459412095-_alumni_statistics.jpgUpdated April 2, 2019

Here's the latest update to our alumni/advancement statistics page. Use these stats for presentations, articles, and in making programming decisions. 

This ultimate collection of alumni stats can help you tell the best story about your alumni engagement, giving and membership.

Here is our collection of relevant statistics from around the web that I have used to help my clients engage more constituents and make more informed decisions. Included are key findings from the 2020 VAESE Alumni Relations Benchmarking Study.  (The new VAESE study will be released soon. To be notified subscribe here)

The data is arranged in these categories

  • Alumni Benefits & Engagement
  • Dues-Paying Membership Acquisition & Retention
  • Email marketing
  • Organizational / Staffing Metrics
  • Institutional Giving
  • Tech: Mobile/Digital/Social Media 
  • Demographics/ Alumni Cohorts / Behavior

These stats come from a variety of U.S. sources, some stats may be contradictory.  I'll leave it up to you decide which one to believe. I've included a source link for each stat, (though some are gateway pages that require you to register or submit your information to receive the actual research).

If you have a stat that should to be included, or you want us to include stats from your own research, contact me at gtoyn(at) mail.weber.edu.

 


Alumni Benefits & Engagement

  • 93% of alumni organizations choose not to offer their alumni any benefits, or they see little or no engagement from the few benefits they do offer. (VAESE)
  • 90% of alumni professionals admit they do a “a poor job” or “need to do more” to attract and engage their young alumni. (VAESE)
  • 88% of consumers max out at 5 loyalty programs. (Your alumni organization is one among many programs alumni participate with, so remember you’re in competition with all other commercial loyalty and membership programs. (Codebroker)
  • 87% of those who go online to join, give or make a purchase would abandon their shopping carts during checkout if the process was too difficult. Of those, 55% of will not only abandon their carts, but also never return to the site. (Splitit)
  • 82% of alumni professionals estimate their alumni would rate their benefits and services as having little or no value. (VAESE )
  • 81% of alumni organizations do use a Net Promoter Score to measure the satisfaction of their alumni. (VAESE )
  • 78% of alumni prefer to access their alumni benefits online, compared with 22% who want their benefits sent by mail (Virtual Incentives)
  • 75% of alumni would engage more with their alumni organization if their alumni benefits were mobile-friendly (Codebroker)
  • 72% of alumni organizations use response rates (opens/clicks/visits, etc) as the primary tool to measure the effectiveness of their communication and engagement efforts, down 12% from 2017 (VAESE )
  • 70% of organizations say their top goal is to increase alumni engagement, yet 27% of those admit to having no dedicated strategy to boost engagement. (the 27% is self-reported, so  the real number is likely to be significantly higher) (VAESE )
  • 68% of organizations have seen alumni opt-out rates (alumni requesting not to be contacted) increase or not improve, a 13% increase since 2017. Only 5% of institutions report seeing a decrease in opt-out rates. (VAESE ) See this article about 3 Bad Habits in Alumni Relations)
  • 52% of alumni organizations have never conducted a survey of their alumni. (VAESE )
  • 47% of alumni organizations invest nothing in offering benefits and services to their alumni. (VAESE )
  • 17% of alumni organizations with a programming budget under $100,000 use no form of analytics to measure the effectiveness of their alumni programs. (VAESE )
  • The number of alumni organizations now using ROI as a tool to measure the success of their alumni programs has increased 7% since 2017, going from 29% to 31% in 2020 (VAESE )
  • Just 49% of institutions conduct data analysis to measure the effectiveness of their marketing efforts.  Despite surges in computing power and data analysis applications, the percentage of organizations now using data analysis has decreased 3% since 2015. (VAESE )
  • 47% of alumni professionals believe their biggest roadblock to engaging more alumni is the lack of value their organization offers. (VAESE)
  • 17% of individual membership organizations now use paid digital marketing to acquire new members (Facebook ads, AdRoll, Google ads, etc.) Just three years ago, this method was not even mentioned as a marketing tool. (Marketing General)

