And How to Shape Your Practice Experience Accordingly
Gen Z is the latest generation that is reaching adulthood and will soon become a large portion of your patient base. Just like every generation that came before, each one thinks a little bit differently. So what does this mean for your practice? We’ll take a look at what makes Gen Z tick and how you can shape your practice experience to meet their expectations.
What Makes Gen Z Tick: How They Think and Operate
While some of the older Millennials knew a time before the internet, Gen Z has always been fully connected with everything at their fingertips. Gen Z lives on the internet and popularized TikTok, the latest social media platform where users can share short video clips. Here are some statistics about Gen Z that really bring home their love of the digital world:
- 98% own a smartphone
- 85% learn about new products and services on social media
- 71% watch more than three hours of online video daily
- 67% prefer seeing “real people” in ads
- 91% prefer other social media platforms over Facebook
- They make up 71.7 million people in the U.S. population
Gen Z is known to crave more personal and authentic connections. They also are fans of companies that are reliable and creative.
So what does this mean for you?
Provide Value
While many other generations care about what you can do to help them, Gen Z really cares about this. They want value over ads and you can’t just talk about being an industry leader–you have to actually look the part. Gen Z isn’t just talking about changing the world, rather they are actually doing the work to make change and want to see that you care about those things too.
To meet these expectations, provide value, especially online. Give tips for eye health, share informative articles or blog posts, and don’t just spam them with ads. Also show how you are socially conscious. One thing Gen Z loves are businesses that are environmentally friendly. You can make your eye care practice more environmentally friendly by providing your patients with the new Rollens EcoLens, a more sustainable way to protect your patient’s eyes. Our EcoLens provides the same quality you have come to know and love from Rollens, but are made with 46% biodegradable materials and are compostable!
Convenience
Because this generation lives online and can get information quickly, this will translate to an expectation for ease of use from businesses and even eye care practices (much like Millennials). This means they will want to schedule appointments using apps, emails or by text. In fact, according to a study by Accenture, Gen Z is more dissatisfied with aspects of traditional care compared to older generations and are “more likely than any other generation to choose medical providers who offer digital capabilities.” In order to attract and retain Gen Z, you’ll need strong patient communication, reliable ways for them to schedule appointments and communicate digitally, and even offer telehealth appointments.
Online Reputation
The key to winning over Gen Z is to have a positive online reputation. Because they are so used to looking up everything online, they will most likely do an online search for a new eye care practice. This means you need to have plenty of recent, positive reviews and a great average rating, otherwise you won’t be able to attract this new generation as patients. To bump your online reviews up, make sure that you are encouraging current patients to leave a review for you online. This is as simple as sending an email to a patient post-appointment with a link to leave a review!