Millennials make the majority of their purchases on computers and smartphones, Fluent's Marketing To Millennials report says. Computers are about on par with smartphones as the devices used to make online purchases. Smartphones are somewhat more likely to be used at least monthly, while computers are somewhat more likely to be used at least weekly.

Fluent conducted a nationwide survey of 1,769 millennials and 1,191 non-​millennials to better understand millennials’ device usage and interaction with various digital media channels, and their relationship to impacting purchasing decisions, says the report.

Some of the key findings are that Smartphones are the most popular device with millennials, as 7 in 8 millennials own one. 51% spend the highest proportion of their online time using their smartphones and 49% use them to make purchases at least monthly, as much as any other platform.

Despite the dominance of smartphones, computers remain an important purchase device for millennials. Nearly 1 in 3 millennials use computers to make purchases at least weekly. However, younger millennials, aged 18–24, use computers less often to make purchases than their older counterparts, says the report. In fact, 18% of millennials primarily use Macs.

Advertisers trying to reach millennials should take note that they prefer Macs, buy on Macs and are reading emails on Apple products. According to AudienceSCAN research, 31.3% of Mac Users took action after reading emailed ads or newsletter ads in the past month.

Promotional emails were the most effective digital advertising medium asked about in the survey at influencing millennial purchase decisions. 68% of millennials said that promotional emails impacted their purchase decisions at least on a few occasions, says the report.

Promotional emails edge out other digital mediums in their impact on millennial purchase decisions. 68% of millennials said their purchase decisions were impacted at least occasionally by promotional emails, compared with 63% for ads on social media networks and ads on news and entertainment websites, and 56% for promotional text messages, says the report.

In fact, the AudienceSCAN study found 57.8% of Mac Users took action after receiving emailed ads or newsletter ads in the past year.

Counteracting the notion that millennials don’t respond to email marketing, promotional emails influence millennials better than older generations. 10% more millennials than older generations (26% to 16%) say promotional emails are influential "all or most of the time."

AudienceSCAN data is available as part of a subscription to AdMall for Agencies, or with the SalesFuel API. Media companies can access AudienceSCAN data through the AudienceSCAN Reports in AdMall.