Should You Market to Seniors Online?

According to a Pew Research Center’s 2006-2008 Internet and American Life Project Surveys, there are increased numbers of seniors becoming Internet users.  While half of all adults online are between the ages of 18 and 44, in 2008, 45 percent of seniors between the ages of 70 and 75 were online.  Conversely in 2005, this total was only 26 percent.  An impressive increase!

Further, a 2006 study from eMarketer discovered that 17.7 million Internet users aged 62 and over were also using the Internet.

It’s no surprise that email appears to be the favorite means of communication for 70 to 75 year olds.  Specifically reports find, almost 75 percent of people aged 64 and over use email.

Besides communicating via email, seniors are likely to use the Internet for research purposes.  Some of the topics that interest them include travel, health and fitness information, financial information, online news, religious information, and general hobby information.

Why is this information important to you?

Well, according to the Pew Research Center surveys 47 percent of all seniors online make purchases on the Internet. Perhaps more importantly, this group of people is quite financially affluent.  For instance, in a 2008 Focalyst and Dynamic Logic report (pdf), it was discovered that Internet users 62 years of age and up report an annual income  almost double that of their non-Internet user counterparts.  Moreover, the online users spent approximately $700 more than individuals who were not online.

How Then Should You Market to Seniors?

If you want to reach this niche and potentially lucrative audience, you should strive to keep things simple on your website. Here are some tips that will help you appeal to seniors:

• Ensure that the font on your website and emails are easy to read.  For instance, you should always use a dark font on a light background.
• Keep jargon and slang to a minimum.
• Trust is crucial. Make sure that you gain the trust of seniors by providing a well-written “About Us” section on your website and third party testimonials about your product or services.
• Link to other websites so that people who desire more information can easily find what they are looking for.
• Make the checkout process as simple and straightforward as possible.
• Consider creating a niche site for an older audience if you are worried about the problems involved with catering to both young people and older people.

Overall, while there may not be as many seniors online as younger people, the lucrative online senior market is relatively untapped and growing at a fast pace.