Dozens of brands. Hundreds of campaigns. Tons of learnings.
Whenever I tell people one of the audiences we specialize in is marketing to seniors, their ears always perk up. Most brands market to a younger audience, so very few marketers have a true understanding of what drives seniors to convert.
The fact I find most strange about how few brands market to seniors is the Boomers literally have all of the money.
So if you are a brand already marketing to seniors, or are a DTC brand considering how to evolve your brand to target this audience, check out a few best practices we’ve seen work extremely well for targeting an older audience.
Want to learn how to acquire new senior customers cost-effectively? Email Eric Smith at esmith@incrementalmedia.com or fill out the form at the bottom of this page.
Because many seniors are on a fixed income, even though they have a lot of disposable income, like we saw above, they are always intrigued by a good deal. Offers like Buy 1 Get 1 50% off are some of the top performing offers we run for seniors, but nothing works better than FREE.
Seniors truly value reviews from their peers. They want to know, just like other age groups, that people with a similar problem have found a solution with your product.
Do seniors still prefer to call versus go online? Every year there’s a new 65 year old who is more tech savvy than last year’s 65 year old, but we still see the majority of our attribution come from people calling a brand versus converting on a website. So, being able to call, especially for more considered purchases, is critical so seniors can ask all the questions they need to ask before purchasing.
Contrary to the younger generation, seniors actually read! They will take the time to read a longer advertisement so, within reason, don’t be shy about putting a lot of copy in your ads.
If you can afford it, we’ve seen big improvements in results when brands incorporate a spokesperson.
Use simple charts to explain why you are better than the competition.
Seniors like to see credibility from organizations like the BBB or FDA. They trust those unbiased sources. If you have great ratings from these organizations or companies like TrustPilot, make sure that is incorporated in your ads.
Promises like “Risk-Free” or “100% money back guarantee” give seniors the confidence to try products, especially products like health supplements, knowing if they aren’t happy they can return the product without any issues.
Marketing to seniors isn’t much different than marketing to other audiences. With their preference to purchase over the phone, the attribution methodology may be slightly different, but if you apply the best practices above, you will set yourself up for success and no longer ignore Adults 60+ who account for 80%+ of total wealth in the US...
Eric Smith is the SVP of Growth at Incremental Media. Want to learn how to acquire new senior customers cost-effectively? Email Eric Smith at esmith@incrementalmedia.com or fill out the form below.
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