Neilson surveys show that millennials bring in over $65 billion and Generation Z brings in a staggering $143 billion each year. Restaurants, retailers, and other B2C businesses would be foolish to ignore email marketing for younger people.

But how can you reach these groups without driving them away?

Offer content that is interactive with photos

It’s important to have interactive content like videos and photos if you want to get and keep your readers’ attention. Because young people are busy, email marketing to them needs to grab their attention right away.

This email from Wendy’s gets right to the point by having high-quality graphics and interactive content where people can look through Wendy’s salad options.

Reward loyal customers

For email marketing to younger people, your subscribers need to know how much you value them. No one wants to feel like they are just a number that a company uses to increase its bottom line. Consider making different groups of subscribers that you can target with different loyalty programs.

Starbucks knows that their customers can choose from many other coffee shops. This email campaign is made just for the reader based on what they have bought in the past. It also tells them that they have already earned a free reward. On top of that, the email has interactive clickable content that shows how to get the reward.

Give them what they really want.

When email marketing to younger people, it’s important to be relevant. When they get emails about products and services they’ll never use, they’ll be quick to click the “unsubscribe” button.

Pizza Hut did a good job with this email campaign because they remembered what their subscribers had ordered before and sent them personalized deals. Plus, Pizza Hut had the order ready to go with interactive buttons. All the reader had to do was click “order now.”

Help the bigger picture.

Teenagers want to know that the money they work hard for is going to a good cause. The upcoming holidays are a great time to use an email promotion to let your subscribers know that you’re giving back to the community. You could send out a campaign telling people that during the holiday season, you’ll donate a certain percentage of sales to a certain cause.

Toms’ whole marketing plan is based on helping people around the world. This email below is not only interactive, but it also reminds people that for every pair of shoes they buy, Toms will give a pair to someone who needs them.

Wrap up

No one is telling you to forget about social media and put all your efforts into email marketing for younger people. But it’s important to keep in mind that young people spend a lot of time going through their email. Like, a lot of time each day.

The key is to send emails that are useful and that people look forward to opening. Look at their habits and divide your audience into different groups so you can make email campaigns that meet the needs of each group.

Email marketing is more personal than social media marketing because it lets you talk directly to your audience and build long-term relationships with them. If you do this with young people, you can earn their trust for life.