Archive for category: Technology

All senior living communities sell the same thing—the same levels of care, the same amenities, and the same floor plans (more or less). The way to differentiate your community in this “sea of sameness” is by creating memorable experiences at key touchpoints for prospects, residents, and families.

This is known as customer experience marketing (CEM or CXM). Wondering where to begin? Don’t worry—we got you! Below, we share three areas to focus on:

● The Website Experience
● The Tour Experience
● The Resident Experience

Note: This post was inspired by a conversation that Debbie Howard (our CEO) had on her podcast with Jamison Gosselin, an executive-level marketing strategist with over two decades of senior living industry experience. In the podcast, Gosselin discussed interesting findings from an in-depth survey he conducted with thousands of adult children. We’re including quotes from the podcast. (Check out the full episode here.)

The Website Experience

Don’t make it hard for people to schedule a tour.

When we review senior living community websites, we often discover how hard it is to schedule a tour. Ideally, you should have a way for people to schedule a tour directly on your site. The online scheduler should be intuitive, easy to use, and provide email confirmation.

Howard says, “It’s funny. When I audit a senior living community’s website, I’m always interested—and a little bit scared—when I click on ‘schedule a tour.’ Because usually when you click ‘schedule a tour,’ guess what you don’t get to do? You don’t actually get to schedule the tour. There’s no date and time picker, which is what the person wants.”

People who schedule tours directly on community websites tend to be higher-intent conversions. So, not having a straightforward way to schedule a tour is a missed opportunity.

Don’t skimp on floor plans or photography.

Listen, it’s 2024, not 2004. We’ve come a LONG way in how we can show off floor plans. Take advantage of modern approaches and create a more engaging experience for site visitors.

Howard says, “People like the floor plans. Every time we do a heat map on a community’s site that has floor plans, the floor plans light up like Christmas. And yet so many communities are still using those silly, basic black and white architectural plans.”

The same is true with photography. Using stock images contributes to the “sea of sameness” feeling. People browsing various senior living websites often encounter the same stock images from one site to another. How are they supposed to keep your community straight?

Custom photography is one way. But don’t underestimate user-generated photos from your staff, residents, and their families.

Don’t avoid the pricing discussion.

Senior living is expensive, full stop. We know it. You know it. Prospects know it. The question is, how expensive? And can it work for the prospect’s budget? That’s what people want to know when they’re looking at senior living websites and hunting for pricing information.

Listen, we get why communities are hesitant about sharing pricing online. Slapping prices on your website might scare people away before they understand financing resources, like bridge loans or the Veterans Aid & Attendance benefit.

However, not sharing pricing information doesn’t create a good website experience for visitors who crave that info. Instead of hiding from it, perhaps try leaning into it.

Higher education is an excellent model to follow. We don’t have to tell you that college tuition is expensive. We know it. You know it. Prospective students and their families know it. (Sound familiar?)

But colleges lean into the pricing discussion. Colleges are transparent about costs because helping people self-qualify helps everyone. But they don’t just list prices and leave it at that. They provide context. They demonstrate the value. They’re quick to point out information about financing and financial aid. (Here’s a great example.)

Think about how you might approach pricing if you leaned into it instead of turning away:

● You could discuss the ranges and what influences those ranges (like the size of the apartment home and its location).
● You could discuss how families successfully finance senior living. Include information and downloads that discuss long-term care insurance, how people can use life insurance policies to fund care, the Veterans Aid & Attendance benefit, etc.
● You could include testimonials from residents and their families who “found a way” and discovered it was much more doable than they initially thought.

Gosselin says context is essential. “Some operators are doing it pretty well. Some are not,” he explains. “And I think we do need to be more transparent about not only what it is that we charge people in terms of amounts, but what does that mean in terms of the services and the amenities and the care and the apartment that people are getting as well.”

If you don’t include pricing info (or you do, but it’s vague), people might leave your site feeling frustrated, which isn’t the experience you want them to have.

The Tour Experience

Yay! You’ve gotten a prospect to convert into the almighty tour. If you work in marketing, you might think your job is done. If you work in sales, you might think you could give tours in your sleep by now.

Both ways of thinking are problematic.

Remember, the tour allows you to differentiate your community from the “sea of sameness.” How you act, how you connect, how you listen—all those things will have a significant impact on the person experiencing the tour. Sales directors must always bring their A-game.

Gosselin says, “How are you defining that initial experience on the tour? What’s your tour path? How do you involve residents and other team members in the community as part of the tour, and how do you just stand out . . . how does the experience of the tour allow you to differentiate yourself from all the other tours that they’re taking?”

