Email Marketing from a Gen Z Perspective (No it's not dead)

bySimmbaKhan

83 followers

2 days ago

So, let's clear one thing up.

I'm Gen Z. I literally grew up with social media, push notifications, TikTok sounds stuck in my head at 3 am and yes, a slightly unhealthy relationship with my phone. You would think email marketing would feel ancient to me, like dial-up internet or using Bluetooth to send songs.

But here's the twist:

Email marketing still works on me and on a lot of people my age. Just not in the way most brands are doing it. I am not impressed by the typical "Hey 123 we miss you!". I'm impressed by:

• Real value.
• Real voice
• Real vibes

So, here's email marketing from my perspective, as someone who lives online, scrolls too much, and still opens emails that feel like they were actually written for me.

Don't talk at me, talk to me

If your email reads like a corporate memo, I'm out.

When I open an email, I want to feel like a human wrote it. Not a committee, not a robot.

The kinds of emails I actually read:

• Sounds conversational.
• Use normal language.
• Don't sugarcoat or oversell.

If you are writing to me, write like this:

“Here’s what I learned this week…”
“So I tried something new and it flopped. Let me save you from making the same mistake.”
“Real talk: you don’t need another course. You probably just need to actually implement the thing you already bought.”

These examples of tone of voice makes me want to learn more about what you offer to the table. Those emails that are super fake? It will end up in my rubbish.

Show me why I should care in 3 seconds

Gen Z attention span isn't short because we're dumb.

It's short because we are constantly flitering.

I scroll through:

• 100+ TikToks
• Reels
• Insta stories
• WhatsApp messages
• Notifications everywhere.

So when I open an email, my brain immediately asks:

"Why should I care?"

If the first line doesn't answer that, I'm not scrolling.

What works on me:

• A strong subject line.
• A clear first sentence that says what I will gain.
• No 10-line intros about the weather before getting to the point.

For example:

• Subject: How I doubled my clicks without posting more
• First line: I stopped blaming “the algorithm” and fixed this one mistake in my emails. Let me show you.

It is simple, relevant and makes me want to read.

Be Honest- Brutally honest

Gen Z can smell fake a mile away.

We are used to:

• Influencers doing #ad pretending it is not an ad.
• People selling six figure secrets they don't even use.
• Coaches preaching balance while clearly burning out.

What makes me trust you:

• You tell me what your products won't do.
• You admit your mistakes.
• You share what didn't work as much as what did.

For example: You promote your affiliate link and send it to me. But then you disregard it saying XYZ is not worth it. You personally list your pros and cons and who is the target audience exactly.

This intrigues me to find out more.

Aesthetics are cool, but here is another aesthetic

I don't need an overdesigned email with 20 images, a banner, a footer, a logo and three different fonts.

Honestly? That feels like a flyer from a shopping mall. I would rather see the kind of aesthetics that are clean with plain text, simple formatting with breaks in the text. I would recommend to brands to use short paragraphs, bullet points and one CTA.