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How to Engage Millennials in Research, and Keep Them Engaged: A Perspective on

Millennials from a Millennial

By André M. Prinsloo

Abstract Millennials are the topic of the times and are currently in the spotlight in the business and

retail environment. They are entering the workplace, becoming the next big earners, and thus the

next big spenders in today’s market. Millennials are hyper-connected and have access to vast

amounts of information. Retail brands and employers understand that they need to keep up if they

are to keep Millennials making use of their services, purchasing their products and remaining

engaged in their jobs—and at the same time, researchers have to keep up if they wish to engage

Millennials in research activities, and keep them engaged. This opinion piece aims to define the

Millennial generation in general by virtue of their demographics and behaviours, and, further, frame

the millennial generation in a South African Context. South African Millennials represent a multi-

faceted challenge that defies easy categorization. Often called “born free” generation, Millennials in

South Africa consist mostly of black South Africans that have grown up in a country that is very

different to what their parents knew. A summary of trends affecting Millennials is provided as well

as the results of a survey conducted on a randomly selected sample of South African Millennials

with the aim of understanding how to engage them in survey research, and keep them engaged. The

survey asked questions under the broad themes of survey length, question language and type,

Gamification, visuals and interactivity, and incentives. The findings revealed many key

considerations that research practitioners can take into account when preparing to survey

Millennials and provide useful tips on survey approached that can be taken.


1. Introduction

Millennials are the topic of the times and are currently in the spotlight in the business and retail

environment. They are entering the workplace, becoming the next big earners, and thus the next big

spenders in today’s market. Millennials are hyper-connected and have access to vast amounts of

information—some factual and some not so factual. They are a generation waiting for the next best

thing. Retail brands and employers understand that they need to keep up if they are to keep

Millennials making use of their services, purchasing their products and remaining engaged in their

jobs—and at the same time, researchers have to keep up if they wish to engage Millennials in

research activities, and keep them engaged.

Many perceptions exist about Millennials; some true, and some that seem true, but that really aren’t.

The perception that teens and young adults drop out of surveys more because they have shorter

attention spans is a fallacy. Humans in general have short attentions spans, but Millennials have

more demands for their attention, which makes capturing their attention and keeping it challenging

(Kelton, 2013).

In a generation that is often flayed for having an opinion for everything, why not take advantage of

this nature to gain insight about what Millennials want, and how they want it. In a generation that is

willing to give their views, one would expect that surveying them would be a cinch. This, however,

is not the case. Tactics have to change, surveys need to be approached differently, and the manner

in which researchers ask questions needs to change.

1.1 Purpose of this paper

This piece aims to provide an opinion on ways to engage millennials from the perspective of a

millennial (as I myself am) backed up with some research done on South African Millenials. It will

cover tactics used in research methodologies and provide suggestions obtained from a survey

conducted on millennials in SA. The survey included the main topics of survey length,

questionnaire language and type, Gamification, incentives, visuals and interactivity, and

technology. They survey also provides some comparisons between millennials and non-millennials.

2. Defining The Millennial Generation

Millennials are the generation cohort born from 1979 though to 1994 (the exact birth years of

Millennials differ slightly depending upon the demographers as some use 1982 as the start of this

generation). They are also known as Nexters, Generation www, the Digital Generation, Generation

E, Echo Boomers, N-Gens, and, most often, Generation Y. Fascinatingly, this young generation

offers much more creative descriptions of themselves. They have call themselves the Non-Nuclear

Family Generation, the Nothing-Is-Sacred Generation, the Wannabees, the Feel-Good Generation,

CyberKids, the Do-or-Die Generation, and the Searching-for-an-Identity Generation (Martin,

2005:39).

They are a huge generation (the largest living generation alive today) of impatient, experiential

learners, digital natives, multi-taskers, and gamers who love the flat, networked world and expect

nomadic connectivity, 24/7. More importantly they are demanding consumers who expect more

selectivity, personalisation and customisation in their products and services.

