12 Rules for Engaging Seniors
Someone in America turns 60 every seven seconds. The number of Americans who have reached “senior” status is climbing rapidly and will continue to do so until 2025. Healthcare and life insurance companies have an unprecedented opportunity to grow their business, but to do so, they must learn how to effectively market to the senior population.
If companies want to grab a chunk of the senior market and capitalize on the record growth among Medicare-eligible consumers, they need to understand that seniors differ from their younger counterparts in some substantive ways. These key “rules of engagement” outline what marketers should — and should not — do to get their message across to seniors:
- Target females. They make the decisions.
- Don’t stereotype, and don’t lump. The senior population is broad, varied and made up of many subgroups. Use analytics to determine who is actually responding and buying, and target accordingly.
- Don’t use pictures of old people in communications. Seniors see themselves as younger than they really are.
- Use words in copy that hold out the promise of youthfulness and independence.
- Don’t be overly friendly. Personalization is OK, but be respectful. Don’t use first names.
- Key your communications to lifestage events like retirement.
- Target wealth, not just income. Many seniors have no income but have plenty of money.
- If you’re going to prospect for new business, make sure the consumer data source you use has the data points that matter most in reaching seniors.
- Take the time to explain the benefits of your product. Long copy is OK, as long as it’s divided into bite-size chunks.
- Don’t have calls from seniors handled by customer service representatives with heavy accents. Some seniors don’t hear quite as well as younger people.
- Make sure seniors understand that real people will answer the phones when they call. They hate interactive voice response. Also, don’t subject them to answering-system decision trees.
- Create a senior-specific Web site. With about 60% of seniors accessing the Internet, establishing an online presence is imperative. Beware, though, that sites targeted toward seniors demand special considerations.
The exploding senior population presents the most important growth opportunity that many healthcare and life insurance marketers will ever have. To learn more tips on how to increase your share of this burgeoning population segment, contact the healthcare and insurance experts at KnowledgeBase Marketing at 866-ASK4KBM (275-4526).