Dues-Paying Membership Acquisition & Retention

  • 84% is the national average renewal rate reported by all membership-based organizations. (Marketing General)
  • Organizations spend up to 11 times more on recruiting new members/customers than retaining existing ones. (Brand Keys)
  • 83% of alumni organizations that have studied the pros and cons of implementing a dues-paying structure, have rejected it. Just 6% have approved or implemented a dues-paying model. (VAESE)
  • 83% of associations reporting increases in member renewals over the past year have a tactical engagement plan in place. (Marketing General)
  • More than 80% of associations with membership increases are significantly more likely to indicate that their organizations have a culture that supports innovation. (Marketing General)
  • 76% of associations report having a culture that supports innovation yet only 23% have a process in place to support innovation and new ideas. (Marketing General)
  • 74% of alumni organizations report to being a non-dues-paying model, and this number has dropped slightly to 73% in 2020. (VAESE )
  • 72% of donor/members discard certificates or other physical forms of recognition (like address labels and other token gifts) yet… 90% prefer experiential recognition (personal calls, letters, events, etc.) (CYGResearch)
  • 69% of associations report that word-of-mouth recommendations get their organization the most new members (Higher Logic)
  • 69% of associations cite their biggest challenge to growing their membership relates to the lack of valuethat members see in the organization. (VAESE)
  • 67% of dues-paying alumni organizations start the process of renewal three or more months prior to expiration. 27% start four months prior to expiration. (Marketing General)
  • Dues-paying organizations are 63% more likely to have alumni opt-out rates above 30%.  (VAESE)
  • 62% of associations report that email gets their organization the most new members (Higher Logic)
  • A 60% renewal rate for first-time members is the minimum renewal rate an organization must have in order to avoid a decline in overall membership year-over-year. (Marketing General)
  • 57% is the average renewal rate for all dues-paying alumni organizations (excluding first-year members). For Power 5 conference schools, their overall member renewal rate is 72% (VAESE)
  • 58% of dues-paying alumni associations report a “lack of engagement” as the primary reason members don’t renew. (VAESE)
  • 54% of alumni don't renew their membership because they can't use the benefits, or are disappointed in the value of the available benefits.  (VAESE)
  • 44% of membership organizations send a physical welcome kit, down from 83% in 2009.  (Marketing General)
  • 41% of alumni organizations do NOT use social media amplification metrics (likes/shares/reposts) to measure their alumni engagement on social media. (VAESE)
  • 39% of Millennials report they don’t join or engage an organization they like, simply because it requires the payment of a fee. (Business Insider)
  • 37% of members prefer accessing program information via a periodic text message, 28% said a mobile app, 19% prefer desktop/laptop via website, 14% smartphone via digital wallet and 3% prefer Facebook messenger (Codebroker)
  • 34% of Millennials don’t join a membership programs because the enrollment process is too long (Business Insider)
  • The average renewal rate for new alumni memberships is 34%. For Power 5 conference schools, their overall new member renewal rate is 43% (VAESE)
  • Baby Boomers make up 14% of the population, but comprise 36% of most membership organization’s constituency. Although Millennials make up the largest cohort, consisting of 30% of the overall population, they comprise just 19% of most organization’s members. (Marketing General)
  • 33% of alumni organizations in North America have at least half of their alumni living in a different state/province than the main/primary campus. (VAESE)
  • Content is 29% more effective as an engagement tool than any other category of benefit. (Content is: targeted, personally relevant communications / information sent to alumni via digital/social media or print.)This compares to other benefit categories like career focused benefits, event driven benefits, travel benefits, directories, revenue generating products or on-campus benefits. (VAESE)
  • 27% of alumni organizations do not track or don’t know their current alumni opt-out rates. This is a 34% increase from 2015. (VAESE)
  • 20% of organizations use new member surveys to help onboard or engage new members. (Marketing General)
    Only 20% of members get help from staff to make the most out of their membership (Bond Insights)
  • Just 19% of alumni report their alma mater has made them feel special and recognized (Bond Insights)
  • 17% of alumni organizations have between 10-29% of their alumni living internationally. (VAESE)
  • 17% of organizations did nothing to enhance member benefits last two years. Of those organizations who report they enhanced their benefits, the majority (60%) reported that “changing their website” was their most significant addition to their member benefits. 23%report to launching public social media. Less and 10% reported to investing in any program that added value to their member benefits. (Marketing General)
  • 17% of associations offer automatic renewals via EFT (Electronic Funds Transfer) (Marketing General)
  • 17% of individual membership organizations now use paid digital marketing to acquire new members (Facebook ads, AdRoll, Google ads, etc.) Just three years ago, this method was not even mentioned as a marketing tool. (Marketing General)
  • 16% of organizations have a volunteer or staff-member call new members to welcome them to the organization.  (Marketing General)
  • 15 is the approximate number of times an organization must contact an existing member during a year, in order to see overall member renewal rates increase year-over-year. (Marketing General)
  • Just 14% of alumni organizations rate their benefits as having a “strong influence on motivating alumni to engage/join/give.” (VAESE )
  • 13% of alumni organizations report that the benefits they offer “have the ability to motivate alumni to give, join or engage.” (VAESE )
  • Only 11% of millennials will actively engage with the membership programs they have joined. (Codebroker)
  • Associations with a higher renewal rate (of 80% or higher) are significantly more likely to raise their dues annually, but will keep the dues increases under 10%. (Marketing General)
  • 9   is the average number of years a member will pay dues before lapsing for good.  (Marketing General)