Millennials can be called ‘natives’ of this new, digital, consumer driven, flat, networked, instant

satisfaction world that we live in today, and while some in the older generations may adapt quickly,

they will always be ‘immigrants’ and will never be as competent, resourceful or ‘natural’ as the

Millennials born into this new culture (Sweeny, 2006:1).


2.1 Millennial characteristics

Millennials have been characterized in a number of different ways. On the negative side, they've

been described as lazy, narcissistic and prone to jump from job to job. The 2008 book “Trophy

Kids” by Ron Alsop discusses how many young people have been rewarded for minimal

accomplishments (such as mere participation) in competitive sports, and have unrealistic

expectations of working life. Views such as this are also mentioned in Joel Stein’s (2013)

controversial article in Time Magazine, “Millennials: The Me Me Me Generation.”

Millennials “want flexible work schedules, more ‘me time’ on the job, and nearly non-stop

feedback and career advice from managers” (Stein, 2013). According to a 2012 study done by USA

Today, Millennials were found to be “more civically and politically disengaged, more focused on

materialistic values, and less concerned about helping the larger community than were GenX (born

1962-1981) and Baby Boomers (born 1946 to about 1961) at the same ages.” The trend is more of

an emphasis on extrinsic values such as money, fame, and image, and less emphasis on intrinsic

values such as self-acceptance, group affiliation and community. The study was based on an

analysis of two large databases of 9 million high school seniors or entering college students.

On the other hand, Millennials have also been described in positive ways. They are generally

regarded as being more open-minded, and more supportive of gay rights and equal rights for

minorities. Other positives adjectives to describe them include confident, self-expressive, liberal,

upbeat and receptive to new ideas and ways of living (Main 2013).

Richard Sweeney (2006:1-10) conducted a study on millennial behaviours, specifically searching

for insight on how to approach millennials that are entering tertiary education. Below is a summary

of the behaviours he identified with descriptions relevant to this paper.

Table 1: Millennial Behaviours

Millennial Behaviour Description

More Choices; More

Selectivity

Millennials expect a much greater array of product and service

selectivity. They have grown up with a huge array of choices and they

believe that such abundance is their birth right. This is a sea change in

consumer behaviour. Millennials also feel less need to conform in their

consumer choices to everyone else in their generation or to other

generations. They desire ultimate consumer control: what they want, how

and when they want it. Millennials expect significantly increased learning

options and far more educational services from their colleges and

universities.

Experiential and

Exploratory Learners

Millennials strongly prefer learning by doing. They almost never read the

directions; love to learn by doing, by interacting. Multiplayer gaming,

computer simulations, and social networks are some of their favourite

environments and provide little penalty for trial and error learning.

Millennials are more engaged through active learning, effective

experiential processes such as games, case studies, hands-on experiences,

and simulations that can speed their learning and hold their interest.

Flexibility /

Convenience

Millennials prefer to keep their time and commitments flexible longer in

order to take advantage of better options; they also expect other people

and institutions to give them more flexibility. They want to “time and

place shift” their services, to have them where and when they are ready.

They want more granularity in the services so they can be interrupted and


finish when they are ready without any loss or productivity. Colleges and

universities have to find alternatives to the lock step credit hour and

semester systems, to courses essentially taught by a single professor, and

to other flexibility and convenience areas that might involve systemic

change.

Personalization and

Customization

Once Millennials do make their choices in products and services, they

expect them to have as much personalization and customization features

as possible to meet their changing needs, interests and tastes. Colleges

and universities must provide personalized systems that both constantly

monitor and coach students-intervening as needed. Such personalized

monitoring should be continuous, not just a few times a semester. The

current process of assessment and feedback is cumbersome and slow and

loses many students.

