Today, more than ever, seniors and their families are researching senior housing options online.
Your prospects are heading to Google, searching terms like “assisted living,” “independent living,” and “nursing home,” and comparing their options. They may be looking at local communities, or they may be seeking retirement housing across the country, perhaps near family or in their favorite city.
Regardless of how they’re finding your senior living community online, the big question your sales and marketing team should be asking is, “What will inspire them to give us their contact information once they land on our website?”
Here are four tips for generating more, faster and better senior living leads online:
1. Keep your webforms as short as possible, only requiring the information essential for following up.
In most cases, the longer a webform is, the lower the form’s conversion rate. In other words, people are less likely to complete forms that ask for too much information. We recommend starting with a form that only includes first name, last name, phone number and ZIP code. This basic information tells you who submitted the form, how you can reach them, and where they live.
Most online forms also require email addresses. We’ve found, however, that many seniors still either don’t have email accounts or are reluctant to provide their email addresses. But do some testing to see what works! And this brings us to our next tip…
2. Do A/B testing on your webforms.
Try different copy, different button colors and sizes, different calls to action. Keep track of your data and results so you can report your findings both to your team.
3. Separate yourself from your senior living competition by offering something of value.
While your competitors in the senior living space are trying to get leads through “Sign up for a tour!” webforms, you should consider a giveaway, either digital (as a PDF) or physical (as a mailed gift). The giveaway must be valuable to the senior or family member — something they’ll give their phone number or email address in exchange for.
4. Craft a smart thank-you page.
So you have the webform: the compelling copy, the right form fields, the bright-colored button. Now what? It’s time to focus on the thank-you page. Too many companies’ thank-you pages are dead ends for the web user.
Instead of the standard “Thank you for submitting this form. We’ll contact you shortly,” carefully think about what you want the visitor’s next step to be. Like your Facebook page? Share a video about your community? Read your latest blog posts? Keep the user engaged on your site — at least for the time it takes you to pick up the phone and make your first personal point of contact with this lead.
For more information on how to generate more qualified leads, contact Tim Bracken at 410-207-0013.