How banks and investment firms approach, market themselves, and serve the needs of Millennials and Gen Z customers is different from marketing and providing services for older generations.
Look at challenger banks like Revolut and Monzo.
Monzo set the tone from day one, engaging a millennial audience who were naturally distrustful of traditional banking after the Financial Crisis in 2008.
Monzo’s target customers were also tired of banks not fitting around their busy lifestyles (apps are more convenient than going into a branch or waiting to speak to a call centre agent), and this quickly helped to build trust.
Monzo uses Millennial and Gen Z-focused marketing, storytelling, and Tone of Voice (ToV) well, based on their origins and understanding of their customer pain points. Take a look at this messaging from their About page:
“We’re doing things differently. For too long, banking has been obtuse, complex and opaque. We want to change that and build a bank with everyone, for everyone.”
Speaking your customer’s language, engaging them in ways that build trust is a form of psychological mirroring, and it works: “Mirroring led to a 67% deal success rate, while not using it resulted in only a 12.5% success rate,” based on Stanford and Northwestern studies.
Above: Monzo, an excellent example of how a bank can engage and provide for Millennial and Gen Z markets the right way.
For banks and asset managers wanting to make greater inroads into the Millennial and Gen Z markets, there’s never been a better or more opportune time.
And this is because . . .
The great wealth transfer is underway
Millennials are born between 1981 and 1996, making most between the ages of 28-43, and Gen Z are born between 1997 and 2012, making them anywhere from 13 to 28 years old.
Both generations are of bankable age, and need access to financial services. Millennials in particular are open to and need every kind of financial product, from mortgages to retirement accounts.
At the same time, both generations have traditionally struggled financially more than their parents’ generation. The overall state of the world and global economy since 2007 onwards holds a great deal of explanatory power here, alongside wars, inflation, climate change, extreme weather, and political upheaval.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, “High-earning and high-net-worth (HNW) millennials are in fact very concerned about their long-term financial security”, according to a survey conducted by RBC Wealth Management–U.S.
This is despite the fact that: “Millennial wealth has grown significantly in recent years, jumping from $4 trillion in 2019 to $9 trillion at the end of 2021, according to data from the Federal Reserve.”
However, for both generations, the money they earn, invest, and borrow isn’t the only financial consideration on the horizon.
A great wealth transfer is underway.
In the US alone, Baby Boomers (between the ages of 60 and 80) have an average net worth of $1.2m. Even if we take HNW out of the equation, the median net worth is still $206k.
“Nearly 60 percent of households plan to leave some inheritance (a nearly 15 percent jump from 2015), including over half of households with less than $100k in investable assets (a 14 percent increase from 2015)”, according to a survey from Hearts and Wallets.
As Kyla Scanlon points out in EQT, “The heirs are ready, and they need this money. Unlike their Boomer parents…”
“Over half of Gen Zs and Millennials (54 percent and 59 percent) consider it highly critical to their financial security and ability to retire comfortably, according to Northwestern Mutual’s 2024 Planning & Progress Study. Almost 70 percent of the Zs and Millennials expect (or have received!) an inheritance.”
This trend is happening worldwide. In the UK, “It’s predicted that a staggering £5.5 trillion will flow down to younger generations by 2050.”
The challenge is, how do banks, asset managers, and financial advisors win and retain Millennial and Gen Z customers?
This is a particularly acute challenge for financial institutions and advisors who are still reliant on Baby Boomers for customers. Their children and grandchildren aren’t going to come to you by default just because of tradition.
You’ve got to work harder to win Millennial and Gen Z customers. Younger and now middle-aged customers operate in “the attention economy”, and that’s what you’ve got to do: capture their attention and keep it.
A ‘one size fits all’ approach won’t work for Millennials and Gen Z
As Kyla Scanlon, a financial content creator, educator, and bestselling author, said in EQT, “A ‘one size fits all’ approach won’t work anymore.”
“There is a reason that younger people like the new fintech apps, and it’s because of personalization, tooling, and accessibility.”
Banks, asset managers, and advisors need to accept that: “The 60/40 portfolio is dead, and so is the generic advice that goes along with it.”
Loyalty is also in short supply amongst these increasingly important consumer groups.
As noted in Vested: “Gen Z financial services consumers are notorious bank switchers, with one survey showing 42% changing institutions within 12 months to find better products and services.”
Millennials are more loyal, perhaps because we’re all too busy to go switching our banks every 12 months. However, a better mobile experience is one of the main reasons this generation switches: “75% of Millennials would leave their current bank for a better mobile experience.”
The good news for ESG investment firms is that these generations will “use their money differently, shaping how funds flow throughout the world. They are more focused on using their money ‘for good’ and are more likely to be mindful about who they are allocating capital to.”
With all of this in mind, let’s look at tactics that will help banks, investment firms, and financial advisors gain more ground in the Millennial and Gen Z demographics.