Impatience

Millennials, by their own admission, have no tolerance for delays. They

expect their services instantly when they are ready. They require almost

constant feedback to know how they are progressing. Their worst

nightmare is when they are delayed, required to wait in line, or have to

deal with some other unproductive process. Their desire for speed and

efficiency cannot be over estimated. The need for speedy satisfaction, or

as some believe instant gratification, permeates virtually all of their

service expectations. College and universities are beginning to use

automated systems that give almost immediate answers based upon

previous questions asked in addition to answers from expert faculty.

Instant messaging rather than email will be used more often for such

quick assistance.

Practical, Results

Oriented

Millennials are interested in processes and services that work and speed

their interactions. They prefer merit systems to others (e.g. seniority).

Millennials are furious when they feel they are wasting their time; they

want to learn what they have to learn quickly and move on. Millennials

have no tolerance for services that do not continuously and reliably work

Multitaskers

Millennials excel at juggling several tasks at once since this an efficient,

practical use of their time and, as already noted, they are very impatient.

Multitasking can enable them to accelerate their learning by permitting

them to accomplish more than one task at the same time. They do want to

use their time most efficiently and multitasking offers them more options.

Digital Natives

Millennials clearly adapt faster to computer and internet services because

they have always had them. While they still clearly want and expect

expert teachers in a face-to-face environment, they expect the speed,

convenience, flexibility and power provided by digitally provided

services and resources. Millennials are practical: if they are offered a

service, they expect it to work.

Gamers

Millennials have spent thousands of hours playing electronic, computer

and video games. They love the constant interactivity, full motion

multimedia, colourful graphics, the ability to learn and progress to higher

levels, and the ability to collaborate with friends in their learning and

competitions. Gaming is already beginning to have a very significant

impact upon their expectations for learning and, in some cases, beginning

to find its way into higher education. Gaming offers thrills, competition,

engagement and a rich array of emotional stimuli that also enhance

learning. There is, after all, strong evidence that the evolution of the

emotions in humans occurred as an improved memory device.

Nomadic Millennials have more friends and communicate with them more


Communication Style frequently using IM (instant messaging), text messaging, cell phones as

well as more traditional communication channels. They are prolific

communicators. They love and expect communication mobility; to

remain in constant touch wherever and whenever, un-tethered. This is

their firm desire to do whatever they need to do, obtain any services

independent of their geography or distance. This is particularly important

since they typically don’t have “offices” at their college or university.

Millennials are much more likely to instant or text message more

frequently than they e-mail.

Media/Format Agnostic

Millennials most enjoy interactive full motion multimedia, colour images,

and audio although they can use any media, even text. Such multimedia is

key to engaging Millennials.

Collaboration &

Intelligence

After many years of collaborating at schools, day care, soccer teams,

orchestras, peer-to peer networks, games, and other programmed

activities, Millennials know how and when to work with other people

more effectively. Even those who do not prefer collaboration typically do

so, if they think it gives them a practical advantage. They respect

intelligence and education; “it is cool to be smart”. They are electing to

go onto college and graduate work in far greater numbers than previous

generations and this is an opportunity to hire smart students to help create

games and multimedia learning options as well as solve serious problems

with student learning.

Balanced Lives

They don’t want to work 80 hours a week and sacrifice their health and

their leisure time, even for considerably higher salaries. Yet they expect

to earn incomes exceeding their parents.

Less Reading

Millennials, disturbingly, are not reading literature or newspapers as

much as previous generations of the same age. In fact, reading is down

for most age groups but the decline has been greatest among the youngest

adult population. Certainly this is caused in part by the increase in the

competition from entertainment and educational options. A Millennial

will be playing a game more often than reading a book. This is most

disturbing because reading is a very efficient means of communicating

knowledge. Furthermore less reading is likely to cause a decline in

student writing skills.

