Baby Boomer Insights

JWTBoom Livewire conference offers marketers insights into boomers' online habits

Forget what you think you know about Boomers and their online activities. That's just one headline of the day.

I am in San Francisco at the invitation of JWTBoom, sponsor of the JWTBoom Livewire: A Summit. Today's summit was full of one great presentation after another. In fact, there was so much content, I'm going to write multiple entries, rather than try to summarize it all here.

Sharon Whiteley, CEO of ThirdAge, kicked off the morning with a sneak peak at some research that's so new, it just came out of the oven and was surrounded by steam. Seriously, she emphasized that the final data cuts weren't even complete, but it was already obvious some interesting trends were emerging, so she shared them with those of us at the media breakfast. By the way, ThirdAge teamed up with JWTBoom to conduct the research, which involved surveying 1,800 respondents, Here's the topline:

What's in: work-of-mouth sharing; experts and credible authorities; trusted brands; product research and online shopping; e-mail; broadband; privacy; health and wellness information.

What's out: social networking; blogs; podcasts; downloading and listening to music; group gaming,

She argues that what we hear and read about boomers embracing social networking and blogs is mostly hype. The survey showed that boomers use more traditional tools such as e-mail to keep in touch with friends, where they share everything from photos to life experiences. So while we boomers often have MySpace and Facebook accounts, it's not our preferred way to communicate. She also noted that boomers aren't at all turning away from blogs and podcasts, btw. It's just that they don't use that kind of language. When asked if they're interested in reading and hearing the opinions and insights of people like them, they indicated they were very interested. So the lesson for us all is that language is important when dealing with boomers.

Boomers embrace online marketing - selectively: they're open to marketing messages online but first they must trust the brand (so those that have been around a long time offline definitely have an advantage). The survey showed that 75% of respondents that have received promotional emails about products and services clicked through to the site being promoted. More than 55% have purchased a product or service promoted.

Not surprisingly, boomers most trust the content of web sites of brands they already trust offline. Some 83% said the content had to be attributed to experts, authorities or authoirities with subject matter crediblity.And when boomers do trust your brand, they're as likely, if not more so, than younger people to share product news with their friends. So, keep in mind the importance of using consumer product reviews on your site!

One thing we see confirmed in many studies also came out here: boomers are a powerful bunch. Today, the 78 million boomers control 83% of consumer spendng, And boomer spending will increase $800 billion to over $4.6 trillion by 2015.

Stay tuned for more information from this study. Meanwhile, visit the recently revamped ThirdAge web site. It's great!  

How wealthy consumers use social networks online: marketers should pay attention to their specific requests

Recently, I've noticed a huge uptick in the number of sites that let you "opt out" of having your information shared with others. In other words, you have to specifically tell the wizard behind the curtain that s/he CANNOT share your information; otherwise, you've totally lost control over who sees your data and acts on it. Your life is for sale.

Well, listen up, marketers. If you're targeting wealthy consumers, just know that according to a recent WealthSurvey by the Luxury Institute, 65% of wealthy consumers hate having to opt out. What's more, they'll disconnect from a site they believe will use their personal data without their permission.

No big deal, right? It's not like wealthy people (and boomers make up a large portion of this group) hang out in social networks.

Wait! Not so fast! It turns out that these wealthy Americans (those with an average income of $287k and an average net worth of $2.1 million) have membership in 2.8 social networks with an average of 110 connections. That means we've seen a huge increase in the number of wealthy consumers using social networks  -- from 27% in 2007 to 60% in 2008. Moreover, the number of wealthy consumers 55+ using social networks has grown five-fold to 49%.

I've seen evidence of this firsthand. The number of people in these categories who have reached out to me via this blog or through LinkedIn (the second most popular social networking site for the weathy, behind MySpace) has grown tremendously just in the past six months. I'm often pleasantly surprised to learn who's online and wanting to connect.

It seems almost counterintuitive that "rich" people would be online. Someone asked me recently, "Don't they have people who do that for them?" I replied, "Sometimes. But often they have 'their people' doing other things, which frees them up to spend more time online."

