Millennials found to be most picky consumers in U.S.: Gallup

Only one in four U.S. millennials are emotionally or psychologically attached to a brand, product or company, making the group the most picky consumers in the country, found a latest Gallup survey.

The poll comes at a time when businesses, media and corporations are scrambling to get the attention of this important demographic in order to create lifelong customers, with efforts often falling flat.

The group - made up of those born between 1980 and 1996 - have low levels of identifying with brands across most industries that Gallup tracks.

In the banking industry, for example, a mere 31 percent of millennial customers are fully engaged. In hospitality, the figure is 20 percent, Gallup found.

Even more discouraging for brands, millennial customers are also much more likely to be actively disengaged than any other generation of consumers. In some industries, millennials' level of active disengagement is nearly on a par with -- or exceeds -- their level of engagement, Gallup found.

In the insurance industry, only 31 percent of millennial customers are fully engaged - meaning the level at which they identify with the brand - and 27 percent are actively disengaged.

In the airline industry, just 12 percent of millennials are fully engaged, while almost four times as many - or 46 - percent, are actively disengaged, Gallup found.

Instead of creating advocates and "brand ambassadors" among millennials, many companies are creating brand destroyers who have a host of digital soapboxes from which to air their grievances.

Millennials are highly connected with vast social networks and have their pick of open forums for sharing their dissatisfaction with a product, service or company, Gallup found.

When millennials are fully engaged as customers, they're more profitable and loyal than are other customers. In the wireless service industry, Gallup discovered that 95 percent of fully engaged millennial customers say they plan to stay with their wireless provider, compared with 10 percent of actively disengaged millennial customers.

These fully engaged customers are substantially more likely than other customers to say they would recommend their provider to others and are substantially less likely to say they consider price as the most important factor in choosing a wireless provider.

Customers are highly influenced by technology, more so than for any other generation. They view the online customer experience through a different lens than other generations do, and they value it more, Gallup found.

In the banking industry, the digital experience has become a key sticking point in engaging millennial customers. Compared with other generations, millennials are the most likely to use online and mobile banking channels.

An impressive 73 percent of millennials report they would prefer to have a digital relationship with their bank, through mobile, online or ATM channels, rather than a personal one. Enditem