Source: Sweeny, 2012:1-10

Other Characteristics

Millennials are direct, often to the point of appearing rude. They believe that they are all “above

average” – to be average is considered being mediocre. They are very confident, perhaps because

their Boomer parents constantly told them that they would succeed at whatever they did. They have

typically led more structured lives, influenced by their Boomer parents’ values expecting them all to

excel and go to the very best schools. Millennials are also more likely to have a close friend of a

different ethnicity than themselves and therefore have more tolerance for cultural differences. Also,

they are certainly traveled than other generations (Sweeny, 2006:2).

Different Personalities

According to Borges et al. (2005), Millennials also embody the following personalities:

Warmth: Millennials are found to be more warm and outgoing.

Reasoning: Millennials are more abstract than concrete.


Emotional Stability: Millennials are more adaptive and mature.

Rule Consciousness: Millennials are more dutiful.

Social Boldness: Millennials are more socially bold and adventuresome.

Sensitivity: Millennials are more sensitive and sentimental.

Apprehension: Millennials are more self-doubting and worried.

Openness to Change: Millennials are more open to change and experimenting.

Perfectionism: Millennials are more organized and self disciplined.

Self Reliance: Millennials were also found to be less solitary and individualistic.

2.2 Millennials in South Africa

South African Millennials represent a multi-faceted challenge that defies easy categorization. Often

called “born free” generation, Millennials in South Africa consist mostly of black South Africans

that have grown up in a country that is very different to what their parents knew. Many of these are

the first black generation of South African youngsters to have benefited from political change. The

oldest of these Millennials are already grown up and many have already entered, or are just about to

enter, the workplace. For South African businesses it is important to realise that these future

employees, customers, entrepreneurs and leaders are different, and they bring a different set of

values into the playing field.

Millennials in South Africa classify under the following demographics (Smith, 2010):

Mostly black in South Africa.

14,5 million people are between the ages of 15 and 29 years.

94% of South African Millennials in this age grouping are non-white (83% black African,

8% coloured, 3% India/Asian, and 6% white).

Children of Baby Boomers and younger siblings of Gen Xers.

Represent the largest generation currently in South Africa.

A question asked by Colin Smith (2010) in his article “‘Black to the future’ – South Africa’s Gen

Y” was: given that they come from different race, ethnic, religious and cultural back grounds to

what traditional white South African businesses leadership are used to, and the fact that this

generation is largely the offspring of the emerging black middle class (the main economic

benefactors of political transformation), how different are they actually, and different to whom?

The answer would be dependent on the framework or lens one uses to view the world (i.e. one’s

worldview). Worldviews are based on values and values are based on experiences of the world in

which people grew up. Therefore, as human beings, we are slaves to a circular reference.

Understanding the paradigm of the millennial in South Africa has to do with both South African as

well as global influences that would have shaped their value system while growing up.

Increasingly Black and White South African Millennials have more in common with one another

because of global influences (despite local differences), and less and less in common with their

older siblings, parents and grand parents. There is an increasing trend toward a global “one world

culture” and characteristics that transcend traditional divides.

While there is no escaping the fact that there are local differences based on situational context, both

from country to country and within our own borders, it is increasingly difficult for Millennials not

to have been impacted by globalisation and international influences.


Many Millennials dream of living large, but these dreams are balanced with reality, they know they

need the tools to make this dream a reality. Their Boomer parents and Silent grandparents have

sacrificed much and have struggled to give them the confidence to be optimistic about their future

in South Africa. They are the future of our consumer market, the future leaders, captains of

industry, and heroes, but take note they are different and have their own unique experiences that

inform the way they see the world around them.

2.3 Millennial Trends

Kelton Global (2013) released a publication on the trends affecting the millennial generation toady.

Millennials are a generation of tensions. They are widely seen as self-interested, rule-breaking

consumers. But they are also being shaped by the reality of the times. As a result, they have to

balance what they want with what they need:

Figure 1: Millennial's Wants vs. Needs

Source: Kelton (2013)

Dichotomies such as this highlight the importance of looking past the headlines and conventional

wisdom and at the underlying trends shaping how Millennials behave and interact—with each

other, with brands, and with the world around them.

