{"id":1320,"date":"2020-04-20T18:59:01","date_gmt":"2020-04-21T01:59:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.agiliron.com\/blog\/?p=1320"},"modified":"2025-11-20T16:08:20","modified_gmt":"2025-11-21T00:08:20","slug":"key-traits-that-all-digital-consumers-share-and-how-to-leverage-them","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.agiliron.com\/blog\/key-traits-that-all-digital-consumers-share-and-how-to-leverage-them\/","title":{"rendered":"Key Traits That All Digital Consumers Share and How to Leverage Them"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><strong>How to make your marketing appealing across generations.<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1321\" src=\"https:\/\/www.agiliron.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/woman-standing-beside-pineapple-fruits-2292919.jpg\" alt=\"How to make your marketing appealing across generations\" width=\"1280\" height=\"853\" title=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.agiliron.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/woman-standing-beside-pineapple-fruits-2292919.jpg 1280w, https:\/\/www.agiliron.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/woman-standing-beside-pineapple-fruits-2292919-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.agiliron.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/woman-standing-beside-pineapple-fruits-2292919-1024x682.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.agiliron.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/woman-standing-beside-pineapple-fruits-2292919-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.agiliron.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/woman-standing-beside-pineapple-fruits-2292919-600x400.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1280px) 100vw, 1280px\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pexels.com\/photo\/woman-standing-beside-pineapple-fruits-2292919\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Source<\/span><\/i><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As an eCommerce business or retail brand, growing your audience is essential to the ongoing success of your business. But consumers are wildly different, and what might strike a chord with some may be meaningless to others.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Often, differing consumer behaviors are generational. Baby boomers see the world and shop in a different way to millennials, for instance. As a business, the logical thing to do is segment your marketing campaigns, going for the lion\u2019s share of a smaller group of consumers. And while you should do this with many of your promotional efforts, there are times when you might want to make your messaging more inclusive.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Creating marketing campaigns and offering products or features with mass appeal seems impossible in today\u2019s cutthroat digital age, but it\u2019s not beyond reach.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">With seasonal campaigns (Valentine\u2019s Day, Easter, Independence Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas\u2014the list goes on), you stand to boost your profits while expanding your brand if you can appeal to a wider audience that spans generations.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>How do you do that? <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You consider the common traits that digital consumers share and use them to create strategies that will resonate with as many people as possible.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Here, we explore the key traits that almost all consumers share and the tactics you can use to give some of your marketing campaigns a universal appeal.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Let\u2019s start by glancing at what we mean by <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">consumer generations.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><b>Generation, what?<\/b><\/h2>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Depending on your niche or specialty, your business probably targets a specific consumer group. But if you can make a few tweaks here and there, you\u2019re likely to attract the attention of a wider audience. You shouldn\u2019t stop focusing on your key target audience, but it won\u2019t hurt to get others on board.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There are countless shopper demographics. Often, these different segments of consumers fall into a certain generational category. At present, there are four primary generations of online shoppers:<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><b>Baby Boomers: <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Born between the 1940s and 50s, this cohort grew up without the Web, but studies show that<\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pewresearch.org\/internet\/fact-sheet\/social-media\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">64% of people aged 50 to 64 use at least one social media site<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. This more traditional generation is online, and they\u2019re willing to spend.<\/span><\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><b>Gen X: <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Born between the 1960s and early 1980s, members of Generation X aren\u2019t digital natives, but they are more attuned to technology than your average Baby Boomer. Gen Xers are <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bigcommerce.co.uk\/blog\/gen-x-marketing\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">social media hungry<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and have a healthy level of online spending power.<\/span><\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><b>Millennials: <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Born between the mid-80s and mid-90s, Millennials are the first wave of true digital natives. Influential, socially conscious, and tech-savvy, millennials are prolific online shoppers. In fact, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.invespcro.com\/blog\/millennial-online-shopping-habits\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">67%<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> of Millennials prefer to shop online rather than a <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.agiliron.com\/blog\/an-exploration-of-what-a-modern-brick-and-mortar-store-should-look-like\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">brick and mortar store<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><b>Gen Z: <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The newest kids on the block, this ethnically diverse group of digital consumers was born during the dawning of the digital age. Technology is engrained in the bones of Gen Zers, and this group boasts $44 billion in spending power. Find out more about them in our <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.agiliron.com\/blog\/how-to-make-your-brand-appeal-to-gen-z\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Gen Z marketing guide<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><b>Leverage key consumer traits to your advantage<\/b><\/h2>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To create campaigns, form strategies, and develop communications that are likely to transcend generations, it\u2019s important to look at the common ground most digital consumers share. Here, we look at four shared online shopping values or traits that you can leverage to your commercial advantage.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>Driven by necessity<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">From Baby Boomers to Gen Zers, every consumer is driven by necessity.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While not all online purchases are a necessity in the true sense of the word (many consumer buys are impulsive or driven by want over need), online consumers across generations become motivated to shop because they think they need to buy something. Whether you\u2019re talking about <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">true necessity<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> or <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">perceived necessity<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, by giving consumers a solution to their problem or a direct answer to their question, you\u2019re likely to increase your conversion rate.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Tactic:<\/b> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To tap into the universal necessity to shop, you should try the following approaches:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Create a comprehensive <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.socialmediatoday.com\/content\/10-tips-creating-killer-faq-page\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">FAQ page<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> on your website. Your FAQ page should answer all questions about your products or services, as well as common questions related to your niche or industry. Doing so will help you boost your Google search rankings (which will expose you to a wider shopping audience) while building trust at a time where shoppers are in their research phase.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Invest in email marketing. Many consumers across generations engage with branded email campaigns from eCommerce businesses. To create mass appeal, think long and hard about creating a sense of urgency with messaging that taps into the \u2018necessity mindset\u2019 that most digital consumers share. Our guide to <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.agiliron.com\/blog\/the-e-commerce-guide-to-driving-revenue-through-email\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">driving revenue through email<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> will help you get started.