Why does cross-generational marketing matter in 2025? It’s simple: It’s a great way to easily gain a deeper understanding of your audience.
Most brands know what customers buy from them and how often—which is great for tracking retention, consumer value, and driving upsells. Looking at customers based on their generation, however, is a way to get a deeper understanding of their preferences and actions.
Truly knowing your audience—and what their preferences are—on a deeper level impacts which marketing channels you use, your branding, and maybe even your product design. If you know your audience is primarily made up of millennials and Gen Xers, your marketing strategy is going to differ significantly from a company that’s trying to reach Gen Zs or boomers.
Epsilon uses certified market-leading data to help clients better identify and engage with their best and next-best potential customers. Its latest cross-generational marketing report breaks down differences across the following categories:
To help you get ahead of the curve, let’s take a look at six key takeaways from the report and how they can help shape your marketing strategy.
Five years ago, it seemed as though online shopping would have surely overtaken in-store shopping by now, but in 2025, consumers across all generations still see value in shopping in-store—it just depends on what they’re buying.
Epsilon also found that the motivation to shop in-store or online varies by generation. For Gen Z, shopping in-store is a social activity, while boomers particularly appreciate being able to touch and test physical products in real life.
When it comes to shopping online, 73% of consumers use their smartphones to add to cart (only 50% use their laptops, and the numbers drop sharply for desktop computers and tablets).
For a breakdown across generations, Gen Z, millennials, and Gen Xers are most likely to use a smartphone when shopping online, but boomers are divided between their smartphone, laptop, and desktop computer. In fact, nearly 40% of boomers report using a desktop for online shopping—the highest of all generations surveyed.
In 2025, loyalty to cellphone companies, credit cards, and casual restaurants like Chili’s has increased across generations—and loyalty programs are one of the main drivers.
The report found that 58% of consumers say earning rewards influences where they shop, while 20% will avoid stores that don’t offer loyalty points.
As expected, influencers continue to have a greater impact on younger generations. Over a third of Gen Z and millennials name social media influencers as a go-to source for inspiration, but very few boomers refer to this source.
Across generations, consumers still see a lot of value in product reviews and input from friends and family when it comes to the products they buy.
In many of Epsilon’s recent research reports, marketers and consumers have been asked to share their sentiments about AI and how they’re using it. Overall, there’s an increase in daily usage and comfortability with using AI for basic tasks to save time, but users are still concerned about privacy, data security, and job security.
One surprising data point is how generational AI preferences differ based on whether consumers have children or grandchildren. Among AI users, boomers without children or grandchildren enjoy using AI more than those with children and grandchildren. They cite generating new ideas and perspectives (23% vs. 14%) and trying out new and different technologies (22% vs. 13%) as their top motivators.
And the data flips for younger generations: Millennial parents are likelier than those without children to enjoy using AI because it’s entertaining and interactive (28% vs. 20%) and offers reliable and accurate results (25% vs. 15%).
As Bob Dylan says, when it comes to media consumption, “Times they are a-changin.” According to the report, two in three respondents use Google every day, but one in five use Amazon as a search engine, a trend primarily driven by millennials and Gen X. Despite Google’s fervent popularity, search engines like Bing are still used across generations, and more consumers are turning to voice-activated assistants, Amazon, Yahoo, and AI to find the answers they’re looking for.
There are similar diversification trends when it comes to how consumers across generations are streaming music and watching TV.
At the end of the day, generational data helps you understand your customers and prospects on a deeper level. From there, you can personalize your marketing messages so you not only reach the right person, but you also reach them with an impactful message that resonates, in the channels they use.
This article was originally published on April 23, 2025, on AdWeek.com.
