Capturing seniors online - which accounts for 8 million surfers -requires a Web site overhaul that involves heightened access and e-commerce options.
Consider recent statistics by Age Wave Health Services, a market research firm that focuses on the senior market:
- 27 percent of affluent seniors use the Internet.
- 9 out of 10 seniors make moderate strides to lead healthy lives.
- 7 out of 10 seniors use alternative medicine.
When these statistics are placed against the backdrop of a changing healthcare environment, the implications for marketers are tremendous, says Jay Klitsch, SVP of managed care marketing for DiMark Marketing, a Langhorne, Pa.-based firm that specializes in healthcare and insurance communications. Here, Klitsch provides a shortlist of tips for developing a Web site that appeals to seniors:
Get Competitive: Nationally, 350 managed care organizations have contracted with HCFA (Health Care Financing Administration) and their market penetration is expected to double. Competition is heating up and success will depend on a provider's ability to target their marketing dollars using the appropriate channels of distribution.
In addition, marketers will have to discover new ways of acquiring and retaining Medicare risk members at the lowest possible cost. This means offering the Internet as an option to inform consumers and to provide online access to products and services that can be researched and purchased. More and more seniors are becoming empowered Internet users, spending a projected $27.5 billion in e-commerce by the year 2002 - a quantum leap from the $706 million spent in 1996.
Deliver Easy Access: To compete in this environment, your marketing presence must be easily accessible and navigable. This means including the Web site on all printed and broadcast communications and using larger graphics, type styles and other design methods to make the information easy to use and read for seniors.
Keep in mind that your information can be comprehensive and more detailed than most campaigns that target other age groups because seniors tend to have more time to research. To this end, providing links to other resources like government and academic sites where seniors can get objective information are key.
Think E-commerce, Market Research: Beyond your Web site's informational content, seniors must be able to purchase online. Although there are e-commerce security issues for consumers, marketers must overcome these emotional, and in some cases, practical reservations by offering alternative fulfillment options and money-back guarantees.
Finally, make sure you have the marketing infrastructure in place to capture key demographic information and purchase data about the visitors your site attracts. These transactions can be integrated into other business systems and marketing databases.
(DiMark, Jay Klitsch, 800/543-2212)