CHICAGO — Previous generations grew up watching their parents make regular trips to the dry cleaner. This natural exposure meant that, when they grew up and needed garment care, they already understood the service’s value and purpose.
Today, dry cleaning is perceived differently across generational lines. As the customer base diversifies, cleaners face the challenge of appealing to baby boomers who grew up with the service, Gen X and older millennials who use it selectively, and younger generations who might not understand what dry cleaning is at all.
Educating Younger Generations
“There is an assumption that young people know what dry cleaning is and how it works, because for generations, people just knew,” says Lorynn Divita, associate professor in apparel design and merchandising at Baylor University. “But in reality, that knowledge isn’t being transferred like we think it is. Young people today literally don’t know the basics of how dry cleaning works. I ask my students if they’ve been in to use a dry cleaner, and many never have — some didn’t even realize that dry cleaners are open to the public.”
“Gen X and boomers have grown up with dry cleaning,” says Mary Ann Donaghy, chief marketing and customer experience officer for ZIPS Cleaners. “The challenge is to bring in that younger customer, when dry cleaning is not part of their everyday life. How do we tell the story of dry cleaning to them?”
This knowledge gap presents both a challenge and an opportunity. For younger customers, the messaging needs to focus on education and introduction to the category itself.
“With the younger generation, dry cleaning is not an everyday activity,” says Claire Hofmann, marketing manager at ZIPS Cleaners, who identifies as a young millennial. “I think our focus should be on explaining the benefits of dry cleaning, bringing them into the store and then showing what we can offer them.”
Tailoring Your Message
Knowing what different generations expect and need from a dry cleaner, and understanding how to communicate with them, is crucial for bringing in customers from different age groups.
For Gen Z and younger millennials, Divita emphasizes that speed is critical.
“It has to be fast,” she says. “And when I say fast, I’m talking about explaining within 10 seconds why they should watch this video or why they should pay attention to your message. The consumer’s attention span is much shorter today.”
Divita suggests, for example, that short-form videos showcasing dramatic stain removal could be particularly effective.
“Show a horrible stain that a customer brought in,” she says. “You could tell a little about it: ‘This stain is ketchup, and we all know that ketchup is an acid, and the customer thought there would be nothing we could do.’ And then speed up the video, show the treatment of the stain and then display the final product. For dry cleaners, ‘before-and-after’ videos could be very effective.”
For baby boomers, Divita says the approach differs: “Your messaging for boomers should focus on value. Something like a coupon would be more persuasive for a boomer, whereas with a Gen Z customer, an informational video might have more of an impact.”
Hofmann agrees, noting that ZIPS has been adapting its creative content accordingly. The company’s testing, however, reveals the same fundamental value propositions — fast service and good value — remain important.
“We’ve been working a lot on video assets because, as we know, video is becoming way more popular, especially with the younger generations,” she says. “And we’re using ‘younger’ messaging — maybe a little funnier, a little snarkier — to pull in the younger people. You’re just scrolling through your feed, and you see this funny video.”
Finding the Right Channels
Different generations consume media differently, and successful cleaners need to meet customers where they are.
“For a young person, it’s going to have to just be video,” Divita says. “There’s almost no point of writing something down — they do not want to read a lot of text.”
For millennials and Gen X, however, she suggests exploring platforms like Reddit.
“I think Reddit is a great place where you could reach that middle, affluent audience,” she says. “They have a subreddit for dry cleaning, which is really interesting. It’s a (forum) where people share their experiences with dry cleaners.”
ZIPS takes a multi-channel approach based on demographics.
“Instagram skews much younger,” Donaghy says. “Our followers on Facebook skew older and are demographically much more in our sweet spot.”
For broader audience reach in regions where they have multiple stores, ZIPS also leverages traditional media.
“We’ve done some TV and a little bit of radio,” she says. “From our research, we’ve found it’s getting good results for lifestyle targeting, sports, news, business and fashion.”
Come back Tuesday for Part 2 of this series, where we’ll explore balancing technology and personal service, the priorities of different generations, and the opportunities that sustainability may bring.
Have a question or comment? E-mail our editor Dave Davis at [email protected].
