Color Psychology, Document Design, Millennials and Gen Z, Variable Data Personalization
Document Design Strategies for Millennials
on September 2, 2015
Millennial Marketing
A quick word of caution for any brands with a document management strategy. Marketing to Millennials matters to your future growth. Ignoring this growing demographic’s need for ease, simplicity, and convenience could cost you dearly. Marketing to millennials can be tough, but we will discuss how to use document redesign strategies to better engage with millennial customers.
Why are Millennials a Valuable Demographic?
In case you haven’t heard, millennials, those born between 1980 and 2000, now comprise the U.S. labor force’s largest generation. Millennials now wield a whopping $200 billion in annual purchasing power. That is too big of a demographic to ignore. In this post, we are going to take a look at some millennial marketing strategies that have been proven to help better engage with these younger customers.
For starters, there are three factors you need to consider when engaging with millennial customers. First of all, you need to consider the how, the when, and the where. How are you going to communicate with customers, when is the best time to engage with them, and on what channels are you going to interact with each customer? Another impactful way to market effectively to millennials is by using document design.
If you’re a regular reader, you know that FSSI is passionate about intentional, well-thought-out design. We believe in it, promote it, educate clients about the how-tos and benefits, and continually invest in equipping our developers to keep our data formatting and personalized marketing solutions tops in the print-mail industry. All of this is never more important than when it comes to millennial marketing and document design strategies.
Document Design that Millennials Respond to
We read a very interesting article, the Importance of Document Design. In it, we realized we had actually been utilizing these practices in our own print and mail services. We are going to discuss some key takeaways from the piece written by IT executive and software developer, Francis Dion.
Check it out, then learn about the benefits of our customer document redesign for a deeper dive on the subject, or check out design best practices in action in these compelling before-and-after statement samples. This makes a huge impact when marketing to millennials.
Make Documents Accessible
Statements and other customer documents should be available in an attractive, readable format, across all print and electronic channels. This millennial generation has grown up on texting, mobile apps, social media, and 24/7 digital access, so they expect omnichannel accessibility for everything–including personal financial information.
Make Content Relevant
Promotional content such as ads, specials and discounts can work with other audiences. However, when it comes to marketing to millennials. Younger folks, Dion says, prefer to be taught and educated about products and services rather than being ‘sold to.’ For banks, credit unions, auto finance companies, and others, this is a valuable insight for developing a millennial messaging strategy.
Focus on Document Design and Layout
Layout your content in a straightforward and logical manner, following design best practices for headline placement, typography, and content. Nix long or complex verbiage, and keep copy blocks in short, skimmable chunks.
As part of this process, we also recommend reading the appropriate use of color to learn more about when and where to use color. You can use color to highlight important or time-sensitive instructions or other information.
Mobile Optimization and Multichannel Communications
About 20% of millennials have abandoned the use of desktops and laptops for web browsing. They are now accessing web content solely on smartphones and tablets, according to recent mobility statistics. One eMarketer study says that nearly half of all mobile users spend four-plus hours per day using the mobile internet.
The bottom line for financial services and others wondering how to market to millennials is that mobility matters. This is true now and in the future. Sites that aren’t adaptive or responsive will surely turn young people off and send them clicking elsewhere.
Keep Designs Clean and Clutter-Free
You’d be surprised how many companies don’t fully understand the value of contemporary, well-designed designed documents. “Any sort of clutter is detrimental to the way modern consumers read documents,” writes Dion. He adds, “…adding that “graphics and other visual elements should only appear in areas that are unobtrusive to the content.” Misplaced information is a leading driver of untimely payments and higher call center volume.
So, what’s the easiest and most effective method of keeping documents clean? You should place the most critical and pertinent information front and center. This is whatever information your customers look for most and expect to find the fastest. You can even survey customers on the best text placement.
Take a look at our Document Value Checklist. It may offer helpful pointers that you haven’t considered about maximizing the effectiveness of customer statements and documents.
Easy Straightforward Content and Interactions
Content and documents that have simple straightforward content lend themselves to present customers with an enjoyable experience. This generation tends to be more impatient, with a higher need for immediate response and gratification than other demographics.
Universal Expectations
In reality, it’s not just the younger generations who expect well-designed, omnichannel-accessible documents. Today, most customers have now come to expect the same ease, simplicity, and convenience when retrieving and viewing account documents no matter if it’s on their smartphone, tablet, or physical document. The question is, are you equipped to provide a true multichannel experience the modern customer is looking for?
If not, call us today for a free statement redesign consultation and demo. Turn paper into gold and see how important document design is especially to millennials and Generation Z customers. While good document design is helpful to your younger customers, well-designed documents should always be at the core of your customer communications strategy.