The following are the ten trends affecting Millennials today as identified by Kelton (2013):

1. Experimentalists.

Unlike Gen X and Boomers before them, Millennials have traded old ties with tradition for a

remarkable openness to the “new.” They are willing to experiment not only with new brands,

but wholly new ways of organizing relationships with the products and services they use.

They’ve grown up in an era of disruption and are accustomed to its rapid change.

2. Influence seekers and Sharers

Despite a proclaimed independence streak, Millennials act as influencers and seek the

reassurance of others opinions. They are quick to provide feedback and also expect to receive it.

Millennials believe in a consensus economy and look for the reassurance of others’ experiences

and reviews

3. Pure Authenticity

There is trend among leading-edge Millennial consumers for more contact with the natural

world as their own worlds become increasingly synthetic, including a yearning to embrace what

is pure and authentic. Part of this movement is that Millennials know what they want and do not

care for substitutes.


4. Communal Experiences

As children, Millennials were coddled by their parents. As a result, they relish working and

participating in activities in teams, behaviours that will continue through adulthood. Millennials

love to socialize and create memories together, whether it’s participating in a monthly book club

or a weekly game night.

5. Tech-ubiquity (Technology is Everywhere)

Millennials have shifted from the face-to-face interactions favoured by previous generations

towards tech-mediated interactions. From online information gathering and sharing to using

Social Media to find the hottest new bar, Millennials rely heavily on technology to find the

‘latest and greatest.’

6. Temporary Consumers

Tight economic times mean Millennials are not able to participate in the ‘ownership economy’

as much as generations who have come before. The rise of the ‘sale’ began with the economic

downturn but has made way for many more services that allow younger consumers to always

find a deal when shopping. This has shaped a new consumer mind-set and has shifted shopping

behaviours.

7. Screened lives

Having grown up immersed in technology, Millennials have shifted towards frictionless, tech-

mediated service interactions. Making reservations, checking in, giving feedback, seeking

answers—all are increasingly being done digitally, taking people out of the process along the

way.

8. Healthy on the inside

More and more millennial consumers are aware of the role some foods can play in preventing,

treating and even curing certain illness. Fundamental to this is the understanding that it is

specific ingredients and food that can contribute to health and well-being and that there is a

difference between “synthetic” foods and “natural additives.”

9. Rich Experiences

Having grown up in an era of plenty (prior to 2007), many Millennial consumers have only

known an affordable “Experience Economy.” They set a high bar on expectations, though they

may have a small wallet. They want even the briefest of interactions to be memorable. This is

most prominent when they leave home for work, a night out or a trip.

10. Flexible Work

Millennials are freer of the “cubicle” and a career at one company than their parents – they are

more mobile as employees and independent entrepreneurs. Being more of the entrepreneurial

mind-set than previous generations, these consumers also have a deeper appreciation for

innovative or “home-grown” products and services.

3. Millennials in the Context of Research

A survey was conducted on 120 randomly selected South African Millennials about how they prefer

to be surveyed. The survey was also conducted on non-millennials for comparison purposes.

Several key themes were chosen as the basis for the questionnaire, namely, Survey Length,

Question Language and Type, Gamification, Incentives, and Visuals and Interactivity.


3.1 Survey Length:

Respondents were asked what their ideal survey length would be. 80% of the millennial respondents

indicated an ideal time of between 5-15 minutes, with the majority (36%) indicating a 10-minute

survey as ideal.

Figure 2: Ideal Survey Length among Millennials and non-millennials

Millennials are quite diverse in their tolerance of long surveys, with 9% indicating 5 minutes, 14%

indicating 10 minutes, 24% indicating 15 Minutes, 13% indicating 20 minutes, and a surprising

17% indicating that they would be tolerant of up to 30 minutes.

