Effective Marketing: Making Financial Services Valuable to Millennials and Gen Z
Target audience alignment is a key consideration for the most successful marketing teams. By ensuring segmentation and messaging are in line with the expectations of specific consumer bases, brands, and financial services firms in particular, can gain additional market share.
In the shifting financial consumer landscape, one notable change has been the rise in attention paid to the Millennial and Generation Z (Gen Z) consumers. Often overlooked as younger generations less likely to catch the eye of financial institutions, these demographics are actually prime for attention and specially geared messaging and financial products.
Millennials encompass those individuals who became adults roughly at the turn of the century, or millennium. According to Pew Research, individuals born between 1981 and 1996 are considered Millennials, placing them now between the ages of 28-43 years old, a demographic in prime need for financial services offerings. Gen Z follows right behind, having been born between 1997 and 2012, and positioning them as a segment fast approaching, if not already arriving at, bankable consumers status.
All of this adds up to making marketing to Millennials for financial services, and their Gen Z counterparts, a vital part of any marketing strategy. The challenge lies in demonstrating value in financial marketing to Gen Z and Millennial consumers while their perspectives on money management and banking institutions take a unique turn.
A Younger Take on Managing Finances
Financial institutions (FIs) looking to remain competitive need to account for their existing (and aging) consumer base while taking advantage of the opportunity that comes from a growing, younger target market. Grouping younger consumers together is a tempting, oversimplified approach to market segmentation, since how Gen Z and Millennials differ financially is quite nuanced. In addition, these consumers have taken different approaches to managing their finances than their predecessors, making marketing to Millennials a challenge for traditional FIs.
When it comes to having bank accounts at traditional institutions, younger consumers are taking less conventional routes than older generations. Marketing to Millennials research shows that while they are considered 70% banked, Gen Z comes in at just 47%, making them a significantly underbanked demographic.
Some of this can be attributed to financial obstacles including lower savings amounts and higher debt. Millennials carry 30.06% of the national student loan debt, and consumers under the age of 35 make up nearly 40% of new mortgages. On top of this, Millennial and Gen Z resistance to banking comes also from a different consumer mindset. Topics such as sustainability, political outlook, and global economics are shaping decision making and overall attitudes. According to Deloitte, just 40% of Gen Z and 48% of Millennials think their personal financial situation will improve moving forward.
FIs can benefit from identifying these tendencies and working to provide products backed by marketing campaigns that are sensitive to these perspectives and resonate more deeply with consumers. FIs should also bear in mind that Millennials comprise 21.71% of the population, and Gen Z is close behind at 20.69%. While retaining the business of an aging, existing consumer base, FIs can also bolster their growth and future retention numbers by placing much-needed attention on younger financial consumers by marketing to Millennials for financial services.
Understanding and Marketing to Millennials and Gen Z
Younger consumers have raised the bar for what it takes to earn their business. For FIs, the opportunity lies in understanding the specific behaviors, priorities, and pressures shaping how Gen Z and Millennials make financial decisions, and building marketing strategy that responds directly to each. Trust, digital experience, personalization, and financial reality are the four levers that matter most.
Earning Trust Through Transparency
Millennials came of age during or in the shadow of the 2008 financial crisis, and that experience left a mark on how they engage with institutions. They research before they commit, and they’re responsive to messaging that leads with compliance, transparency, and stated values — not just product features. For this cohort, trust is built through honesty about how their data is used, what products actually include, and how the institution operates.
For Gen Z, trust is less about institutional history and more about relevance. This cohort is actively shopping. 12% of employed Gen Z consumers are considering switching their primary savings provider, compared to just 6% of the broader workforce. They have a lower threshold for switching and a higher bar for staying. Traditional FIs competing for this segment need to demonstrate ongoing value, not just win the initial account.
Brand perception data reinforces how much this work matters. Among Gen Z, Bank of America leads with a 32% positive impression, followed by Capital One at 29% and Chase at 27%.These figures track close to, or slightly above, their scores with the general workforce. The competitive window is real, but it’s narrow. FIs that invest in reputation-building with younger audiences now are better positioned for long-term loyalty.
