Marketing to Millennials is worth $8 Trillion, Make Sure You're Doing it Right

In 2015, Professor Sunil Gupta of Harvard Business School wrote about the evolution of mobile marketing on the Livingstone blog. He wrote, “behind the headline shift in media consumption sits a less expected trend away from aimless internet browsing of the kind that advertisers love, towards ‘doing’ things – 86% of smartphone owners’ time is spent using apps, only 14% browsing the web.”

Professor Gupta had it right, the trend from the web to apps has only continued in the two years since he shared his findings. For entrepreneurs and companies willing to take on the space there is a huge and immediate revenue opportunity – spend on apps is 20x greater, conversion 300%, and AVO 140% higher than on the traditional web.

The largest audience with the greatest appetite for apps is Millennials. The generation that spearheaded the evolution of digital technology spends more time online than any other demographic – reportedly 7.43 hours per day. They’re not spending it the way you might think. Most Millennials spend the majority of their time in apps rather than on the mobile web – one survey found that for every 19mins spent on Safari, Millennials spend 1.9 hours in apps. This technological consumption ids Millennials as the greatest bang for the app buck.

Monetizing Millennials

In a survey, 35% of Millennials state they will make a purchase on their mobile today. Another 35% want to purchase on mobile, but consider the user experience to be too difficult. This generation values exceptional user experience, but only notices it when it’s absent.

To access this audience, you have to combine two kernels of truth buried deep in the millennial stereotype; the first is that Millennials are permanently attached to their phones, the second is that they are active consumers of online content.

According to Nielsen, Millennials believe themselves to be independent thinkers. Indeed, this generation researches nearly 97% of their purchases and puts greater stock in recommendations from fellow buyers than previously established sources of authority.

Companies interested in tapping into this market should focus on producing engaging, shareable content on an app with an intuitive platform that includes the voice of the customer so Millennials can easily access information and complete an in-app purchase with minimal to no issues.

For those who manage to whet the Millennial appetite, there is an estimated $8 trillion revenue opportunity waiting to be captured.