Continuing our coverage of KCDMA’s Age of the Customer event from January 26. We already have a post about the event as a whole and about a presentation from Angie Hendershot about insights. A recent AWG blog post reminded me of a presentation from Barkley’s Jeff Fromm on marketing to Millennials. Jimmy’s post told the story of someone who went out of his way to get groceries from a store where he could order online. Fromm spent most of his presentation talking about how Millennials crave a frictionless journey.

“If your process isn’t as easy to us as Amazon,” Fromm said, “then you have work to do.”

From went on to describe how millennial shoppers are “always in beta.” Which is to say they are always testing and looking for ways to improve. Jimmy’s friend drove by a much closer grocery store because they refused to evolve.

“We let consumer boredom creep in by doing the same thing every time,” Fromm said.

Embracing online shopping would help retain Millennial customers that many retailers are losing. Like Jimmy, I enjoy wandering the aisles of my store browsing for anything that catches my eye. I also understand that this isn’t exactly “frictionless.” There are times when I wish shopping for groceries was easier. Knowing this information can help retailers make choices that would better serve their customers.

“Google has more data on their employees’ use of food that most companies do on their customers,” Fromm said.

This is scary because we deal in food. More than other groups Millennials appreciate the personal touch. It is important to understand what our customers actually need and not just what we think they need. Reach out to your customers of any age and figure out what they need. This continual search for improvement will keep you successful with all groups, including Millennials.