There’s no question that effective marketing is crucial for senior living providers. After all, it’s what helps us attract new residents and keep the doors of our communities open. But with so many marketing channels to choose from, how can you be sure which ones provide the best return on investment (ROI)?
Senior care requires expensive research for rewarding results, so if you’re looking to measure the success of your senior living marketing efforts, ask yourself the following questions.
Are potential residents and their families discovering your community and reaching out to you?
Look at the number of genuine and qualified leads that your marketing generates. An increase in the number of qualified people contacting your community is one sign that your marketing is working.
As the demand for senior living options increases, so does the need for reliable customer journey tracking methods, which observe the decision-making processes of potential residents and their families. We recommend tracking how many of your inquiries turn into tours or move-ins, which will give you a better idea of which marketing channels are providing the most qualified leads, through the following methods:
- Google Analytics — often paired with Google Ads — provides detailed reports about website traffic on specific pages and conversions from your ad campaigns.
- Social media platforms can integrate with your website, too; Meta Pixel, for example, can enable you to measure the results and website conversions of Facebook advertisements.
- Call tracking numbers can also measure the number of leads generated by your website, print materials, or emails.
- MailChimp offers insights about your email list’s open, click-through, unsubscribe, and conversion rates.
How many seniors have recently become residents of your community?
Look at your occupancy rates. If your occupancy rate is increasing, that’s a good indication that your marketing is paying off. You can also track other factors like length of stay and re-admit rates to get a complete picture of how well your community is performing from an operations perspective.
What do your future and current residents, their families, and associates say?
Another way to measure ROI in senior care is to conduct surveys for everyone involved in your community. These surveys can ask about satisfaction with the community, awareness of marketing campaigns, and other factors that can allow you to gauge the success of your work.
CRMs (customer relationship management software) can track leads and sales throughout each lead’s journey.
Social media sites like Facebook and review platforms such as Google My Business offer valuable information about what residents and their loved ones are saying about your community.
Chatbots are great ways to engage with seniors and their families on your website and get instant feedback. By implementing a chatbot on your website, you can guide them through the research and decision-making process and answer any questions they may have.
By monitoring all of these channels, you can better understand how seniors become residents and identify any issues that have originated from your marketing.
How are you tracking the connection between your expenses and profits?
If you regularly update a spreadsheet to track the costs of your marketing campaigns, compare it to your profits and resident satisfaction over time, especially if these have resulted from specific marketing campaigns. By closely examining your numbers and personalized feedback, you can get a better idea of which channels are providing the best return on investment.
Does your community follow up on its promises?
Whenever you advertise your community to your senior audience, you’re making a promise of your commitment to their care. If your team has seen a decline in positive feedback or a sudden stop to the customer journey at any stage, it may be beneficial to look at whatever stage is causing most seniors or their loved ones to turn away. You will then need to work with your team to find a solution, whether it relates to your marketing, customer service, or senior care.
Ultimately, however, there is no perfect way to measure ROI. Senior care, despite its many benefits to older adults, is impossible to describe through metrics. Instead, it centers around meaningful personal interactions that improve their overall quality of life.
The best approach for measurement is to use a combination of methods to get a well-rounded picture of your marketing campaigns’ success. By diversifying your measurement techniques, you’ll be able to make informed decisions about where to spend your marketing budget and ensure that your investment results in fulfilled residents and families.
Craft & Communicate is committed to helping independent living, assisted living, and memory care communities receive the maximum return on their marketing dollars. Learn how we can allocate more of your budget toward ensuring your residents spend their golden years in comfort and enjoyment.
