Engaging younger customers is increasingly more difficult. They’ve been acculturated into researching competitors rather than choosing brands based on what mum and dad might say.
They’re driven by social purpose, want radical authenticity, live in a mobile first, completely digital world and expect loyalty programs to be tailored to their individual needs.
Over 70% want brands to celebrate their birthdays and two-thirds will quit a program if there is not enough variety of offers, active communication and personalised content.
Here are the biggest callouts when planning your loyalty strategy for younger customers:
Young people are “people”, not just customers.
Personalisation should not just be about name, account and service. Treat me like “me”.
Get to know the real person, serve up content relevant to the individual, bring to life complimentary and bonus offers, allow access to merchant funded rewards and deliver challenges and gamification to create a more engaging experience. Young customers will also be the first to line up to write reviews and engage with your business in other ways if they can earn additional loyalty credit or relevant, digital rewards.
Demonstrate your worth.
If young customers feel like they’re getting value, they will pick your business and stick with you.
Just look at the consistently growing numbers signing up to services like Amazon Prime, Spotify and Uber Eats.
With some quick maths, they’re feeling like the headline price is so much less than the service they’re accessing, so show young customers the value you bring and how it outweighs the cost of doing business with you and you’ll be sure to win more of them.
Sadly, none of us are staying the same age.
Your customers are quickly changing. Young people won’t be “young people” forever. Life changes like starting a career and having a family drastically impact their needs.
A great loyalty program will adapt over time to meet and exceed member expectations as their lives evolve.
Think about retention across the customer lifecycle. Maintain an emotional connection and provide additional value to drive up engagement and reduce churn.
Young customers want your best.
Authenticity sells more than ads. Make it genuine and give members tangible value.
Young people want a loyalty program that will be part of their lives and deliver real-time, personalised benefits.
Gather member feedback to inform future content decisions and listen and interact with them on social media. Understanding what they want and delivering on what you promise is key.
The next generation of customers also has greater expectations around privacy and data protection. They expect their interactions with a brand will have integrity and be transparent.
Young people communicate on the go, across multiple channels.
Cross-channel promotion is a must.
Over 96% of young people have a smartphone and 80% check it hourly. They also use other mobile devices like tablets and laptops to consume media and display advertising in greater volumes than other audience segments.
Social media is a default mode of communication, often replacing phone calls and supplementing email, texting and other messaging services.
Multi-channel promotion of your loyalty initiatives will drive the strongest results.
Plus, over time, young customers will increase their spending power and have more brands fighting for their attention so get them in early, nurture them and let them grow. It’s always easier to keep a customer than get a new one.
About Wink
We understand the unique challenges you face. We’ve been responsible for acquisition and retention, commercial and customer experience in B2B, B2C and B2B2C environments in Australia and internationally. We don’t just hire agency or technology company people. We are a group of experienced professionals who have worked on both sides so we can deliver the style of service you and your customers want while consistently bringing innovation and automation.
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