Month: July 2018

 

 

Who are millennials?

There’s a lot written about millennials and how important they can be to businesses and economies. However, before crafting a business plan targeting millennials, let’s try to understand who millennials are.

The word ‘millennial’ in itself is elusive and it’s often unclear what age bracket they belong to.

Additionally, targeting a millennial is not an easy task. Thanks to rapid development in technology, this is a cohort that is connected to multiple devices and has multiple channels of communication at their disposal. Their ways of social interaction are distinctly different from the other generations. So are their value systems and beliefs.

Read on to know more.

How old are they?

The definition of millennials varies across the board. The general range of their year of birth is between the late 1970s and early 2000s. For the sake of simplicity, we assume that millennials are those who are born between 1980 and 2000. They constitute about 80 million people, a  little over a quarter of the total US population. They’ve surpassed the baby boomers, in terms of population, making them the largest generation in the US.

Read about millennials’ mobile bill payment habits here.

How are they?

Millennials have grown up with technology. They’re hyperconnected and “always on”. An attribute that they associate with the most is speed – think instant messenger (Facebook messenger), cab (Uber), food (Uber Eats), clothes (Amazon), movies (Netflix) – all of it is literally a click away for this new generation. They possibly do not know how to do things the other way.

They’re not the ones to jump through hoops to acquire a product or service. The internet also makes sure that they’re spoilt for choice. This means that if your website doesn’t have an easy way to check-out or if there’s no easy way to book an appointment or if your shipment is going to take too long, they would exit your page almost immediately and find the next alternate.

Attributes of speed and instant gratification often give birth to stereotypes associated with millennials such as those of them being privileged, selfish or lazy, living in their parents’ basements. Sure, they can be very demanding customers but by no means are they selfish or lazy.

In fact, millennials are the most educated of all the generations in the US right now. They value themselves as much as they value the society and the world around them. They want to make the world a better place to live in.

Moreover, millennials are a “hyper-connected” generation. They enjoy sharing their lives and thoughts with their peers. At the same time, they also seek validation and social acceptance from them.

How do they interact with brands?

Direct advertising doesn’t necessarily compel millennials to buy products. According to a study by Hubspot,  84% of them do not even trust traditional advertising. One sided-communication by a brand through direct advertising is a thing of the past. It doesn’t compel millennials to make a purchase.

They need to engage with a brand and trust them before making a purchase. Millennials are also smart shoppers. They try to acquire as much information about a product before buying them. Online reviews play a vital role of taking your millennial from “consideration” to “purchase” leg of their customer journey.

Funnily enough, online reviews have become so important that you will find millennials evaluate products at a store and then check reviews and prices online to make sure they get the best deal.

They also seek peer reviews. Reviews from friends can have a huge impact on the decision making process. Endorsements from friends and peers has given way to influencer marketing. This is important to your business because partnering with the right influencers can directly increase sales.

Moreover, millennials’ strong belief system makes them appreciate a brand that shares their value of making the world a better place.

Clearly, brand trust emanates from reviews or opinions shared by their peers and influencers as well as the brand’s own ethos.

At last count, millennials accounted for $1.3 trillion of annual spending, of which $430 was discretionary.

The sheer number of millennials and their spending power make them worthy candidates of your business.

Tell us in the comments section, do you sells products or services to millennials? How are they different from your other customers?

Now that you know how to identify a millennial, let’s have a look at their smartphone usage behaviors and how that’s shaping mobile bill payments.

Our end goal is to help you develop a deep understanding of your target audience before you curate a mobile bill payment strategy for millennials.

Millennials love their smartphones

At least 97% of them have one, according to a Nielsen study. Over half of them spend at least 3 hours a day on their phones.

A study by Comscore on mobile app usage states that the app that millennials “can’t go without”  is Amazon, followed closely by Gmail, Facebook, Facebook messenger, and Youtube. In fact, the Amazon app is also on the homescreen for easy access. Studies have shown how that the position of an app in the phone correlates strongly with how often it is used.

This finding about Amazon is counter intuitive as one would like to believe millennials love their social media apps the most. This is also indicative of how open millennials are to the idea of shopping on their phone. Furthermore, it challenges the common notion that customers do not complete purchases on their phones.

How are millennials paying their bills?

A recent study indicated how online bill payments has gained traction over the years, all thanks to millennials. Bill payment habits vary between generations. The number of people paying bills by mail has been on a decline consistently. Only 15% of millennials pay their bills through mail as opposed to 40% of seniors and 29% of baby boomers. Moreover, 44% of millennials use the biller’s website to make bill payments.

This serves as a crucial insight for businesses that rely heavily on regular bill payments such as the internet, phone, healthcare companies, utilities or insurance companies. Facilitating an easy online payment method would also ensure timely payments and higher collection.

It is also fair to assume that someone making purchases on their phone routinely is also likely to pay bills on their phone.

In fact, according to a recent study, 38% of millennials use mobile apps and tools to make bill payments. 21% of them have never even written a check.

What’s interesting is that amongst all generations, millennials are most likely to pay their bills late because of higher debts and slow economic growth. It becomes all the more important for you to relook at how you collect bills and live up to the expectations of millennials.

Tell us in the comments section, what is your take on mobile payments? Do you think it will it has the potential to surpass other forms of payments?

Learn about Payscout’s bill payment solution for millennials here.