Once upon a time, email was the undisputed heavyweight of online communication. People of every age, from all walks of life had the iconic “you’ve got mail” alert drilled into their subconscious. But for Gen Z, online communication looks very different. It happens in group chats, DMs, and short-form content feeds that move at lightning speed.
Email isn’t dead, but its role has changed. While it remains a powerful marketing channel, brands can no longer assume younger audiences engage with inboxes the same way millennials or Gen X once did.
For CPG brands using email marketing or SMS marketing, the real question isn’t whether Gen Z uses email, it’s how brands need to evolve their approach to meet them where they are. Here’s how to rethink your strategy.
Earn That Open
Gen Z gets bored quickly… like 8 seconds quickly. If your email subject line is boring, don’t bother. They aren’t opening it. The trick is to match their language, in the way Gen Z truly speaks, not in the way the internet thinks they are speaking. Brands often miss the mark by trying to reach Gen Z with cringey, inauthentic marketing lingo that the Zoomers can clock immediately.
But just because they’re more selective with their open rates, that doesn’t mean Gen Z is out on email. A study shows that about 47% still use email, whether for work or promos. Additionally, 11% admitted they don’t check their inbox unless asked to. The opportunity is there for savvy brands to connect.
Traditional marketing subject lines often sound like this:
- Don’t Miss Our Latest Promotion!
- Black Friday Sale, NOW!
Let’s talk about some brands that have successfully gotten that open email rate up and why.
- Hungryroot: “We’ve seen your future.”
- Poppi: “do you have a sec? 😏🥤 a deal this 🔥? don’t miss it”
Both of these brands speak directly to Gen Z, whether using humor or matching their texting energy with all lower-cased letters. These don’t feel like your typical email subject line, which is why they’re intriguing to Gen Z.
It’s crucial not to miss the mark with your targeted audience. Learn how they speak, not how the media thinks they speak, and you will have a successful open rate.
SMS Is Where Attention Actually Lives
If your brand is not using SMS marketing to its advantage, now is the time. Based on a Gen Z email survey, one person said, “The younger generations rely on text messaging”, as opposed to email. Gen Z and an iPhone go hand in hand. They might have emails silenced, but never their text messages. As a brand, this is where you can meet them where they are at. The most important key here is not to overdo it. Sending the occasional 1-2 sentence-long text is the sweet spot for SMS marketing. No more than two messages a month, or you might get hit with unsubscribe.
Here are some examples of SMS that work:
- Graza: “Having a 🥧 emergency?? (aka don’t know which pie to make??) We thought that might be the case. Try this one: A zippy, perfectly sweet Ginger Cranberry Pear Pie, courtesy of Stacey Mei Yang Fong (the pie queen herself)
- Poppi: “did you see our bestie Hailey Bieber sipping poppi during her Halloween GRWM video? We are quite literally still recovering from the iconicness of it all. Grab 20% off with code HAILEYB20
- Graza (again because their SMS is so creative): Some call it spooky season… we call it soup season. Throw on a turtle neck, & listen to this while you brew your stew.”
- Jeni’s Icecream: “Hey there! It’s Jeni’s. Can we text you about ice cream and other cool stuff?
These are prime examples of SMS marketing that resonate strongly with the Gen Z audience, sparking enough attention to get opened.
Gen Z doesn’t hate email or SMS marketing; they hate boring. More and more studies are reinforcing how much Gen Z prefers text over any other form of communication. In fact, “75% of Gen Z will text before answering a phone call.” They ignore brands that sound forced. And they pay attention to communication that feels natural, immediate, and worth their time. Meet them where they are. Speak like a human. That’s how you win their attention and keep it.
