paper vs. digital: avoid ‘tearable’ communication
Someone recently told me that adults 65+ prefer paper. While this demographic may be more familiar with paper; paper does NOT rule. In fact, today’s older adults want the same valuable benefits that digital communication affords. Today’s consumer (residents and future residents of Life Plan Communities) want more personalization, greater convenience, more applicable data, and their own voice. Bi-directional communication answers their desires. Let’s lead with messaging that is equally as sophisticated as the people we serve.
One way to think of going paperless is to remember all of the industries who have already done so. For example, airlines (book online, use phone as ticket); banking (digital statements, online billing and payments); real estate (almost all transactions are online instead of mounds of paper in an attorney’s office); discovery (yellow page books vs. Google and other search engines), hospitality (online reviews of restaurants, hotel booking online, now phones opening hotel door); healthcare (huge paper charts vs. online communication, EMRs, care coordination).
Senior living has the opportunity to benefit too; in fact, we can lead the way in communicating WELL with older adults.
“At the same time America is graying, recent Pew Research Center surveys find that seniors are also moving towards more digitally connected lives. Today, 67% of seniors use the internet — a 55-percentage-point increase in just under two decades.” This number is likely much higher among the demographic living at Life Plan Communities.
Technology adoption rates also vary greatly by household income. Fully 87% of seniors living in households earning $75,000 or more a year say they have home broadband (Pew Research, 2017).
Personalization is the new frontier. Digitalization gives us the ability to individualize messaging with clarity, flexibility, and consistency. There is power in bi-directional communication.
And because I’m still a fan of beautiful stationery, it makes those notes and letters more special than ever.
#godigital #lifeplancommunity #ecowellness #wellzestalife #innovate
