Millions of seniors need nurturing to get them online

More and more seniors are turning to the internet for medical information, but recent research indicates that health marketers need to do more to earn trust and make the online experience suitable for the older generation.

by Helen Leggatt

An additional 27 percent of seniors (aged 50+) seeking medical information could be persuaded online if health marketers created easy to use, one-stop-shops tailored to their needs, reports MediaPost.

These are the suggestions of GroupM and Millward Brown following their recent research in to the attitudes of seniors (aged 50+) towards online health-related information.

The study identified four segments in to which a majority of seniors fell. The two largest segments comprise around 23.6 million seniors who, in one way or another, would utilize the internet, if it was easier to use or if a gatekeeper or caregiver could search for them. The two segments are dubbed “Senior Hopefuls” (13.1 million/15 percent), those who don’t go online but might be persuaded to if sites were simpler, and “Gatekeeper Users” (10.5 million/12 percent), who prefer not to use the internet without someone to search for them.

What both segments have in common is the senior’s desire to have a gatekeeper or caregiver to search the web for, or with them such is their lack of confidence.

Two other segments, namely the “Trust Challenged” (9.6 million/11 percent) and “Old School” (7.8 million/9 percent) are harder for marketers to reach. The “Trust Challenged”, although confident internet users, dismiss the credibility of online medical information. “Old School” seniors don’t go online at all, and find no use for the internet.