• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, March 11, 2009

While the majority of Gen Y consumers welcome direct brand interactions through email, they are demanding greater control, according to a new study released Wednesday by The Participatory Marketing Network and the Lubin School of Business' Interactive and Direct Marketing Lab at Pace University.

About 62% of Gen Yers expressed a desire to communicate directly with retailers with regard to their favorite products in exchange for getting the best prices from them, the study found, which was conducted in February by questioning 220 PMN panel members and consumers ages 18-24.

"Traditional email communications from marketers have remained surprisingly stagnant," said Michael Della Penna, co-founder and executive chairman of The Participatory Marketing Network marketing association. "For email to remain relevant for today's 'iPhone generation,' brands must introduce new thinking and innovative features that give users more control and allow them to participate."

With regard to more control, 78% of respondents say they would like their email client to automatically categorize and delete expired promotional messages, while 44% say they would subscribe to an email service that collected and summarized multiple offers of interest to them.

Notably, 32% say they would share promotional email offers with members inside a social network and open emails from others, while 51% say they'd join a separate social network dedicated to managing brand interactions.

PMN and the Lubin school recently found that the vast majority of young consumers (84%) do notice ads on social networks. Just 19%, however, find the ads relevant.

As a result, the study found that 74% of respondents reported clicking infrequently on ads, while 36% reported never clicking on ads. Not surprisingly, the study finds that brands are struggling to build a compelling value proposition for GenY users on social networks.

The top five reasons that young consumers gave for joining a brand or fan group were to "get news or product updates" (67%), "view promotions" (64%), "view or download music or videos" (41%), "submit opinions" (36%) and "connect with other customers" (33%).