Whatever their motivation, marketers need to keep in mind that reaching wealthy consumers isn't all about exclusive events, parties and fancy direct mail. Check out the Luxury Institute site, by the way, to learn even more about the expectations of the wealthy.

Here's the bottom line: you can no longer assume you know how boomers and especially wealthy ones, think and act. That's why my company spends so much effort helping companies identify their Bull's-eye Boomer (tm). After all, why spend a fortune just to hit the outside rings when there's plenty of data now to help hit the bull's-eye every time?

Tornadoes hit Atlanta: Boomers turn to local news for coverage

By now you have seen the countless videos, pictures and stories about the tornado that touched down in downtown Atlanta Friday night. How did you find out? Chances are, the generation you're in made some difference in how you learned about the news and how you've kept up with the aftermath.

Tornadoes rarely hit metropolitan areas, especially on densely populated streets full of high-rise buildings, but this one was a doozy and left downtown Atlanta a mess. Thankfully, Edelman's offices on the 29th floor of Centennial Tower overlooking the trashed Centennial Olympic Park made out OK under the circumstances.

My husband and I learned the news from WSB TV. We kept the TV on  - tuned to local stations, rather than CNN or the Weather Channel -  almost around the clock through this morning, watching for updates and learning all kinds of new things from meteorologists armed with the latest in 3D technology.

Meanwhile, my youngest daughter (18) learned the news about the tornado when someone texted her on her cell phone, then sent some video. My oldest daughter (22) heard about it from a friend she was visiting, who got an email on her Blackberry from a friend whose mother had called her. To my knowledge, none of these young people have turned to television for their ongoing news. Instead, they've relied on radio, the Internet, text messages and voice messages from their universities.

While I want to know every last detail (and have been very frustrated by the lack of TV footage of my office building), my Gen Y daughters are satisfied to know just enough to be in the know at a surface level. If they want an update, they'll seek it out, usually by going to CNN.com. Tuning into the 11:00  p.m. news for updates ranks right up there with sliding down the dinosaur's tail when the bird whistle blows.

None of this surprises me, especially after seeing the results of the 2007 Boomer Insights Study by Edelman and Strategy One. In it, we learned that Boomer men prefer local evening news while Boomer women want to catch the morning shows. Boomer women seek the feature-type stories that tell about a rescued baby or how a handicapped person was cared for during the tornado, while Boomer men want to know what's being done, how long will it take and what's the likelihood of this happening again.

In other words, the classic "give me the information and I'll draw my own conclusions" is the male perspective. Females want to feel good and reassured that all is well. We both want to get the news from sources we trust, such as local papers, news anchors and "people like me." We like knowing we can find out more if we want by going online, but for the most part, we're more interested in hearing news from the same people who have been delivering it for years.

Think about the implications of this. It's risky to think you can get your messages to Boomers by putting all your efforts into courting the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and BusinessWeek. Sure, we read them, but not as consistently nor as thoroughly as we consume local news. So don't blow off that local paper with a circulation of only 50,000 or a news station whose signal doesn't extend past four counties. You just may be missing your best opportunity to reach your target audience!

Tracking what you own: why home inventory software appeals to Boomers

I've been thinking about buying a new digital camera, especially after looking through some photo albums I treasure. I have always loved to take pictures, especially of my children, who by coincidence, happen to be the most beautiful girls in the world.

Anyway, I came across one album this weekend that really made me stop and think. It was a huge binder of photos I made years ago of all the big-ticket items in my house. I had done an inventory and had created a list of furniture, china, silver and treasured household itmes, including where they were purchased and their approximate worth. Suddenly, I realized the pictures were 7 years old and didn't include several major purchases we had made since then. They also didn't include many of the beautiful things, including antiques, that Ralph's mother gave us when she moved out of her estate home to a one bedroom apartment at St. George Village two years ago.

