Smartphone-owning Millennials (19-33) are more likely to expect brands to have a mobile-friendly website or app (55%) than they are to expect brands to have a social media presence (39%), according to recent survey results from Annalect. The study, which examined respondents’ attitudes to technology and its use by brands, also finds that many expect brands to offer mobile payments.
While smartphone-owning Millennials’ expectations for brands’ technology use ranged from product customization (37%) to the creation of engaging digital content (41%), it’s worth noting that 44% want brands to still maintain some form of human interaction.
Nevertheless, a brands’ use of technology can be a competitive differentiator. Indeed, asked to choose whether the technology being used by a brand or the brand’s name would be more important when making a product or service purchase, 52% chose the brands’ use of technology. Interestingly, though, that majority was due to males’ clear choice for technology (58%) over brand name (42%), with females opting for brand name (53%) over technology use (47%).