Sales directors should:

✔ Review all discovery notes about the prospect and their family. What’s the backstory? What activities are they interested in? Etc.
✔ Alert the front desk that someone is coming for a tour. Share the name so the front desk person can greet the person warmly.
✔ Pay attention to non-verbal gestures. The most effective sales directors know how to “read the room” and adjust accordingly. If the prospect is subdued and quiet, don’t go overboard with sunshine and rainbows. Meet the prospects where they are and build from there.
✔ Never be afraid to deviate. You might have a typical tour routine. For example, maybe you always point out the hair salon. Well, if you’re giving a tour to a bald man, maybe skip the salon and bring him to where folks gather to play chess or show him where he can borrow books or DVDs. You get the idea.

Need inspiration? Check out our on-demand “Red Carpet Tours” webinar, which discusses planning and executing the perfect tour. It’s free.

Keep in mind that pre- and post-tour tasks matter, too.

For example, when was the last time you audited the communication workflow that goes out after someone books a tour? What does the confirmation email say? Is it personal? How about the reminder emails? Are they generic, canned emails that simply say, “Reminder, you have a tour on May 12”? Or do they sound personal?

Which email below would get you excited?

Option 1

Dear Anita,

Reminder that you have a tour scheduled with ABC Community on May 12 at 2:00 p.m.

We look forward to seeing you then.

Best,
(Community Sales Director)

Option 2

Dear Anita,

We can’t wait to meet you on May 12 at 2:00 p.m. and show you around our vibrant community.

The flowers in our garden are in full bloom (you can take some clippings home if you like), and I know some of the “girls” in our community meet for bridge at 3:00. (You had mentioned that’s one of your favorite activities, so I want to make sure I introduce you.)

Looking forward to seeing you!

Best,
(Community Sales Director)

Your post-tour communications should be equally warm and personal—whether it’s an email, a phone call, a home visit, or a combination of all of the above. Again, think of it as creating a rich customer experience rather than simply checking off a box.

The Resident Experience

This is a hot-button issue for all of us at Senior Living SMART. Again, you might think the marketing and sales teams are off the hook once a deposit has been placed. You’ve done your job of capturing a prospect and turning that prospect into a resident.

But here’s the thing: That fantastic experience you created on the website and during the tour needs to extend through the move-in—and beyond.

Post-deposit experience

Anticipating everything a person needs before moving in is a great way to create a positive post-deposit experience.

● Do they need movers? Make introductions to your list of trusted vendors.
● Do they need help downsizing? Provide tip sheets or services that can help.
● Do they know where to go the day they move in? Who will be greeting them? Where should people park? Etc.

Howard says this is where the marketing team can step in and help. “We can leverage marketing automation to deliver a welcome letter,” she explains, “or automatically send packing tips and downsizing tips and moving resources and what to expect on day one.”

Move-in experience

What’s your community’s plan for making it a wonderful experience? Howard says it’s important to have a plan for the first 30 days—and that it could make sense for marketing to pick up the slack once again.

“We know how critical the first 30 days are,” she says. “Every week, you can deliver a little delight and surprise to a new resident. It could be something simple, like passes to the dining room for your family members or a gift card for the salon. It’s not that difficult to deliver flowers on day 30 and celebrate that first month. Because guess what? If you create raving fans, they’re going to leave great reviews, and they’re going to recommend your community to their friends . . . I feel like there’s a whole missed opportunity post-sale and really continuing those positive customer experiences.”

Move-out experience

At some point, residents—even happy ones—will leave. They might move into a higher level of care, move out, or pass away.

You might be wondering what sort of “customer” experience you’re supposed to create for someone who’s no longer there. But remember, the past resident still has family and friends. What’s the experience been like for them?

⮚ Do you make it easy for family members to gather all their loved one’s belongings?
⮚ Do you simplify the process of paying any outstanding bills and finalizing paperwork?
⮚ Do you have a workflow that allows you to stay in touch with family members? Perhaps a newsletter or publication designed specifically for family members of past residents.

You’d hate for the great experience a resident had to be sullied by a sloppy or impersonal move-out experience that the adult child had to endure, right?

Remember, family members of past residents can still make excellent referrals.

Gosselin says, “We are not like your typical business-to-consumer industry where it’s very transactional . . . And the other side of it is because we’re serving people for a longer time, it’s not like going into a hotel room and checking out of a hotel room. You hopefully will move in, you’ll have a great experience, and then you’ll move on, pass away, move to a higher level of care, whatever it might be. But I would say that I think we as an industry need to think more creatively based on how our business operates. And I think we need to do a better job at that.”