 

Email marketing

  • The typical relationship-based organization sends 4 emails per week, or 16 emails per month. (Marketing General)
  • Higher education alumni organizations report to sending 7.4 emails per month, or roughly half that of other relationship based organizations. (VAESE )
  • Small budget alumni organizations (with an alumni programming budget of less than $50,000) send 3.6 emails per month, or less than one per week. (VAESE )
  • Power 5 conference schools send 14.3 emails per month compared to 7.4 emails per month than all other alumni organizations, a 94% difference. (VAESE )
  • 35% of alumni professionals report the biggest obstacle to sending more frequent emails to their alumni is “they have other, more pressing priorities.” (VAESE )
  • Across all industries, the average open rate is 21.3% (Mailchimp) which compares to 25.8% average open rate for alumni organizations, a  21% difference. (VAESE )
  • The average click rate for alumni organizations is 12.7% (VAESE ), but for all other types of industries, the average click rate is only 2.6%, a 388% difference. (Mailchimp)
  • Nationally, the average unsubscribe rate across all industries is 0.2% (Mailchimp), but the typical higher education institution has an unsubscribe rate is 0.5%, which is 150% higher than the national average. (VAESE ).
  • 66% of marketers are working toward securing internal resources to execute personalized marketing programs.  Conversant Media
  • When asked to prioritize one capability that will be most important to marketing in the future, 33% of marketers answered: “personalization.” Adage
  • 74% of marketers say targeted personalization increases customer engagement. (eConsultancy)
  • Emails with personalized subject lines are 26% more likely to be opened.  (Campaign Monitor)
  • Personalized emails deliver 6x higher transaction rates. (Experian)
  • 94% of marketing professionals across multiple industries said personalization is “important,” “very important,” or “extremely important” for meeting their current email marketing objectives. (Conversant Media)
  • Marketers have noted a 760% increase in revenue from segmented campaigns (creating targeted lists to deliver a more targeted messages). (Campaign Monitor)
  • Some brands have recorded 8x improvement on click-through rates with a personalized video versus standard outbound email campaigns. (Marketing Land)
  • 74% of marketers have stated that targeted personalization increases their overall customer engagement rates. (eConsultancy)
  • 26% of consumers feel “happy” and “excited” to respond to a personalized message from a retailer. (Dynamic Yield Research)
  • Birthday emails tend to generate 342% higher revenue per email than standard promotional emails. (Experian)
  • A personalized call-to-action converts 202% better than default calls to action. (HubSpot)
  • Personalized email marketing is said to generate a median ROI of 122%. (Instapage)
  • Email subject lines that are personalized generate an average of 50% higher open rates. (Oberlo)
  • The share of U.S. consumers who find marketing content personalization “very” or “somewhat” appealing is 90%. (Statista)
  • Segmented, personalized and targeted emails generate 58% of all revenue.  (Instapage)
  • Only 30% of emails sent by alumni organizations are personalized/customized. (VAESE )

