10 Things to Consider When Designing a Millennial-Friendly Website

A user's age determines how your website is perceived and sets expectations. A well-designed website must be appealing to the new generations whom it is targeting, and if millennials are part of your target market, your law firm website should definitely appeal to them.

Approximate Read Time: 7 Minutes

Today’s young adults, people who were born between 1981 and 1996, also known as the Millennial generation, have a lot of things in common, such as beliefs, attitudes, values, and behaviors, especially toward digital interfaces. According to recent statistics, millennials are the largest generation in the U.S., with an estimated purchasing power of over $1.5 trillion per year. Their expectations are different from those of previous generations, given the fact that they grew up with computers and the internet, own a smartphone, and are tech-savvy. Thus, business owners need to dig into more trendy digital strategies and take millennial behavior very seriously. One of the most important aspects to take into account when targeting millennials is their consumer habits, which are defined by, but not limited to, several of the following characteristics:

• They love brands and write reviews for products and services.
• They are well-connected online.
• They use social media to share things that they like or to which they feel attracted.
• They have a strong sense of community involvement.
• They are enterprising.
• They are authentic and transparent.

Do not take millennials for granted. Contrary to popular belief, they are much more conscious about the world and our environment than ever before. They are smart, starving for success, and guess what? They are the best-educated group of young adults in U.S. history! They are keen to create their own companies, start new brands, and change the world. If you are willing to charm this powerful demographic, you would need to take into account several characteristics to successfully market your services to them. Let’s take a closer look:

1. Millennials value social responsibility highly.

This generation is passionate about social objectives and supports them. Raising awareness and money for causes is essential to them, and not meeting those expectations can be a significant turnoff. Your law firm website needs to build an authentic corporate social responsibility brand to attract millennials. Add a page on your website as a cause marketing element, and make sure that it is visible and easy to locate to gain the millennial customer.

It is well-known that the majority of millennials will stay away from companies that do not meet their expectations and will gravitate to those that stand out for community involvement. Socially responsible companies and businesses care about things such as charity campaigns, volunteerism, scholarships tailored to specific population, and campaigns to improve our environment, among others. Make sure your website embraces at least one of these.

2. Millennials prefer visual content over written content.

The fact is that video is the new content king for new generations. Visual content is considered as being more trustworthy and has taken over millennials. They not only view it but also tend to share it widely if it meets their expectations. Statistics show that most people remember more from high-quality and appealing visual elements, such as images and videos, than from written content. Marketing to these new generations does not have to be scary. Keep in mind that millennials are among the first digitally native generations, and the elements above offer the best way to captivate them.

Work with your content writing team to repurpose your content into both text and video in a way that is educational, engaging, and shareable. Adding videos to your website can help with conversion rates, and it would be best if you produce high-quality video segments ranging from one to two minutes at the most.

3. Millennials do not read; they scan content.

Millennials do read, but they read differently. Most website visitors don’t read word for word, a well-known behavior in the online world, but instead scan for important information. Millennials are familiar with technology trends and mobile apps, which might pose a challenge when trying to build up a millennial-friendly website. The look and feel of your law firm website should be pretty much the same as that of an app and must deliver a nice and friendly user experience with a clear call to action (CTA) and easy navigation. If you are not meeting these fundamental aspects, they will leave your site. It is all about making an emotional connection with the millennial audience. Make the most relevant information on your website prominent, easy to locate, and provide them with a modern up-to-date design to grab their attention.

4. Millennials consume content on mobile mainly.

First and foremost, if you are marketing to millennials, you have to be ready for mobile users. Making a long story short, your website, emails, landing pages, design, responsiveness, and all other digital content must be mobile-friendly. Why? Recent statistics show that more than half of users will not return to a mobile site that is hard to access or that does not serve up the same information as a desktop site. Thus, they would go to a competitor’s site instead. Make sure that millennials can interact with you on social media through your website, but keep in mind that they expect quick replies to their communication.

