OREANDA-NEWS. July 22, 2015. Nothing comes more naturally to young consumers than the click of their keyboard or the tap of a mobile app—except when they contact customer service,” writes Bryan Powell. “When it comes to contacting cable and high-speed Internet service providers, the telephone still rules, even among millennials, according to the 2015 Communications Industry Customer Experience Survey by Cognizant. The reason is simple: It works.” Excerpts:

“For millennials, dialing up customer service is the path of least resistance. They say provider’s digital support options are cumbersome to use, yet the survey findings point to improvements providers can make to encourage younger subscribers to revisit digital options.

The results underscore a double whammy for service providers: Not only do younger customers prefer to contact them by phone, but they also dial in with far greater frequency than older customers. And even with all the contact, millennials are more likely to switch providers.

Despite service providers’ investment in digital channels, their youngest customers prefer the more costly contact options and make use of them more often.

Here are three steps service providers can take to provide simpler, clear services and support processes to retain and even recapture younger customers:

Get digital channels right: Like all customers, millennials have low tolerance for channels that don’t work. Few will return to options that don't run well the first time. How can your organization build on that momentum? Spend wisely. Focus on leveraging technologies to improve underlying business processes. Get to know your customers by understanding the digital swirls of information that surround them—their likes, tweets and posts, or what we at Cognizant call Code Halos. Mastering analytics can help you gain valuable insights into their viewing habits and product preferences.

Measure customer effort: It’s simple but sage advice: Focus on benefits for your customers, not your organization. To counter millennials’ tendency to jump providers, make it easy for them to be your customer. View your digital channels from the customer’s point of view. Align scorecards and KPIs to measure customer effort.

Make personalization worth it: Millennials are more willing than older customers to share personal information – but only as long as it results in custom offers and rewards with genuine value. To ensure your organization retains tech-savvy young subscribers, focus investments and strategies on reducing customer effort and creating personalized solutions with real value.”