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><b>Like a seamless service<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Who doesn\u2019t like a service that is convenient and fuss-free? While digitally native consumers may be more discerning when it comes to service, if you don\u2019t provide exceptional customer experience (CX), you will not survive in the long term.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pwc.com\/us\/en\/advisory-services\/publications\/consumer-intelligence-series\/pwc-consumer-intelligence-series-customer-experience.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Eighty-six percent<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> of all online shoppers are willing to pay more for an excellent customer experience. Moreover, by the end of 2020, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.superoffice.com\/blog\/customer-experience-statistics\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">CX<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> will surpass price and product as the number one brand differentiator. <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">By focusing on your customer experience efforts and activities, you will give your brand a broader appeal, growing your audience in the process.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><b>Tactic:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> When it comes to improving your levels of service and CX offerings, there are a few avenues you should explore for multigenerational eCommerce success:<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To improve your responsiveness to customer issues and service or product queries, consider investing in chatbots. These autonomous customer service bots are designed to offer swift service coupled with convenience\u2014and they get results. Allow our <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.agiliron.com\/blog\/how-4-businesses-are-using-chatbots-to-increase-online-sales\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">rundown of inspirational chatbot strategies<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to demonstrate.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Focus on user experience (UX) design to ensure every one of your platforms and touchpoints is easy to navigate, even for those that are less tech-savvy than your average Millennial or Gen Zer A\/B testing is an effective way of making your online store as user-friendly as possible.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Get to know your customers\u2019 behaviors better by drilling down into the right <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.agiliron.com\/blog\/a-guide-to-using-data-to-improve-your-businesss-ecommerce-strategy\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">data and metrics<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Create a CX strategy, using our <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.agiliron.com\/blog\/5-steps-to-boost-your-brands-customer-experience\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">step-by-step customer experience guide<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> for reference.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><b>Possess emotion<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Unlike robots, human beings possess emotions. While everyone displays or processes their emotions differently, we all have them, regardless of our preferences or consumer groups.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When a video, article, advert, or marketing campaign taps directly into a particular human emotion, it often sparks engagement. When digital consumers share a common emotion in response to marketing communication, they\u2019re more likely to share it with others.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Studies suggest that campaigns with emotional content perform <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/medium.com\/@alsadi.rawan\/emotional-advertisement-is-the-most-effective-form-of-advertisement-434b2dc80e53\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">twice as well<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> as those with rational content.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Tactic:<\/b> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The next time you\u2019re creating a marketing campaign for your online retail brand, you should focus on delivering an emotionally-driven message that is inclusive and universal. Focus on the primary goal of your emotional marketing campaign (for example, do you want to prompt laughter, make your audience shed tears, or create a real sense of empathy?) and let this be your creative guide.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Take this campaign from IBM Watson, for instance. One of the world\u2019s leading B2B AI technologies, IBM wanted to bring what is considered a dry topic to life by tapping into the universal emotional trigger of laughter:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/UTEIwUHoAsc\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This video featuring prolific author Stephen King is an example of the accessible, humorous approach the brand took towards its Watson marketing campaign. The campaign generated a wealth of engagement, earning a total of <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.convert.com\/blog\/growth-marketing\/emotional-marketing-guide\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">30 million<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> collective video views.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>Enjoy value<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Young or old, conservative or liberal, sporty or techy, online shoppers like getting value for their money.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Around <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.statista.com\/statistics\/240237\/coupon-use-in-the-united-states\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">93%<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> of shoppers use coupons or discount codes all year round. By offering incentives or bonuses, you stand to increase your sales by up to <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/convinceandconvert.com\/digital-marketing\/10-important-statistics-your-company-needs-to-know-about-providing-discounts\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">73%<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Tactic:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Here are some top eCommerce tips to help you win with consumer deals and discounts:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Offer free shipping, particularly during last-minute periods during events, including Valentine\u2019s and Christmas.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Incentivize your existing customers by offering referral awards, discounts, or bonuses.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Give repeat purchasers access to loyalty deals and discount codes.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Create different offers for different channels or touchpoints (email, social media, mobile app, website, etc.).<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Tighten up your eCommerce pricing strategies with this <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.agiliron.com\/blog\/7-unique-pricing-strategies-that-can-increase-your-stores-revenue\/\">valuable resource.<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For more business-boosting insights, here are <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.agiliron.com\/blog\/5-ecommerce-tech-trends-to-watch-out-for-in-2020\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">five eCommerce trends you should watch out for in 2020<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>How to make your marketing appealing across generations. Source As an eCommerce business or retail brand, growing your audience is essential to the ongoing success of your business. But consumers are wildly different, and what might strike a chord with some may be meaningless to others. Often, differing consumer behaviors are generational. Baby boomers see [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":1322,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1320","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.agiliron.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1320","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.agiliron.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.agiliron.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.agiliron.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.agiliron.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1320"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.agiliron.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1320\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.agiliron.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1322"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.agiliron.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1320"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.agiliron.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1320"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.agiliron.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1320"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}