Figure 3: Survey Length Tolerance among Millennials and non-millennials

Survey Scope:

The scope of a questionnaire affects survey length. When asked about the scope of the

questionnaire, Millennials indicated that they prefer a broader scope to a limited scope. The

challenge for researchers here is to broaden the scope while keeping the time short.

21%

27%

18%

22%

12%

Ideal Survey Time: Millennials

≤ 5 min

6-10 min

11-15 min

16-20 min

> 20 min

29%

49%

13%

6%

3%

Ideal Survey Time: Non-Millennail

≤ 5 min

6-10 min

11-15 min

16-20 min

≥ 20 min

13%

17%

25% 13%

22%

10%

Survey Length Tolerance:

Millennials

≤ 5 min

6-10 min

11-15 min

16-20 min

21-30 min

> 30 min

9%

27%

24%

22%

14%

4%

Survey Length Tolerance: Non-

millennials

≤ 5 min

6-10 min

11-15 min

16-20 min

21-30 min

> 30 min


Figure 4: Questionnaire Scope among Millennials and non-millennials

Progress bar:

The progress bar allows respondents to monitor their completion of the survey. For Millennials, not

knowing how they are progressing is frustrating, especially when under time pressure. Respondents

were asked how important it is to see their progress while completing a questionnaire:

Figure 5: Importance of Progress Bar among Millennials and non-millennials

3.1.1 Considerations for researchers:

Keep surveys shorter than 20 minutes; 10 minutes is ideal.

Broaden the scope without compromising the time.

Acknowledge effort through motivational tools such as a progress bar, and offering breaks

in the survey.

54%

23%

23%

Scope of Questionnaire:

Millennials

Broad

Indifferent

Limited

46%

27%

27%

Scope of Questionnaire: Non-

millennials

Broad

Indifferent

Limited

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

Importance of Progress Bar

Millennials

Non-millennials


3.2 Questionnaire Language and Type

Correct Language Usage:

When asked about the importance of correct language, Millennials indicated that correct language

usage is very important. One would expect a generation immersed in SMS writing style that correct

language is not as important, however, the results speak for themselves that Millennials are also

articular about correct language usage. Millennials didn’t show any negative sentiments about being

surveyed primarily in English—a positive outcome for researchers practicing in the multi-cultures

South African society.

Figure 6: Importance of Correct Language among Millennials and non-millennials

Slang and Abbreviations:

When Millennials were asked about their preference of slang and abbreviation usage in

questionnaires, they indicated a low preference for the use of slang or colloquial language.

Millennials are predominantly indifferent to the use of abbreviations as long as they know what

they stand for.


Use correct English

Avoid slang and abbreviations in questionnaires; it’s the safer route to not annoying

millennial respondents.

Be provocative in the way questions are asked. Don’t complete for attention, command it

through presenting disruptive ideas.

Reduce the effects of entitlement and apathy by using methods that require Millennials to

make clear choices.

Keep it real. In conjoint studies; make the scenarios as real and relevant as possible.

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

Importance of Correct Language

Millennials

Non-millennials


3.3 Gamification

Gamification is the use of game thinking and game mechanics in non-game contexts to engage

users in solving problems (Zichermann, 2011). Gamification techniques strive to leverage people's

natural desires for competition, achievement, status, self-expression, altruism, and closure. A core

Gamification strategy is rewarding players who accomplish desired tasks. Types of rewards include

points, achievement badges or levels, the filling of a progress bar, and providing the user with

virtual currency.

Competition is another element of games that can be used in Gamification. Making the rewards for

accomplishing tasks visible to other players or providing leader boards are ways of encouraging

players to compete.

Although few Millennials and non-millennials knew what Gamification is (74% indicated that they

do not know what Gamification is). However, when surveyed on the elements that embody the

principles of Gamification, it is clear that Gamification in surveys is very important – i.e.

incentives, progress bar, and appealing to Millennials’ competitive nature.


