it comes from. The focus on simple, wholesome ingredients is important to them.  Belvedere’s success comes in turning its ingredients into a story. It’s one thing to list all-natural ingredients and say your brand is simple and wholesome—it’s another to show the power of your ingredients and what they can become. Highlighting Sustainability Belvedere’s new campaign, “Made With Nature” showcases the brand’s history of combining simple ingredients from nature into extraordinary vodka.   Belvedere has been sustainable and all-natural since before it was a major issue for consumers. For the past eight years, Belvedere has hosted the Raw Spirits Summit to bring together scientists and farmers to study cutting-edge techniques around sustainable agriculture. The company has been able to build on its past efforts in a time when sustainability is top of mind for many customers.  Williams says “Made With Nature” comes at a time where consumers are increasingly ready to listen to brands that embrace a natural philosophy and are working towards meaningful change. The world cares about sustainability now more than ever before.  Using Stories To Build Experience To start storytelling, Williams said the company looked at the brand’s DNA and discovered the long commitment to craftsmanship and sustainability. The brand has always been committed to quality and craft, but it hasn’t told the story directly before. Sharing that story resonates with younger consumers, who care about brands that are natural and have solid sustainability credentials.  But sharing a brand story will land flat if it isn’t rooted into authenticity. Just like with their ingredients, customers also want realness in their stories and connections with brands.  In today’s world, stories behind brands are what has lasting value to consumers. Customers are looking to build real relationships with brands and understand where they come from and what makes them tick. Focusing on authentic storytelling allows brands to connect with customers on a new level and build an amazing experience.  Every brand has a story. If told well, that story can create an amazing customer experience. Like Belvedere Vodka shows, communicating your company’s DNA can make for a fascinating story and build a strong experience. Blake Morgan is a customer experience futurist, keynote speaker, and author of the bestselling book The Customer Of The Future. Sign up for her new course here. For regular updates on customer experience, sign up for her weekly newsletter here. 

The backbone of a strong customer experience is feedback. And it’s never been more important than it is now.  According to Tom Hale, president of SurveyMonkey, digital surveys and feedback have seen tremendous growth during the COVID-19 pandemic. With companies forced into new ways of doing business and interacting with their customers, feedback has never been more crucial. Surveys allow companies to check their progress and see what needs to be improved, especially at a time when so many things are new and changing.  New research from SurveyMonkey found that 87% of CX professionals say customer feedback is more important now than it was before COVID. Customer experience and feedback has taken a higher priority because of the pandemic, and Hale doesn’t think it will ever change back.  The struggle then becomes how to get the most effective and useful feedback. In order to get great feedback, companies must know how to create a great survey. Here are five tips to creating the perfect customer survey: Start with NPS. Hales says the gold standard for customer feedback is a question about NPS (Net Promoter Score), which is an accurate way of measuring how likely customers are to recommend the company. A high NPS means customers are generally quite satisfied with the experience. Start the survey by asking, “Would you recommend this product/service to a friend?” and allow customers to rate their response on a scale from 0-10.  Leave space for open responses. Great surveys combine numerical answers and free responses. When asking about NPS, follow it up with an open text box to encourage customers to elaborate on why they would or wouldn’t recommend the company. Open responses can be used to elaborate on nearly any question and add more depth to the survey responses.  Think through the entire experience. The perfect customer survey isn’t just about the questions—it’s about the entire experience. Hale shared his own example of when he bought a new treadmill and received the follow-up survey just after it was delivered when he was in the thick of assembling the complicated machine. Too many companies ask for feedback at the wrong time. Hale’s response would have been very different if he had received the survey a few days later after he had time to assemble and try the treadmill instead of receiving it when he was distracted and stressed. Make it easy for customers to respond. Think through the entire experience of when a customer will receive the survey, how long it will take them to complete and how they will feel when they’re completing the survey. Customers are much less likely to respond to feedback requests that are too complicated or have too much friction, such as when they receive a printed receipt with a long survey link they have to type in themselves. Great, accurate customer feedback comes when it is easy for customers to give responses. As Hale says, much of designing the experience is the communication around the experience, including how you ask the questions. Give surveys throughout the entire customer lifecycle. Successful customer feedback doesn’t just come after a customer has made a purchase. SurveyMonkey surveys its own customers at all parts of the lifecycle to have metrics and feedback about the entire experience from start to finish. The surveys look slightly different based on where they are given in the customer journey, but the information pinpoints areas for improvement and helps prioritize what needs to be changed first.  The root of the perfect customer survey is customer-centricity. When a company has a culture of being customer-centric, it comes through in their entire experience, including asking for feedback. When companies truly care for their customers and design experiences around them, it shows in useful feedback that guides the customer experience and improves all aspects of the journey. Blake Morgan is a customer experience futurist, keynote speaker, and author of the bestselling book The Customer Of The Future. Sign up for her new course here. For regular updates on customer experience, sign up for her weekly newsletter here. 

