You don’t have to be a tech-savvy millennial to set up your email’s junk mail filters to ensure you never see an unsolicited advertisement. But when it comes to millennials, email marketing may be one of the best options available. Matt Bryant, writing for PPR North America, writes that, “millennials, the first generation of digital natives (grew up using computers), don’t respond to traditional advertising and marketing tactics as past generations did. A recent study found that 84 percent of millennials don’t like traditional advertising nor do they trust it.” So, how can you effectively reach this group? You may be surprised.
In an infographic for Entrepreneur titled “Hitting the Marketing Email Sweet Spot With Millennials (Infographic),” Rose Leadem points to data showing the relative attractiveness of email marketing: “In a study conducted by SendinBlue, which sought to uncover the likes and dislikes of millennials concerning email marketing, 63 percent of respondents said email was their number one choice of communication with retailers, with only 14 percent choosing text messaging.” In the infographic, Leadem looks at a number of interesting statistics to help marketers reach the growing Millennial market through email marketing.
Millennials are notoriously skeptical of traditional marketing. Simply put, they don’t trust it. That may be why email marketers that provide something of value find a more willing audience in millennials. Consider these findings from the SendinBlue survey, as reported by Leadem:
- “75% [of respondents] say perks like free shipping or 2-day delivery are the main thing driving loyalty to retailers.”
- “59% will take action from emails that contain a statewide or product category-wide promotional offer.”
- “71% of millennials will take action from an email containing their preferred marketing content (think discount codes and free shipping!)”
- “The majority of millennials said they will pull up an email when browsing in a physical store to access coupons.”
Engaging in email marketing to millennials might seem like a losing battle when considering how skeptical this cohort is to marketing in general and how easy it is to avoid emails from advertisers. Yet data shows that email marketing can be effective for this group, particularly when they perceive something of value.
How might you use email more strategically to connect with this market segment?
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Tags: Advertising, content marketing, digital marketing, email best practices, email marketing best practices, marketing to millennials
Hi Meagan – great points and I agree; it shouldn’t be that difficult for marketers to modify their email marketing efforts to connect with millennial, and other, markets. Thanks for your input!
As a millennial, I agree that email marketing is very effective. I would say that it is almost like using social media. We can subscribe for what kind of coupons, newsletters, etc, we want to see and have curated content sent to use without having to go look for it.
Since many in this generation tend to be more economically conscious, having coupons sent via email and scanned at the location is convenient because it saves paper and printers are not always available.
Email marketing has the potential to be very useful for marketers and millennials alike, as long as the consumers have the choice to get content that they want and not get bombarded with useless spam. This is is not a brand new concept so tailoring it to this generation would not be very difficult.