SPOTLIGHT StaStatte oe of the Cf the Conneconnectted Ced Cuuststomeromer 1414 Customers Flock to a Growing Roster of Channels As options for communicating multiply, many Use of Digital Channels Spans Generations companies struggle to prioritize the channels they invest in. If younger generations point Percentage of Customers Who Use and Prefer the Following Channels the way to preference trends, however, social, When Communicating with Companies online communities, and voice assistants are critical. Sixty-seven percent of millennials Traditionalists/Baby Boomers Gen Xers Millennials/Gen Zers and Gen Zers use voice-activated personal Prefer to use Total use Prefer to use Total use Prefer to use Total use assistants like Siri and Alexa to connect with companies — 1.7x more than traditionalists Online portals and baby boomers who do the same. Mobile app (e.g., self-service account information) 31% 72% 35% % 77 In all, the average customer uses 10 45% 82% 42% 83% channels to communicate with companies, 61% 90% 51% 88% and lists six of those channels as preferred. Unsurprisingly, millennials and Gen Zers are the most omni-channel generation, using Online chat/live support an average of 11 channels, versus nine for (e.g., pop-up support window on a company’s website) Text/SMS traditionalists and baby boomers. 24% 70% 35% 78% 39 80 38 77 Yet, members of older generations are % % % % 53% % 44% % hardly Luddites. Seventy-two percent of 89 81 traditionalists and baby boomers use mobile Online knowledge bases apps, for example, and 78% use text/SMS (e.g., self-service FAQ, searchable libraries of info, etc.) Social media to communicate with companies. 28% 76% 14% 51% % % % % And as the consumer goes digital, so does 37 81 29 69 the business buyer. Sixty-seven percent of 47% 86% 52% 86% business buyers prefer to buy through digital channels. Online communities Voice-activated personal assistants (i.e., forums to interact with other customers) (e.g., Siri, Alexa) 15 51 10 39 % % % % 27% 67% 18% 50% 80 67 43% % 35% % Not a complete list. See appendix page 47 for full channel use and preference data, including all customer, consumer, and business buyer segmentations. Salesforce Research Salesforce Research