Information about pricing or fees is the number one thing that adults aged 75 to 84 are looking for when they visit a continuing care retirement community’s website for the first time, according to research by Erin Read and Todd Harff.
Such information is important to 30% of prospective residents in that age group who visit CCRC websites, said Read and Harff, director of strategic planning and founder/president, respectively, of marketing agency Creating Results. They wrote about the results of their “Social, Silver Surfers” studies in the spring issue of the National Association of Home Builders’ 55+ Housing Online Magazine. By comparison, 10% of respondents aged 75 to 84 said they were most interested in each of these three categories: floor plans and layouts, a sense of the community lifestyle and images of the community.
A website’s contents are important in the decision-making process for future CCRC residents, according to Read and Harff. Forty-four percent of CCRC residents said they visited their ultimate community’s website more than six times before moving in, and an additional 22% said they visited the site four to six times.
Other website features important to those moving into active adult communities and CCRCs, according to the research: readable floor plans and layouts (the most desired feature among survey respondents of all ages as a whole), mobile-friendliness, easy-to-find contact information and lack of a sign-up requirement to access information.
Websites will continue to play an important role in the marketing and sales process, Read and Harff said. Thirty-eight percent of older baby boomers said they started their search for a place to retire online, and 86% of younger boomers said they did so.
For more about the “Social, Silver Surfers” research, click here.
