What Baby Boomers Really Want from Ecommerce Sites
There’s a lot of focus on trying to market to younger generations. There have been countless pieces written about selling to millennials and other young people.
But for whatever reason, Baby Boomers seem often to be forgotten. While they’re not as flashy as their children and grandchildren, there’s no denying the importance of Boomers to the economy.
There are currently 75 million Boomers in the United States, holding about 70 percent of the disposable income. Ask yourself why you should be ignoring the age group that has the most wealth. Once you realize there’s no good answer to that question for your bottom line, here’s what Baby Boomers really want from ecommerce sites.
Offer Answers to Their Questions
They almost always want to get more information before making a purchase. For this reason, you need to make product details readily available on your site. You should approach this from several angles. First, make sure your product descriptions are up to par. They should all include things like weight, dimensions, shipping costs, materials, refund policies, and anything else that might be important to a consumer. However, you must also make it a point to answer their one key question; “What’s in this for me?” Sell the benefits in addition to the features.
Additionally, you need to make an effort to be reachable to Boomers. Boomers prefer email and phone contact when they need clarifications. A chat bot can also satisfy this function, though a lot of Boomers prefer to deal with a human being instead.
Easy, Intuitive Layout
While there’s a time and a place for artful website design, you probably don’t want to experiment when you’re trying to attract Baby Boomers. These people tend to prefer things to be presented in a straightforward fashion. Design for design’s sake can lead to non-intuitive navigation. This can confuse older users, who will abandon the site if it doesn’t make sense to them. You can use a free website template to get some great foundations for your ecommerce site. These produce store that are almost always very easy to use.
More Traditional Marketing
Your parents might be on Facebook. But that doesn’t mean they’re going to respond to ads on social media. Less than 20 percent of Instagram users are age 55 or older. The reality is that the Boomer generation just isn’t as comfortable with social media as their children and grandchildren. However, those who are, tend to prefer Facebook.
With that said, you’ll find you best tool to be email marketing when trying to attract Boomers to your ecommerce store. Older adults are typically receptive to receiving emails regarding promotions from businesses. Plus, email marketing tends to have a high ROI. This approach should be thoroughly considered when trying to connect with Boomers.
Make Security a Priority
While online security is important for all your customers, its value is increased more for Baby Boomers. As already stated, older users tend to not understand computers as well as younger ones. You need to make it clear that your site is secured. People won’t want to enter their credit card information if they feel that your site might not be safe. Give people of all ages some peace of mind by making your ecommerce store PCI compliant. Offering multiple payment methods and allowing people to pay without creating an account, are two more ways to boost confidence in your site.
When it comes to your profitability, this generation can still wield a lot of clout. Knowing what Baby Boomers really want from ecommerce sites—and giving it to them—is essential to getting their online business.