Print Response by Generation: Baby Boomers
Generational marketing is becoming an increasingly important trend—especially with the rise of personalized messaging. Each generation has unique wants and needs in their respective seasons of their lives and Baby Boomers are no different. If you’ve ever wondered about print response by generation, read on to learn more about how Boomers respond to direct mail.
The Scoop on Baby Boomers
Baby Boomers were born between 1946 and 1964—meaning that most are retired or will retire soon. A quite successful generation, Baby Boomers hold about 70% of the nation’s disposable income. There’s also roughly 74 million people (about twice the population of California) who belong to the Boomer demographic. The economic power and size of the Boomer generation deserves special attention from marketers. Due to their age, Boomers have lived through momentous and compelling events including rapid advancements in technology and space exploration, lengthy wars, and several cycles of economic downturns. Boomers are an intriguing generation who appreciate the past but are fully capable of embracing the future.
Print Response with Boomers
Of all generations, Boomers are the most comfortable with direct mail. Many Baby Boomers continue to receive their bills, bank statements, and other important correspondence through their mailbox as opposed to electronic statements and e-mail. Since Boomers regularly visit their mailboxes, it makes sense to interact with them through physical mail pieces.
Boomers perceive direct mail as a comfortable means of exploring their options for goods and services. Of all age groups, this generation is most likely to respond to promotional offers like BOGO deals and coupons. They’re also more likely to trust direct mail over all other forms of advertising.
Personalized Direct Mail for Baby Boomers
Personalizing direct mail to Boomers is one of the most effective ways to enjoy high response rates. Understanding the wants and needs of this demographic along with personalized messaging can take your campaigns to the next level. Effective personalization involves collecting and analyzing data with sophisticated software. Data from consumer indexes, demographic information, and purchase history can go a long way in developing messaging seen as intuitive and helpful by Boomers.
A significant portion of this demographic use digital platforms like e-mail and social media (particularly Facebook). They also do shop online quite frequently—which makes it easier than marketers might think to harness the power of data for more compelling messaging within this generation.
Beyond personalized direct mail, marketers should deploy cross media marketing techniques for maximum effectiveness. The pros at Pel Hughes recommend using PURLs (personalized URLs) and QR codes on direct mail along with e-mail marketing for a seamless consumer experience.
Pro Tips for Effective Messaging to Boomers
Your messaging should be welcoming and inclusive to Boomers that are aligned with their social preferences and tastes. Following are a few helpful tips for putting your best foot forward with this age group.
- Avoid slang. While Millennials and Gen Z prefer more informal and curt language, Boomers tend to view the use of slang in commerce as unprofessional and unappealing. When writing copy for Boomers, use impeccable grammar and a more formal tone.
- Sell your product or service by illustrating the helpful benefits of your offering. A great method for explaining why your product/service is superior to the competition is to use short, bulleted lists.
- Avoid using identifiers like “elderly”. While Boomers are a mature age group, they tend to be young at heart and enjoy long life expectancies thanks to advancements in public health and medical technology.
- Understand that details matter to this generation. While Millennials and Gen Z enjoy very short content, Boomers tend to appreciate nuance and detail more.
The pros at Pel Hughes can help you boost your print response with personalized direct mail. We offer a suite of services including cross media marketing, direct mail retargeting, graphic design, and campaign automation to help you market to specific demographics. Give our helpful experts a call at (504) 486-8646 to launch your next campaign.
