A colleague and I were chatting about social media graphics and memes when she told me to be careful about using script or cursive writing in these types of graphics. She said that a number of Millennials can’t read it.
My jaw dropped.
It never dawned on me that Millennials like my son couldn’t just write in cursive, but can’t read it either.
I had to test this theory.
In my best cursive handwriting, I wrote out a couple of paragraphs and asked him to read it.
He missed the first word altogether and struggled with the rest.
Point taken.
Why this matters
If your target audience consists of mostly Millennials, this is pretty important information. As business owners and marketers, it is our responsibility to communicate our brand message in a way that makes sense to our target audiences. So if a number of Millennials are struggling to read cursive and find themselves consistently struggling to read your message, then they’ll move on to the next company. Because cursive writing may as well be a foreign language and that could make your product or service seem foreign.
This moving on can mean reduced customer engagement, fewer referrals, lost revenue and a significant reduction in that customer’s CLV (customer lifetime value).
The fonts we use on social media graphics, logos, even packaging matter to target audiences. These seemingly small things tell our audiences that we’re engaged and we’re listening.
A communication or marketing message in all emojis or devoid of punctuation is going to tell this Gen Xer you’re not trying to connect with me in anyway. It would tell me I’m not your customer.
Know Your Audience
The conversation I had with my colleague is a good reminder for us all to stay aware of audience preference and need. Are sales of a particular product or service declining? The exodus of an audience is alarming for any business and feedback from your customer service representatives or sales team can help you determine the why.
If it’s determined that pricing and customer service aren’t the culprits and overall, customers feel a disconnect from your brand, I’d say it’s time to rethink your strategy. Confirm your audience and make sure you’re communicating to them in a way that’s relevant.
So if that means no cursive text or fonts, then no cursive text or fonts—even if you love it.
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