Ready to elevate your customer experience marketing?

We can help! We have compelling and creative campaigns and programs that we can customize for your community so that you can wow prospects, residents, and their families at every touchpoint. Get in touch, and let’s discuss how we can help.

Anyone who’s worked in senior living sales or marketing knows the tension that exists between the two. Marketing might say, “Hey, look at all the leads we’ve delivered. Why haven’t you closed more?” Meanwhile, the sales team often responds with, “These leads stink! They’re not qualified.”

Marketing and sales teams each play essential roles in driving senior living occupancy. This is why we must dial down the tension and find ways to encourage collaboration. To foster collaboration, everyone must understand two key points: who’s in charge of what and how to diagnose issues.

Below, we outline what marketing teams “own” and what sales teams “own.” Then, we provide tips for diagnosing senior living occupancy issues in each case.

What does marketing own?

Simply put, marketing owns lead generation.

⮚ Are you generating enough quality leads, meaning a good mix of sales-qualified leads (SQLs) and marketing-qualified leads (MQLs)?
⮚ Are the SQLs converting into tours and move-ins?
⮚ Are the MQLs advancing to sales-qualified status over time?

How can you tell if you have a lead gen problem?

Ask yourself the following questions to help diagnose a lead gen/marketing problem.

Where are most leads coming from? Understanding lead source attribution is critical. Your primary source of leads should come from organic search. Paid search takes the #2 spot. Direct traffic (which suggests an awareness of your brand) and referral traffic round out the top four. Read more about the difference between organic and paid search.

Are you bragging about lead volume, but the sales team still complains about lead quality? Listen to them! Too often, marketing teams point to the volume of leads generated rather than the quality. Quality trumps quantity every time. Think about it. Would you rather have 500 mediocre leads that don’t convert or languish in nurturing workflows? Or would you rather have 200 quality leads, half of which are sales-qualified and the other half marketing-qualified? It’s a no-brainer.

Are you dealing with website traffic issues? Traffic problems usually present themselves in one of two ways:

⮚ Not enough quality traffic to yield leads. You need a healthy amount of quality traffic to hit lead quotas for the sales team. Issues like poor optimization or lousy site performance can cause traffic problems. For example, Google might not even serve up your website if it isn’t secure or mobile-friendly. Use our instant website audit tool to evaluate potential problems.

⮚ High traffic, low conversions. Do you offer prospects plenty of conversion points related to where they are in their buying journey? Have you reviewed CTA performance? Do you use specific landing pages instead of a generic “contact us” form? Are you using third-party conversion tools, such as surveys, 3-D floor plans, and chat? All of these things matter and can make a huge difference in conversions. Check out specific strategies for turning website traffic into leads.

Are MQLs advancing to SQLs at an appropriate rate? You don’t want your marketing-qualified leads to wither on the vine. After appropriate nurturing, many of them should convert to SQLs (aim for anywhere between 25 to 40 percent).

How are your paid ads performing? Is your impression score greater than 10%? What is your conversion percentage and cost per conversion? Don’t throw money at paid search without a solid understanding of the ROI you should be getting. Read more about cost-per-lead benchmarks for senior living.

What does sales own?

Simply put, the sales team owns conversions.

⮚ What is your “speed to lead”?
⮚ Is your team converting inquiries to tours?
⮚ Is your team advancing tours to deposits/move-ins?
⮚ Are you underestimating the value of marketing-qualified leads?

Regarding that last point, the shorter the sales cycle, the shorter the length of stay, which means less revenue. Leads nurtured over a longer timeframe tend to reside in the community longer, resulting in more revenue. In other words, don’t dismiss the “not ready yet” marketing-qualified leads—or your marketing team’s efforts in producing and nurturing them. Many of our clients have over 50% of move-ins coming from MQLs.

How can you tell if you have a conversion problem?

Start by looking at how you score and segment leads. Bottom line: Not all leads are created equal. If you treat all leads the same, you’ll have trouble with conversions. This is where collaboration with (and respect for) marketing comes into play. Let marketing nurture the MQLs. The sales team should only focus on sales-qualified leads. Learn more about the biggest lead-scoring mistakes senior living marketers continue to make.

Review how quickly leads are responded to during business hours. The community that responds fastest to the initial inquiry tends to win. (That’s the reality. We can debate whether that’s fair some other time.) At LeadGenie, our outsourced senior living call center, we schedule 70% of our tours in the first hour and 95% in the first two days. How’s this possible? Simple: We answer 85% of sales calls within 30 seconds. Learn more about LeadGenie.

