Millennials are a huge part of the online world. In the US, they’re the largest and most influential consumer generation and have an estimated buying power of around $600 billion a year. Over 50% of all their purchases happen online.

So missing the mark with this group is simply too detrimental to think about. But getting your marketing right for millennials is no easy task: This modern group is much more interested in finding businesses that reflect their own personal views on sustainability, the environment, and social injustices. No longer is it about cheap clothing and pops up ads; millennials want to invest in businesses that are giving back.

Make a difference…

Research shows that millennials aren’t persuaded by generic marketing. They give their loyalty to those companies that are making a difference; whether that’s through small donations from each product bought, being Fair Trade certified, or re-investing their money ethically and sustainably.

Systems like ReturnGo can work with you on this. While millennials are thinking about the impact of their purchasing behavior, many are moving to be a little thrifty – heading to local charity shops or shopping second hand on Facebook Marketplace and Depop.

Integrating ReturnGo allows customers to receive store credits for donating the products they want to return. Naturally, this benefits a business as it reduces the cost of re-stocking and refunds, but also shows an awareness of waste and encourages customers to donate to charity.

…and shout about it

While you’re making sure your company is based on great, ethical foundations, you need to make it known. All of this is perfect for content curation – be it on social media, campaigns, and blogs.

87% of millennials are more likely to purchase something if the company is making a social or environmental impact. Show your compassion for the supply chain and create great content related to your company’s ethical and environmental changes.

Nobody Says ‘Lol’ Anymore

Avoid buzzwords in your advertising. Nothing says cringe like a company using words like ‘fleek’ ‘bae’ or ‘totes’. Make sure you are up to date on the right wording to say to reach your millennial customers.

Bring in those reviews

Young people read online reviews religiously before trusting a company. And the opinions of their friends and family are a big contributor to their purchasing behavior. So the more authentic reviews you can get on popular sites like TrustPilot, Facebook groups, and even word-of-mouth, the more likely you’ll win the order.

And how do you win great feedback? Just keeping being you and providing your customers with excellent customer service, streamline order processing, and an easy to navigate website. You can encourage people to write reviews by offering a small discount on their next purchase. It’s a win-win situation; you gain a repeat customer as well as a review, while the customer feels rewarded.

Push for user-generated content

In a similar vein, millennials are all for user-generated content. Not only will they give you amazing social media pictures of your products in use, but they’ll also attract more customers organically to your site by writing their honest opinion on the service. All you have to do is repost this content and that’s one less job you’ve got for the week!

Get engaged on mobile

If you’ve ever wondered how social media can be a full-time job, millennials are the answer. No longer is social media something we can schedule a month in advance and leave it to tick over till it’s time to schedule some more posts. Millennials are active online constantly; and as such, they expect you to be the same.

You’ll need to work extra hard to keep this group loyal and engaged, and they’ll expect you to retweet their content, respond to their comments and build a rapport with them that feels personal.

Marketing to millennials is less about ads and pop-ups, and more about great content and communication. Those ads you’re posting on all the ‘cool’ websites that don’t seem to be making a difference? Well, 63% of millennials use an ad blocker on their web browser. So it’s not that the ad content isn’t good, your ads just aren’t being seen. Catch the attention of this age group through real, authentic content, and shift your marketing budget from Google Ads and offline to Facebook and Instagram.

And just in case you haven’t enough to think about with all of this, you’ll also need to make sure your website and ads are mobile optimized. With this demographic, a high proportion of internet use is via their mobile; there’s very little they can’t do on their cell.

Phone Calls: A millennial’s last resort

This age group has grown up in the era of live chat, messenger, and WhatsApp. If a customer has to wait days for a reply to an email, they’re likely to go elsewhere. Similarly, if your only option is a phone call, you’ll probably answer the phone to some very frustrated customers. Adding a live chat feature on your site allows customers to get a response within moments and communicate with you in their preferred way. It’ll also help your customer service team manage multiple queries at the same time.

These are just a few ideas to help you market to this demographic. It’s all about giving a real and authentic version of yourself online and show how your company is the right company.