This is why you need to target millennials to gain new business

The entire payments and banking industry is paying close attention to millennials. It’s the only way to stay ahead of the curve today and gain new business.

Millennials are the next generation of buying power whose demands are shaping the future of money, like the hippies of the 1970s and the yuppies of the 1980s.

Staying on trend is also important for small businesses for the same reasons. As the industry races to offer next-level advancements in how we make payments and manage our money, millennial consumers expect small and local businesses to evolve in the same way.

It makes sense for SMEs to keep tabs on the latest developments within the industry to expand their customer reach.

We have researched the millennial customer base extensively to discover how your business solutions can meet and exceed their needs. Here’s what we’ve learned.

What you need to know about millennials

From a product perspective, they are attracted to the community environment where everyone and everything works for the collective benefit

If we take this premise to a payments solution environment, this would impact the ability to share, import and export data across multiple environments and collectively transform that data into insight.

If you want to target millennials specifically, you have to allow them to choose, rate and influence who has access to their financial “world”, much like social media.

Information transparency and ease of access are also key for millennials

They rely on their “community” and peer-to peer information sharing to help them make purchasing decisions. As it relates to the payments and banking industry, it’s very important that information such as pricing is easier to find.

Where traditional competitors have historically hidden this information, millennials will be more comfortable than any other customer segment to ask, understand, process and share pricing information in open forums. They own and control the messaging in this respect – creating a wedge between the service provider and their customers.

Ease of use is assumed

The biggest factor in that assumption for millennials is how the latest fraud and data security regulations will impact the ease of use they expect. It’s important for financial service providers to assure customers that the additional security checkpoints are there because data security is a priority.

As the industry advances, criminals advance their efforts. Providers need to find the balance between ease of use and compliance.

What to do to gain new business from millennials

Small businesses can scale these findings and implement them in a way that creates the community environment millennials prefer, the convenience and ease of use they expect, and the security they need. Here’s how:

1. Go mobile

Our research shows 15% of millennials say they make most of their purchases using mobile wallets such as Apple Pay and Samsung Pay, and 12% of businesses are offering mobile payment options. Offering their preferred payment method is a solid plan for customer retention and satisfaction.

2. Create an experience

We know millennials are social and connected, which means your website should be as well. Are your web pages responsive to mobile devices? Is your business connected and active on social media? How intuitive and easy is your checkout process? Most trouble comes from payment pages so it’s worth exploring this further for detailed advice.

3. Keep your payment offerings versatile

Our research shows 88.7% of millennials carry cash as a preferred payment method but still see mobile wallets as being the most popular payment method by 2020, which means this is the perfect time for you to get ahead of the expectation.

What plans have you got in place to gain new business from millennials and how are you making sure your payment processes are set up to make that a reality? Let us know your stories and experiences in the comments section below.