Conversational AI for MilZ: 24/7 Service with a Personal Touch

It’s 11 p.m. on a Tuesday and your MilZ customer has a question about how she should use her inheritance. Is she willing to wait until morning to call your 1 800 number? Absolutely not. The data shows that she will most likely hop on #FinTok and see what her favorite creator might recommend.

Millennials and Gen Z (“MilZ” for short) demand service on their terms – always on, personalized, and preferably via social media or text.

In this week’s issue I dive into why you need a 24/7 conversational AI to attract and retain those MilZ customers – and how to get started without going crazy.

Also you may have noticed I took a break last week. I was in Egypt for some R&R, and to meet with some of the talented Wellthi team members. It was a blast to see everyone, and the Pyramids! The trip gave me some time to reflect, and I’ve decided to reduce the newsletter to bi-weekly, at least for now. I want to make sure every issue is top quality.

If you’re enjoying the newsletter, consider sharing it with a colleague or friend — if you do, please use this link so they can check out some previous issues as well. https://news.wellthiapp.com 

— Fonta

ICYMI

DEEP DIVE

The New Norm: MilZ Don’t Do “Banker’s Hours”

Smart, Chatty, and Always On: Conversational AI to the Rescue.

Conversational AI – from chatbots in your banking app to social feedsand snackable social networkingcontent– is stepping up to meet MilZ expectations. 

Let’s deep dive chatbots as an example. Today’s chatbots are a far cry from those clunky FAQ-bots of yesteryear. Thanks to advances in natural language processing (and yes, the recent hype around large language models - LLMs), bots are learning to sound more human, intuitive, and helpful.

Insider Intelligence notes that generative AI is adding a “human touch” and more personal relevance to previously stilted chatbot scripts. In plain terms, your bot can have a personality now – or at least not talk like a robot from a 1980s movie. Think:  Next Gen Siri. 

Crucially, conversational AI is always awake. Whether it’s noon or midnight, a smart virtual assistant can greet customers by name, answer questions, and even crack a joke or two.

Bank of America’s Erica – one of the pioneering virtual financial assistants – handles about 2 million client interactions per day, often delivering answers in seconds.

In fact, 98% of clients get what they need from Erica in under 44 seconds on average. 

That kind of speed and availability sets a new bar for service. No human team can match an AI’s stamina (sorry, humans) – and younger users love knowing help is instant and on-demand. So, if you are a financial advisor, don’t stress. Use this evolution as an enhancement that can help you service large groups of HENRY’s and HIPOs - at scale.

Just as important is the personal touch a well-designed AI can provide. It might sound ironic – can a bot really feel personal?

In Erica’s case, Bank of America programmed her to be more than transactional. She’ll proactively ping users with spending insights, warn them about upcoming bills, and even send birthday greetings (7,000+ since launch). 

“Erica acts as both a personal concierge and mission control for our clients… a true guide by their side,” says BofA’s Head of Digital, describing how Erica meets customers wherever and whenever they need her. 

That mix of utility and a bit of fun creates a friendly vibe – one that younger customers appreciate. The bot feels less like a soulless algorithm and more like a helpful sidekick.Takeaway: Curation is queen. She doesn’t want more content—she wants better content, streamlined in one place, validated by experts that she can relate to and trust.

From Affirm to “Hey, Alexa – What’s My Balance?” (Real-World Examples).

Big banks aren’t the only ones in the game. Fintechs and even smaller institutions are leveraging conversational AI to punch above their weight. 

Take Affirm, the buy-now-pay-later giant popular with Gen Z shoppers. 

On an earnings call in 2024, Affirm’s CEO Max Levchin revealed Affirm built an AI chatbot to handle routine customer queries – things like “When is my next payment?” or “What’s your refund policy?” 

The results? In Affirm’s pilot, fewer than 40% of users needed to speak to a human after using the bot. That is huge in an industry serving phone-averse Gen Zers. 

Levchin is optimistic this will scale customer support efficiently, noting that while nobody’s getting replaced by robots (yet), the AI assist should translate to cost savings in the next 1–3 years as it helps Affirm handle more inquiries without more headcount.

On the traditional banking side, Bank of America’s Erica is basically the poster child of chatbots done right. 

Since launching in 2018, Erica has racked up 2 billion+ interactions with 42 million clients as of April 2024. 

It took four years to hit the first billion interactions and only 18 months to hit the second billion – talk about exponential adoption. 

Why such popularity? Because Erica solves problems fast and on the go. And she’s accurate! Users ask her everything from “What’s my routing number?” to “How much did I spend on Uber this month?”

She’s integrated across BofA’s services (even helping Merrill wealth clients and small business users), providing quick answers and nudges. And when Erica can’t handle it solo, she smoothly hands off to a live human agent via chat. That kind of seamless escalation is key. 

Gen Z wants instant help, but they also value knowing a human is there as backup for complex issues. The best conversational AI setups, like Erica’s, recognize when to tag in a person – so the customer isn’t left hanging or frustrated by a bot that’s out of its depth.

The AI, built with fintech partner Glia, anticipates common questions and has handled thousands of member interactions – resolving roughly 90% of them – in Spanish, no waiting for a specialist. 

That’s a small credit union using AI to provide round-the-clock, personalized service (in another language!) that rivals much larger institutions. It’s also a real-life example of meeting customers where they are – whether it’s language preferences or odd hours.

And let’s not forget the newcomers leveraging LLM-based interfaces – essentially banking’s own spin on ChatGPT. 

