Inside the Decision-Making Process of Moving into Senior Living
Senior living marketers are ever focused on the changing consumer landscape for prospective residents. Taking a data-driven approach to the decision-making process can both inform marketing teams and lead to more successful move-ins.
Survey data from 2023 by Roobrik, a North Carolina-based lead conversion solution for senior living providers, asked older adults and their adult children about their search for senior living solutions.
The survey asks individuals about their motivations for doing research including downsizing, current and/or future care needs, loss of a partner, medical diagnosis, loneliness/isolation, feeling overwhelmed, worried about safety, or just curious about options.
Results of the survey showed that concerns around safety was a top concern coming from adult children – with 22% frequency. And yet it was ranked least important by older adults researching for themselves (6%). From a sales perspective, the safety concern introduces a complexity to the marketing side.
“If we lean too heavily into safety, our website is going to inadvertently dissuade the older adult who might be the future resident from wanting to reach out,” says Evan Friedkin, head of business development at Roobrik. “It introduces this level of complexity, which is: how does marketing then convey to the website visitors that, hey, we are going to address the safety piece of it without calling it safety to the older adult because that obviously is not top of mind, as we just talked about.”
Highlighting aspirations
Homing in on the question of “Where do people want to spend their time, and what would they be doing?” helps to narrow the search while looking down the road 10 or 15 years from now.
“What are those things that we provide in our communities that show the vibrancy of life where people can learn more, be educated, and make some meaningful relationships?” says Rich Gordon, vice president of sales and marketing at AgeWell Solvere Living, a premier property management company that manages senior living communities across the country, based in Florida.
Roobrik’s data provides some additional perspective, as the most common answer among older adults was that they are just curious about other options. That option was chosen 29% of the time. This usually implies that they just started doing research.
The least common answer from adult children was downsizing (7%). Parting ways from a family home can be difficult. Most adult children that are looking at senior living communities are not concerned about getting rid of furniture, rather, they are more concerned about the current living situation of their parents.
Balancing the views of decision makers
Adult children taking the survey frequently indicated that their parent currently lives alone or doesn’t drive anymore, both of which can lead to isolation or loneliness.
“We all know for the adult child, as they’re moving through this decision, it is very much a needs-based or needs-driven decision. This can help from a sales perspective, because we all know what the end point is, which is getting mom and dad into a safe place,” says Friedkin.
For older adults researching for themselves, concerns about current or future care needs was the second most common motivating factor.
“These older adults are future planners. They are concerned not necessarily with what needs help immediately, but can the community I’m looking at take care of me in the future? That is their motivator,” says Friedkin. “It’s a fine line between safety and future care needs.”
Overall, the data shows what motivates senior living prospects, what questions they might have, and what aspects of a community the individuals are seeking.
“It’s a major opportunity to meet people where they are, even before they start talking to sales so by the time they get to sales, they are far more interested in having a deeper conversation,” says Friedkin.
Roobrik’s mission is to give more and better days to older adults and their families while helping the organizations that care for them grow. To learn more, visit: https://www.roobrik.com/.
