While the technology evolves, giving way to game-changing innovations in fintech, so does customer behaviour, making it essential for fintech companies to ensure they fully meet the needs of their target consumers. With Gen Z reaching maturity and starting to dominate the fintech app audiences, fintech companies need to understand Gen Zers’ needs and how they can make their apps attractive to Zoomers.
But why is there so much noise about Gen Z users? The primary thing to remember is that Gen Zers significantly differ from the preceding generations. Unlike millennials, they’re financially savvy and technologically adept and, in addition, have higher expectations about financial services. Moreover, beyond seamless user experiences, they expect to get efficient customer support.
In this article, we’ll delve into the key strategies fintech companies can adopt to appeal to Gen Z. We’ll explore this demographic’s unique characteristics and preferences and provide actionable insights on designing fintech apps that resonate with them.
Who are Generation Z?
Generation Z, also called Gen Z or Zoomers, is a generation of people born from 1995 to 2010. While the youngest Gen Zers are starting to explore options as to their first current and savings accounts, the oldest Zoomers are getting focused on mortgages, loans, and insurance.
One way or another, Gen Zers make up a major part of the fintech apps users – in fact, they account for a whopping one-third of the world’s total population.
What makes them so different? For starters, Gen Z is the first generation that has never experienced a world without the internet – it has always been a part of their daily lives. Also, they’re the first in several decades who have grown up in a recession. These two facts play a crucial role in shaping Gen Zers’ financial behaviour.
In contrast to idealistic and creative millennials, Zoomers are described as innovative and self-reliant. Moreover, coming of age at a time when university education is less affordable, many of these young people choose to go straight to work after leaving school. Due to these circumstances, Gen Z representatives are more price-conscious and entrepreneurial than their predecessors.
Why focus on Gen Z
Fintech companies must constantly keep Gen Z in mind since they’re quickly becoming one of the most influential consumer groups in the market. With their unprecedented access to technology and social media, these digital natives are changing the way businesses interact with their customers.
Gen Z users prioritise transparency, authenticity, and socially responsible business practices. As a result, they’re willing to switch to brands that align with their values. Understanding their unique features and preferences makes it easier to cater to their needs and thus create a loyal customer base to help you stay competitive.
How Gen Z is changing the world
Craving premium digital experiences
As a generation that has grown up together with the internet, Gen Zers are likely to choose mobile applications that provide rewarding user experiences.
Social media being integral
Gen Z representatives are regular users of social media platforms, the latter significantly impacting individual opinions.
Focus on lifelong learning
The internet and mobile devices that were inaccessible to millennials and previous generations allowed Zoomers to pursue lifelong learning. High-quality education has become available beyond the university and college campuses, with Gen Z making the most of this opportunity.
Time as an asset
Gen Zers incredibly value their time, grabbing every opportunity to make their daily routines and workflows more efficient. This is even reflected in the content they favour, making short-form videos a trend.
Why should fintech apps focus on retaining Gen Z?
Although its youngest representatives are only twelve, according to Bloomberg, Gen Z has already accumulated $360 billion in disposable income in the United States alone since they tend to save around a third of their income. Unsurprisingly, they prefer using mobile devices for digital payments. Given that, fintech apps are expected to provide an efficient way to manage Gen Z personal finance.
As Zoomers enter the workforce, they become eager to explore new investment opportunities and budgeting strategies. The pandemic only accelerated this trend, with Generation Z spending twice as much time on finance and trading apps than before.
This generation’s desire for financial knowledge and stability and growing spending power make Gen Z a valuable demographic for fintech startups to target.
How to create a fintech app to cater to Gen Z
Obviously, Gen Z is quickly becoming one of the most powerful consumer demographics in the world, with a growing appetite for mobile apps that cater to their unique financial needs. If you’re looking to tap into this lucrative market, creating a Generation Z app is a must. So how to create a fintech app to meet the needs of these tech-savvy young people? Let’s take a more detailed look.
Provide highly personalised experiences
As a generation growing up with social media apps, zoomers take personalised experiences for granted, expecting nothing less from financial apps. To meet this need, your Gen Z app should offer personalised financial advice based on each user’s unique financial situation. This can be achieved by employing robust data analytics and machine learning to obtain insights into app users’ spending patterns, investment opportunities, and budgeting strategies.
Give financial advice
Zoomers are eager to learn about finance, but they need guidance. Therefore, your Generation Z application should provide educational resources on various financial topics, such as investing, budgeting, and credit management. Offering valuable insights can greatly feed into building trust with this demographic.
Don’t overlook alternative payment methods
Because Gen Z members find convenience crucial, traditional payment methods like cash and credit cards may not fully meet their needs. So if your app aims at attracting Gen Z users, it should offer alternative payment options such as peer-to-peer (P2P) and buy-now-pay-later (BNPL).
Create engaging app experiences
Despite being a serious matter, managing finances doesn’t have to be boring. Gamification is the shortest way to make Gen Z apps more engaging and fun. By incorporating progress bars, challenges, and rewards, you can motivate Gen Z to interact with your app more often.
Partner with finfluencers
Gen Z trusts influencers more than governments, especially those in the finance and tech space. Consider including a partnership with a finfluencer in your app marketing strategy. By promoting your fintech app and offering valuable financial advice, a finfluencer will help you build brand awareness and establish credibility with Zoomers.
Make it look like a social media app
Again, Gen Z is a generation that has grown up with social media, and they expect fintech apps to look and feel similar. By making Gen Z apps intuitive and vibrant, like social platforms, fintech companies can increase engagement with this demographic.
To achieve this, you can incorporate features such as user profiles, news feeds, chatbots, and video tutorials. You can also use social media integration to allow users to connect their social media accounts to your app, making sharing content and engaging with their friends easier.
Focus on values
Finally, Zoomers value transparency and social responsibility, so if you target Gen Z, make sure you’re transparent about fees and highlight all social or environmental initiatives your company supports. This way, you’ll increase your chances of building trust and loyalty with Gen Zers.
Final words
Creating a fintech app that resonates with Gen Z requires a deep understanding of their unique financial needs and preferences. By offering personalised services, educational resources, alternative payment methods, and engaging user experiences, you can build a robust software product to position your brand as a go-to source for financial management and advice.
Even though Generation Z may not be your bank’s primary target audience at the moment, incorporating their preferences into your digital products will bring benefits to everyone. There’s no downside to making your products more inclusive, sustainable, user-friendly, and enjoyable to use.
