Jessica Fender, chief content officer, Online Writers Rating, talks about why email is still essential to connect with Gen Z. She also shares tips on building an email strategy to engage with Gen Z.
What distinguishes Gen Z is that they were born with phones in their hands (metaphorically, of course). Meaning that they are tech-savvy, and their expectations are higher. The reason to focus your email marketing on this target audience is that they are on the path to becoming the largest generation of consumers. Not only do they account for $29 to $143 billion in direct spending, but 93% of parents today claim that children influence household purchasing decisions.
Considering Gen Z’s affinity for the internet, they make the perfect customers for e-commerce stores. Aiming your email marketing efforts toward this generation can result in a significant increase in sales. However, we can’t overlook challenges, such as short attention spans. Reportedly, their attention span is only 8 secondsOpens a new window , whereas Millennials’ attention span is estimated to be 12 seconds.
If you are ready to develop a strong email marketing strategy that will make your e-commerce business more attractive to this generation of digital natives, check out the following tips.
1. Personalize Emails
This is a very self-conscious generation, so generic emails won’t get you far. Personalization is a necessity if you want to get closer to the youth. There are several steps of personalization that you need to conduct:
- List segmentation – Segment the subscribers based on age, race, location, past purchases, preferences, and any other specific information.
- Use personalization tags – Use the data you collected from an opt-in subscriber list to add personalization tags such as name or birthday date (this can be useful for sending a happy birthday email card).
- Personalize the subject line – Differentiate the subject line whenever you can, for example, The Iconic Shop sent the following personalized subject line on Black Friday:
Source: Sleeknote
- Personalize the content: Based on the data you collected, if possible create different emails for segmented subscribers, for example, promote just women’s clothes on sale to female subscribers and men’s clothes to male subscribers.
2. Adapt to Be Mobile Friendly
This comes as no surprise, but we should mention that Gen Z-ers are 2X more likelyOpens a new window to browse and shop for products on their mobile devices than Millennials.
Consequently, you must provide them with a mobile-friendly message that is visually appealing as well. As a generation that lives off of Instagram, they are used to aesthetically pleasing imagery, so your emails need to be responsive and well-designed.
Make sure that your website is mobile-friendly as well because if the email makes an impression on them, they’ll head straight to your website.
3. Set Up a Schedule
Spamming subscribers with emails never ended well. Gen Z is internet-oriented, and they often engage in browsing for products online, which means that they receive lots of emails from other e-commerce stores.
The best way to ensure that you don’t overwhelm their inbox is to schedule the emails in advance.
Based on research, the most effective frequency of sending emails to Gen Z is a couple of times a week. And, 31.8% of Gen Z-ers expressed that this is how often they would like to receive emails from brands.
4. Integrate Social Media Posts and Emails
If you know anything about Gen Z, you must know that they can’t live without social media. Integrating social media and email marketing will prove your credibility, spread brand awareness, and encourage subscribers to engage with your brand.
One option is to embed social media posts in your emails. This directly gives subscribers an insight into your social media.
Check out how NewLook promotes its social media channels via email.
Source: NewLook
Through this email, the receiver gets intrigued by all the attractive imagery, and since each box contains a call-to-action, they will be quickly directed to whichever social media network they prefer.
Another option is to simply add social media buttons. Adding social media buttons is practically a necessity since you should indicate to your subscribers on which social media networks they can find your brand.
5. Include Real People in Your Email Ads
The fact is that 67% of Gen Z prefers to see real people in ads. This statistic gives you a clear insight into a marketing tactic that you can use in your emails.
You can either use your current brand promoters, or social media influencers, which will bring you even more attention.
Who says that social media influencers are only reserved for social media platforms? Establish a collaboration with a social media influencer that is popular among your subscribers and feature him or her in your email campaign.
If you combine well-written content created by professionals with a popular social media influencer, you’ll get your winning campaign. You can find a writing expert on services and review websites and use Pixlr to perfect the image of the influencer promoting your product.
6. Display Social Media Reviews and User-Generated Content
Reviews, testimonials, and user-generated content are of high value when it comes to turning a user into a buyer.
What you can do to present positive reviews of your brand to your subscribers is to share social media reviews in emails.
Using social media reviews is the best choice because 73% of Gen Z consumers will trust product information shared by other shoppers on social media.
Simply pick out the best reviews or user-generated social media content and include them in the email.
To maintain the flow of user-generated content, encourage buyers with a follow-up email to share their satisfaction with your product by posting an image or review on a social media platform.
Support a Good Cause
One of the benefits of the connectivity that the internet enables is being a part of different fundraisings and good causes. Since 69% of Gen Z-ers expressed that they will more likely purchase a product from a company that supports good causes, this is your chance to do something good and appeal to Gen Z.
Just take TOMS as an example. They started the End Gun Violence Together campaign that used email to spread awareness. In the email, they asked their subscribers to fill in a simple form that will serve as a postcard which will be sent to the local representatives. The collected postcard will show how many people ask for universal background checks.
Source: brandchannel
After the form is completed the subscribers were asked to share it on social media. The campaign even went viral and the owner even appeared on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. That’s the perfect mix of great publicity and doing good for the community.
Some Final Thoughts
If you want to win over Gen Z, you have to start thinking like them. These actionable tips gave you an insight into what appeals to them and how you can effectively reach out to them.
Now, all that is left is that you take these tactics to convey an email strategy that will be modified to your brand’s personality. Lastly, don’t forget that uniqueness is a quality that is valued within every generation, and Gen Z is no exception. So, make sure that you add your own twist to these email marketing examples.