Baby Boomers control over half of the wealth in the United States – and many of them are opting to spend their accumulated wealth during retirement instead of saving it and handing it down to their children or other family members.
Baby Boomers are spending more money than ever before – on real estate, travel, health products, and insurance as well as high ticket luxury items like jewelry and clothing – there’s plenty of scope for retailers to cash in on this highly lucrative opportunity.
However, many online retailers and brick and mortar stores make a number of mistakes in the marketing of their products to this particular demographic, resulting in a lot of cash left on the table.
In some cases – particularly with e-commerce – Baby Boomers are practically ignored as a potential target market altogether, mainly because many online retailers don’t believe older people are tech-savvy enough to make purchases online, but this is rarely the case.
Why Are Boomers Great Online Customers?
Despite the stereotype about Baby Boomers not being good with tech, over half of Americans aged 50 and over have made a purchase online – and there are many reasons why Boomers can make great customers for an online business.
Firstly, research has found Baby Boomers to be more open to trying a new brand than other generations, so they can be a particularly lucrative audience to target by companies that are up and coming and aren’t quite as established as some of their competitors.
Furthermore, when satisfied with a product, Baby Boomers tend to be more loyal than younger customers, so their lifetime value can be very high as they can easily become repeat buyers.
Tips to Successfully Market to Boomers
Marketing to Baby Boomers can be very challenging, especially for people who aren’t Boomers themselves and don’t understand their needs and preferences.
Perhaps the most important thing to always keep in mind is Boomers don’t like to be perceived or presented as old in marketing campaigns, so be sure not to use too many stock photos of smiling old people in your marketing efforts!
At the same time, you need to remember that they are ultimately a very different demographic to other customers, so your marketing does need to be tweaked appropriately. For example, where possible, you should try to focus your campaigns on things Boomers care about and value, like family and forging long-lasting memories.
It would help if you also tried to convey your brand ethos or other messages in clear terms, and it’s also a good idea to make use of slightly larger text and fewer images.
Lastly, as already mentioned, Baby Boomers can make very loyal customers so long as you provide an excellent product or service, but customer service is also very important to them.
So, you should try to provide helpful yet simple customer service both pre and post-sale, ideally with an actual human being (no bots please!) as older patrons have a clear preference for the former.
A Quick Summary
- Baby Boomers can be an immensely lucrative demographic for businesses to target, but many retailers miss out by completely ignoring them or not optimizing their marketing efforts appropriately.
- When targeting Boomers, businesses should avoid presenting them as old and instead focus on their needs and the things they care about.
- Good customer service is very important to older customers, and they have a clear preference for getting support from a human being instead of a bot.
- Ticking all of these boxes can give you an excellent chance of creating a loyal customer base made up of Boomers.
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