4 Reasons Millennials Prefer Paper
The latest generation to infiltrate the workforce has been branded digitally savvy but professionally needy. Despite split consensus on whether or not millennials can lead us into a more productive, environmentally conscious world, this social generation is showing signs of holding on to a more tangible society.
It’s tax season, and NerdWallet and Harris Poll has released a recent survey on how millennials cope with filing these dreaded forms and the result might just surprise you – they may prefer paper. Can you believe 17 percent of millennials took pen to paper and filed by mail? This is compared to only 8 percent in the 35 and older age range.
Perhaps this is simply a reflection of an outdated, overwhelming tax code that causes younger taxpayers to seek any and all alternative methods. But, considering how focused millennials are on leading an eco-friendly life on a global scale, this may be bigger than taxes.
Take a look at coupons for example. According to a recent CreditCards.com report, most Americans prefer paper. Of those surveyed saying they use coupons, 63 percent most frequently grab them from newspapers, mailings and other paper products. It gets better – the 18- to 24-year old bracket use paper coupons twice as much as other methods.
Why We Prefer Paper
1. It’s easier to open your mail to look at a statements/tax forms than it is to remember another password, download forms and review them.
2. Computers can crash. If you haven’t saved your complicated and/or intimidating tax return recently, you’re at square one.
3. As we’ve seen by some recent security hacks, personal information isn’t guaranteed to be safe online.
4. Paper trail. It’s easier for me to keep paper documents together to be prepared for tax time than it is to search my email and log in to multiple websites to find the documents I need.
This new millennial economy may stretch the limits of technological change, but you can’t deny the power of a product that is reliable, consistent and sustainably made.
http://afandpa.org/media/blog/bloga/2016/04/13/4-reason-millennials-prefer-paper
Think Direct Mail Marketing Is Dead? Not For Millenials
The rise of digital channels has forced financial institutions to radically rethink their marketing strategies. While digital media have proven effective — no doubt — that doesn’t mean other traditional means of marketing no longer work. In fact, the opposite is true, particularly when it comes to direct mail.
Direct mail still resonates with every age group. This is among the findings from a study by InfoTrends and Prinova. And it doesn’t just work (or work less than it once did), the response rates for direct mail remain high for all demographics.
Some might find the response rate for Millennials particularly surprising, since they are by far the most digitally-savvy generation in history. According to another study fielded by Experian, nearly every Millennial (ages18-35) owns a smartphone, and 43% say that they now access the internet more through their phone than a computer, compared with just 20% of adults ages 35 and older. However, despite their hyper-wired digital connectedness, Millennials as a group report that the last time they responded to direct mail campaign was within 2.4 months. That’s less than the average response time for all respondents. Similarly, Millennials open the direct mail they receive at the same high rate of 66% as recipients overall.
Even more significant, the InfoTrends research found that 63% of Millennials who responded to a direct mail piece within a three month period actually made a purchase.
A study by the USPS reached a similar conclusion about Millennials’ interest in receiving political direct mail. “As the much-coveted demographic of 18-24-year-olds has grown up with- and around computers, focusing exclusively on digital channels seems like the obvious strategy,” says Cliff Rucker, VP of Sales at USPS. “Actually, Millennials are far more likely than non-Millennials to read and engage with direct mail.”
