Brands are faced with the challenge of interacting with six generations of customers who communicate with their contact centers each day, but this presents opportunities to change how they think about their customer interactions heading into 2026, attendees heard at the Contact Centre Expo at Excel London last week.
Today’s contact centers are interacting with customers that stretch from the Silent Generation all the way to Gen Alpha in a day.
As Garry Gormley, Founder of FAB Solutions, put it, “We're at a strange impasse.”
There’s the Silents and Boomers who still value voice contact with human agents; Gen X and Millennials who mix digital self-service with human support; Gen Z, who jump between apps and channels; and the emerging Gen Alphas, who are growing up expecting hyper-personalized, predictive experiences.
Put all six generations together, and it’s easy to see why no single communication style or service model can cover everyone.
Managing by Generation Isn’t Just an HR Strategy
There’s an economic case for taking generational differences seriously. Data from the World Economic Forum shows that countries can increase their GDP by 19% over 10 years by managing their workforce based on generational groups, and that extrapolates itself out to customers, noted Katy Forsyth, Managing Director of Red Recruitment.
Every generation wants speed, multichannel and intuitive service, but the defining difference between the generations is that younger consumers want personalization, Forsyth said.
"[Gen Z] want everything addressed to them personally. They want an emotional connection with their service… And then when we get the Alphas coming along, they're even more hyper-personalized.”
These consumers expect brands to use predictive analysis to make recommendations based on the activity on their phones.
Much of this comes down to economic pressure. Gen Z’s spending habits are different because their financial realities are different. Forsyth highlighted that in the UK, “it costs Gen Z six times their salary to get a house deposit. For an Xer in 1995, it was a third of one year’s salary.”
It’s partly because of that smaller buying power that when Gen Z consumers do choose to spend, they want meaning behind the transaction. “The personalization is super important,” Forsyth said, noting that on Black Friday, Gen Z consumers will spend an average of £255 on purchases, which is almost double the £155 that Gen Xers are expected to spend.
That makes Gen Z customers an important demographic for brands to address and they need to understand how to appeal to them. Younger consumers are the mostly likely to use GenAI and AI assistants in their holiday shopping, with Gen Z accounting for two-thirds of shoppers turning to ChatGPT for gift inspiration, according to research from Bread Financial.
Despite narratives around younger generations’ aversion to picking up the phone, Forsyth warned against oversimplification when it comes to providing voice channels:
“Even though they might want to self-serve, you'll be surprised… as soon as it gets uncomfortable, they want voice. Do not believe the headlines.”
Data shows that when dealing with emotional issues Gen Z wants to speak to a service agent, indicating that companies need to tread carefully and avoid dealing with customers on the basis of assumptions.
Matching Service to the Customer You Actually Serve
For contact centers, getting to grips with practical ways to stay authentic as they juggle all the different ways generations communicate is not an easy task. Beyond managing multiple channels, it’s about making sure every interaction feels honest and human, whether a customer reaches out on the phone, chat or through social.
That means giving contact center agents the freedom and tools to adjust their tone to the customer, using technology to support real connection.
While older generations may still prefer a softened message, younger generations will not tolerate spin. Forsyth said of Gen Z:
“They do not trust you as businesses, whether you're employing them or selling to them… They will take bad news… but you need to tell them the truth. Do not flower it up… Forget the good news, just go for the jugular, and they'll respect you a whole lot more. Tell them it's expensive, but why?”
Trust was a recurring theme during the discussion, as well as the ways in which it spans across generations.