Over the past few years, millennials have become a favorite topic of conversation among marketing gurus. But they are adults now, and we need to be thinking ahead to Gen Z, which comes next.
Focusing on what they do online, how they make purchasing decisions, and whether they still open their emails, marketers around the world have dug deeply to crack the millennial code.
Overall, they’ve been described as tech-savvy, easily-distracted, and individualistic.
But are these words exclusive to millennials? Gen Z, those born after the year 1995, may have taken these descriptions to an entirely new level.
In fact, they are so in-tune with this age of information that they’ve acquired an eight-second filter through which they sort and assess information.
As a company, you may be wondering if you can send those well-drafted emails to your Gen Z customers and not get filtered out.
The quick answer? Well, it depends.
The question is not whether email is a viable marketing tool for Gen Z. Studies have proven that it definitely is.
The only question you need to answer is whether or not your email marketing campaign includes the right elements that will drive conversions.
In this post, we’ll walk you through four valuable tips on how to be certain that your email communications are designed to elicit conversions from members of Generation Z.
Sell Experiences Over Products
Just like their millennial friends, Gen Z-ers prioritize the overall customer experience that a business provides.
Develop a relationship with your Gen Z customers. Make sure that you offer a unique and consistent experience, regardless of the device they choose to use (which will most often be mobile).
Once they finally decide to purchase a product, don’t leave them hanging. Use email marketing to engage them. Ask what they think. Make it as personal as possible.
Check out Paravel’s email below. They used social media (a Gen Z favorite) to tell a story of their products, sharing how much influencers and customers enjoy them.
Source: Really Good Emails
Make Everything Mobile Friendly
If something is wrong with your email’s mobile version, Gen Z won’t email back and ask you to fix it. They’ll just ignore your message and get on with other things.
Format your text and images well to suit Gen Z and their mobile usage. 85% of Gen Z say that a great mobile experience drives them to purchase, so make sure that your email campaign works on all email apps and types of screens.
If your platform has a mobile app, then all the better. You can use email marketing to announce that Gen Z-ers can also get updates from the app.
Source: Really Good Emails
Show The You Care About Their Privacy
If someone from Gen Z joined your mailing list, they likely felt inclined to trust you with their personal information.
As a result of online privacy issues suffered by the previous generation, Gen Z-ers are much more cautious about the things they share online.
Use your email marketing campaign to remind them that their information is secure with you.
Businesses typically send this type of email in conjunction with a feedback form or with a new regulation on customer information.
Here’s an email from Cabify in response to GDPR:
Source: Really Good Emails
Be Authentic, Every Single Time You Contact Them
Gen Z is comprised of digital natives who know how to spot promotional content when they see it.
In fact, most of them may feel a tinge of betrayal if they open your email and see sponsored content all over the page.
Gen Z-ers signed up for your brand, and not others. Make no mistake, sponsored content is alright every once in a while, but not all the time.
Your email marketing campaigns should focus on what you offer and how you can meet your customers’ needs, rather than inserting ads that they probably don’t care about in the least.
Instead of sending sponsored content en masse, why not celebrate a milestone with your customers?
Remind them why they joined your mailing list, in the first place.
Source: Really Good Emails
Conclusion
By now, you should already know that personalization is a sure-fire way to make your email marketing campaigns successful.
As more and more Gen Z-ers join the workforce, engage with businesses, and purchase online products and services, there are several ways to make email marketing campaigns even more personal for their generation.
We know these to be true: Gen Z-ers are more realistic than their millennial peers, spend more time on their phones (but refuse to overshare on social media), and are determined to be successful with their careers.
The challenge for your business is to translate this knowledge about Gen Z into personalized and actionable emails that they will enjoy reading.
On top of that, think about the overall customer experience and lessons learned from millennials.
Want more information on Gen Z marketing? Check out Campaign Monitor’s Ultimate Guide to Marketing to Gen Z in 2019.
Feature Image Credit: CC 0; Public Domain, sourced from Flickr.com.
Disclaimer: The views and opinions stated in this post are that of the author, and Return On Now may or may not agree with any or all of the commentary.
Ash Salleh
Latest posts by Ash Salleh (see all)
- 4 Successful Email Marketing Strategies to Reach Gen Z - October 22, 2019
