In this post I review the article Email is the Best Way to Reach Millennials by Kristin Naragon, Director of Email Solutions at Adobe.
There are endless articles on the web about why companies should target millennials, and how much time millennials spend on their smartphone and checking email but in this article Kristin Naragon actually recommends how a company should go about email marketing to this target audience. While many would assume social media is the best way to target this age group the author uses a study conducted by Adobe to show that email is the most effective way to target millennials.
Naragon’s four main pieces of advice for email marketing to millennials are: (1) mobile optimization is key, (2) timing is everything, (3) optimize emails for images and use graphics, and (4) understand your customer to send less but better targeted emails. According to Adobe’s study 88% of millennials are regularly using their smartphones to check email so it is incredibly important for a company to optimize their email campaigns for mobile. It can be frustrating to receive an email that doesn’t load properly because the company has not prioritized mobile. Many other studies show that millennials now prefer to use mobile over desktop (source: BetaNews) for everything from Google searches (Google has stated that more searches now come from smartphones and tablets than laptops and desktops, source: AdWeek) to mobile shopping (source: Shopify)
This emphasizes the importance of mobile in general for all companies. Not only must your company’s email campaigns be optimized for mobile but your website should also work seamlessly on a mobile phone. Without getting too far into all areas of mobile strategy lets just say that mobile must be a priority for any company with respect to its website, app and marketing campaigns. When releasing any piece of content a company should ask, will my customer be seeing this on a laptop/desktop or on a phone/tablet, and will it be effective on both?
With respect to timing, Nagano references Adobe’s study which shows that of millennials are more likely than any other age group to check email in bed so it would be worth experimenting with sending emails early in the morning and late at night to see if greater ROI is obtained during these times. This is a great insight into how to best use email marketing. Obtain as much insight as you can about the routines of your target audience and see when and where they’re checking email and when they’re most likely to actually convert (make a purchase, sign up etc.).
One of the most crucial pieces of advice in this article, that I hope more email marketers will listen to, is to send fewer but better targeted emails. Adobe’s study showed that many millennials want to see fewer and less repetitive emails from brands. While Adobe’s study does not have the most convincing statistics in this respect, other studies not mentioned in this article show that when asked how marketers could improve their emails the #1 answer was less frequent emails (source: Campaign Monitor) and the most common effect of frequent emails is disengagement (open and click-through rates drop). As you can see from the image below, read rates drastically drop with an increase in email frequency and complaints from recipients increase.
Source: Campaign Monitor
Marketers should really focus on creating quality content to their audience and if they are currently sending out a large number of emails, test whether conversions increase with a decrease in email frequency.
While I agree with the methods Naragon recommends in this article to improve your email marketing, unfortunately, the study used to support her claims is not the most convincing. The study, which was conducted by Adobe, only surveyed approximately 400 U.S. based white-collar workers over the age of 18 about their use of email (source: Adobe). Only a portion of these respondents are in the millennial age group so the statistics she references to support her claims are not entirely convincing on their own. However, I found a number of other studies also supporting the claim that email is the most effective form of marketing to millennials, as well as studies referenced throughout this post that back up her recommendations. Research from Principal Financial Group found that email is the preferred way millennials want to keep in touch with companies (source: PFG).
Source: Why Brands Should Care About Millennials
And not only do millennials much prefer to be contacted by email over social media and other forms of contact but email also has the best ROI for marketers (source: Millennials love of email).
Source: Campaign Monitor
Despite the rise in social media, Kristin Naragon’s article and the additional studies I have referenced show just how important email marketing still is, especially when directed at millennials. With a higher ROI and being the preferred method of contact by millennials from brands companies may want to reconsider pouring more money into social media and optimize their email marketing strategy instead.