How to Market to Millennials
MicroD has touched on why millennials are important to retailers, their shopping habits, and what they want from the home furnishings industry. Now MicroD wants to inform home furnishings retailers and manufacturers with a few tips. Tips on how to market to millennials. Do you know the best way to reach out to millennials? Or where to even start? Don’t sweat it. We’ve done the research. And we’re ready to share it with you!
To start, let’s go over what we already know:
1. Millennials grew up with the internet
2. They are mobile phone users
3. Prefer digital shopping
This is all we have to know to build the base on how to market to millennials. What they know, what they use, and what they desire. eMarketer looked into the types of devices owned by US millennials. The study showed that 44% own a smart watch, 59% own a tablet, 68% own a desktop or computer, and 87% own a smartphone.
Influence
Now that we know what they are spending the most time on, what exactly are they doing on these devices?
Millennials are all about digital shopping., even when inside a physical store. Hence, a strong presence on social media is mandatory. When it comes to social media platforms, millennials cannot get enough of Facebook. But what does this say about marketing home furnishings to millennials? It’s simple. You’ll have to do it digitally.
Millennials were asked about the effects that different ads and promotions have on their purchase decisions. The results showed only 32% say promotional emails never affect their purchase decision. Which means, 68% of the time, promotional emails make some kind of impact. Ads on social media, as well as ads on news and entertainment websites, have a 37% chance of not influencing them. Leaving 63% with a chance of getting influenced.
Now that we’re clear on what prompts millennials to shop, we can go over the best practices on what to send out in your digital marketing content.
Home furnishings retailers can get a lot of direct clicks and web traffic from millennials…if email campaigns are done efficiently. Despite their strong presence on social platforms, millennials respond well to email marketing. The basics of email campaigns should be taken into consideration. As well as making each email campaign mobile friendly. But since we’re talking about how to market to millennials, we will focus on a few more details that will cater better to them.
Promos, Discounts, Coupons
Millennials unsubscribe from lists when they receive emails too often. The primary reason why they DO open an email is because they’re hoping to find a promotion or deal inside. In fact, 57.4% purchase a product from a retail site when emailed a discount code. Top offers include: [x amount of] dollars off, free shipping, and a percentage off. BOGOs, loyalty programs, and free gifts won’t get as much of a reaction, but can also be used. As leaders of cutting costs, try engaging the millennial generation by notifying them when and how they can save money.
Images
Visual pieces and photography help attract this generation. With social media platforms like Snapchat and Instagram, pictures are a must.
“The most effective images are those from a millennial’s fellow social network users or peers.”
Keep this in mind when building ads, banners, and social images. You’ll want to create graphics worth sharing. A surprising 72% of millennial digital buyers were more likely to purchase an item based on pictures from others who have used it. And 60% click over to products based on a friend’s social post.
Reviews
Word-of-mouth advertising is one of the best types of advertising retailers can hope to have. But how can you get customers talking about your store? Simply do it online (like everything else). Get your home furnishings shoppers to leave reviews on social media. This way, personal and authentic reviews can be accessed by anyone at any time. How does this concern marketing to millennials? Online product reviews are used by 78% of millennials to research a product or brand before purchasing. Ironically enough, 78% also agreed that they are influenced by what online reviews had to say.
MicroD wants to help all home furnishings retailers and manufacturers reach out to the largest generation in history. Remember to focus on mobile friendliness, and have a coupon at hand. If you need assistance on gathering reviews for your business, we can help with that too.