Our virtual world is expanding so rapidly, with new innovations springing up from the ether seemingly every day. Because of this extreme spike in technological novelty, it’s tempting to think of the first implementations of the virtual world (like emails) to be in danger of being obsolete. While we can’t say for sure whether the medium of emailing will still be around for 1,000 years into the future, we do know that it is far from dead today. In fact, studies have shown that the youth demographic responds quite strongly to email. As the old observation goes, if the young people are into it, then it’s probably going to be around for a while.
Young Consumers are less Likely to Delete or Separate email
According to the Consumer Views of Email Marketing whitepaper, almost two-thirds (64%) of survey respondents between the ages of 55 and 64 stated that they will surely delete their emails, compared to 38% of young peoples between 18 and 24. The American youth population don’t tend to use separated email accounts for marketing purposes, which is a commonly used method of separating marketing emails. In fact, the ratio of 18 to 34-year-olds who implemented the use of separate emails fell 10% since 2015, from 40% to 30%. The whitepaper did conclude that these young consumers may be open to email marketing, it might also be indicative that they are using email filters to organize their inbox.
Mobile Email Continues to Grow
Although veteran email marketers will likely cling on to their desktops for dear life, they can’t escape the cold fact that the mobile world has played an extremely large role in modern emailing. Email marketers must be consistent in recognizing the omnipresence of mobile power in their field. Mobile has taken the emailing sector by storm, and studies show that it will continue to do so for a long time to come, particularly within the youth demographic. The young gravitate toward technological innovation, after all, and no field of technology is being worked on more than the mobile one. According to the CMO Innovation editors reporting on the whitepaper, “Ninety-one percent aged 18 to 24, and 83 percent aged 25 to 34 said that they use smartphones to view emails. This means that emails need to be optimized for smartphones if they want to be effective.”
The Future of Email Marketing is in the Youth
Grouping all consumers together into one category is certainly a huge time-saver, but it could not be further from the ideal way to carry out business. Being such a highly technical field, email marketing demands tremendous foresight when composing a business plan, and equally significant focus and attention to detail when carrying out that business plan. As is the case in most industries, marketing should target the youth, and hold on to them as long as possible. Any virtual marketer looking to place a strong foothold into the future need to place some focus on young buying trends and marketing-reception habits. The youth carries out their transactions in much the same fashion as older generations do. However, there are slight variations to be observed. “Email marketing is still very relevant to brands, specifically for the hard-to-reach 18-34-year-old audience,” said Mike Biwer, CEO, Mapp Digital. “The survey results suggest that this group of consumers are engaging with fewer brands on a more intimate level. Millennials and Gen Y are strong audiences for email marketers, but now more than ever, the email marketing experience needs to cater to what they want and how they want it.”