I confess I was also a bit red-faced at realizing I had never put the album into a safety vault, so if I had lost everything in a disaster, the album would have been included. Duh.

Then my mind jumped to the awful fire that caused my parents to have to move out of their home of 55 years in 2006 (it took six months to rebuild and they didn't salvage any furniture). Suddenly, I felt a sense of urgency to do something.

Like most Boomers, I turned to the Internet to search for better solutions than taking a video or snapping  pictures and putting them in an album. I was delighted by the number of inventory solutions I found.

KnowYourStuff.org is free downloadable inventory software and is a service of the Insurance Information Institute. There's also MakeLifeEasy.com, a service that guides you through all the steps of what to inventory, how to categorize it and it even lets you scan in receipts and appraisals. I also came across Vault24.com, a Swiss company that enables you - for a small monthly fee - to store all your inventory data online so you can access if on the web from anywhere, just in case you need to file a claim in the case of a natural disaster that requires you to move away quickly (as was the case with so many Katrina victims).  (By the way, for any cynics reading this, let me assure you none of these companies is an Edelman client - I found them randomly.)

This is a great example of the kind of service Boomers love. We like technology that helps us accomplish a specific task as much as we love any service that reduces stress and makes us more efficient.

Inventory software not only helps us keep up with our own things (which is also important when we start to downsize or decide to move) but it's a great way to keep up with our parents' things. Seems to me a web-based inventory with photos could be especially helpful to families scattered about when it comes time to divide up mom and dad's treasures.

My girls are still beautiful and when I buy a new camera I'll still take a lot of pictures of them, but you can bet I'll be all over this web-based inventory system as well. I'd love to hear from people who have used any of these - or other systems. Tell what your experience has been like!

Eons causes uproar by lowering the age of memership: Boomers resent younger members

I can remember when Eons first came online in August 2006. Touted as a place for Boomers to chat, swap ideas, stories and opinions, it seemed to be a great idea whose time had come. Apparently, it came and went pretty quickly.  For many, myself included, it has been a terrible disappointment.

In what many of its members now see as a "bait and switch" tactic, Eons has opened up its membership to allow pre-Boomers to join. We're not talking about letting a few Gen Xers in the back door either. No siree... now you can join Eons if you're the ripe old age of 13!  It's a last-ditch effort to stop the bleeding. After all, membership on the site has plummeted from 1.2 million in May 2007 to just 400,000  last month, according to Comscore. Despite the drop, Eons has still managed to secure venture capital money, apparently by insuring investors that membership will rise as soon as the kids get in the door.

The argument is seriously flawed. Yes, Boomers are on MySpace and Facebook, but the content on those sites crosses generations. Boomers went there because the kids invited them. Those sites have evolved over time as "catch-all" sites where the content is of interest to all age groups all the time. In fact, I'll bet there are more 50+ folks on MySpace and Facebook than on Eons.

The content on the Eons site is specifically for Boomers and up. I can't imagine any teenager wanting to be a member. 

From the comments I've seen at Eons, it looks like a lot of members agree with me. They want a space where they can interact with others like them. Boomers traditionally don't go online to just hang out, flirt, poke one another (and others) and just chit-chat. Their online time is spent more purposefully, according to research conducted by my company, Edelman, and Strategy One, our marketing research arm.

I hope this major boo-boo by Eons doesn't get interpreted as proof that Boomers aren't interested in social networking because that simply isn't true. On the contrary, Boomers see social networking as an opportunity to share their opinions and expertise. But, we want to do it on our terms - and that means choosing when and where to share information.

It's not unlike "active adult communities" where the residents have to be at least 55. It may seem silly - even foolish - to those who aren't in that age group, but what matters is what the people buying into the communities want. And just as people should be able to choose their neighbors, so too should they be able to live in a gated online community, so to speak.

Stay tuned. This situation will provide many lessons for us all.

