Students have been long since getting deals on everything from airfare to computers to fast-food. Walk into ten random shops or restaurants near a college campus and I bet at least half have a sign up displaying something along the lines of “free soda with sandwich” or “10% off your entire order” all followed by “with your college I.D.”

Why are businesses offering deals to this demographic?
Brands know that students are valuable. First, they are young. A new college student has just turned 18 so they have their entire adulthood ahead of them (about 60 more years on average) to make a ton of purchases. Second, they are setting themselves up to earn a lot. College graduates are estimated to make on average $1 million more in their lifetime than their non-college graduate counterparts, that’s a lot of extra money to throw around. Third, they are impressionable. Students are at a point in their life where they are being exposed to a whole new world outside of their hometown and high school life, new experiences, especially those with brands, can shape life lasting impressions and purchase behaviors. Fourth, they have limited cash right now. Most students are either on a tight allowance from their parents, getting by on loans, or working a low paying part-time job so they need to be able to stretch every dollar they have.

So what happens when you put these four things together? You have a person that is going be making good money in the near future, has their whole adult life ahead of them, is a blank canvas for the types of purchases and brands they are skewed toward interacting with, but just needs a little break getting by for now to make ends meet.

When you look at it from a business’s perspective it’s the perfect investment opportunity to acquire an lifelong affluent customer. Offer up a discount by carving out a little bit of your profit to get a student in your door, give that student a great experience and keep them coming back over and over with the deal they are getting. Then, once the student has graduated, they will still have that behavior of coming to the business, but now they can afford to pay full price and even up-sell additional products and services.

Add to all of this the fact that students know about the ongoing tradition of student deals. They are on the hunt for offers specifically for students so when you put one out there, they’ll find it and take full advantage. It’s a perfect opportunity to get fresh customers into your business year after year.

If you’re ready to reach more students you can contact StudentUniverse.

Author: Evan Becker is the Director of Partner Development at StudentUniverse.