To ensure the future of a business, brands need to connect with millennials now. At over 75 million strong, millennials dominate the U.S. population. This generation, born between 1980 and 1996, holds around $3.4 trillion in spending power in 2018.
The age gap in the millennial generation is the root of many marketing communication challenges. For instance, some are recent college grads, have irregular daily schedules, limited budgets, and a single relationship status. On the other end of the spectrum, older millennials may be married homeowners with children. But, do younger and older millennials have enough common characteristics to be lumped together as a single target audience?
Researchers commonly note the generation’s common characteristics as having short attention spans, an expectation for brands to cater to their personal needs and very busy lifestyles. Basically, it all boils down to this: millennials demand that reward programs are relevant, simple and convenient.
1. Relevant. Millennials expect every interaction to be tailored to their preferences. In order to be relevant, brands need to collect and understand consumer data, from demographic information to behaviors to engagement preferences. Besides tailoring the content of a message to a customer’s individual needs, a savvy way to make messages relevant is to incorporate the notion of context. Relevant messages require the marketer to take several factors into consideration when planning out campaigns. Context includes time of day, location, weather, devices, past behavior, purchase history and channel preference. In a time where millennials are bombarded with hundreds of marketing messages a day, the key is making communications and the user experience relevant.
2. Simple. There are two questions millennials will ask when learning about a reward program: “What’s in it for me?” and “How much of my time will this take?” It should take little to no time for a customer to calculate the benefit that the program offers to them and they should see a clear path to their first reward. If the program contains a complicated points system or an unclear benefit, enrollment numbers will be affected. The enrollment process also needs to be simple and easy so that it can be done quickly via mobile app or in store. If the program takes too long to enroll in, millennials will either walk away or be turned off by the program and not engage with it after enrolling.
3. Convenient. With the age difference in the millennial generation, it’s important to make your program available to them whenever and however they want it. Younger millennials are constantly on the go and always on their smartphones. On the other hand, older millennials with kids have their hands full running around and may have less time to check their phones’ notifications regularly. s. Engaging with millennials means adopting a multi-channel marketing strategy, including email, push and pull messaging and social media.
Building relationships with millennials has immediate benefits, but it pays off even more in the long-term. Capture their attention early, and they could remain loyal to a brand for the rest of their lives, even passing on their love of a brand to their children. Learn more about effective strategies by watching our webinar “How to Target Millennial Shoppers.”
This post is sponsored by Paytronix