Assisted living and memory care providers spending major cash on Internet advertising may want to redirect their marketing to more traditional channels.
That’s because Internet inquiries only produce 12% of assisted living and memory care move-ins, according to the 2016 Senior Living Sales & Marketing Benchmarks report from Enquire Solutions. Prospective residents who first contact assisted living and memory care communities by phone, or at the behest of unpaid referral sources, more often end up moving into a community, the report says.
For the findings, the Colorado-based senior living CRM and call center solution analyzed more than 2 million leads from thousands of independent living, assisted living and memory care communities nationwide.
Unpaid referrals produce 40% of assisted living and memory care move-ins, the report notes. Call-ins produce 34% of assisted living and memory care move-ins, paid referrals produce 14% of move-ins, and web inquiries only produce 12% of move-ins.
In independent living, the breakdown is a bit different. Call-ins produce 45% of independent living move-ins, the report says. Unpaid referrals, meanwhile, produce 34% of independent living move-ins; web inquiries produce 16% of move-ins, and paid referrals produce 5% of move-ins.
It’s worth noting that prospective residents who call in to a senior housing community may have originally found the community on the Internet. In many cases, communities may not know if a caller searched online prior to their inquiry.
The more care a prospective resident requires, the less time they take to move into a community, the findings show. On average, the amount of time between a prospective resident’s initial inquiry and their move-in date is 165 days for independent living, 71 days for assisted living and 68 days for memory care.
Senior living sales teams also have to work a bit harder to seal the deal when prospective residents don’t require much care. It takes about 15 contacts, on average, to get an assisted living prospect to move in, the report says. That number falls to 12 contacts for memory care and 24 contacts for independent living.
Fall is a busy time for the senior living industry as a whole, the report notes. The largest percentage of inquiries—9.3%—take place in October, and the largest percentage of move-ins—10.3%—occur in September.
Written by Mary Kate Nelson
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