Build Gamification elements into surveys to motivate and engage respondents.

Re-frame questions to enlist respondent’s imagination, where they actively think of things

rather than simply recall experiences, actions or habits.

Set rules instead of leaving questions to vague. For example: instead of “Tell me about

yourself,” use “Using exactly 7 words, describe yourself.”

Maintain the golden thread. If the Gamification elements are not relevant to the purpose of

the survey, it is better not to use them.

3.4 Incentives

Millennials often require incentives to take part in a survey. When asked how important incentives

are, 67% (sum of respondents rating 8, 9, and 10) indicated that incentives are extremely important,

where non-millennials indicated more indifference.


Figure 7: Importance of Incentives among Millennials and non-millennials

When asked about their preferred incentive, 82% of the Millennials indicated that they prefer

instant gratification. Altruism didn’t feature highly among Millennials. Although instant

gratification was still prominent among non-millennials, a substantially larger percentage indicated

more altruistic notions to incentives than Millennials.

Figure 8: Incentive Preferences among Millennials and non-millennials

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

45%

Importance of Incentives

Millennials

Non-millennials

8%

10%

82%

Incentive Preference: Millennials

Altruism (donate to a

charity)

Enter into a grand prize

(larger prize, but only stand

a chance to win)

Instant gratification

(smaller prize, instant win)



Millennials will participate more readily if there are instant gratification incentives.

Altruism should be used creatively in conjunction with other incentives, rather than in

isolation. Donations enhance a positive brand image of the business under study, so don’t

discount altruistic incentives completely.

Rewards can be implemented imaginatively in the form of Gamification elements (i.e.

points, and rankings).

3.5 Visuals and Interactivity

Millennials want to engage with graphics that mean something to them. They want to relate to and

connect with whatever they interact with.

When asked about how important it is to be able to interact with the survey itself, 70% of millennial

respondents indicated that interaction is important to them, compared to only 58% of non-millennial

respondents.

93% of Millennial respondents prefer simple and balanced visuals above complex ones. 46% prefer

bright colours; while 52 % indicated that they prefer a balance between bright and dull tones. 62%

of respondents indicated that they prefer a balance of images and text, while 22% prefer text, and

16% prefer images.


Keep it simple. Don’t be too generic and cliché in the design. Make the visuals as authentic

as possible. Maintain a balance between bright and dull tones.

Use images with purpose, when planning the survey, if it needs imagery; use relevant

imagery that respondents can relate to. Be consistent.

Use visuals to empower respondents to enable survey completion.

Employ drag-and-drop style questions – just ensure they work properly.

4. Conclusion

There is no single recipe for success for any practitioner wishing to effectively engage Millennials.

Generational cohorts are also not the be-all and end-all of categorisation or segmentation—it is

merely an indicator, and it is evident that there is contention even about the decision on the time

24%

17% 59%

Incentive Preference: Non-millennials

Altruism (donate to a

charity)

Enter into a grand prize

(larger prize, but only stand

a chance to win)

Instant gratification (smaller

prize, instant win)


frame in which Millennials were born. There are, however, similarities among Millennials that

researchers can take advantage of when designing surveys specifically aimed at Millennials, and

they form powerful guidelines from which to work.

Researchers should employ the tactics (considerations) mentioned above when approaching this

challenge practically, but should not neglect the softer, more psychological elements that affect

Millennials and their behaviours when designing surveys to gain insights.

Internationally, Millennials are the biggest generation alive to day, this is true for South Africa too.

Millennials have an intrinsic desire to share, share with each other and share their view on things. It

will be a shame to miss out on the wealth of information available to researchers simply because of

the approach taken to gain this information.


Reference List

Kelton, 2013. 10 Trends Affecting Millennials. [Online] Kelton Available at: HYPERLINK

"http://keltonglobal.com/thought-leadership/10-trends-affecting-millennials/"

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