Over the past couple of years there has been a flurry of research into millennials (aka Generation Y), the generation of people born between the early 1980s and the early 2000s.
Although this group is characterised by, among other things, greater financial dependence on their parents, they are precisely the target customer for many e-commerce websites.
So, how do you ensure that your website is geared up to sell to millennials?
1. Design your website for mobile
For the sake of your search engine rankings and good user experience (UX), you should already be ensuring that your website is mobile-friendly. If you’re selling to millennials, your site will live or die on the basis of its design and functionality for mobile.
Millennials check their phones 43 times a day on average. More importantly for you, they prefer to browse on mobile devices, with 52% using their smartphones and 61% a tablet.
2. Flawless UX across online, mobile and offline
But you can’t just rest on your mobile laurels. 30% of millennials use four or more devices a day, so you need to ensure quality across the board.
3. Use social media, and do it well
Some 56% of millennials use social media at least once a month. 90% of the generation are on Facebook, of which 42% login every day. In short, social media is where your e-commerce site can reach this audience.
This blog post is not the place for out-and-out social media tips (there are plenty out there), so we’ll just encourage you to look for opportunities to bring social to e-commerce. For instance, take a look at how our clients Another Love merge Instagram content with their website to drive sales from social media interaction.
4. Encourage recommendations
Provide your customers with a platform to give their feedback. 93% of female millennial shoppers read reviews before buying. Some 77% will trust reviews that are published on your e-commerce site, while 97% trust anonymous reviews on third-party websites.
And linking back to your social media use, 59% of millennials make product recommendations after a highly positive or negative experience. 41% make these recommendations via social media.
5. Be available and be self-aware
Understand your relationship with your millennial customers and don’t push it to breaking point.
Here are some quick-fire pointers:
- Some 58% expect full control to engage with your site whenever they choose and through any channels they choose.
- 48% don’t like it when companies use personal data to target them.
- 60% follow brands to learn about new deals and discount codes.
Did you find this post useful? Why not recommend it to others, millennial-style.