 

Organizational / Staffing Metrics 

  • The average number of FTEs per institution working in alumni relations has dropped 18% since 2017. (VAESE)
  • Private institutions (USA based) have seen a dramatic reduction of alumni FTEs, dropping 27% nationally since 2017. Dues-paying organizations have fared the worst, seeing a drop of 49% in their average number of professional (non-clerical/administrative) FTEs. (VAESE)
  • Since 2015, 72% of alumni organizations report the number of FTEs has decreased or remained stagnant.
  • Institutions outside the United States have seen a dramatic increase the number of FTEs dedicated to alumni relations, where on average the number of FTEs has jumped 109% since 2017. (VAESE)
  • The median alumni general budget is $220,852, meaning half of all alumni budgets are lower and half are higher. The average is $719,700, (this stats reveals the degree to which very large alumni organizations skew the overall data. (VAESE)
  • The median alumni programming budget (excluding salaries) is $74,982, while the average is $250,093. (VAESE)
  • The average general budget for very large, Power 5 conference schools is $2.19 million. For NCAA Division 1 schools not affiliated with a Power 5 Conference, the average general budget is $775,406, a 183% difference. (VAESE)
  • The number of alumni organizations now fully dependent on their institution is 55%, up from 49% in 2017. Autonomous/independent institutions have dropped 4% since 2017.  (VAESE)
  • The average number of known living alumni per institution has increased 16% since 2017. However, the number of addressable alumni per institution has not kept pace, showing an increase of just 4.5%, and the average number of alumni with a deliverable email on file has increased just 2.2%.
  • Since 2015, alumni organizations have experienced a 15% increase in the number of alumni who have asked to be put on the “do-not-call” or “do-not-contact” list (referred to as “opting out” of contact with their alma mater, or otherwise known as the “churn rate.”)(VAESE)
  • The average number of gift solicitations sent to first-year graduates has increased 3.7 to 3.9 solicitations per institution since 2017. (VAESE)
  • The number of schools that send five or more gift solicitations to new graduates during their first year is up 55% from 2015. (VAESE)
  • The number of institutions with at least a ten percent opt-out rate has increased 79% since 2015. (VAESE)
  • 74% of alumni organizations have one FTE or less dedicated to administrative or clerical functions. (VAESE)
  • 67% of nonprofit CEOs report not planning on being in their position in five years, yet 77% of organizations report they have no leadership transition plan. (source)
  • 65% of alumni professionals’ report that being under-staffed is either “very” or “somewhat concerning.” (VAESE)
  • 60% of senior alumni relations executives report to a Vice President/Vice Chancellor -- 12%of senior alumni relations executives report directly to the President/Chancellor. (VAESE)
  • 56% of alumni offices have six or fewer full-time employees. (VAESE)
  • 3 is the average age of the Executive Director/Senior Alumni Executive; the average age of youngest full-time professional staff member is 28.3 years, an average gap of 23.9 years. (VAESE) (See our article about The Digital Generation Gap in Alumni Relations, and see why this stat matters)
  • 50% of organizations either don’t not have a strategic plan, or if they claim there is one, they admit it is not in writing. (VAESE)
  • 46% of alumni organizations have at least ten percent of their alumni who have opted-out of contact with their alma mater. (VAESE)
  • 46% of alumni organizations choose not to offer their alumni any benefits, but instead appeal to their alumni’s philanthropic generosity and/or loyalty as their primary method of getting their alumni to engage, join or give. (VAESE)
  • 46% of participating institutions report to soliciting first year graduates ten or more times during that first year of graduation, 15% of these institutions send twenty or more solicitations to new grads during the first year. (VAESE)
  • 36% of alumni organizations report their relationship with athletics is “Good” (the relationship struggles at times) or “Poor” (doesn’t have a good relationship).  8% report their relation is “Superb” (Work very well together and have no conflicts). (VAESE) 33% of alumni organizations in North America have at least half of their alumni living in a different state/province than the main/primary campus. (VAESE)
  • 24% of alumni organizations don’t offer their alumni any type of career services benefit. (VAESE)
  • 5% of alumni organizations don’t have an alumni website. (VAESE)

