5 Tips on Winning the Gen Z Consumer

Understanding your consumer is key to a successful targeting strategy. When brands assess consumer profiles, it’s important to take into account the consumer’s needs, expectations and interests. Many brands are taking note of the increased necessity to win over Generation Z consumers, ages ranging from 4 to 24, and one of the fastest growing demographics. Beyond just targeting Gen Z, efforts must be deemed “authentic” to reach this group. In fact, 76% of Gen Z consumers associate a brand’s responsiveness with authenticity. To win over the Gen Z consumer you must develop a customer experience strategy based on research and analysis. Here is the 5 point formula to follow:

Analyze and understand what Gen Z consumers want out of a campaign specific to your product or service.

Consumer analysis includes what your consumer purchases, watches, cares about and feels. Essentially, brands need to take an inside look into the minds of Gen Z. Knowing that the average attention span for an ad is 8 seconds, how can you capture this consumer’s attention? Approximately 66% of Gen Z consumers skip online ads whenever possible. Knowing this, it’s important to develop a strategy to reach consumers in a different way and establish a positive brand experience both before and after purchase. An experienced agency can help you define exactly what this consumer base will respond to.

Incorporate brand messaging that speaks to the Gen Z consumer.

Gen Z consumers want to feel understood by their chosen brands. Roughly 53% of Generation Z have an affinity for brands that understand them as a person. Essentially, your brand needs to incorporate messaging that would appeal to this individual. Winning consumers with relevant brand messaging that resonates with their lingo can translate into a positive consumer experience, thus establishing brand loyalty early on. If your brand struggles with creating compelling content to lure in consumers, don’t worry. There are professionals who will help you churn out a show-stopping campaign for this audience.

Encourage Gen Z consumers to share feedback, especially on social media.

Compared to previous generations, Gen Z consumers share twice as much positive feedback than negative on average. What does this mean for your brand? Encourage them to share their positive experience on platforms of your choosing. This feedback will validate your successful customer experience strategy and open the door for improvements. Receiving testimonials is an effective way to build consumer loyalty, especially among younger generations. Hubspot is an example of a company with a robust testimonial strategy. They have a page dedicated to testimonials from companies that use their platform. Pages like this have potential to draw in new customers.

Interaction is key to success!

It is important to encourage consumer feedback from Gen Z, but it is imperative to respond to their feedback. Brands shouldn’t ask for testimonials and ignore them. Because Gen Z interprets responsiveness as a sign of authenticity, make a strategic effort to respond to feedback. Feedback should be substantive and still relate to the Gen Z consumer. Roughly 47% of Gen Z consumers report feeling discontent or unaffected by brand responses. Ensure your responses fully acknowledge the consumer experience. For inspiration, take note of Barkbox’s social platforms. They’re experts in engaging with their followers, sharing fun content and responding to questions, comments and concerns.

See who the Gen Z consumers are connecting with.

To measure a brand’s performance, looking at competitors’ work is an easy start. Partner with an agency experienced in competitor research and analysis. Through these findings, take note of what competitors are doing to win over their consumer. See what channels they’re advertising on, what marketing tactics they’re using and how Gen Z consumers are responding. Ideas, as well as tactics to avoid, can bloom from competitors. Knowing your competition is paramount in customer experience strategy.

When it comes to marketing, don’t take a one-size-fits-all approach to your consumer targeting strategy. Delve deeper into the minds of your consumer, anticipate their needs and weigh your performance. Consumer responses to brand messaging waver, but your effort to connect with them should remain prominent.

Looking to develop that ideal customer experience strategy and win over consumers? From A to Generation Z, Appleton is an award-winning, full-service advertising agency in Orlando, Florida that specializes in delivering a strong, unified visual and verbal presence through branding and messaging. Appleton works with local, national and international clients to build a strong and cohesive brand that standardizes any company’s look and communications across print, web, social media and video. Your branding goals are worth a conversation: contact us at 407-246-0092 or info@appletoncreative.com.