Crafting the Customer Experience For People Not Like You: How to Delight and Engage the Customers Your Competitors Don't Understand

Chapter 9

Matures, Boomers, Gen X, Gen Y, and Gen Z

We established in the first part of this book that the customer experience is, without a doubt, one that you can uniquely shape for a number of different high-potential market segments. Businesses are no longer one size fits all, and never will be again. Perhaps nowhere is this more evident than in comparing different generations’ customer experience wants, needs, and expectations.

I love talking about generational differences, because everyone can relate to them. After all, not everyone has the experience of being a member of a different cultural, racial, or ethnic group, nor has everyone undergone lifestyle/life change differences like being a mom or having a family. But everyone has an age. And everyone knows, loves, works with, or sells to someone who is of a different generation.

A great deal has been written about the different generations’ work styles. But I find that there’s a void of good information and advice out there about understanding what people want from you and your business. This chapter will cover how you can craft a terrific customer experience for the five generations that are currently in the marketplace. The following are the five generations and the approximate years of birth that define each. Depending on whose research you read, the years may vary a bit, but these represent a good guideline for understanding the general definition of each generation:

Matures	Born before 1946
Baby boomers	Born 1946–1964 ...