Each year the senior care industry faces harder challenges toward profitability.
While everyone wants to improve current trends, understanding why conversion rates for senior living and home care are declining is necessary if individual businesses and professionals are to make informed decisions.
Here are a few of the more significant changes:
- Senior living occupancy is down to 81% for independent living and 75% for assisted living. Due in part to the vulnerability of seniors to COVID-19, the reluctance to place family members in eldercare became pronounced.
- Staff shortages have led to additional concerns. Turning to temporary staff at a higher cost per hour leaves less room in the budget for traditional marketing outreach.
- Beyond COVID, the marketplace has significantly shifted toward digital marketing and research. Rather than on-site touring, decision-makers are targeting modern caregivers' options online.
- The decision-making unit (DMU) wants easy-to-use digital experiences. Previously, families relied on referrals from hospitals. Now families (or the DMU) research on their own, particularly related to nursing homes, hospice providers and assisted living.
By improving overall marketing and SEO practices, you can streamline processes without adding more staff and add the conversions to the bottom line.
New trends to consider – heavy on digital
COVID forced organizations to facilitate virtual tours and meetings. This trend is here to stay. You need to compare a prospect’s experience with your digital presentation to that of your competition.
For example, is your mobile content helpful or frustrating? If you don’t know, you can be sure your referral (and any referral source they work with) knows precisely how your organization compares to others.
You have to understand how your audience interacts with your digital offers:
- Does your potential 70-year-old client enjoy their digital encounter as much as the son or daughter?
- Is it easy for potential clients to find your organization among the clamor of other entities?
- Are third-party referral sources such as Caring.com or A Place for Mom impeding your ability to work directly with your referrals?
- If you're using third-party referrals, can you handle the loss of revenue from required placement fees?
- Does your website rank high enough in search engine results to be a direct source for potential clients to find and use?
Another aspect to consider is the “social proof” of your site. Social proof is when an individual comes to a decision based on the recommendation of individuals who are highly authoritative. These social authorities could be families of current residents offering glowing testimonials, a local celebrity giving an endorsement, or dozens of positive reviews on search engines.
Do you have current testimonials that build trust with your potential clients? Social proof is indispensable when you're asking people to trust you to provide care for their loved ones. These testimonies are stories about why families picked you over your competitors.
If your digital campaigns don't provide a reason to say yes to your service offerings, families will quickly move to other options without giving you a chance.