It’s time for the senior care industry to embrace the Feedback Economy. This means getting savvier about learning from all forms of customer feedback to improve the senior care experience. Why? Because the way residents and their loved ones search for and evaluate senior care has changed.

It’s no secret that the growing Baby Boomer population is creating a long-term increase in demand for senior care communities. As they evaluate their options, they’re more adept at using digital sources to research, and so are their increasingly Millennial-aged family members who help them make a long-term living decision

While these sources may make it easier for potential residents to find you, it also makes it easier for them to compare you. Reviews, star ratings, social media comments are now readily available, and often your potential residents’ first impression of your community. Consider this:

• 75% of senior care consumers start their research on Google.
• 83% of senior care consumers did not have one community in mind when starting their search.
• 82% of senior living community residents used online reviews during the selection process.

Join the Conversation Online

Welcome to the Feedback Economy! Powered by the conversations taking place online, this new realm can impact every touchpoint along  the digital customer journey. Thanks to digital, one person’s opinion of a business can ripple across the entire consumer landscape and live on as a permanent stamp of approval or badge of shame for the brand.

Other industries such as property management, automotive, and healthcare have become active participants in the Feedback Economy and are reaping the rewards of creating a deeper connection with their customers and prospects. They ask for reviews, respond to them, and learn from them. They engage with social media followers when they share feedback or simply ask questions. Simply put — these industry leaders are present online. 

Senior care providers can learn from these industries and leverage best practices to gain a competitive advantage in: 

• Improved business performance. Reputation senior care clients that actively encourage, respond to, and learn from reviews enjoy marked improvements in their Reputation Scores and millions of dollars in incremental revenue resulting from an increase in residents — in some cases $108,000 revenue gain per location per year.
• Improved online visibility. With the majority of searches beginning on Google, you want to be where your prospects are. Google states that high-quality, positive customer reviews can improve your business visibility. Managing and responding to reviews is one of the key ways you can improve your local search ranking 

How Senior Care Providers Can Win in the Feedback Economy

Gathering, analyzing, and learning from customer feedback data coming from different sources is overwhelming, especially with both positive and negative data points to comb through. But it’s a crucial exercise, as that feedback can help you drive business growth and identify room for improvement.

Here are some tips that can help senior care providers succeed in the Feedback Economy

Establish a Feedback Loop 

What do residents and families think about your community? Just ask. Leverage structured sources, like surveys, and unstructured channels, like social media comments to understand the sentiment of your community. Bring all of that feedback data into a single hub where you can more easily identify trends, key topics, and sentiment.  

It’s imperative that you create a feedback loop to let your customers know you’re listening and acting. If you receive a review, respond to, and learn from it. If a customer reports an issue, resolve it and let them know you’ve taken steps to prevent it from recurring. All of this builds trust and valuable word-of-mouth you can use to earn your next customer and retain existing ones.

Optimize for Google 

Since most searches begin on Google, that should be your priority. Learn which keywords or topics people use when searching for senior care providers and incorporate them in both your website and Google Business Profiles content. This can significantly improve your search ranking, making it easier for potential residents and their families to find you. 

Remember to include compelling visual content, like community photos and floorplans, along with useful information like options to tour and which insurances you accept. Since Business Profiles are also review hubs, senior care communities need to actively monitor reviews and respond.

Be Responsive with Technology

SMS text messaging has become the new email for most everyone, with more than 80% of people in the U.S. reading their texts within 15 minutes of receiving them. Consider a platform that consolidates all communications into one, centralized location where your team can quickly and easily respond to new messages or add automated responses for frequently asked questions. Having one place to engage with new leads and resident requests can improve satisfaction. 

Engage on Social Media

Social platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram are great sources of both real-time sentiment and customer acquisition. Keep all your social profiles updated. Respond to customer comments and use social listening to capture real-time feedback and trends about your brand, competitors, and industry.

Centralize Customer Experience (CX) Data

Consolidate CX data into a single view to make it easier to find valuable insights everywhere your customers are talking — from surveys, to reviews, and social media. Invest in a single automated platform to collect, house, and report public and private data to have a complete picture of customer sentiment. Funnel those insights to all customer-facing employees so that improvements can be made quickly.

Leverage Reputation as Your Partner For Success

Reputation can help you win in the Feedback Economy. Our platform transforms feedback from surveys, reviews, likes, listings, comments and clicks into fuel for business growth. Contact us to learn how we can help you.