Category: Europe

Research from SAS shows that UK Millennials expect a tailored service from retailers that goes far beyond a bit of a discount or a BOGOF. If they are going to share their data, they demand rock-star treatment and a red carpet ride.

And if marketers are to engage with this demanding generation, they had better be on their wavelength. The research reveals that eight out of ten Millennials use their data as a lever; bargaining chips for a quality service that will enhance their lives or somehow make them easier.

Mark Wilkinson (pictured right), SAS regional vice-president – Northern Europe, said marketers need to exploit open and cloud-ready advanced analytics to gain deeper insight into what motivates individual customers; i.e. pinpoint what is relevant to them personally.

He said: “The Data Generation are amenable to sharing more forms of data, provided it gives them control as they navigate turbulent macro-economic conditions and fluid career projections.

“The organisations that will prosper in the future will demonstrate how they can enhance the Data Generation’s life potential and that of society. This will require organisations to embrace analytics architectures that are more accessible, flexible and can easily scale to problems of any size. All industries need access to a simple, open and cloud-ready platform that can complement other technologies and open source software.”

Jennifer Watkiss (pictured left), head of marketing communications at Adestra, added: “This is in line with our own findings from our research with the IDM, which states that 63% of marketers rate personalisation as ‘somewhat’ or ‘extremely’ effective in helping them reach their email marketing KPIs. So it’s no surprise that consumers, especially younger consumers, are comfortable sharing their data with businesses, but expect a more tailored brand interaction in return.

“The challenge for marketers who wish to remain relevant will be to ensure they’ve built a business case internally to continue advancing their use of personalisation across all marketing channels. A blanket offer to a massive list, personalised with a customer’s name in the salutation is no longer sufficient. Successful marketers will ensure both the timing and content of their offers are relevant at an individual level, and based on the entirety of what they know about their customers and subscribers.

The research report, Analytics for the Future: The New Data Generation, from analytics expert SAS and independent researcher Future Foundation, polled 2,000 people across the UK aged between 16 and 34. It explored the current relationship this group has with their own personal data and how they will interact with government, public sector bodies, healthcare, retail, utilities and social media in the future.

Key data insight included:

• Life in the ‘Me Me’ World: Only 32 per cent are immediately comfortable sharing data with retailers and just nine per cent feel very comfortable. 60 per cent are happy to share information with online retailers because they will receive special offers and discounts in return
• The 5-star customer: 49 per cent would be happy for companies to rate them as a customer
• Wise and savvy: 52 per cent are concerned that retailers will sell their data on to third parties
• Abandon the basket: having wised up to enhanced marketing techniques, more than half (51 per cent) will purposefully abandon their virtual shopping basket at checkout to benefit from retailer re-targeting that induces a better price
• The survival factor for businesses – with 65 per cent of Millennials expecting brands to have total recall of their previous interactions, future innovation relies on having access to a single, unified environment that brings data together from across different industries and applies analytics to uncover patterns, spot anomalies and predict opportunities in real–time

The habits, preferences and moods of the Data Generation must be taken into account so that predictive analytics can enhance their health, prosperity and future life potential. Only 12 per cent are happy to share their personal data without a second thought but 57 per cent were more willing when it came to life-enhancing specifics.

More than two-thirds (67 per cent) are comfortable sharing with the healthcare sector, 57 per cent with financial institutions, 50 per cent with the public sector, 45 per cent with utilities, 32 per cent with retailers and just 28 per cent with social media companies. These preferences differed depending on their levels of trust and the value they recoup for sharing their data:  

• Healthcare: Propensity to share driven by desire to optimise future health: keen to improve the NHS, 40 per cent are happy for the NHS to sell their anonymised data to third parties
• Public Sector: Appetite to share hindered by concern it could be used against them: 62 per cent are sceptical that the data they share is used well by government agencies
• Retail: Welcoming an era of ‘Me Me’ pricing: having wised up to enhanced marketing techniques, more than half (51 per cent) will purposefully abandon their virtual shopping basket at checkout to benefit from retailer re-targeting that induces a better price
• Energy: An exposed generation looking for control: only 18 per cent trust their energy supplier to find them the best deal, leaving more than half (51 per cent) interested in home control apps in the future. But only 48 per cent would ‘share their energy consumption with energy suppliers to help them manage personal energy consumption and capacity at the national grid’
• Financial Institutions: Consumers seek hyper-personalised control: nearly three in five (58 per cent) are interested in a service that calculates future financial situations using current work trajectory and spending habits and see potential from sharing their driving habits with insurers – such as being guided to cheaper petrol stations (41 per cent), having coffee pre-prepared at stop-offs (21 per cent) and offers on the move (23 per cent)
• Social Media: Hold back from social media sharing: amid corporate over-sharing and the eroding of trust, 68 per cent are uncomfortable sharing data with social media companies

This is a generation that worries their jobs will be replaced by robots – they recognise a need for dexterity in learning, with 78 per cent expecting to keep learning new skills throughout their life, and four out of 10 prepared to invest either their own time or money into acquiring data science skills. But the research also found that they:

• Feel financially naked – as they experience turbulent macro-economic conditions, austerity measures and fluid career projections, they look to their own data to gain control
• Want to quantify every aspect of their lives – being visibly in control is a powerful aspiration, with almost two-thirds (61 per cent) interested in collecting and interpreting real-time information to make better life choices
• Expect total recall – they have embraced information recovery, with 65 per cent expecting brands to have total recall of previous interactions to help them find exactly what they are looking for
• Are becoming a generation of forecasters – want the ability to predict every aspect of their lives to feel more in control of their own futures
• Look to computers to learn for them – artificial intelligence is becoming a computerised advantage offering a personal touch to individuals to help them predict future scenarios by converting the analysis of large data sets into natural language
• Live in a ‘Me Me Me World’ – expect hyper personal communication based on lifestyle, beliefs, moods and aspirations that feed into the what, when, why and how they are communicated with.

Marketers’ biggest task now will be to build the buy-in required to gain the resources they need to execute on this more personalised experience. They’ll then need to follow through with the support of their technology partners to bring those plans to reality. Otherwise, they risk being left behind in both the marketing industry and the minds of their audience.