5. A generational div ide h as dev elop ed S martphones offer in th e ch oice of ch annels to interact w ith six different touch points serv ice p rov iders, w h ich ap p ears h eav ily influenced by smartphone use. V oice • Generation Y uses all contact channels almost S MS / Mob ile equally. Messenger 6 apps • Older users favor the phone: it remains the Email Internet / preferred channel for those born before 1960. w eb chat • Generation X uses electronic messaging as much as S ocial the phone to contact providers. netw orks • This variation could be explained by smartphone penetration: phones enable use of six distinct channels / touch points. • Social and digital smartphone functions are mostly used by Generation Y, but will spread to other age groups faster than the population ages. Trends: Customer choice and preferred contact channels are changing and vary b y age. C h annel p ref erence b y age in 20 15 100% c5% c5% Internet / w eb chat c2 5% c2 0% c2 5% c10% S ocial media c2 5% c30% Electronic messaging c9 0% ( email and S MS etc) c2 0% c10% c6 5% S martphone app c2 0% c30% Telephone / V oice c10% G en. Y G en. X B ab y B oomers S ilent G en. Sources: EY analysis ( < 35 y ears) ( 35 - 55 y ears) ( 55 - 7 0 y ears) ( > 7 0 y ears) O ff- site Customer R elationship S tudy | J anuary 2 016 7