Three Factors

There are three factors that I love when it comes to marketing to the newest generation of consumers, which is what I think is what makes Millenials the best customers. Since we’ve all hopefully gotten over complaining about them, since that just makes folks look cranky and out of touch, it’s important to understand what advantages there are to selling to Millenials. Understanding your market niche involves not only recognizing the unique challenges of your audience segment, but also the advantages that they bring to your marketing plan. While Millenials often don’t have access to the kind of financial stability and job security that other generations had at their age, they have several social qualities that makes Millenials the best customers. For example…

They Evangelize More Than Others

If a Millenial likes what you do or what you have to offer, they will take the time to tell their friends. They are more connected socially than other generations due to the ease of access and ubiquity of cell phones and social media sites. They also know what’s going on with their friends and family. They know where their friends like to go for lunch, they know who is apartment shopping, and they know when someone breaks their phone screen. This means that when they see a new lunch special or open house or phone promotion, they pass the word along right into the laps of the intended audience, doing your marketing work for you. When a Millenial gets great service, they will take the time to leave a good review on a business’s Yelp page more often than their older counterparts. All of this evangelization is better than any marketing campaign money could buy—and it’s free. You simply can’t beat the marketing power of a word-of-mouth recommendation, and Millenials are giving them out in spades.

They Prefer Systems that Save You Money

Millenials don’t drive to the bank for anything less than an emergency. They check their account balances and pay their electricity bills on their phones. They sign up for paperless billing wherever it’s available, and they prefer email confirmations to printed receipts. All of these trends stand to save businesses a whole lot of money, when you compare the costs to staff a call center versus paying rent and utilities and insurance on a brick and mortar branch location. Printed ad mailers can be expensive, but an email newsletter costs the same whether you are reaching out to ten people or ten thousand. (And that’s good news, because Millenials move too often to make printed mailers effective, anyway.) Their preference for digital and online solutions is much cheaper and more scalable than previous models that businesses used to rely on.

They Prefer to Solve Their Own Problems

Millennials view tech support and customer service as a last resort, not the first step in troubleshooting. They have shown that they prefer to solve their own customer service problems without human intervention when possible, whether by reading the website FAQ or Googling alternate solutions online as a matter or convenience and expediency. As digital and technical natives, they feel more comfortable with automated solutions and systems than their predecessors did, and they don’t feel the need for as much call center tech support hand holding. They are unintimidated by unfamiliar technology, and trust inherently in the collective knowledge of the internet as a resource for solving problems.

When the lawnmower starts smoking and making a funny noise, a Millenial will Google the problem, look up the user manual of their make and model online, and watch a YouTube tutorial to learn how to change the oil themselves before they load the machine up in the car and drag it out to be serviced or returned. This saves businesses quite a bit of time and money, and it allows companies to spend more time exceeding expectations and providing great service, rather than putting out fires all day. Understanding what makes Millenials the best customers can help you own your advantages and spend your marketing dollars wisely.