Take advantage of mobiles and make it easy for them to reach out to you by making the CTA simple and obvious. Once you connect with them, make sure to integrate online and offline experiences. You need a website with a responsive design that faultlessly fits into any mobile device, including desktops.

5. Millennials are obsessed with instant gratification.

It is all about making things fast, easy, and frustration-free from a user’s standpoint. According to Google, half of mobile users abandon sites that take over three seconds to load. Millennials want to be heard, expect a fast response, and will take action after having a bad online customer experience. This online behavior constitutes a significant shift in how law firms interact with prospective clients.

AMPing both your law firm’s mobile site and blog brings benefits in terms of mobile optimization and user experience. AMP adoption is a core aspect that will provide people with fast-loading web pages; thus, your content will get easily found through a wide variety of devices.

Watch this clip to learn more about Accelerated Mobile Pages.

6. Millennials prefer using a text-based communication method when contacting a business or brand.

Millennials long for access to customer service, but on their own terms. Evidence shows that they tend to ignore traditional customer service because they are looking to have a more personalized experience in terms of convenience, speed, and flexibility. Almost half of the millennials surveyed want to be able to text businesses on their existing toll-free customer support numbers, use live chat, or be offered new methods of contact, such as a WhatsApp button. To effectively communicate with millennial prospects, include a visible and easy to read FAQ section on the homepage as well as a chat service. Do not miss the mark; implement this on your law firm website if you haven’t done so already.

7. Millennials rely on consumer reviews a lot.

If more than half of millennials use their phones to read reviews, why not focus on generating more social validation and online reputation for your law firm? For millennials, recommendations, experiences, and online reviews are far more relevant nowadays. As highly networked consumers, millennials consistently look for information and third-party feedback on products and services before making a decision. Based on recent research, half of millennials claim that online reviews were the most influential factor to which they turn when researching through search engines and customer review sites.

Here, we find an excellent opportunity to leverage all these channels to your benefit when it comes to millennial audiences. To build up a consistent reputation, protect your referrals online by claiming your listings in directories, respond to reviews and online mentions. Furthermore, increase conversion rates and gain more engagement by devoting a page on your website to reviews. Finally, you must handle negative reviews appropriately too. The golden rule is: always respond to reviews.

8. Millennials are concerned about privacy and security.

A very high percentage of millennials state that no one should have access to their data or online behavior. You need to build trust in your website, but how would people be able to find out whether a site is secure or not? As tech-savvy individuals, millennials look at the URL and make sure that it begins with “https.” They also verify the domain and make sure that the website incorporates secure badges before contacting or giving sensitive or private information. Finally, they look for signs to help them know if a company is real or not, such as a physical address, phone number, and privacy statements.

9. Millennials gravitate toward minimalistic branding.

As far as web design goes, you need to change your mindset. The fact is that your website’s design is a key factor that you must consider because it determines the credibility of your law firm. It is best to have a clean and modern site, or people will leave. If your website does not look professional, if it is complex, or if it looks outdated, it will not impress the visitor at first sight at all. Minimalistic sites provide significant benefits and come with considerable advantages from both SEO and UX design standpoints. These types of sites are easy to use, impress the visitor, create trust, and load at very fast rates (especially for those using mobile devices), and the information is easy to read for millennials.

10. Last but not least, Millennials are focused on saving.

While most of the older millennials are now married and settling down, younger ones are redefining their lifestyle. To reach their financial goals, all of them need to save money. Take advantage of this opportunity and make sure that your law firm website offers free consultations or promotions for specific types of cases that you are willing to attract.

SUMMARY

It is clear that to market to millennials, it is important that you see their world through mobiles and from their digital perspective. These people were brought up with smartphones and interact with them more than anything, and they rely on things that are shared online. To succeed, be sure to walk like them and talk like them so that you are able to establish a relationship with a sense of trust. If you want to attract them, keep on top of things that are important to them to best deliver the message from a consumer viewpoint. Make your content and communication simple, valuable, informative, unique, and genuine. Show them that they can trust you, show them that you will help them out, and make sure to provide proof of these things through good online reviews.

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