Christopher is the co-founder, head strategist and CEO of The Go! Agency, a full-service digital marketing agency.
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Marketing departments and external agencies are up in arms over Generation Z. Frankly, I don’t understand the panic. Like every generation before them, Gen Z (also known as “zoomers”) communicates in their own, highly-specific language — specific, but not indecipherable. And in many ways, it’s actually easier to understand what Gen Z wants and responds to in marketing than it is with millennials, Gen Xers and baby boomers. Internet-savvy and unafraid to speak their minds, zoomers have no problem telling brands what they want. But are brands listening?
I have a lot of clients and prospective clients with Gen Z and young millennial audiences who are fixated on reinventing the wheel when it comes to marketing. And while, to some extent, you do have to refine some tried-and-true approaches to more effectively communicate with younger audiences, you do not need to throw the baby out with the bathwater and nix parts of your strategy altogether. Case in point: email marketing.
A Google search on Gen Z and email will tell you that 20-somethings have all abandoned their inboxes en masse. This is not true. There has been a not-so-insignificant decline in email use, but mostly as a means of corporate communication. Instead of email, Gen Z prefers more instant forms of digital collaboration like Zoom and Slack. But to be honest, don’t we all?
When it comes to email marketing, though, the decline among Gen Z subscribers isn’t nearly as steep. According to research, 53% of Gen Zers who were asked said they enjoy getting emails from their favorite brands once a week. For millennial respondents, the number was 66%. While not a disastrous disparity, it reflects the tonal and content shift required to speak to audiences only a few years apart in age.
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What does Gen Z respond to?
Gen Zers have a keen eye for what they do and don’t appreciate in marketing. Constantly putting sales pitches front and center in your emails is anathema to zoomers and can consign your emails to an eternity of poor open rates.
They don’t care about products nearly as much as they care about the brand selling them. Gen Z and younger millennials aren’t looking for a sales pitch — they’re looking for a brand worth being loyal to. However, there isn’t one specific element that wins their loyalty:
• Gen Z wants positivity and thoughtful humor injected into their email marketing.
• They are short on time and high on options. Get to the point and offer something they’re interested in.
• And, most importantly, they want to be able to know they’re supporting a brand that shares their values.
These are not strict guidelines. These are not the only approaches that will work. These will not guarantee success. These three points are just a few common elements that we’ve found get Gen Z readers engaged and ushered toward a conversion.
Glasses and eyewear e-commerce retailer Warby Parker is a good example of a values-forward, Gen Z-tailored campaign. Part of their business strategy includes giving glasses to people in need who can’t afford them, and they are unafraid to highlight that over their products.
If you look at what Warby Parker sends out, they’re frequently mentioning their contributions and corporate responsibility initiatives. By appealing to Gen Z’s desire to buy from socially conscious brands, Warby Parker hooks the audience by showing them what they want to see and letting that content lead the horse to water.
Newsletters have their place, but short and sweet or unique and information-driven content is what’s going to build you a Gen Z audience. The wide array of content options and a shortened attention span have trained Gen Z and millennial audiences to seek out the source that gives them the most information in the least amount of time.
Young people are tech-enabled and have a surplus of options, so it’s on you to make your brand the most digitally appealing it can be. Nailing the tone and message is a good start, but ultimately it’s only half the battle. What will push your email campaign over the edge is its convenience. Is the email personalized to them? (Bonus points if the personalization goes beyond “Hello [NAME]!”) Is it well designed with excellent graphic storytelling that will encourage them to read all of it? Does it display well on mobile? Does it respect their privacy and not ask for personal or financial details?
Email is one of the most malleable tools that a digital marketer has. A lot of audiences see it as more trustworthy and professional than social media — plus, you have the opportunity to craft personalized and targeted messages, and it acts as a reliable conversion funnel when you execute it properly.
There’s a reason the return on investment for an email marketing campaign can be as high as 4200% — it’s because, when done well, they can work.
Furthermore, we have data that tells us that more than half of Gen Z and over a third of millennials enjoy getting brand emails. So the next time someone tells you that email is dead, realize that it speaks less to the effectiveness of email and more to a brand’s inability to wield such a dynamic tool properly.
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Author: Christopher Tompkins, Forbes Councils Member
