The report, The Brands We Love vs The Brands We Buy, released by promotion and engagement specialists RapidCampaign, stated that for 16 to 24 year olds, email is the channel of choice for finding out about promotions, followed by a retailer’s website. Social media channels like Twitter and Facebook did not appear to have as much impact.

“We are seeing a trend among marketers in finding promotions as not only an effective engagement tool at the top of the sales funnel, bringing in customers that would not buy from you normally, but also as a conversion tool closer to the point of sale,” said Marko Luhtala, CEO of RapidCampaign.

“With the significant resource marketers are putting into channels including email, social networks, PPC and search, engaging promotions are an invaluable missing link in converting more of that hard-earned traffic.

“High street retailers have long known the benefits of putting promotions in a shop front window or in store, and that strategy has not stopped being effective. In fact with younger generations showing they are the most eager to see promotions on retailers’ digital shop fronts and stores, and marketers spending more on driving traffic from external channels, it will be increasingly powerful approach.”

Results were based on a survey of 2,000 consumers.