Going Mobile
Mobile access has moved from differentiator to baseline expectation. About one in five employed Gen Z consumers identify user-friendly online platforms and mobile apps as important factors when selecting a bank, a signal that digital experience directly influences primary provider decisions. Across generations, about two-thirds of Gen Z (63%) and Millennials (67%) report using mobile banking apps most often, compared to 56% of Gen X.
These aren’t passive users. Millennials and Gen Z expect multichannel functionality, intuitive design, and frictionless access from balance checks and deposits to fraud alerts and account management. For FIs, mobile is both a feature to communicate and a credibility marker. Marketing to these segments should lead with digital capability and substantiate it with specifics: ease of use, security infrastructure, and the kind of ongoing innovation that keeps the app worth opening.
Getting Personal
Younger consumers are carrying significant financial weight, and marketing that reflects that reality will land differently than generic wealth-building messaging. Year-over-year gains in average credit card debt have been sharpest among the youngest cohorts — Gen Z at 5.79% and Millennials at 2.64%. Millennials also carry a disproportionate share of student loan debt, and consumers under 35 account for nearly 40% of new mortgages. These aren’t background concerns — they’re the daily financial context shaping how these consumers evaluate FIs.
Personalization is the mechanism for meeting consumers in that context. 74% of consumers across all generations want more personalized experiences from their financial institutions, and 66% are comfortable with their bank or credit union using their data to provide those experiences. For Gen Z and Millennials, personalization tied to their actual life stage (debt management tools, first-time homebuyer resources, accessible credit products) signals that an FI understands where they are, not just where they’re headed.
AI is accelerating this dynamic in ways FIs can no longer afford to ignore. Last year, only 10% of consumers reported using AI to help manage their personal finances. Today, more than half (55%) say they use AI to support their financial management decisions, with adoption rates highest among Gen Z (77%) and Millennials (72%). FIs that integrate AI-powered tools into their product and service offerings aren’t just keeping pace with consumer expectations; they’re positioning themselves as forward-thinking partners in financial decision-making.
Key Elements of Effective Financial Marketing for Millennials and Gen Z
Trust and Transparency
Younger consumers do their homework before committing to a financial institution, and unclear pricing or vague data policies are fast disqualifiers. FIs that lead with plain-language product explanations, upfront fee structures, and explicit data use policies remove the skepticism before it becomes a barrier.
Personalization Without Intrusion
Behavioral and lifecycle data can power highly relevant marketing, but only if consumers understand how it’s being used. FIs should pair personalized messaging with clear, accessible explanations of their data practices, so relevance feels helpful rather than surveillant.
Digital-First Experiences
For Millennials and Gen Z, the app experience often is the brand experience. Mobile-first onboarding, intuitive navigation, and frictionless account management set the tone for the entire relationship. A clunky first impression is hard to recover from.
Education Over Promotion
Younger consumers are making independent financial decisions and actively seeking information to guide them. Short-form video, comparison tools, and plain-language explainers outperform traditional promotional content by meeting consumers where they are in the decision process.
Social Proof and Community
Peer reviews, expert validation, and community-driven content carry more weight with younger consumers than brand claims alone. Featuring real customer experiences and credible third-party endorsements reduces perceived risk and builds the kind of confidence that converts.
Values-Driven Brand Positioning
Gen Z and Millennials are skeptical of values that live only in marketing copy. FIs that demonstrate commitments through concrete actions (think sustainable investment options, transparent DEI policies, community partnerships) build credibility that messaging alone can’t manufacture.
What’s Next for Financial Marketing to Gen Z and Millennial Consumers
Marketing to Millennials research shows that, with 30% of them underbanked, FIs have a crucial opportunity to demonstrate what makes them different while appealing to the specific interests of a significant consumer generation. Gaining momentum are Gen Z decision makers who are approaching important financial decision-making milestones as they transition into adulthood and shop for solutions that meet their standards.
While Gen Z and Millennial consumers may be better suited for different arrays of financial products based on their life stages, they share several perspectives bound to shape the future of marketing for FIs. Digital-first offerings backed by security and trust are key to engaging with tech-savvy, younger consumers. Personalizing offerings and messaging across demographics and individual decision makers through engaging user experiences and innovative technology can help not only with acquisition but retention efforts.
FIs that embrace specific target segments based on generational trends and data-driven insights will be most likely to find success with the younger consumers leading the next wave of banking customers.
