Senior living online lead providers Caring.com and SeniorHomes.com are joining forces, effective immediately, through a business combination agreement that will boost their presence in the market for senior living sales leads.
Under the agreement, terms for which were not disclosed, both sites will continue to operate under their respective brands, and they will now share back-end operations, allowing some senior living clients access to more leads.
“We hear from senior housing providers all the time that they would rather work with fewer Internet lead providers than more,” Caring.com CEO Andy Cohen told SHN. “We thought it would be easier if we joined forcer for operational synergies.”
Caring.com and SeniorHomes.com, based in San Mateo, Calif. and Seattle, respectively, will share some call center operations, among other efficiencies.
Senior living providers will see a growth in referrals, and those that work with both providers will have just one to work with instead of two.
“It will be an operational plus for those companies we are both working with currently,” Cohen said.
The decision is being driven in part by industry consolidation, and by market competition, its executives said.
“I think there will be providers consolidating as well,” Cohen said. “This is related. It makes sense the same way it makes sense for providers like Brookdale and Emeritus to merge. We are in a market where A Place for Mom is much larger [than either one company], and by joining forces, this allows just to catch up much more quickly.”
Caring.com, which was last year acquired by national financial services company Bankrate for $54 million, brings approximately 2 million visitors monthly while SeniorHomes.com averages around 350,000 visitors, which yield 7,000 screened leads and 2,000 screened leads, respectively. They aim to continue providing the same service to customers.
“We have for a long time felt the two companies are similar and we both want to provide a quality experience,” said Chris Rodde, co-founder and CEO of SeniorHomes.com. “We have similar cultures of helping people, and that will continue. We think it’s a great move to help us both.”
Written by Elizabeth Ecker