Boomer research finds women go online for health information, share with others

My left heel has been bothering me a lot lately, so I did what most Boomer women do: I turned to the Internet to try and diagnose the problem.  Using only the term "heel pain," I learned from www.FootPhysicians.com that my problem could be anything from arthritis to Plantar Fasciitis, to a stress fracture or even a nerve problem.

The point is, it wasn't that long ago that I would have just called and made an appointment to see a doctor as soon as I experienced pain. Now, I do what most Boomer women do when it comes to health issues: I research the Internet first, ask my husband and friends what they think, then seek a doctor's help.

I thought maybe my research habits were unique to me until I saw the results of the Boomer Insights and Implications Study,  recently conducted by Edelman and Strategy One. Turns out that women Boomers say that when it comes to health issues,  they actively seek out advice from an extended social network.

Some 77% reported consulting experts, such as doctors. But 88% consult family members (a spouse, children, parents, siblings). Almost half (48%) consult friends and acquaintances for advice. A majority - 63% of us -- turn to the Internet for help.

So what do we do with all this information? Share, share, share. The study showed that a whopping 86% of females share health information face-to-face or on the phone, and 42% share our knowledge online and via e-mail.

By the way, we don't just do all this for our own conditions. We're looking for health information on behalf of our parents, spouses and kids as well. In other words, Boomer women are a huge target simply because of our tremendous influence across generations.

What does this mean to you? If your company offers a health  product or service for Boomers, understand that we are turning to you for information, not a sales message. We want web sites that are thorough, with links to related sources, are easy to read and understand, and are easy to navigate.

Also consider linking visitors to chat rooms or discussion forums where we can talk with others about our concerns and questions. In other words, think of us as information warriors who can help drive traffic to your site... because if you can satisfy us, we'll tell everyone we know about it!

Marketing to Boomers: I wanna hold your hand

I got a package in the mail today that has managed to tickle me and offend me all in one envelope! It's a direct mail piece promoting "Your PC Made Easy" (for Windows XP). I'm guessing the company that sent it, unsolicited, assumed I needed their help because I'm over whatever age they decided was too stupid or old to know how to use a PC.

I have no idea where IMP got my contact information, but they sure made some incorrect assumptions. According to the introduction letter, "Your PC Made Easy is made for people like you and me. No jargon. No complicated instructions. No fancy tasks you don't want." It goes on to extol the virtues of learning how to stay in touch with my grandkids (which I don't have) while also saving on phone bills by being able to chat online. (Psst... you can do that with Skype too!)

I'm guessing it'll be a few weeks before this course gets to texting, IMing and Twittering, if at all. And I won't hold my breath waiting for the information on Second Life.

Enclosed were four product cards to get me started. One explains what e-mail is (did you know that it has replaced personal letters for some people?); another walks me through how to write and print a letter using something called word processing software; still another is almost giddy in its description of the "drag and drop" function of moving files. The cards are colorful and just chock full of graphs and pictures, apparently to distract me from the nine point type. Needless to say, the photographs show happy silver-haired Boomers and Seniors, apparently delighted in their decision to get aboard the clue train.

Anyway, if I hurry and sign up within 10 days, I can start receiving valuable tips like "remember that while you're connected to the internet, your telephone line will be in use." And these pearls will  arrive on a CD, along with a binder where I can file each card for easy reference (magnifying glass not included). And what a deal! Only $12.95 every three weeks, plus shipping! Ironically, I can also sign up online at their web site to get the ball rolling. (Of course, I wouldn't do that... how would I possibly know how?)

I'm going to make some assumptions of my own now - about the company promoting this new offering. I assume they don't know that Boomers and Seniors are among the fastest growing group online today. In fact, according to a recent study conducted by Edelman and Strategy One, our company's market research company, 75% of Boomers have gone online in the past year to research an issue.

Another 48% signed an electronic petition and 44% contacted a politician online. And, by the way, we also have tremendous influence online because we love to share with family and friends information we have found on the 'net. Some 35% of us share through social networks, such as MySpace.com. In other words, we aren't luddites. 

