Forget billboards, TV commercials or ad spreads in the newspaper — today’s teens and twenty-somethings have their eyes glued to their smartphones, and marketing teams across the country are quickly adjusting to the fact. 

Not quite convinced that your financial institution should invest in smartphone marketing? Here are four facts you should know about the youngest generation’s love affair with their mobile devices: 

More than any other generation, Gen Z is constantly connected. Gen Z spends an average of 4 hours and 15 minutes on their mobile devices every day. For comparison, the average American spent 2 hours and 48 minutes a day watching television, 1 hour and 11 minutes eating and drinking, and 10 minutes reading in 2019. 

Gen Zers are digital natives. The reason Gen Z is more connected than any other generation? They’ve been immersed in the digital world since childhood. Most Gen Zers had a smartphone as their first phone — and 84 percent of teens in 2018 expected to buy an Apple iPhone as their next mobile device.  

Smartphones = Gen Zers’ favorite screen. Most Gen Zers prefer their smartphone over a laptop or desktop computer — 78 percent of Gen Zers named their phone as their most important device to get online. 

Social networks, games and music take up the most screen time. So, how exactly do they spend those four hours and fifteen minutes each day? Both teens and adults today are equally likely to have their favorite social network apps downloaded to their phone, according to a report from eMarketer. But while adults are more likely to download practical apps for navigation or the weather, the second most popular categories of apps for teens were games and music streaming. So there’s a good chance Gen Zers are spending those hours playing music, scrolling Instagram or playing games (Zogo might be able to help put those hours to use with our gamified app that teaches financial literacy). 

It’s clear that when it comes to reaching today’s teens and twenty-somethings, smartphone marketing is the way to go. And yet, so many banks and credit unions are missing out on the opportunity. 

How is your financial institution working to reach the next generation of members?