While you may think you have Gen Y figured out overall when it comes to marketing, Affluent Millennials are a slightly different kettle of fish, according to LinkedIn’s insights lead of Australia and New Zealand, Elisa Koch.
Speaking this morning at the Millennials Marketing Conference at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Koch began by defining an Affluent Millennial – those of the Y Generation that have more than $100,000 in investible assets (excluding real estate) – and highlighting some of their key traits.
“Affluent Millennials are ambitious, they’re progressive and they’re quite confident about their future,” she told conference attendees.
“Affluent Millennials are two times more likely [than Affluent Gen Xers and the overall Millennial population] to be confident about Australia’s economic future. They are less likely to expect another financial crisis, and thee out four Affluent Millennials still believe in the great Australian dream of home ownership, compared to just 66 per cent of affluent Gen Xers.”
Coupled with this optimism, Koch said Affluent Millennials are ambitious when it comes to setting goals, being two times more likely to have a goal of owning a home, and also two times more likely to have a life goal of starting their own business (when compared Affluent Gen Xers).
And the way they are funding these ambitious goals, Koch said, is through a willingness to save their hard-earned money.
“One in three Affluent Millennials are saving the majority of their hard-earned pay check – greater than 50 per cent they’re saving, and you compare this to just 18 per cent of Affluent Gen Xers who are saving the majority of their pay check,” she said.
“And in addition to saving, they’re also funding their ambitious goals by carrying more debt.”
According to Koch, Affluent Millennials are four times more likely to have a personal loan, five times more likely to have a student loan and 19 times more likely to have a business loan, compared to Affluent Xers.
But while being pretty independent and savvy in funding their finances, Koch noted that Affluent Millennials are also quite dependent.
“They’re dependent on advisers [and] experts. They’re also quite dependent on their family and their personal network when it comes to seeking out guidance,” she said.
“They want to be in the know and empowered by doing their own research as well, but when it comes to making the right decision, they’re going to reach out to make sure they’re making the right decision.”
And when compared to Affluent Gen Xers, Koch said Affluent Millennials are more likely to be very loyal to brands once they become a customer.
“However, they’re always on the lookout for better products and solutions,” she added.
“And as loyal as they seem to be, we found that Affluent Millennials are actually more willing to try offerings from non-traditional brands.”
Koch then noted the top five factors of unique importance to Affluent Millennials when they are considering new brands to engage with:
- Social presence (because this is where they spend a lot of their time)
- Mission (one that is unique and represents causes they care about)
- Online reputation (needs to be strong)
- Service (they want it on their terms)
- Education (they want to be totally informed when it comes to making financial decisions)
Furthermore, Koch revealed the top three types of content from brands that Affluent Millennials want to engage with:
- Information about their products and services.
- Reviews from existing customers.
- Content that demonstrates the brand is thought leading.
Finally, Koch dished out to marketers some rules of engagement for the Affluent Millennial audience:
- Social – “This goes beyond having a basic social presence to working out how it plays a central part in their overall communications strategy.”
- Always-on – “We know than Millennials are heavy users of technology, so work out how you can be connecting with them whenever and wherever they are.”
- Educate – “Affluent Millennials want to be educating themselves on products and services, so how can you provide this content freely to them?”
Relationships – “By bringing this all together, you’re really able to connect and build deeper relationships Affluent Millennials, because once you have them as a customer, they’ll be more loyal to you than previous generations.”
