Generation Classification and Data Gathering

The millennial, Gen Z, and A populations are struggling with very different experiences than those who came before. Our society is now seeing the millennials be experts in their fields, gen z’s starting on their career path, and gen A’s deciding very different life choices than the ones who came before. But WHY? To answer these types of questions we must gather data, and not a simple “how satisfied were you on a scale of 1-5?”. We must ask the questions, listen to the answers, find the emotions of the consumer, and collate the answers into useable data. A survey a can tell you what but not why, without this critical piece of data we obtain knowledge but not insight into our consumers.

If we want to understand why people are making the decisions they are we need a fuller picture of their worldview. It might make sense to do this with one person but what if you are someone who needs this for 5+ people? A lot of millennials (I am one) have been conditioned to believe that our jobs are to feel and behave as we are supposed too. It isn’t until recently that a lot of us have come to realize that we haven’t felt heard in years or even the majority of our lives! How can we explore our beliefs, feelings, and decisions unless we are directly asked about it?

I think this is where some business owners get this wrong. They prefer a quick answer.  They want to gather data, make money, and be done. Most consumers right now are very tired of being looked at like an object to be exploited. The money feels like it is disappearing, unfairly, for our generations and we are expected to “fall in line.” This isn’t going so well for those who wish to remain in power. The rebellion of younger generations is working. I don’t blame a lot of millennials, generation Z and A for feeling like a dollar sign and not able to even treat themselves as people because their finances aren’t so much “gone” as “never materialized”.

Now this is a just a bite-sized example of what we are dealing with in our economic world right now. If we want to engage with our peers, collages, bosses, or target audiences we need to understand what they are feeling, why they feel it, why it matters, and how can we as business owners be the ones to hear it. Hearing this emotional context creates loyalty. Those who feel taken care or understood by companies will put their money towards that cause.

Not everyone knows how to find this data, or even the right questions to ask! That is where I come in. I am a big proponent of gathering data that allows for phenomenology - which is a fancy term for describing and explaining phenomenon from the perspectives of those who have experienced an event. This data is often classified into emotionally based categories. This can give someone massive psychological data on their audience. It can provide motivations, details, points of interest, values, morals, financial decision making, relationships, language, etc., This can be invaluable for someone looking for loyalty, market research, or product enhancements. These can be done in many ways but you want someone who understands emotions and is incredibly experienced in working with those with complex and large emotions. I can categorize and label emotions to get a better grasp of the goal you are seeking. I will start with your particular perspective and what you think you are seeing in behaviors, things you feel you are doing right, things you may be doing wrong, and ways you’ve tried changing things. Then we can compare that to the data we find to see where there could be points that can be changed or manipulated to better align your ideas with customers’ reality.

This healthy and important level of business ownership and management is necessary for financial continuation. It requires self reflection, acknowledgement, and healthy critical thinking skills to both engage the generations and maintain that engagement over time.  If we have stagnant thinking of “if it is working now it’s fine,” we may be doomed to a downward spiraling future. Qualitative research is the next step! Let’s stop guessing what people want! Let’s figure it out and strategically move them to focus on YOUR business goals! Call or email now to schedule a consultation!