This past weekend was spent delving into deep conversations with millennials about how they think about communication. The ringleader was my 33 year old nephew Blair, an articulate guy and store manager of a Pier One Imports.
I asked him for feedback on a CONNECTLocal User video we were doing for a social media campaign. He sent me a LONG writeup via text that would have taken me far too long to type on my phone…I would have surely called someone before ever trying to type it all out.
He reluctantly got on the phone where I asked “how long it took to type all that”. His answer, “about a minute or so”. About a minute??? You’ve got to be kidding me, it would take me every bit of 10 minutes to type all that out on my cellphone.
The event led to multiple discussions with multiple people about how much texting has become a part of life to those under 40. Here are the top takeaways of what I heard.
1) Millennials don’t like to talk on the phone much, it’s one of their less favorite things to do. Top opinions I heard, “it takes too much time”.
Through texting, millennials get meaningful things done in 15 to 30 seconds on average.
2) Millennials do everything on their mobile device, rarely using a desktop computer for personal things. Top mobile activities include: communication, video watching, surfing and games.
3) When specifically asked “would you like the ability to text message local businesses” the answer was a resounding “YES”, I would love it! Blair’s response: I would love to be able to text my orthodontist…I hate calling them.
When specifically asked “what if it took an hour or two to get a reply back to your questions, would that bother you”? Unanimous opinion: No! One’s comment “I’d send my question, move on to do something else and deal with the answer when it came in. We’re multitaskers”.
4) After explaining that many business owners were resistant to moving towards texting, considering it just one more thing to do that they didn’t see the need for. Majority opinion: they’re going to lose customers to the businesses that do.
This was not a scientific poll; however, it was derived from a series of real world conversations with consumers half my age. I believe you’ll find similar if you ask around. What I’m convinced of is that local businesses will be adopting mobile messaging in the next 1 to 3 years just as we moved from pony express, to telegraph, fax machine, email and beyond.
CONNECTLocal is giving the power of mobile to local businesses today. CONNECTLocal is more than just mobile messaging, this hyper-local app compiles a range of local information into one place including local things to do and local offers. The best part, more great functionality is on the way.
Contact: You can contact George at bogle@localproject.net