Review inquiry-to-tour conversions. Turn to sales benchmarking reports to get averages (download this free one from Aline). If your conversions are underperforming, this could be due to myriad reasons, such as poor lead response time, lack of discovery skills, lousy rapport, lack of empathy, problems overcoming objections, or simply not listening close enough to the prospect.

Review tour-to-deposit/move-in. Poor conversions could also be due to myriad reasons, such as a lack of planning/personalization of the tour experience, failure to secure a next step at the end of the tour, or lack of creative follow-up after the tour. Read these tips for converting tours to move-ins.

Review call-tracking data. How many sales calls go unanswered? Look at the time of day and day of the week when calls come in so you can ensure coverage at peak times. Listen to the calls to hear your prospects’ experience when they phone the community. Look for training opportunities for the front deck/concierge and the sales team. Check out why we love CallRail for call-tracking.

Review how the team handles other common types of leads. Let’s discuss three common subsets of leads and how to engage or re-engage them.

⮚ Leads that get stuck. Sometimes that once-hot SQL will stall in the pre-tour stage. Others might peter out in the post-tour stage. It’s the sales team’s job to work these leads. This is where creativity, collaboration with marketing, and marketing automation can come into play.

⮚ On-deck/generic leads. Some leads are unresponsive to sales outreach, and some CRMs might use generic-sounding status options for these leads, like “on deck,” “lead,” or “contact.” After several attempts, enroll these leads into a longer lead nurturing campaign and leverage marketing automation to stay in touch with these shy leads.

⮚ Lost but not disqualified leads. Some leads end up in the category of “lost but not disqualified.” These leads chose to stay at home, hire home care services, or move in with family. Continue to nurture them because, at some point, these prospects will likely need a more supportive environment than what family, home care, or adult day care can provide. Add these leads to a longer lead nurturing campaign so that when the next crisis arrives, your community will be top of mind.

Need help diagnosing senior living occupancy issues?

We can help diagnose the problem and align your marketing and sales teams. Get in touch and let’s discuss lead gen.

Third-party website tools and integrations can be an excellent way to elevate a prospect’s experience on your senior living website. The right products can boost engagement and conversions, but the key word here is “right.”

Below, we discuss what to consider when selecting and using these products as part of your senior living marketing strategy.

The primary question to ask when choosing a third-party website tool or integration

The following questions should always be in the back of your head as you consider different products:

• What’s the goal?
• What does success look like?
• How will you measure results?

But one over-arching question that encompasses all of the above is this: How does the tool fit into your strategy?

Remember, every good marketing decision begins with the right strategy to achieve your goals. Common goals include:

• Getting more leads in the pipeline
• Booking more tours
• Getting more phone calls
• Shortening the sales cycle
• Advancing marketing-qualified leads (MQLs) to sales-qualified leads (SQLs)

Your marketing toolbox should have various website tools to help achieve these outcomes. Here are some popular ones to consider—and how to get the most out of them.

Website Tools & Integrations to Consider

Surveys/Assessments & Decision Tools

When prospects visit a senior living community’s website, they often want to better understand their situation and determine which level of care is the best fit. Survey and assessment tools can help.

Some of these tools focus more on the clinical aspects of the decision (e.g., Roobrik), while others are more aligned with lifestyle and socialization preferences (e.g., Waypoint).

Surveys and assessment tools can work well as an initial conversion point, but we often find even better results when used in lead nurturing and marketing automation campaigns.

Where to use them:

• Place them strategically throughout the website.
• Use them on thank-you pages to advance prospects to take the next step.
• Link to them in your lead nurturing email campaigns to advance prospects into the next stage of their buying journey.

Chatbots, Live Chat, or Virtual Sales Assistants (VSAs)

These tools empower prospects to get information without speaking on the phone (or in person) with a sales rep. Our data shows that returning visitors are more likely to engage and convert using one of these tools and that chat is frequently the touch point that converts anonymous website visitors into contacts.

• AI-based tools can mimic humans and respond to frequently asked questions, freeing your sales team and front desk from having to repeatedly answer the same questions.
• Live human chat that connects more personally can elevate this experience even further. The prospect might feel more relaxed communicating through a screen (rather than on the phone or in person) while still appreciating that there’s an actual human on the other end of the exchange. This could be especially helpful for adult children researching communities on behalf of a parent. The adult child likely uses this form of communication for other tasks (like cable, banking, etc.).

The good news is that plenty of solid options exist, including SiteStaff Chat and Further.