As for our parents, the Seniors, don't count them out either. Many are asking their Boomer kids and Gen Y grandchildren to show then how to use  today's technology. I've certainly spent time bringing my 79-year-old mom up to date. One of the first things she did was go online and fill out the necessary forms to stop junk mail!

Marketing to Boomers online: we love to spend money, plan trips and influence others!

When my oldest daughter, Katy, graduates from the University of Georgia next weekend (with a degree in commercial real estate), we'll present her with a trip out of the country to somewhere she has never been. Just in case she reads this blog, I'm not revealing where she and her best friend are headed, but  I'm pretty darn certain they'll have a great time. (I've never been there myself, btw, but we boomers are like that - we indulge our kids first!)

I've had a lot of fun planning for the trip and managed to do the entire thing without ever talking with anyone. I found the resort online, booked the flights online, hired a car to pick them up at the airport, arranged to expand her cell service capabilities and even  alerted the bank that she'll be out of the country for a week so they don't deny her unusual debit card purchases (made with money I transferred into her account online). Of course, I've been teasing her with e-mails about the whole thing and she lovingly responds with text messages from her cell phone.

My point is simply this: marketers who continue to assume that they need only focus on Gen Y and Gen X in their online marketing are making a huge mistake. I confess during the entire process of planning Katy's trip, I found myself making quick decisions about what web sites I wanted to interact with and what service providers I was willing to send money to based on the experience I had with them online. Here's a tip for you web site developers: a page completely filled with "stuff" turns off Boomers, especially if the "stuff" is presented in nine-point type!

My insistence on finding and purchasing so much online isn't unusual for my generation. According to a recent report by E-Marketer.com, Boomers and seniors are frequently turning to online sources to do research and make purchases. And their significant economic clout is really starting to show in cyberspace. With an average household discretionary income holding steady at almost $30,000, Boomers have more money to spend online - and offline - than any other generation. And guess what? We're increasingly spending that money on booking online travel for ourselves! (Don't worry, Katy - Dad and I promise not to show up on your trip!) A big difference is we're looking to learn on the beach, not burn on the beach.

Boomers are not only getting - and staying - online, we're influencing seniors to do the same. In fact, the over-60 crowd is expected to grow from 17.5 million in 2006 to over 25 million by 2010. Unfortunately, too many marketers think that because this group largely retired before computers and high-speed internet access became the norm at home, there probably aren't very many who are online.

On the contrary, many find that now is the perfect time to learn a new skill like surfing the web. Many connect with their grandchildren on MySpace and Facebook.  Some are even looking online for opportunities to volunteer.

So, as you put together your 2008 communication and marketing plan for reaching Boomers, make sure you understand how we're changing and influencing online behavior or you may never get a shot at us! 

FirstSTREET provides role model for companies that want to snag Boomers who shop online

Well, in a couple of days it'll be Halloween. You know what that means: our mailboxes are being stuffed daily with Christmas catalogs. There's nothing like  shopping  while in sugar shock from "fun" sizes of Milky Way Midnight and Laffy Taffy, huh?

Count me among the growing number of Boomers who are increasingly turning to catalogs and online shopping sites to avoid going to the mall. Mind you, I still go to the mall, usually at 7 a.m. the day after Thanksgiving, but I don't buy much. I'm there for ideas and price comparisons. When I get home, I spend hours online looking for ways to get exactly what I want and have it delivered to my front door. It's getting easier to find online retail sites, but it's still rare to find one that really "gets" how to appeal to Boomers  (probably because too many retailers still think online shoppers are  20-somethings and 30-somethings).

This year, I'll be doing some shopping at FirstSTREET (marketing tag: For Boomers and Beyond). I heard about it from a friend and I'm telling all my friends. That's the first takeaway from this post: Boomers love word-of-mouth... we ask for opinions and we love sharing ours, so companies that want to target us need to get some Boomer advocates on their side.

What I love about FirstSTREET is that it has gadgets and innovative items I haven't yet seen in retail stores, probably because it's easier to introduce new products online than on shelves. That means there's a greater chance of finding something unique.

