7 Ways to Win Conversions from Millennials
Millennials: Let’s dig deeper into what we know about this group to explore how you can improve your connection with them and, ultimately, improve conversions and sales.
Whether they’re leading, trailing or Generation Y, those born after 1980 are an increasingly important consumer group with huge buying power.
As Ritika Puri pointed out, this group, aged between 18 and 35, is well educated, used to technology and happy with being constantly connected.
http://giphy.com/embed/DGVSi9TQ36yYM?html5=true
Millennials have different expectations of life, work and everything. That means you need new strategies if you want to market successfully to this group.
1. Value Your Values
Customer experience consultant Micah Solomon says millennials want to know your business values. If you’re socially responsible, ethical or environmentally conscious, you have to let them know.
While you may not trumpet this from every page of your website, showing that you stand for something (say, on your about page) can help you build a relationship with your millennial audience.
Take a look at the Quidsi culture statement to see how to do this. This example, from its guiding principles, is exactly the type of thing millenials want to see:
This research-oriented generation is going to check you out so you’d better have something to show them. And they will want to know whether your values are all talk or reflected in the way you do business.
I’m betting the CEO who took a pay cut so his employees could earn more will be a big hit with millennials.
“Each member of my team deserved it,” Gravity Payments founder Dan Price said, adding that he doesn’t want his employees to be distracted by whether they can buy a meal or pay their rent.
Posted by Fox News on Wednesday, April 15, 2015
Showing off your values may not translate directly to clicks on your landing page, but it will attract people who will stick around because you’re a great company, and it will build trust, which is an important aspect of conversions.
2. Communicate Transparently
Related to values, it makes sense for the company to have a culture of openness, availability, and transparent communication. This is another trust builder, saysMarketing Profs:
“Millennials value transparency. They tend to distrust businesses that don’t respond to feedback, or companies that are secretive about their activities.”
To help give millennials a rounded picture of your business, get their attention andwin their trust (there’s that word again), share company news and activities and have people at the highest levels share their thoughts.
A great example here is the blog of Richard Branson, the founder of Virgin. Every post showcases some aspect of himself or his business and people respond, connect and share, creating a tremendous amount of goodwill.
Another good example is Buffer’s Open blog, which highlights all aspects of work and life at the company, from mistakes to successes—and people love them for it.
3. Get Social
We’ve talked before about the value of social media in winning conversions. This is even more important with millennials.
While you’re reading this, your typical hyper-connected millennial is probably checking social media on the phone and seeing what his or her friends have to say about products and services.
According to an infographic on SocialTimes, not only do 71% of millennials check social media daily, but social activity often leads to buying activity.
That means that you have look after the end-to-end conversion experience, tweaking everything from referral pages that are part of the funnel (such as your social media profiles) to the landing pages themselves.
And since social sharing is a major activity for millennials, you need to make it all shareable so they can tell their friends about your offer, product or service.
4. Let Users Help
The SocialTimes infographic also shows that for millennials, user-generated content (UGC) is 35% more memorable and 50% more trusted than other media.
Get users involved with your products and services, via social media, reviews (more on that in a moment), and discussions with peers in forums and elsewhere, and your brand will see the benefit.
Many brands have already started doing this. For example, Dorito lets users create its SuperBowl commercial, and a case study on Unbounce shows how Urban Outfitters encourages users to submit photos of themselves wearing fashion items. People browsing the site can then buy the outfits with a single click.
Millennials know what their peers like, so this is a smart strategy.
5. Use Reviews
Did you know that, for millennials, peer reviews are slightly more trusted than professional reviews (by 68 to 64%)? It’s another finding from the SocialTimes infographic, though that figure is conservative compared with a 2013 SocialChorus survey. It shows that 95% of millennials say their friends are the most credible source of product information.
So if you want to increase conversions, get users to review your products and services and showcase those reviews on your web pages.
How do you get those reviews? Just ask.
I’ve probably mentioned publishing imprint Sterling & Stone before. They ask for reviews in their emails and at the end of every ebook, and sometimes they even offer an incentive. The result is more reviews on their Amazon author pages, which translates to more clicks and sales.
6. Personalize
Research from Mintel shows that 60% of millennials are willing to share information about their habits and preferences, and they are twice as likely as baby boomers to share their cell number and social media profiles.
For marketers, this means an unparalleled opportunity to provide personalized and tailored experiences.
This is important since millennials see themselves as individuals. To improve conversions, personalize emails, landing pages and more to attract and retain your audience with an experience that feels unique to them.
7. Go Mobile
Mobile is the future—the big G has said it. Millennials treat mobile devices as an extension of themselves and expect to be able to do everything from them.
According to the Mintel research cited above, they are 87% more likely to feel lost without their phones. That’s why everything has to be fast and convenient (it’s no coincidence so many retailers are offering same-day delivery).
Creating a smooth mobile experience will help you increase conversions and boost sales.
Join us for a Crazy Egg Hard-Boiled Conversion Webinar
Featuring Brian Massey, Conversion Sciences
May 28, 2pm US Central Time
Sign up here (it’s free!).
How to Reverse-Engineer a High-Conversion Landing Page
Get these areas right and your millennial customers will love you. And if all else fails, offer a freebie or coupon. Kissmetrics says that millennials are avid bargain hunters and Mintel adds that 30% of millennials will trade their personal info for the right offer.
affinityallianceblogger 