Email marketing is one of the oldest tricks in the book. Companies and brands have relied on electronic mail since the dawn of the internet. Since that time, many mailing services and platforms have reinvented the way we send and receive mail. Millennials are one of the early adopters of internet and email practices as a whole.
They are the predominant generation that will inherit our world. However, there is still a gap between then and now, and millennials are a crucial target demographic for many brands and services. But how can you approach a tech savvy generation with a short attention span and a constant need for more “oomph” in their lifestyle?
1. Minimalism and direct information
Think of the most detailed and packed brochure you have ever held in your hands – now try to do the opposite of that. Millennials are a generation that prefers honesty and trustworthiness above all else. Most importantly, they are a generation with insight into design trends and visual communication.
Delivering emails with long-form text, plenty of information and an abundance of images and links might not be a good idea. Millennials prefer minimalistic design with whitespace and nothing to hide. Likewise, the information you include in the body of your email should be as succinct and coherent as possible.
Most millennials prefer using their phones to access their email accounts and long-form content simply isn’t suitable for this medium. Cut out all the fat from your email content before trying to market it to millennials and expect a positive response.
2. Personalization and targeting
The millennial generation is an interesting bunch. They prefer receiving more attention than the former or later generations. Email marketing with generalized sales pitches and no personalization likely won’t have good results. Instead, you should strive towards building a mailing list with personal information containing at least their names and ages.
This will allow you to handcraft emails that will resonate with this young generation and capture their attention more clearly. For example, starting the title of your email with a name of your recipient will likely cause them to open it. Millennials often identify with brands and companies that stand for something more than just revenue.
While income is important to staying afloat, a more social aspect needs to be introduced into the company’s mission. In doing so, you will indivertibly capture the attention of millennials who will be far more likely to support your brand. Targeted marketing and personalized messages with clear direction are a necessity in marketing strategies concerning millennial customers.
3. Optimize for responsive viewing
Understanding what millennials want often comes down to putting yourself in their shoes. Responsive design solutions have been around for a number of years and include content that can be viewed on different devices and screens. This means that any email content you create has to abide by these rules.
Millennials care not only about their own experience but also about the experience of others around them. A slick design solution for email content is often the only thing standing in the way of large brands approaching millennial customers.
Optimize your images and multimedia for responsive viewing. The same can be said about your text and the way you format it. Once you get rid of any excess text that might not be necessary for millennials, you can use a writing service to further optimize that content for enjoyable reading. Include outbound links to your website or e-commerce storefront for further inquiries.
This is a far more suitable solution for millennials than clogging up email without reason. Test your emails on multiple devices before sending them to your mailing list. Make sure that your email content can be viewed on a plethora of different operating systems, browsers and devices if you want to make a good and lasting impression on millennials.
4. Social media matters
Social media platforms are all around us. Whether you prefer Facebook over Twitter or LinkedIn doesn’t matter in the end – we are all guilty of using one or the other. Millennials are a generation of young people that fully adopted the social media craze.
Most millennials spend time on social media chatting with friends, organizing their daily schedule or updating friends about their activity. You can use this to engage millennials and make them share your content and products with other millennials with a few simple email tricks:
- Include social media icons in your email. These icons should lead to your social media pages where millennials can learn more about your brand.
- Include the ability to “share” your email content with others in their social circles. A button that requires mere seconds of interaction will likely cause one with millennials.
- Make sure to include social media snippets from your corresponding pages. Showing your customers what you have been up to is a great way of pulling them towards you.
Including these calls to action in your email body will make sure that millennials engage your content. Social media platforms play a huge role not only in marketing but daily life as well. Why not use that opportunity for some easy promotion and customer engagement?
5. Don’t force them – offer choices instead
Lastly, including any “ultimatums” in your emails targeted at millennials likely won’t work in your favor. Millennials like to have options when it comes to the content they digest on the internet. This goes for the frequency of emails they receive, the type of content it includes as well as other options.
Creating a small questionnaire and attaching it to your email will give you all the information you need about how your particular group of millennials thinks. The general consensus is that millennials like to receive fewer emails with concrete information rather than be bombarded with spam on a daily basis. You can apply the same rule when you offer your customers subscription and purchase options.
Don’t outright ask them to sign up for your email subscription if they don’t want to. For starters, they can subscribe to your social media pages and follow your content from there. The more open and forthcoming you are with your email content, the more likely you are to retain a millennial audience.
Long-term millennials (Conclusion)
The millennial generation likely won’t change over time – their upbringing is the way it is for a reason. They have been exposed to new technologies at an early age and will continue to seek technological satisfaction any chance they get. Be the pioneer in your industry and adopt a millennial-friendly way of creating email content. This generation is growing up quickly and we can already see graduates and professionals on the job market.
Millennials will soon start to create families of their own which they will raise in much the same way they were raised. Adapt to the changing marketing landscape early in order to cater to the needs of future generations. Only then will your brand work and remain relevant for years to come.
