6 Tips for Attracting a Younger Customer Base

You might be asking yourself, what’s so special about a younger customer base and why should you target them? The simple answer is most eCommerce shoppers are young, and as more of them start earning, their purchasing power will keep increasing. In 2020, millennials spent around $1.4 trillion shopping. As an eCommerce business, you will be doing yourself a disservice by neglecting the 18 – 40 years olds. If your customer base has been mainly Gen Xers and older millennials, your marketing strategies will not work with younger millennials and Gen Zers. There’s no need to worry because this article will discuss six tips for attracting a younger customer base.

How To Attract a Younger Audience to Your Business

Prioritize Convenience

We are looking at a generation of people who grew up with computers, phones, Walkmans, and iPods, while some spent their childhood on iPads. Right now, a large percentage of them are either working from home or schooling on Zoom. Millennials and Gen Zers prioritize convenience and won’t compromise on their belief for any business. As a business planning to target a younger customer base, ensure to prioritize convenience.

Provide multiple shopping channels. Use social commerce, buy online, pick up in-store (BOPIS), curbside delivery, pop-up shopping events, etc. Enable multiple payment options, including buy now, pay later (BNPL) solutions that allow them to pay in installments. Use AR/VR tools and other technologies to provide a smooth experience emulating in-store shopping. For example, provide functionality that allows buyers to access multidimensional visuals of your products — as Ikea does by enabling VR try-on. Add a one-click checkout system to your website to make it easy for buyers to reorder without re-entering their details and enable guest shopping.

Review your current business operations, from your technologies, website to your marketing and sales strategy, and ask yourself one question; what is the easiest way to do this? Keep in mind that this question is about your customers, not you. The goal is to provide alternatives, change, or upgrade your strategy and technologies to increase convenience for the young target audience.

Use Social Media

Social media in today’s world is not like it was 13 years ago. Social media platforms are tools and a world of their own, and the results you get depend on how you use them. You can use social media for social commerce, with Facebook and Instagram taking the lead here. Millennials and Gen Zers are more than happy to shop on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook because they are not skeptical about the internet and social media like the older generations.

You can also use social media for marketing. Expand your reach, create awareness for your brand and products, and actively engage with a younger customer base. Another benefit of using social media is that it allows you to learn more about your target audience; their shopping habits, interests, and the cool trends they enjoy.

Partner With Influencers

Sometimes it’s more effective to let a cool kid introduce you to other cool kids at the cool party. We learned that from Hollywood teen movies, and it is sensible to use the same approach to attract a younger customer base. Millennials and Gen Zers use ad blockers, making it difficult to target and market to them with paid ads. And with the increasing data privacy laws in the eCommerce industry, you may struggle with creating personalized marketing strategies. Here’s the real kicker, influencers don’t face this challenge. They can build a community of like-minded people they can convince to carry out an action without using paid ads or personalized strategies. In 2021, Cristiano Ronaldo’s refusal to drink Coca-Cola resulted in a $4 billion loss for the beverage company. Although he is a soccer player, not an influencer, this is the power of influencer marketing among the younger shopping generation.

You will find many influencers on social media platforms who can help you connect to a younger audience more effectively and faster than your paid ads will. Look for influencers in your niche and collaborate with them to promote your brand and product to their young followers.

Keep Up With Trends

Trends upon trends and challenges upon challenges, this is how the younger generations have a good time. In their room with a phone and microphone, they are ready to create content that will generate thousands of likes and comments online. You must keep up with the trends that interest the younger generation if you want to belong. Keeping up with trends lets you learn more about your target audience, providing creative insights for your marketing content. Besides, it’s always fun to see businesses participating in trending challenges young people are doing on social media, and it drives traffic and increases engagement.

Additionally, as a business planning to attract a younger customer base, pay attention to market trends and technologies. You will learn about modern and effective strategies rival brands with young customer bases use.

Show Your Core Values

It’s not enough to write about your social values as a business. Millennials and Gen Zers also want you to show commitment with your actions. The younger generations of shoppers have witnessed a number of historical events and are preparing for the impending doom of climate change. So, yes, they want their favorite brands to contribute to the good of the world. Research and learn more about the social values that interest your targeted younger audience. Choose one or two social values that align with your brand and commit to them by working on projects and partnering with other brands about them.

Additionally, the younger generation of buyers wants to see the values you’re passionate about as a business — the values sustaining your business and driving your company culture.

Use Modern Technology

A vital attribute of the younger generation of buyers every business should know is that they are tech-native. It is in your best interest to use modern technology to meet their expectations or risk losing them to rival brands. Redesign your website, web app, and mobile app to add modern features and functionalities to make it easy for them to engage with your business. Since most millennials and Gen Zers use smartphones, ensure your website is mobile-friendly to allow them comfortably shop.

If your website has been around for about a decade or more without periodical revamps, there is a high chance that it needs a modern redesign.