FirstSTREET is a great role model for how to develop an online shopping site that follows the thought pattern and habits of Boomers. Take the way they present products, for example. You can shop "for the grandchildren," "retro," "life stages" and much more. As a result, visitors are encouraged to spend more time on the site looking at recommendations and checking out products for our parents, as well as for ourselves.

The thought process behind selling to Boomers doesn't stop with the online offerings and ease of use of the web site, though.  One of the things I like most about FirstSTREET is that when they send instructions for items that require assembly, the type is large, the pictures are huge and the directions are pretty idiot-proof. My kind of assembly guide!

If you do have to call customer service, that's what you get - service. The reps have been trained to  be patient, respectful and helpful. (They also say "m'am" or "sir" which I could do without, but it beats "yeah" and "uh huh.")

In short, FirstSTREET has made a conscious decision to target Boomers and it's working. Rather than develop an online retail site that is "also" for Boomers, they put a stake in the ground and said, "we're going after this market and for once the others can catch up." Bravo!

This time next year, you'll be reading about a lot of copy-cat sites developed by retailers who decided to get on the clue train and embrace those of us who want to patronize companies that seem to want to do business with us.

Let me (and readers of this blog) know about other great shopping sites that target Boomers!

P.S. I have never worked with FirstSTREET in any capacity and am not attempting to drive traffic to its site because I - or Edelman - will benefit in any way. I just really like the site and love the word-of-mouth that it has created!

Having a "Senior Moment" or something else? Let's find a new name for these times that have nothing to do with being senior

I've been thinking about "senior moments" a lot this week, perhaps because I've been having a lot of them. First, let me say I think we need to find a new name for those times when we Boomers have a temporary lapse in memory, or we do something that shows not even a passing acquaintance with logic (like putting a wallet in the fridge). I'm thinking maybe we're undergoing "system maintenance."  After all, that's what the IT department calls it when they take the computer network down for a short time, rendering our processors temporarily unavailable.

I certainly find myself having  having more "system maintenance" moments since I turned 50. Just yesterday, in fact, I had two. First, I got dressed up on casual Friday, putting on a dressy fall jacket I hadn't worn yet this season. After admiring myself in the mirror, I hopped in the car and took off for work. The further I drove, the more uncomfortable I was. The cloth belt and buckle on the back of the jacket was digging into my back and making me crazy. When I got to where I was going, I got out and ran my hand along the back of my jacket to see if perhaps the buckle had gotten twisted. Imagine my surprise when a thick plastic coat hanger fell onto the ground!

That very afternoon when I got home, I noticed the trash can right in the middle of the driveway. I couldn't believe my husband had been so careless. He knows I like to coast right into the garage. Odder still, the garage door was already up, leading me to think he must be in the yard. So I blew the horn to summon him to move the can. No answer. Finally, I got out and rolled the can into the garage (fussing the entire time),.  As I was moving the can I said to myself, "Well, look at that! Ralph caulked the cracks in the driveway! That looks much better!" In synch with the last syllable, I felt my heel sink into fresh caulk. Now mind you, I still drove on into the garage without ever making the connection that the can was purposely placed to prevent me from doing exactly that!

As I entered the house, Ralph said, "I guess you saw I caulked the driveway and left the can out so you'd know not to drive into the garage." Oops.

These events got me to wondering if there were memory games available for Boomers, beyond the usual Solitaire. Sure enough, a quick Internet search revealed Senior Moments (With the clever ad tag, "You can't remember the last time you played a game like this!"). I also found Reminiscing, which advises right on the box top that you'll have a better chance of winning by selecting older players for your team. I like that.

The web site, Your Amazing Brain offers lots of games to test your memory and boost your memory skills. I bookmarked the site so I wouldn't forget where I found it. I'm going to try some of these exercises and see if they do any good. I'll let you know. But if I don't mention it again over the next several weeks, somebody remind me, please!

Meanwhile, let me know what you call your "senior moments."