While fully chatGPT-enabled banking bots are still in the early days, nearly half of U.S. bank executives (48%) say they plan to use generative AI to enhance their customer-facing chatbots and virtual assistants. 

The idea is that an LLM-powered assistant could handle more free-form questions and deliver even more natural, context-aware help. 

Imagine asking your banking app in plain English (or slang) “Can I afford to splurge on a PS5 this month?” and getting a friendly, data-driven response (“Sure, if you cut down your Starbucks habit – you’ve spent $150 there this month 😜”). 

Banks see this as the next evolution to deepen engagement with savvy young customers. We’re not far off from a world where you might say, “Hey Alexa, check my balance and compare this month’s spending to last,” and an AI voice will not only fetch the numbers but give you a smart commentary (“Balance is $500 – down 10% from last month, maybe lay off the avocado toast, friend!”). 

The tech is basically here; it’s the bank integration and compliance side that’s catching up. But mark my words, the personal banker in your pocket is getting an AI upgrade very soon. If you don’t want to build it in-house. Consider partnering with a fintech. But ignoring this trend might not be the best move.

There are numerous real world examples of women creating peer groups that are demonstrated to improve financial decision-making.

Efficiency That Feels Like Loyalty

A big driver for conversational AI in banking is obviously efficiency. Banks and credit unions can’t exactly hire an army of service reps to chat with every customer at 2 a.m., but a well-trained bot can handle an infinite number of simultaneous chats. 

That translates to serious cost savings. Analysts projected that banking chatbots could save the industry billions by automating routine inquiries, and we’re seeing that play out. 

One AI CEO noted his company cut support costs 40% with AI while improving performance.

Those are hard numbers that any CFO would love. 

But here’s the magic: what starts as an efficiency play can morph into a loyalty play if done right. 

Younger customers might appreciate quick answers, but they love feeling understood and valued. A chatbot that instantly recognizes me, fixes my problem, and maybe throws in a friendly quip (“Caught that Stranger Things reference in your transaction notes, nice one!”) can actually deepen my emotional connection to the brand. 

It’s counterintuitive – we think of loyalty as a human-to-human thing – but for digital natives, a slick digital experience is personal. In one survey, 72% of bank customers rated personalized services very highly in importance. That includes things like tailored advice or custom alerts that make them feel the bank “gets” them. 

Conversational AI is a perfect vehicle for delivering those personal touches at scale. It can notice patterns (like Erica monitoring subscriptions or spending habits) and proactively assist, which feels like bespoke service.

The proof is in the retention. If your banking app becomes an everyday helpful companion rather than a chore, customers stick around.

Conversely, when digital experiences falter, younger customers bolt – as evidenced by that high switch rate for better digital/service we saw earlier. 

Ensuring your AI support is top-notch is now part of earning loyalty.

They might even tell their friends (or their X followers) about the cool new thing your chatbot helped them with at midnight. That word-of-mouth is gold among Gen Z and Millennials, who trust peer opinions and viral stories.

Of course, none of this means humans are obsolete. Far from it. The winning formula we see emerging is AI + Human. 

The AI handles the quick stuff and provides that always-available safety net; the humans step in for empathy and complex problem-solving when needed. 

MilZ customers appreciate that blend. They want instant self-service for simple asks, and a caring human for the tough moments – not one or the other. If you strike that balance, you get efficiency and a deeper relationship. 

As one tech exec put it, the goal is not to remove the human touch, but to scale it. Conversational AI, done well, feels like your bank is there for the customer 24/7, personally, without actually having to physically staff people 24/7. It’s a bit of fintech magic.

The Bottom Line

For digital and customer experience leaders in banking, the mandate is clear: meet MilZ customers where they are – on their phones, on chat, on their schedule – or risk losing them.

Conversational AI is your 24/7 personal banker that can greet each user with a smile (digital, but still), answer the mundane instantly, and escalate the meaningful moments to your team. 

It increases efficiency (your COO will applaud the cost ratios) while delighting young customers who’ll feel like finally a bank speaks their language. In an era when 79% of Millennials and Gen Z have gotten financial advice from social media (yes, TikTok and Reddit are your competition in some ways), you need every tool to keep their attention and earn their trust. 

MilZ HENRYs and HIPOs are a coveted segment – they have income, they have ambition, and they won’t be “Not Rich Yet” forever. The institutions that win them over now with superior digital experiences will reap the rewards as these customers’ financial needs (and balances) grow. 

As CEO of a fintech, I’ll be the first to say: technology alone isn’t a silver bullet, but technology that enhances the human element – availability, personalization, responsiveness – is absolutely a game-changer. 

Conversational AI is doing exactly that for customer service. It’s giving Gen Z and Millennials the 24/7 personal touch they crave, and giving banks and credit unions a shot to prove that yes, you can be both high-tech and high-touch at the same time. 

In the immortal words of a great late-night infomercial: set it (your AI), and (let your customers) forget it – because they’re happily getting what they need, when they need it, with a smile and maybe a duck joke thrown in. And that’s how you build loyalty in 2025 and beyond.

— Fonta

Meet the Future of Finance!

Wellthi Technologies—backed by Mastercard & Northwestern Mutual Future Ventures—offers a turnkey Virtual Advisor Technology app tailored for lowering branch costs, driving low-cost deposits, and maximizing billion dollar opportunities with under 45 consumers. Engage Millennials & Gen Z with social finance features that drive loyalty and deposits. Our platform transforms banking into a community experience with goal sharing, crowdfunding, and peer support—helping credit unions stay relevant, digital-first, and growth-ready. Seamlessly onboard new members, boost engagement, and unlock new revenue streams—all without costly tech investments.

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