Baby Boomers are no strangers to technology and are currently buying and researching products online nearly as often as millennials. According to Nielsen research, older generations make up about 40% of total online shoppers and Baby Boomers are 10% of that number. If you are targeting that particular group, you need to be very specific in both your overall marketing campaign and online shop design.
How to Succeed in E-commerce When Targeting baby Boomers: Top 4 Tips
Forget about influencers and focus on brand quality
If your targeted audience is over 50, influencer marketing isn’t for you. Studies show that this type of marketing works effectively only for teens and people in their early 20s (Ecommerce Guide). Baby Boomers, on the other hand, put much more stock in brand reputation and product quality (Medium).
Focus your marketing campaign on showing off the quality of your products and the trustworthiness of the brands you work with. Be sure to include research, testimonials, and expert opinions into the ads. Consider including a detailed information package with this data into your email marketing campaign.
Make a readability-optimized website
When targeting Baby Boomers, you need a website that will provide excellent performance as well as a high level of readability. WordPress is, probably, the best platform for this kind of online shop because it’s extremely flexible. It’s also easy to find reliable hosting for WordPress that will give you an uptime of 99.9%. Remember that Baby Boomers prioritize quality and professionalism. A website that doesn’t crash, freeze-up, or takes ages to load is sure to make a positive impression. The result of this is a higher conversion rate.
The website itself also has to be designed for maximum readability. This includes:
- Prioritizing typography and use big, easy-to-read fonts.
- Removing distractions (abundance images, icons, buttons, etc.).
- Minimize the use of toggles.
- Cut the size of the pages so the users don’t need to scroll down for long.
- Display contact information on every page (consider adding a Callback button).
- Have all textual content checked with a readability tool like Readable.io.
- Be generous with coupons and special deals
About two-thirds of Baby Boomers are looking online for the best price and discount coupons (Inc.). The surprising thing is that this number is higher for the people who make over $100,000 a year as compared to those who make less.
If you want your eCommerce business to succeed, you should spread your coupons through popular platforms as well as by email. Note that Baby Boomers are much less likely to use social media for product research. This means you should focus on Google ads, press releases, and email marketing when trying to appeal to them. Word of mouth is also a very effective tool when marketing this group. Be sure to encourage reviews and establish a referral program for your customers.
Baby Boomers are the generation that seeks to establish a good relationship with a business. That’s one of the reasons why they are ready to pay more to a trustworthy brand. You can use this to enhance your customer loyalty and conversions by offering personalized specials and discounts. Delivering top-notch customer service should be your priority when dealing with Baby Boomers.
Give a face to your brand
As Baby Boomers want to connect, you need to put more focus on establishing a personal brand for your eCommerce business. Nowadays, the majority of online stores are nearly the same. The graphics might differ, but all of them run on the same basic principle. You open the catalog, then the product page, and complete the order form. There’s nothing personal about this.
You can easily fix that by posting a presentation video on the product page. However, you’ll need to make it personal, which means one of your staff or yourself should be in that video telling people about what an amazing thing this is and how to use it. Then you’ll need to include that person’s images on some other pages so the buyers see that it’s not just some random model.
What you should strive to accomplish is to make your business seem ‘real and relatable’. Note that you’ll also need to continue in the same vein with your customer support service. You should also consider adding a few ‘behind the scenes’ videos to your blog and Meet the Team page to your website.
E-commerce Business Targeting Baby Boomers: Final Thoughts
Baby Boomers aren’t the group of buyers who will be attracted by flashy ads and empty promises. If you want your online shop to succeed in selling to this target audience, you need to put a focus on quality and make sure your customers get 100% satisfaction from dealing with you. Encourage them to share those positive experiences and bring new customers to your door.
However, don’t forget that they will be as quick to share negative experiences. Therefore, you have to ensure your shop is always at its best and that your customer support is friendly, professional, and available 24/7.