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Kantar WorldPanel recently released research looking at the lives of UK millennials. Besides revealing everything from their favourite movies to their levels of alcohol consumption, the findings featured some interesting gems for marketers around the distinctions between online and offline browsing and purchasing habits.
For example, 25% of millennials often use their smartphone while in-store to check online prices and reviews, while 24% buy clothes through their mobile and 77% still shop for fashion on the high street.
A complex purchase journey to demystify
The results are the latest in a long list of studies which illustrate the complexity behind the purchase journey of millennials, and underline the importance of marketers joining the dots between a person’s behaviour across channels and devices.
But many believe this is still far easier said than done, with marketers continuing to struggle to gather and integrate their customer data in a way which can build the full picture of their customers’ shopping behaviour.
Research from Rapt Media found that 57% of millennials block ad content because it is too pushy
Millennials are quickly becoming a key group that brands must cater to.
Not only are they at the forefront of the changing ways in which media is consumed today, but they’ll also have more spending power than any other age group by 2017, according to Bazaarvoice.
What’s more, they’re often the most demanding demographic, wanting connected, personalised experiences on their device of choice – no easy feat when, according to Forrester, they own an average of 4.5 mobile devices each.
Millennials demand real-time relevancy
In order to forge more emotional and timely connections with millennials, playing a functional role at key points throughout their day is crucial.
Anything less than this won’t capture a millennial’s attention, except to frustrate them and potentially turn them off your brand. Research from
Research from Rapt Media found that 57% of millennials block ad content because it is too pushy, a clear indication that the demographic will tune out of anything not relevant to them, making them potentially lost to a brand forever.
To overcome this, marketers need to look at the customer behind each purchase and use their behaviours to build a unique ID that can support far more effective targeting and subsequently better experiences.
This is what’s becoming possible in the era of people-based marketing, enabling marketers to reach millennials consistently at the right time, and with the right message.
Data key to better experiences
Central to achieving real-time relevance is harnessing the highest quality data available: a brand’s own first-party data. This data is based on interactions happening with real customers, wherever they are engaging, such as on websites, in mobile apps, or in stores.
With the right technology platform, first-party data can be merged to create rich customer profiles that power 1:1 marketing. For advertisers, this means the ability to reach known customers across devices, rather than targeting simplistic demographic audiences, or cookies and device IDs.
It’s critical to not only reach millennials on their preferred device but also at their preferred time.
Real-time addressable marketing tools help marketers capture and respond to live data that’s based on an interaction happening in the moment.
By using live signals to power interactions, instead of batched data that might be days or weeks old, marketers can connect with customers who are in buying mode, when the opportunity for conversion is high.
According to Kantar WorldPanel’s research, a multi-device owning millennial is likely to browse a retail site on their tablet in the morning, and then revisit on their smartphone after they finish work.
If they are near one of the retailer’s physical stores, the brand can then trigger a notification with location-based targeting – via email, push notification, or whatever the customer’s data tells them is the preferred method – to help draw them into the shop and complete the purchase.
Delivering this seamless, real-time, and truly tailored experience is the only way to meet the demands of millennials. People-based marketing enables brands to achieve this precise approach, and
People-based marketing enables brands to achieve this precise approach, and in turn reduce ad waste, boost conversion rates, and strengthen customer loyalty with what is arguably the most challenging – and the most important – retail demographic of today.