If you’ve been to one of Shake Shack’s 300-plus locations around the world, chances are you’ve had to wait in line. The restaurant draws a crowd with its fresh ingredients and elevated take on fast food. The entire brand is built around great food and great service, and it’s a hit with customers.   Shake Shack stands out because of its fine dining-inspired approach to burgers and fries. The restaurant uses real ingredients, fresh flavors, and great chefs to make food to order. The wait might be a little longer, but customers don’t mind standing in line to get amazing food.  According to CMO Jay Livingston, delivering a strong customer experience has been part of Shake Shack’s brand since the beginning. The company doesn’t just want to use the fine-dining approach in its food, it also wants to use fine dining to inspire its experience. The company aims to provide great hospitality and an elevated guest experience. Employees offer personalized service and customize each meal instead of simply rushing to put food on the plate.  Employees at all levels give their best to customers, no matter where they work or how busy they are. Every Shake Shack employee spends their first five days at the company working all the stations in a restaurant, including prepping the food, manning the grill, and working the cash register. Livingston says it instills in employees, even those who don’t work in the actual restaurants, the work that goes into delivering fine dining food to customers quickly and hammers home the brand promise.  Shake Shack uses customer experience to build its brand by being transparent and authentic in every interaction it has with customers. The company is moving to become more data-driven to better understand guests and test ideas more quickly.  That hasn’t changed during the COVID-19 pandemic, as Shake Shack has been forced to speed up the buildout of its digital products. Customers can now order online or through the app for pickup and delivery as a way to expand the experience to what customers need most. It even rolled out a DIY burger kit so customers can make their favorite Shake Shack burgers at home and will unveil drive-thrus in 2021—all in the name of delivering great food just how customers want it.  Shake Shack has a strong online presence and regularly collaborates with top chefs on its social channels to show their process for making food. The collaborations give guests a behind-the-scenes look into how the food is developed and cooked. The goal isn’t to sell hamburgers, it’s to connect with guests on a deeper level and involve them in the many sides of Shake Shack.  Customer experience is the foundation of Shake Shack’s brand. Continually developing CX and relating it back to the major brand promises of elevated food and service has helped Shake Shack see incredible growth. Blake Morgan is a customer experience futurist, keynote speaker and author of the bestselling book The Customer Of The Future. Sign up for her new course here. For regular updates on customer experience, sign up for her weekly newsletter here.

For years, experts have talked about millennials and looked towards the future of Generation Z, the generation to follow. But Gen Z is now here and already having a massive impact, both as employees and as consumers. Marketers need to understand Gen Z to realize its full impact and to separate the truth from long held myths.   Generational researcher Jason Dorsey is an expert on all things Gen Z. He studies generational behavior so that leaders, marketers, employers and others can understand the differences between each generation. But he warns against putting generations in boxes. The wide range of ages and life experiences means that within a generation are multiple different groups. However, generations offer powerful clues that can drive trust and help marketers create valuable experiences by bringing them one step closer to understanding their consumers.   Contrary to what many people think, Gen Z isn’t made up entirely of teenagers. The group is growing up, so that the oldest members are now approaching their mid-20s. Gen Z is the fastest growing generation in the workforce.  Most people view Gen Z as the next wave of millennials, but Dorsey’s research shows that Gen Z is actually very different. He calls Gen Z a throwback generation that actually has more in common with baby boomers than millennials. Gen Z is one of the most frugal generations. They are more likely to use coupons and find deals than their millennial predecessors. They want to graduate college without debt and tend to care more about their workplace benefits. A large number of Gen Z is even already saving for retirement. Dorsey’s research also found that Gen Z will soon leapfrog some millennials in the workforce, creating a strange combination of generations and ideologies.  Gen Z is more likely to trust an influencer or someone like them over someone with advanced degrees. And because they’ve grown up with technology and smartphones, Gen Z values social media and the news it provides, but realizes it creates many mental health triggers.  Gen Z doesn’t remember 9/11, which was the generational defining event for millennials. Gen Z doesn’t know life before 9/11, and their lives aren’t shaped by the changes that happened after the event. Gen Z doesn’t represent change because this is all they’ve ever known. In many ways, the COVID-19 pandemic will be the generational defining event for Gen Z and impact their mindset moving forward.  So what does this mean for marketers? Understanding that Gen Z isn’t simply millennials 2.0 is an important differentiation. Gen Z values different things than millennials and has different priorities. They also aren’t the teenagers many have long considered Gen Z to be. Gen Z will have a tremendous impact on the workforce and the economy going forward as they become the most powerful generation.  Understanding generations gives marketers clues and tools to know their consumers. With this understanding of generational cues, marketers can create more personalized experiences that best target this influential group. Blake Morgan is a customer experience futurist, keynote speaker and author of the bestselling book The Customer Of The Future. Sign up for her new course here. For regular updates on customer experience, sign up for her weekly newsletter here.