Marketers Plugging In to Wired Seniors. Are You?

While many older people are taking to the Internet as though they were born with a mouse in their hand, others still find it foreign—and aren’t quite sure how to begin learning the language.

Ask Elizabeth Isele. In the past few years her not-for-profit organization, CyberSeniors (www.cyberseniors.org or 888-676-6622), has trained more than 15,000 seniors in 14 states, teaching them how to navigate the Web like computer-savvy teenagers-or at least well enough to research basic health information.

“This is not just another bingo game,” says Isele, referring to CyberSeniors. “It’s all about bringing seniors out of isolation so they can learn from one another. The whole process of community learning, of keeping brains engaged, is going to keep seniors healthy and independent longer.” (Bruno)

Non-Profits are not the only segment to take advantage of this demographic. Marketing firms are also starting to pay attention to the trend. New York research firm eMarketer.com has seven (web) pages of links to data, statistics, and articles related to aging and internet use.

Selling technology to technophobes may not seem like smartest business strategy, but when the technophobes in question are the 100 million baby boomers and seniors in the U.S., bridging the technology gap starts to look like a real market opportunity.

For mobile-industry veteran Arlene Harris, the opportunity was too good to pass up. Harris is the mastermind behind Jitterbug, a company launched last October that combines a unique mobile phone (designed by Jitterbug and manufactured by Samsung) with a suite of services designed to meet the needs of older users. (Garrett, 2007)

The wave of Boomers is not limited to the U.S., according to United Kingdom marketing firm Marketing Pilgrim. “Silver Surfers” aged 55+ are poised to become the largest age demographic of Internet users in the UK. Heather Hopkins, VP of Research for Hitwise UK reports that this population segment has grown 54% over the last two years, now composting (sic) 29% of the Internet usage in the UK. (McCullom, 2007)

In light of this, you might ask these questions:

• Am I missing out on the explosive growth of “wired seniors”
• Is my business prepared for the “Silver Tsunami”?
• Is it time for my “brick & mortar” to go online?
• Do “Silver Surfers” find my web presence appealing?
• Can they find it at all?
• Is my web site design accessible to seniors?

I’ll be happy to discuss the answers with you.

Ken Ivey

Works Cited

Bruno, M. (n.d.). If the Shoe Fits, Boot Up. Retrieved August 27, 2007, from AARP.org: http://www.aarp.org/about_aarp/nrta/livelearn/archive/a2003-11-18-bootup.html

Garrett, J. J. (2007, May 29). A Cell Phone for Baby Boomers. Retrieved August 27, 2007, from Businessweek:http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/content/may2007/id20070529_644980.htm?
chan=innovation_innovation+%2B+design_service+innovation

McCullom, J. (2007, May 18). Seniors to Take Over Internet Usage in UK. Retrieved August 27, 2007, from Marketing Pilgrim:http://www.marketingpilgrim.com/2007/05/seniors-to-take-over-internet-usage-in-the-uk.html

You may also like...

• What are Wired Seniors doing online?
• Explosive Growth of Wired Seniors Presents Opportunity