In her guide, The Age Tech Revolution, Keren Etkin mentions a 2019 research by the British Workplace of Nationwide Statistics that labels 65-79 yr outdated individuals as the happiest age group, whereas youthful persons are typically much less happy with their lives.[1] So it mustn’t come as a shock that, in response to a unique supply – the College of Southern California – older adults are inclined to favor constructive data greater than unfavorable data of their consideration and reminiscence.[2] And consequently, they see and keep in mind constructive pictures higher and unfavorable pictures worse.[3]
Older adults additionally are inclined to filter data. They may prioritize issues which can be constructive and deprioritize issues which can be unfavorable. Whereas this course of is just not unique to seniors, they’re extra more likely to be this manner than their youthful counterparts.
Do you see a pattern right here?
An apparent implication is that these tendencies affect the methods older adults obtain promoting. It’s a good guess that constructive messaging and imagery will result in extra profitable promoting campaigns, in case you are focusing on this getting older shopper group!
So why, then, is promoting that targets seniors usually lower than constructive?
Extra seemingly than not, it’s as a result of most entrepreneurs see getting older adults as “needy,” and assume these “needy getting older adults” are out there for services to assist them dwell out the waning days of their lives extra comfortably. It’s type of a miserable assumption, isn’t it? This point-of-view when promoting seniors definitely received’t end in messaging that tugs at their heartstrings…
What Else Makes Older Shoppers Totally different from Youthful Ones?
In keeping with the Society of Licensed Senior Advisors[4], there are different attitudinal variations between older and youthful customers:
- Older customers are extra autonomous; therefore they don’t reply nicely to promoting that tells them what a model ought to imply to them.
- They’re much less rational and extra intuitive of their decision-making, which implies it’s extra necessary how a services or products makes them really feel reasonably than what options and advantages it provides.
- Buy selections are much less affected by peer stress – seniors are typically not out to impress others.
- Older customers are typically not time-sensitive; in spite of everything, they’ve on a regular basis on the earth!
- They’re extra targeted on self-actualization; that’s, seniors are extra fascinated about feeling fulfilled or feeling that they’re dwelling as much as their potential.
The purpose right here is: advertising and marketing approaches focusing on youthful adults don’t essentially apply to advertising and marketing to older adults. Buy resolution processes are totally different. So, the marketer that makes an attempt to promote youthful and older customers in the identical method will seemingly fail at promoting at the very least a kind of teams.
What Older Shoppers Need from Advertising and marketing and Promoting
The Society of Licensed Senior Advisors goes on to counsel 5 issues older customers need out of promoting[5]:
- Data – Boomers need to have the ability to make educated selections. As a result of they’re educated customers, they won’t be fooled or ignored. They need selections, they usually need the data wanted to make sensible
- Understanding – Not solely do they need advertisements to provide them the data they want, seniors need an pleasant expertise interacting with these advertisements. They need the marketer to display by means of the promoting that he will get them.
- Respect – They count on consideration, good manners, and respect from entrepreneurs.
- Worth – Worth is extra necessary than model title to seniors. They’re keen to attempt new manufacturers, however entrepreneurs have to showcase the better worth these new manufacturers will ship with a purpose to get them to make the swap.
- Profitable Experiences – Boomers typically don’t have a lot persistence with services or products that don’t meet their expectations. Make the primary shopping for expertise a constructive one and that older shopper will proceed to purchase from you.
The Advantages of Being a 60+ Shopper
There are some advantages that include age that advertisers ought to think about when promoting older customers. In all probability essentially the most prevalent, in response to proprietary analysis carried out by AGEIST in 2019, are:
- Knowledge and Expertise – One of many advantages that comes with age is seniors have made related buy selections prior to now and have skilled the implications of their selections – good and dangerous. So, they often don’t have to spend a lot effort and time to make an knowledgeable resolution, as a result of they’ve made related selections earlier than and may higher anticipate how a gift buy resolution will prove.
- Freedom – Most senior customers don’t must take care of plenty of outdoors influences when making buy selections. They’re typically free to do no matter feels proper to them.
- Monetary safety – Seniors typically have entry to better monetary assets than youthful customers, having constructed up their financial institution accounts through the years – to not point out, they usually don’t have others relying on them for monetary assist. So, they’re often ready to spend as they see match.
All this may be summed up fairly merely. Older adults don’t wish to be reminded about their infirmities, their losses, or their neediness. Promoting that dwells on negatives will typically fail. Nonetheless, these seniors can be drawn to constructive advert messaging that reinforces the pleasure they count on a services or products will ship.
[1] Keren Etkin; The AgeTech Revolution; 2022
[2] Science Each day; College of Southern California; 2019
[3] Ibid.
[4] Discovering Path within the Senior Market – Greatest Practices White Paper; Society of Licensed Senior Advisors; 2012
[5] Ibid.