Just when marketers believe they understand their audience, a new technology, new behaviour or even an entirely new audience alters everything. Yes, this holds definitely true for Gen Z! Also referred to as the iGeneration, this demographic makes up about 32% of the global population as of 2019 (Source: Bloomberg). Digitally savvy, they don’t remember a time before the internet—unlike millennials. The attention span of a Gen Zer is just eight seconds—that’s four seconds less than the millennials. But in reality, they actually do possess a sophisticated filter especially growing up in an ever-changing environment and deluge of information. So first impressions really do count.
By 2020, Gen Z is expected to account for 40% of all customers. Even more astounding, one expert says “Generation Z is one of the most powerful consumer forces in the market today. Their buying power is $44 billion and expands to $600 billion when considering the influence they have on their parents’ spending.”
In order to grab Gen Z’s attention in under eight seconds, tactical methods of sales promotions that influence purchase should be explored. While sales promotions include discounts and price-offs, Gen Z is seeking value and satisfaction as opposed to monetary benefits. With running over 200+ campaigns every year for over a decade, in this blog – we bring to you how your brand can build Gen Z focused promotions and run skill-based contests, luck-based promos or sweepstakes, assured rewards and gifts on every purchase to capture their attention in the short span of time.
Selling Experiences, Not Just Products to Gen Z
Gen Z is growing up in a scary world and a struggling economy, so they’re more likely to turn to companies that make the world a better place to enjoy life.
Millennial consumers were the first generation to make known their preference for authentic content and rewarding. Generation Z goes even further: they have made it clear that what they care about more than anything is feeling like they know the brand. They don’t want to feel marketed to—they want to feel like they’re part of something. (Source: Deep Patel, Forbes) Experiential rewards can be given away to your TG on every purchase. These experiences serve more than mere rewards, they serve as memories especially for a TG like the Gen Z who seek value more than monetary benefits. These rewards also reap benefits in terms of relaxation, fun, and positivity – something that Gen Z seeks every time they make a purchase (Source: Fast Company, 2018). These rewards can be customized and can be booked by your customers wherever and whenever they want.
Trick or Treat – Playing your cards right with Gen Z
Treating your TG with grand prizes will help you tick off major brand objectives, and can be achieved via two ways – Contests and Sweepstakes. There is no better time than now to be running these – when tech is catching up and Gen Z loves to stay in the game.
While Gen Z is a group that believes in following what they see, they are adventurous and usually like to take the road less taken. Here’s where you can tap into your TG’s curious mind – Sweepstakes, which are luck-based games, can be run on the purchase where customers can be rewarded with grand prizes. On the other hand, are skill-based programs, or popularly called contests, usually have grand prizes given away to customers basis their skill-based submissions like best selfie, best tagline/slogan, most liked/shared, and much more. While Sweepstakes lets a few lucky customers win grand prizes and is directly responsible for increased offtakes, sales boost and creating noise, contests can be run to tick off-brand objectives like enhancing brand launch, social media noise and reaching the masses.
Rewarding the Digitally Savvy Gen Z, Digitally
Gen Z doesn’t just have a shorter attention span; they also juggle more screens. On average, millennials bounce between 3 screens at a time. However, things aren’t getting less complicated: Generation Z tends to juggle 5 screens at once!
That in itself makes Gen Zers difficult to reach (and is why tactics like short-term sales promos especially assured gifts on every purchase will become so effective). And what’s even better? If a brand rewards these Gen Z customers with rewards that are already an integral part of their lives. With India’s video streaming industry all set to reach 11,977 crores by 2023 (Source: OTT Report, PWC), rewards like popular streaming subscriptions, online magazine subscriptions, digital wallet cashback can be given away.
With Gen Z, digital rewards work like magic mainly because
- they are easy to claim – one can redeem them where they receive it (Amazon Pay voucher received through SMS can be redeemed under a minute on the mobile phone itself)
- they are not necessarily married to any medium – one can redeem a reward on smartphone/ tablet or desktop and they can use it over any medium indefinitely
- their value is commonly known and therefore make for premium rewards especially if given away as 3-month or 6-month time period
The fact that brands only have 8 seconds to reach Gen Zers, breaking the clutter and standing out is crucial. This is why tactical methods of sales promotions can be used to engage with this TG. Not only assured rewards and contests but also tech-infused promotions can be exciting to launch for this TG. So next time when you’re planning a promotion targeting the Gen Z, we’re here to help quell the panic. BigCity’s experts will help you create a sales promotion tailored to your TG within your budget and brand type. Get in touch with us today at marketing@bigcity.in
