Here's a riddle for you…

Their numbers amass more than 40 percent of the U.S. population…

They account for over 70 percent of the U.S. net worth…

In the next 15 years their numbers will grow by a staggering 82%…

And they’re largely forgotten on the 'Net!

Who are they?

If you guessed Baby Boomers and seniors… you’re right!

Here are a few more surprising facts about this largely untapped goldmine!

According to a recent study by ThirdAge Inc. and JWT BOOM over 72% of older Internet users have a Broadband connection (significantly higher than the national average)…

A full 82% of them are researching or reading health and wellness information online for themselves and their families…

They’re currently spending over $7 billion online each year…

And according to Jupiter Research, seniors aged 65 and older are one of the fastest growing segments of the online population… 39 percent of all seniors in the U.S. will regularly access the Internet by the end of this year! By 2010 that will grow to 50 percent!

And that most coveted web demographic 18-40 year old Gen-X and Gen-Y… their populations combined will grow a measly 3 percent!

So What are Boomers and Seniors Doing on the Web?

They're seeking out information… if you’re an information publisher in the health and wellness or financial arenas take note – you can no longer afford to put off sustained web marketing efforts…

They’re staying in touch with family and friends and responding to offers by e-mail… It’s more important than ever for all businesses to start collecting e-mail addresses whenever possible and start a consistent e-mail dialog with your customers… and don’t forget to invite offline customers to subscribe to your newsletters or opt-in to receive your special offers… that is hands-down the fastest way to grow your list.

They’re shopping and researching products before they purchase offline… An easy-to-navigate website is no longer a marketing luxury – it’s a necessity for businesses of all types and sizes down to the local pizza shop or auto-repair… the website has replaced the brochure when it comes to small business marketing.

What Aren’t Boomers and Seniors Doing on the Web?

They’re not perusing the latest hot video on YouTube…

They’re not pouring their guts out on their personal blog…

They’re not playing the latest online video game…

They’re not downloading music.

5 Important Rules When Marketing to Seniors Online

1. Keep it Simple – Older web users aren’t as adept at navigating the web as the under 40 crowd. Excess navigation, lengthy downloads and multi-media such as audio and video become extremely confusing for a group that isn’t even hip to web lingo such as URL, minimize or toolbar. And the older the user the more likely they are to have usability issues.
   
   
2. Credibility is Key – Older web users are extremely skeptical or “trust challenged.” Although this group is increasingly web-savvy and routinely goes online, they doubt the credibility of the information they find on the Internet. This is extremely true of the most popular web category – health and wellness information.
   
   It is extremely important to establish a relationship with your prospects and highlight your credibility right up front by detailing your expertise, years of experience, degrees and professional certifications, years in business, etc.
   
   Testimonials, photos of your location and employees (if possible), all product guarantees, security logos and full contact information and phone numbers need to be prominently displayed to win their trust.
   
   
3. Oh No, I Broke It! – As ridiculous as it may sound, taking action such as clicking from page to page and clicking through to your shopping cart may scare the average senior web user. Many fear breaking something. It becomes more important than ever to walk your older prospects (or any prospect for that matter) step-by-step through the buying process.
   
   Simple 1-2-3 or A-B-C instructions work great in this regard. Letting them know what happens next after they click a button or what comes next in the process before they take an action or order your product and how long a process may take will go a long way in guiding them to where you want them to end up – your order page.
   
   
4. Honey, Get Me My Glasses – Not all older people have problems with their vision, but many do. It is important to keep this in mind when designing your web site. Go for larger font sizes and avoid large blocks of reverse type (white on a black or dark colored background). Design your pages with a heavy contrast between the type and the background color… black type on a white background provides the most contrast.
   
   Use a scalable font that enables users to increase/decrease text size using the browser functions (View>Text Size>Larger). Or better yet, provide an obvious way for older users to increase text size, like a visible button.
   
   And lastly, be consistent with action buttons or links keeping them the same size and color … such as a hyperlink always being blue with a blue underline.
   
   
5. I Don’t Look Like That! – Visual imagery is extremely important to any website. As they say a picture is worth a thousand words… so show me a picture (or 10) of what I might look like after using your product – happier, healthier, slimmer, wealthier or more active and mobile.
   
   While it would be inappropriate (and just plain dumb) to show photos of slim 20-somethings on a site geared toward older prospects, it is equally as deadly to depict images of folks actually older than your core demographic. A safe bet is to aim to show a variety of images of active people approximately 10 years younger than your core demographic.

A Quick Note About Offline Marketing Before We Go…

Your older prospects grew up in the age of traditional media. The oldest boomers and all of the seniors were kids when the television was invented. They rely on traditional offline media for much of their information and therefore it heavily sways their buying decisions. Look to use offline media to bring older prospect to the web.

• 92% have read about a web site in a print article and then visited it online…
  
  
• 89% have seen a print ad and later visited an online store…
  
  
• 83% have seen a web site advertised on television and later visited in online…
  
  
• And 65% will visit a web site address after hearing it on a radio.

These are surprisingly high numbers and make it that much more crucial for you to include your web address and information about your free e-zine in everything you do.

It may be sexy to build and market websites to young, hip users on the cusp of all the latest technology and dream of being the next big, young internet mogul after your big Google buyout… but that’s just not realistic. Me? I prefer a sure thing and to follow the money… you’ll find me hanging with the old folks! And my guess is we’ll be partying together for years to come!

What do you think? What are some ways you’re tapping into the Boomer and senior market online? Are you marketing a business that caters strictly to the older demographic? If so, tell us about it!

Hope that helped and stay tuned…

Because next week we’ll talk about optimizing your shopping cart to increase conversions and lower your abandonment rate!

Until next week,

Julie McManus
Associate Editor, THE TOTAL PACKAGE™
And Web Media Goddess

The Total Package
www.makepeacetotalpackage.com