When it comes to marketing to the new generation of moms, remember: they’re still millennials.
That’s one of the key takeaways from the “2015 State of Modern Motherhood Report” by online resource BabyCenter. The study found the amount of time Canadian millennial moms (18-32) spend online on their smartphones has doubled from 1.1 hours per day in 2012 to 2.2 hours per day in 2014. Meanwhile, time spent online on laptops/PCs fell from three hours per day in 2012 to 1.3 hours per day in 2014.
“[The millennial mother] has grown up online, has had a smartphone or certainly a cell phone almost her entire adult life and she is a very heavy user of social media,” said Julie Michaelson, head of global sales at BabyCenter in New York.
“Just because a millennial becomes a mom doesn’t mean that she’s any less of a millennial. She’s still bringing all of those habits with her into motherhood.”
Today, almost every millennial mom owns a smartphone: a whopping 94% compared to 59% in 2012. The percentage of those who own a tablet increased from 20% in 2012 to 53% in 2014, and 51% of Canadian millennial moms own both a smartphone and a tablet.
Millennial moms also rely on their phones when they’re looking to make a purchase. Seven in 10 use their smartphone while shopping in-store, allowing them to search for recipes (48%), text photos or videos to friends and family to ask their opinions (48%) and read product reviews (46%).
Millennials’ brand selections also change once they have kids. In the grocery category, 71% percent of millennial moms indicated they have changed their purchasing criteria. A shift in preference is also seen in cleansers/detergents (58%) and personal care/cosmetics (52%).
“Of course, they are going to have to buy a whole host of new brands that they’ve never considered before like baby food, diapers and wipes,” said Michaelson. “But when we dive deeper into this, [we see] they’re starting to buy organic or natural products. In personal care products, when they become pregnant, they’re researching what they put on their body, or that of their child after their baby is born. So natural and organic is becoming more pronounced and you might even say mainstream.”
In financial services, 49% of Canadian millennial moms said they’ve changed their purchasing criteria. “We saw this across the board with moms saying they’re considering life insurance for the first time and they’re opening savings accounts for university and college as their children get older,” said Michaelson. “So they’re really considering a lot of product categories for the first time.”
The report also looked at the type of digital ad content that resonates with Canadian millennial moms. More than half (58%) said they pay attention to ads that are relevant to either their life stage or that of their child. And 50% said native advertising – if it provides high-quality, informative content–could inspire their trust in a brand.
“The biggest takeaway for marketers is just to think mobile-first when you want to reach this audience effectively because that is where they’re spending their time,” concluded Michaelson.
The report was produced in conjunction with the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) in the U.S. More than 10,000 moms were surveyed across the U.S., Brazil, Canada, China and the U.K., of which more than 6,700 were millennial moms (18-32), with the remainder being Gen X (35-44).The Canadian portion of the survey included 853 millennial moms.