 

Institutional Giving  

  • 95% percent of alumni donors say they participated in student activities. (Corporate Insight)
  • 90% of higher education institutions report one number to CASE/CAE and another (higher) number to USN&WR, even though both numbers are intended to be identical. (Giving Institute)
  • 89% of wealthy individuals expect organizations to demonstrate sound business and operational practices. (Bank of America)
  • 84% of wealthy individuals have given to an organization in which they have volunteered, and wealthy donors who volunteered gave 56% more than donors who did not volunteer. (Cafe America)
  • 81% of fund-raising professionals in higher education are involved in or about to start a capital campaign. (Inside Higher Ed.)
  • In 2019, at least 49 institutions of higher education are engaged in a billion-dollar fundraising campaign. (Inside Higher Ed.)
  • Giving to capital campaigns and or endowments were not popular among those high net worth individuals with 77% of these individuals choosing not to contribute to such appeals. (Bank of America)
  • 74% of donors/members appreciate some form of personal “thank you” for their gift or membership. (source)
  • 73% of millennials made a donation to a nonprofit, but nationally the Millennial alumni participation rate was 8.3% (Evertrue 2014)
  • 67% of wealthy donors identify their biggest challenge is finding a good cause to support.  (Bank of America)
  • 64% of donors/members complain about how often they are solicited. Ten years ago, only 41% complained about too frequent solicitations. (Burk)  
  • 63% of wealthy individuals gave to basic needs organizations, 22% gave to higher education, down from 31% in 2016. (Bank of America)
  • Wealthy donors gave to an average of seven different non-profit organizations in 2017 (Bank of America)
  • Higher education giving accounts for 2% of the total amount donated to charity in 2018 (Bank of America)
  • 61% of wealthy donors appreciate a personal note of thanks (source)
  • Donor retention at public institutions has remained steady at 56% since 2014.  For private institutions, median donor retention rates have stayed around 67% since 2014. (Blackbaud)
  • 54% of wealthy donors are not sure whether their gifts are achieving the impact they desire. (Bank of America)
  • Only 42% of wealthy donors believe their giving is having the impact they intended, while 54% do not know. Admittedly, 78% of wealthy donors do not monitor or evaluate the impact of their charitable giving.  (Bank of America)
  • 71% of respondents rely on information from the organization to which they donated, indicating that improving communication strategies for donors may serve to increase donor confidence. (Bank of America)
  • 56% of alumni say they do not currently donate because they "can't afford to" donate to their alma mater (Corporate Insight)
  • 49% of donors report they feel "very close" to their alma mater, compared to just 16% of non-donors. (Corporate Insight)
  • 47% of alumni donors give to their alma mater because they feel “deep school pride.” 44% give because they want to feel more involved. (Corporate Insight)
  • 47% of alumni feel their alma mater does not need charitable contributions as much as other non-profit organizations. (CASE)
  • 46% of participating institutions report to soliciting first year graduates ten or more times during that first year of graduation, 15% of these institutions send twenty or more solicitations to new grads during the first year. (VAESE)
  • 41%  of  high net-worth individuals stopped giving to an organization, citing “too frequent solicitations.”  (Bank of America)
  • 31% alumni non-donors have never been invited to an alumni event and activity. (Corporate Insight)
  • 28% of alumni non-donors say they don’t give because there are more worthy causes elsewhere. (Corporate Insight)
  • Life Members are 19.8 times more likely than nonmembers to donate $10,000 or more. (11.9% vs. 0.6%) (Louisville)
  • Regular dues-paying members are 11.5 times more likely to donate $10,000 or more to an institution, as compared to non-members. (6.9% vs. 0.6%) (Louisville)
  • 13% of alumni donors believe their college or university offers zero services for them. (Corporate Insight)
  • Alumni participation across all types of institutions has remained at about 8.5% since 2016, but this rate has declined significantly over the last 20 years. (CAE)
  • however… 
  • The median alumni participation rate for public institutions has hovered around 5% since 2014.  For private institutions, the rate has dropped from 20% in 2014, to roughly 17% 2016. (Blackbaud) For obvious reasons, the alumni participation rate remains one of the least publicized data sets among higher education fundraising advocates.
  • The average rate at which lapsed donors reactivate has declined -3% since 2014 for private schools.  Public institutions struggle more, seeing -4.8% donors choosing to give again. (Blackbaud)
  • New donor acquisition is down since 2016 roughly 5.2%. Private institutions have dropped the most, at -8.5%, while public schools saw minor uptick at 0.7%. (Blackbaud)
  • Total donor counts have declined an average -.5% since 2014. The trajectory for total donors continues downward. (Blackbaud)
  • Receiving tax benefits is generally not a prime motivation for giving as just 17% of wealthy donors said they were motivated to give by tax benefits. (Bank of America)

