How Assisted Living and Home Care Partners Can Use a CTA to Increase Engagement
Let’s face it. Senior care call to action development can make you want to poke a stick in your eye. It takes time and strategy to do it right. Just last week I had a conversation with a new client regarding hers. She is a very smart, tech savvy senior care leader, but she was frustrated. They had gone from a web company that hadn’t recommended any CTAs for their site to one that loaded so many none were getting a response. Families were no doubt overwhelmed by the site’s appearance. They probably hit their BACK arrow in less than four seconds…
So how do you find the balance between a site that engages families and a site that sends them racing back to the search results page? What should you look at in deciding what CTA goes where? What kind of content goes in a CTA? What makes a CTA compelling and engaging?
The experts at SCS will share what we’ve learned with our senior care colleagues in a three-part series over the next few weeks. Today we will start with a few general strategies and best practices:
- Begin by auditing and evaluating your site. You might want to create a spreadsheet or a flowchart. Whatever format works best for you. The idea is to document what type of content you have on each page.
- The next step is to evaluate where families who utilize each page typically are in the senior care decision journey. Put down the iPhone while you do this. You can’t multi-task your way through it or you won’t see the results you need.
- Then you begin to build your CTA roadmap or chain. Start by determining what two CTAs you need for each page. Consider one light touch CTA and one that is more of a commitment. Gear both CTAs toward the content on each individual page. Let’s assume you are working on your Financial Resources page. A light touch might be a quick video on financing options or a “Guide to Financing Assisted Living”. A heavier commitment would be one that gives them a Comparison Chart to download when they schedule a visit online. Really dig in to the senior care decision journey and what stage they are likely at if they are using that page as you do this.
- If you have a corporate site and each community has an individual page, don’t overlook having at least one CTA on those pages. You could test an online registration form for an upcoming community event against a CTA that offers a free gift if they call to schedule a tour.
- Your home page is the exception to the two CTAs per page recommendation. Remember, your home page should be a hub of senior care information on a variety of related topics. It must be user friendly and easily navigated. If you have that, you will likely pull families in at all stages of the decision journey. So three or even four well crafted, professionally presented CTAs are best.
Over the next few weeks we will kick around what makes a CTA compelling, and then how to get started developing them.
No time to road map this yourself? During the month of February, SCS is offering our CTA special. We will map up to 15 pages for just $150. Let us know if you’d like to learn more.