How to win Millennial and Gen Z customers and build trust in the attention economy
Ten years ago, potential Boomer investors waited for a sales pitch before making a decision. Now? Potential Millennial and Gen Z investors have already read your content marketing articles, compared the options, checked Reddit, and asked their accountant. They don’t want to be sold to — they want to be informed before they ever speak to your team.
Content marketing: Educate and inform
A recent Gartner study found that 57–70% of the buying process is complete before a potential customer makes contact.
For banks, investment firms, and financial advisors, that means your content isn’t just awareness-stage stuff — it’s doing a lot of your sales funnel heavy lifting. Potential Millennial and Gen Z customers have already done their own homework before getting in contact.
This is where an experienced content studio that understands Millennial and Gen Z customers proves invaluable. They know how to write in a way that mirrors how those demographics think and research.
The goal isn’t just to educate — it’s also to build trust, reduce hesitation, and answer key questions before anyone has a Zoom, phone call, or meets in person.
Above: Central banks engaging a Millennial and Gen Z audience where they want to be entertained and informed: Media outlets and social channels where they spend time online.
Transforming and repurposing content across multiple channels
When it comes to content marketing, the possibilities are endless.
Content is transferable, fluid, can be recycled, and should be communicated across every channel you can if you want to reach and engage a Millennial and Gen Z audience.
You can also repurpose articles into social media posts, email newsletters, animated videos, podcasts, Instagram reels, YouTube videos, and even TikTok posts.
Yes, if you want to engage a Millennial and Gen Z audience, then TikTok and “Finfluencers” (aka, financial influencers) and guest articles in media that’s popular with this demographic are going to help you.
If you aren’t sure, central banks are currently facing this same challenge and are taking a creative approach to solving it.
Following recent inflationary issues across the US and Europe, central banks — the Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank, and the Bank of England — are turning to social media and quizzes with prizes in youth-focused media to regain public trust.
In particular, these marketing activities are aimed at Gen Z and Millennial audiences. According to Bloomberg and the Central Bank Directory, over 100 central banks are now active on Instagram, and others are embracing YouTube, and TikTok.
A fast, functional, high-performing, mobile-centric website
For Millennials and Gen Zs, a fast, functional, high-performing, mobile-centric website is non-negotiable.
If your website can’t meet these basic requirements, then you’re effectively non-existent for these customers. And also for Google. Loading speeds impact search results: slow websites get penalised.
Since July 2024, Google has stopped ranking websites that weren’t as responsive on a mobile device as on a desktop. Speed, responsiveness, and accessibility are all table stakes.
Kurtosys, a software solution for asset managers, reviews the top 25 investment and asset management websites against several criteria:
- Load speeds;
- Site design and user experience (UX);
- Useful information on the home page;
- Location-specific filtering;
- Role-specific filtering;
- Ease of finding Fund Factsheets (FS);
- Use of cookies, T&Cs, and financial disclaimers.
Data from Kurtosys’ assessment review shows that out of the top 25, Carmignac performs highly. The report clarifies: “Carmignac’s site has many strong features, including the thoughtful approach of asking the user’s role before directing them to the homepage, which helps to personalize their journey.”
“To add to this, while the website navigation is efficient, reducing the number of clicks required to find the desired fund factsheet information could further enhance the user experience.”
Carmignac ⏤ a boutique European firm with €33 billion AuM ⏤ also has a fast website, scoring 96/100 for speed, and is accessible for people with disabilities and visual impairments, scoring 100/100.
Speed and accessibility are core to excellent modern web design. This is what you need to deliver to win and retain the attention and custom of Millennials and Gen Zs.
An example of a leading investor website: Carmignac.
The good news is that you can see how your website performs in search engines with an SEO audit.
An SEO audit will show you:
- What technical fixes need implementing across your website, like fixing broken links, improving loading speeds, or making your website mobile-friendly.
- Where your website currently ranks for any relevant keywords.
- Keywords your website and competitors rank for: A foundational part of any marketing strategy.
- If you’ve got any backlinks going to your website.
- How “authoritative” your website is, ranked using domain authority (DA), and page authority (PA). These are ranked out of 100, so the higher the better.
- How accessible your website is for people with disabilities and visual impairments.
Armed with this information, you or a specialist alternative asset marketing studio can create and implement a marketing strategy that aligns with your short, mid- and long-term growth goals.
Key takeaways: Wealth transfer, trust, and communication
We are on the edge of a multi-trillion, multi-generation transfer of wealth.
It’s financially crucial to Millennials and Gen Zs who’ve suffered more financial instability than previous generations.
For banks, investment companies, and financial advisors who’ve been reliant on older generations for customers, now is the time to engage your new customers: Millennials and Gen Zs who will inherit family wealth.
Doing this won’t be easy. You aren’t marketing to their parents anymore.
You need to take a creative approach.
We can help you with that.
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