 

Tech: Mobile/Digital/Social Media 

  • 99% of Americans between the ages of 18-29 own a mobile phone; 98% of Americans between the ages of 30-49 own a smartphone; 94% of Americans between the ages of 50-64 own a smartphone (Up from 74% two years ago. 85% of Americans 65+ use a smartphone (PEW)
  • 98% of households with $75,000 or more income use a smartphone (PEW)
  • 98% of GenZ own a smartphone (WashExam)
  • 98% of alumni organizations report they use Facebook to communicate with alumni. (VAESE) and still 68% of all adults say they log in daily (Recode)
  • 97% of college graduates own a smartphone (PEW)
  • 93% of 18-29 year-old smartphone owners use their phone at least once to avoid being bored, and 47% report using their phone to avoid interacting with people around them. (PEW)
  • 90% of consumers expect organizations to deliver compelling content, but 58% rate the content they receive as irrelevant and meaningless.  (Havas)
  • 90% of online givers, joiners or shoppers over 55 would not follow through with a transaction after a lengthy checkout process. 7% will never return to the site (Splitit)
  • 91% of smartphone owners use their device at work. (PEW)
  • 88% of adults use their smartphone to screen emails. (VAESE)
  • 83% of alumni organization have a presence on LinkedIn (VAESE)
  • 23% of alumni organization have a mobile app, up from 12% in 2017, a 92% increase. (VAESE)
  • 78% of 18-24 year-olds use Snapchat, compared to 80% of 18- to 24-year-olds who use Facebook.  Snapchat usage will soon surpass Facebook for this cohort. Roughly 35% of U.S. adults now use Instagram. 73% of all U.S. adults use YouTube, including 94%of all 18- to 24-year-olds (Recode)
  • 78% of alumni organizations report their Networking Events are either “Very” or “Somewhat” popular career services benefit.  65% report their LinkedIn page is second most popular career benefit.  Podcasts (27%) and Test preparation (40%) are least popular. (VAESE)
  • 76% of organizations never update or post to their Instagram account. (Marketing General)
  • 74% of Power 5 Division 1 (NCAA) alumni organizations send a digital or e-magazine to their alumni. This compares to 49% of all other alumni organizations. (VAESE)
  • 75% of alumni organizations believe they need to update the technology solutions offered to engage alumni. (VAESE)
  • 73% of all U.S. adults use YouTube, including 94% of all 18- to 24-year-olds. (Recode)
  • 76% of Facebook users are female (out of 100% of all females), and 66% of males (out of 100% of all males) (Zephoria)
  • The average Facebook visit is 20 minutes  (Zephoria)
  • 47% non-donor alumni say they’ve never received any communication via social media from their college or university. (Corporate Insight)
  • 44% of alumni non-donors say they’ve never received information about current programs from their alma mater. (Corporate Insight)
  • 43% of adults report using their smartphone to find information about a job. (PEW)
  • 42% of marketers report that Facebook is critical or important to their organization. (Zephoria)
  • 41% of the Power 5 Division 1 (NCAA) alumni organizations have a dedicated mobile app to communicate with their alumni. This compares to 8.2% of all other alumni organizations. (VAESE)
  • 35% of organizations update their Facebook page once per day. 33% report once per week. (Marketing General)
  • 20% of senior alumni executives report they are not tech savvy and/or are not interested in using technology to engage alumni. (VAESE)