• PRO TIP: Think about the experience you want to create. An AI chatbot is a different experience than a human interaction. A bot is better on a mobile device since typing entire conversations on a cell phone is difficult. However, human chat might be better for visitors using a desktop. You could also opt for a hybrid solution that combines human live chat during business hours for laptop users and AI bots for mobile visits to your website and after-hours coverage.

Call Tracking Tools

Call tracking tools like CallRail provide valuable insights, such as . . .

• Which marketing channels are making your phone ring
• How well your inbound sales calls are being managed (for example, answered vs. not answered)
• The quality of the sales interactions (which you can learn about by auditing recorded calls)

To get the most out of these tools, you must set up each marketing channel with a unique local phone number, monitor your dashboards, and audit calls regularly.

When you review the analytics, pay attention to the following items:

Call attribution. This will tell you which marketing channels and campaigns are generating phone calls. An important caveat: You must monitor calls to ensure you’re not wasting precious marketing dollars on generating calls from staff members, job seekers, vendors, or families trying to reach residents.

Missed opportunities. The dashboard should show you how many calls from your marketing channels go unanswered, are abandoned, or go to voicemail. Peak times often correspond with morning and lunch hours.

Call quality. Audit recorded calls to see how your sales reps interact with prospects. Things to listen for include the ability to build rapport, the percentage of time they spend talking vs. listening (the prospect should be speaking 70% of the time), how often the salesperson asks open-ended questions, and whether the salesperson tries to advance the prospect by offering them a tour, lunch, or an invite to an upcoming event.

Documentation. Go into your senior living CRM to see if the lead has been entered and if comprehensive notes summarizing the information gathered on the call exist.

• PRO TIP: Integrate your call-tracking tool with your marketing automation (like HubSpot) to enroll prospects into SMS lead nurturing and follow-up campaigns.

Bounced Lead Retargeting

“Not all who bounce are lost,” according to NaviStone, a software company that helps marketers drive growth to their brands. NaviStone’s research shows that 95% of all website visitors leave without taking action.

But with NaviStone, you can retarget prospects who bounce with personalized direct mail sent to their home address. Yes, you read that right: They can send snail mail to anonymous website visitors on your behalf. (About 70% of website visitors can be matched with physical snail mail addresses.)

This product empowers you to find your hidden market of anonymous visitors and bring them back to your community.

Marketing Automation

Every marketing channel and conversion tool becomes even more powerful when it integrates seamlessly with a marketing automation platform. Once prospects engage with a website conversion tool, your automation should send personalized follow-up communications as part of a lead nurturing workflow.

Why? Well, most conversions will be marketing-qualified leads (MQLs), meaning they’re not ready for a sales interaction yet. That’s OK. You still have an excellent opportunity to build your sales pipeline for future move-ins with MQLs.

• PRO TIP: We’ve found that tours scheduled through chat have a higher no-show rate than tours scheduled through calls. To reduce no-shows, create a workflow in your marketing automation platform that confirms the appointment, reminds them of the appointment, pushes the tour notification into the CRM, and alerts the salesperson to connect personally with the prospect pre-tour.

We’ve written extensively about marketing automation. Here are three articles to dive into next:

• Senior Living Marketing Automation: How to Choose
• 3 Surprising Benefits of Marketing Automation
• Marketing Automation for Senior Living: HubSpot vs. ActiveDEMAND/Enquire Map

A caveat about empowering leads to disqualify themselves

Early-stage marketing-qualified leads (MQLs) may just want a quick answer about the price to self-qualify or self-disqualify. Some web chat tools allow prospects to check “cannot afford” after the pricing is revealed and self-disqualify without ever speaking with a salesperson.

Is this what you want? Do you push all of these “cannot afford” leads into your CRM? Or do you only push over sales-qualified leads (SQLs) who are ready to tour or want to speak with sales? Are you sure that every prospect who self-disqualified using a bot understands potential funding resources (like the Veterans Aid & Attendance benefit)? Are you ready to let them go without any follow-up?

We had a client who converted seven “cannot afford” prospects into move-ins because we nurtured and educated them about available funding solutions they were unaware of.

• PRO TIP: Integrate your chat tool with your marketing automation platform. Segment your leads into SQLs and MQLs and create workflows for each.

Remember, website tools won’t increase your website traffic

One of the most important considerations when choosing a new toy for your website is your website traffic volume. Website tools do not generate traffic. They only convert the traffic generated from search channels (organic, paid, direct, and referred).

Only a small percentage of your website visitors will engage with these tools. If your site doesn’t get a lot of traffic, you’ll have fewer conversions. You should address that issue before you focus too much on adding bells and whistles to your site.

And guess what? We can help with that. Contact us to discuss your senior living website strategy.