Gartner (April 2021) — 62% of millennials and 75% of Gen Z would use noncompany guidance (Google, YouTube) to self-resolve, even when they can contact support

Claim: Discovery increasingly starts in a search engine — 62% of millennials and 75% of Gen Z report they would use noncompany guidance (e.g., a Google search or YouTube video) to self-resolve, even when they can contact customer service.

Source: Gartner press release, April 20, 2021.

Confidence: Verified — independent, primary press release.

Why this matters for Candid: Connects self-serve preference to the findability surface — the page has to exist on the open web in a form that Google can return, not behind a contact form. Bridges the self-service evidence (HBR (Dixon et al., 2017) — 81% of all customers attempt self-service before reaching out to a live representative) and the structured-data mechanism (Google Search Central — structured data labels each individual element so users can search by ingredient, calorie count, cook time).