Demographics/ Alumni Cohorts / Behavior

  • Millennials are 247% more likely to be influenced by blogs and social networking sites than the general population. (Access)
  • 95% of Millennials want to be actively courted by any organization wanting their devotion. They also say that coupons and discounts have the most influence on them. (Accenture)
  • 87% of alumni organizations report they “do a poor job,” or “need to do more” to attract and engage young alumni. (VAESE)
  • 80% of Millennials want to associate with organizations that are innovative, and 67% prefer to associate with organizations that engage in a worthwhile cause. (LIMCollege)
  • 79%of Gen Zers experience symptoms of emotional distress when deprived of their personal electronic devices. 
  • 73% of millennials made a donation to a nonprofit, but nationally the Millennial alumni participation rate was 8.3% (Evertrue 2014)
  • 73% of Millennials will share content if it makes them laugh. (Newscred)
  • 66% of Millennials want a unique experiences for being a member of a member-based organization, such as VIP treatment, for example. (Deloitte)
  • 64% of Millennials will respond to content that is “thought provoking or intelligent.” 30% will refuse to read any content that doesn’t entertain or educate them. (Newscred)
  • 63% of Millennials respond positively when the content they receive is tailored to their cultural interests, and 54% respond positively when the content they receive is tailored to their age. (Newscred)
  • 62% of millennials are influenced by relevant content marketing they receive from organizations they like, but they believe only 32% of that communication is helpful, and 45% is not compelling enough to share. (Newscred)
  • 62% of millennials say that if an organization engages with them on social networks, they are more likely to be loyal. (EliteDaily)
  • 56% of Millennials have ditched a company in the past year because of poor customer service. (Aspect)
  • A 50% consumer adoption rate of radio took about 30 years.  Mobile phones took only 15 years to reach that same level of adoption, and social media took less than four years.  In the past, businesses have had many years to develop their marketing strategies. But with the rapid adoption of social media, most organizations have already failed at integrating social media into their engagement strategy, and need to make significant efforts to catch up. (Aspect)
  • Millennials are 44% more likely to permanently disengage with organizations if they receive high volumes of mass, generic emails (otherwise known as SPAM). (Monetate)
  • 1 in 3 millennials will boycott or support businesses based on a cause they believe in. (PND)
  • 55% of Millennials say that their customer service expectations have increased over the last three years, more than half have stopped doing business with at least one company because of poor customer service in the past year (Aspect)
  • Customers demand good customer service, as 76% of consumers view customer service as a “true test” of how much an organization values them. (Aspect)
  • 87% of businesses are primarily using loyalty data to optimize the member experience, 60% for measurement and forecasting, and 48% for marketing (LoyaltyOne)
  • 75% of consumers said they were likely to make another purchase after receiving an incentive (Wirecard)
  • 77% of companies could disappear and no one would care. (Havas)
  • Among those between ages 23-38 (Young alumni) if their expectations aren’t met, they will be quick to drop their affiliation with a company or organization. (Brightpearl)
  • Millennials (age 18-34) account for one-third of the US workforce with 53.5 million people, making up the largest cohort group, surpassing Gen Xers. (PEW)
  • Millennials are 262% more likely to be influenced by mobile apps and advertising than the general population. (Access)

 


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