Most of us who work on the marketing and sales end of the senior living industry love our statistics. As the focus in our industry continues to shift to more time and resources being spent employing digital strategies, those numbers become more important than ever. And senior living decision stats can make a big difference when it comes to knowing where to spend your resources.
While storytelling and connecting what you offer with what older adults and their families are seeking is important, knowing what motivates them is the key to painting the picture.
It’s why we were excited to have the chance to take a peek at a recent webinar from our friends at Caring.com.
Senior Living Survey Says…
Caring.com surveyed 2,098 people online:
- 20% of those who responded were seeking care for themselves
- 30% were looking for a spouse
- 50% of respondents were adult children or other relatives
The webinar also included research from Varsity Branding. They conducted 15 focus groups and had 435 senior living residents and prospects complete surveys.
The result was some good stuff guaranteed to help you up your senior living content marketing game.
Who is Driving the Senior Living Decision?
As most of us would suspect, adult children make things happen. And on a much faster timeframe.
In fact when they are involved in the decision for any level of care, the average move in rate is three times higher than when the senior is searching on their own.
- For assisted living moves, the rate is 2.5 times higher
- For independent living transitions, the rate is 3.5 time higher
And adult children are more involved in the decision than ever: 73% of senior housing decisions involve the senior’s adult children.
What Makes Older Adults Move?
When adult children were asked what prompted their search for a housing solution for a senior loved one, here’s what they had to say:
- Health considerations: 58%
- Caregiver needs: 27%
- No specific cause: 20%
- Death of a spouse: 10%
- Loneliness: 8%
- To be closer to family: 7%
- Financial considerations: 5%
The Housing Decision from the Resident/Prospect’s Perspective
For those older adults who were searching for a senior housing solution for themselves, they were motivated to do so for many reasons. The most common ones were:
- Health change of spouse: 44.5%
- A change in their own health: 44%
- Difficulty of home maintenance: 30.6%
- Desire for peace of mind: 24%
- Family encouragement: 22.5%
- Desire for socialization: 12.5%
- Availability of meals: 4.4%
- No longer driving: 2.3%
And this stat is HUGE: 41% of seniors searched online when searching on their own.
BAM! That sound you just heard is the myth that seniors aren’t tech savvy exploding…
Yep. Almost half of them are searching for you online.
Why Seniors Say They Haven’t Moved Yet
And the burning question so many of us want answered: why haven’t prospects made a move?
Here’s what the research identified as the issues holding our seniors back:
- Not ready yet: 61% (you knew that would be first right?)
- Financial constraints: 35%
- Concerns about downsizing/moving: 28%
- Desire to be independent: 26%
So how can you use this information in your senior living content marketing efforts?
Great question! And one we’ll tackle next week. So be sure to stop back. You might want to Subscribe to our blog so you don’t forget!
You can check out the Multigenerational Marketing in Senior Living video or slides to view the presentation on your own.
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