Just Who Are They?
Millennials are also known as Generation Y, Digital Natives, Generation Me, Generation Rent or Echo Boomers and are generally born between 1980 and 2000. Why are they important? They’re the largest generation in western history, with $200 billion in annual buying power (Source) and make up 21% of consumer discretionary purchases (Source).
What Are Their Traits?
They’re tech and social media savvy, preferring to communicate via email and text. They’re the first generation to grow up digesting and assimilating mass quantities of information at a time. They’re creative, environmentally conscious, civic oriented, strive for transparency, and value authenticity. They want to buy from companies who practice sustainability and are ethical. They’re health conscious, are foodies, and eat organic. They exercise and smoke less than previous generations. They use apps to track training data, and online information to find the healthiest foods. They’re penny pinchers who love discounts, 57% of them compare prices at the store (Source). They crave attention, feedback, and guidance.
What Are The Stats?
Research shows that Millennials could be suffering from digital fatigue (Source) with the constant bombardment of on-line pop-ups and emails.
Millennials actually value print. In 2016, the USPS found that 40% of them read direct mail thoroughly, compared to only 18% of Non-Millennials. They also discovered that Millennials spend more time reading mail compared to other generations: an average of 9.7 minutes each day, compared to 7.9 minutes for Generation X and 8 minutes for Baby Boomers. In addition, 63% of Millennials who responded to a direct mail piece within the past three months made a purchase (Source).
How Do You Appeal To Them?
Always follow the K-I-S-S (keep it simple & short). K-I-S-S should apply to both your content and brand message. Now that you know what some of the Millennial traits are, craft your content to appeal to those traits. Be honest and authentic. Don’t just sell your product, sell your purpose. Never forget a strong call to action like an offer just for them, which makes them feel special. Personalization is king. Over 90% of respondents in a USPS survey reported that personalization made them more likely to open a direct mail piece.
What About Personalization?
In order to personalize your direct mail piece, you have to have CUSTOMER DATA! This can range from just their name, their address, or their buying habits. Here are some examples:
THE OFFER – Create an offer based on past purchases, the last time they purchased, or last discount they used. Create an urgency to buy with an expiration date.
NAME – Use their first name, it’s more personal.
IMAGES – Use bold images! For them, everything is visual. How about designing your piece using an infographic?
PURLs – Drive them to a personalized URL (PURL) where their contact information is already pre-populated and the messaging is specific to them.
GENDER – You can adjust the content to appeal to either males or females.
A REMINDER – if your product/service needs to be repurchased or renewed, create a campaign based on that.
QR CODES – They’re fast and easy, but people need a good reason to grab their phone and scan. Make sure you take them to something they don’t want to miss, like viewing a video or image gallery or directing them to a landing page with coupons or discounts.
What About Digital?
Although Millennials are interested in and influenced by direct mail, their time is still spent primarily online. You can increase the effectiveness of your direct mail by sending them to a web page, a landing page, or to your social media channels. Your direct mail shouldn’t be a stand alone marketing channel. It needs to be coordinated with all your channels including email, social media, web, and internet advertising. You want your prospects to see the same brand message multiple times and in many different ways.
A Lasting Impression
According to a recent Gallup Poll, 95% of Millennials age 18-29 say they feel positively about receiving a personal mailing (Source).
A piece of mail is tactile, and if it’s designed well, will elicit a reaction. In fact, studies show direct mail elicits a stronger emotional reaction than digital advertising and 82% of Millennials view messages printed on paper as more trustworthy than digital messages (Source).
For a lasting impression, your marketing channel mix should include direct mail. The average lifespan of an email is 2 seconds vs. an average lifespan of a direct mail is 17 days (Source). Many of our clients say that they keep our direct mailers and occasionally refer back to them.
Bottom line, direct mail influences Millennials with a proven track record that drives customers to a store, website, or to social platforms.
