Build It (Smart) and They Will Convert: Senior Living Lead Generation Strategies That Work

Leads are the lifeblood of your sales pipeline. In an industry such as senior living, where visitors to your website are not necessarily looking to book a tour right away (or maybe not even in the next few months), simply capturing a lead is not enough. It is important to consistently engage with leads to keep them in the pipeline and move them down the funnel when they’re ready to convert.

This is easier said than done. With fierce competition and seniors not ready to fill out tour forms at the onset, how does a senior living community keep its pipeline growing?

Senior Housing News partnered with Conversion Logix to discuss smart lead strategies that make the most of a community’s marketing budget. With our own Executive Vice President of Sales, Jen Lovely, and Next Step Sales Management Owner and President, John Greaves, we uncovered the best ways to attract, nurture, and convert leads, along with valuable insights and effective tactics to boost lead generation and make better data-driven decisions.

Here are three of the most important lessons we learned from the session.

Lesson 1: Some prospects won’t engage with you right away. There are still ways to convert them into leads.

It’s a common problem for marketers: people visit their website but choose not to fill out any forms only to remain anonymous. Often, these prospects are not yet ready to engage in a sales conversation and are just looking for information. When this happens, engage on their terms. Provide them with a reason to keep coming back to your website, and finally, provide you with their information.

Jen shared the lead generation strategies she’s found to be the  most effective for generating quality leads:

• Events. Senior living prospects are trying to get a feel of what your community has to offer and who they will be living with once they move in. Events are a good way to showcase both.
• Soft conversion materials. Another good way to urge prospects to provide you with their information is to give them an incentive to do so. Launch promotional offers that let them redeem items or discounts. Give them downloadable brochures on topics that matter to them (i.e. a definition of the different service types, which ones fit them best, etc.). These let them know that you’re not just about the sale but that you care about what’s important to them.
• Video tour. While some prospects are not yet ready to book a tour and talk to a sales counselor, that doesn’t mean they don’t want to see your community. Allow them a peek at your amenities and give them a video tour. These can be very effective in letting them decide that yours is a community they can see themselves (or their parents) moving into and may speed up their decision to book an actual conversation with your sales team.

Jen mentioned that with just one of the three strategies she mentioned, Conversion Logis has seen a 12% lead-to-lease conversion rate. She also added the value of live chat applications in capturing quality leads. Even when the chats stay anonymous, they serve as trust builders that gain a prospect’s confidence to someday reveal their information to you. When personalized and integrated with a live agent, chatbots can also serve as an effective tool for delivering quick answers that entice a prospect to keep engaging with you. Jen reveals that Conversion Logix clients leveraging a chat service have seen a 70% chat-to-lead conversion rate.

John further elaborates on why chat is a great lead generation strategy, “All the copy we write on the website is a guess. We hope that what we’re writing connects with what they’re looking for. When you have that chat feature, you get much more specific about [what they] want to know…. You’ve upped the game in terms of your engagement with that individual prospect. You’re no longer guessing what they want to know. You’re responding to their direct question.”

Lesson 2: You’re not always going to get a “yes,” and a “maybe” may still be valuable.

Leads for a senior living community mostly stay on top of the funnel for quite some time. Some of the buyer personas, like the adult child of a future resident or an adult nearing senior age but not yet ready to move in look around to just initially see what each community has to offer. They will, therefore, have a lot of initial interactions with you – and those won’t always lead to a “yes.” 

John expounds, “You’re not going to get a ‘yes’ in many, many cases with these initial interactions. You’re gonna get a ‘maybe.’ And what we’re looking for from a behavioral standpoint, for a team standpoint, is how to extract some value out of this investment we’ve made to get a click or to get a lead. Even if I don’t get a yes, I can still get value from this. Even if I just know what their preferences are for reconnection at a future date.”

Reconnecting with your maybes in the future is very important, and having their data in your arsenal is always helpful. John adds, “You want to make sure [we are] doing everything we can in order to get that connection going.”

Lesson 3: Engaging with prospects is very important, and there are smart ways to do it.

Lead nurturing is an important part of any marketing job. However, some marketers find it very time-consuming. With automation, it shouldn’t be

Jen mentions that they are smart – and easy! — ways to automate the lead nurturing process, and it’s all about knowing what and how to automate.

Activating automated emails and SMS is probably one of the easiest ways to re-engage your prospects. They are pretty simple to set up, and they give your prospects a sense of reward for taking specific actions on your marketing efforts. Automated messages can boost lead generation by 44% when integrated into your strategies.

Retargeting ads are also a very effective strategy for increasing lead generation. Retargeting those who have already seen your website or your social media account is a good way to make them recall your community and give you a second glance.

Website automation is also a must. When prospects keep coming back to your site, it means there’s ample interest in your offering. Customize their experience on your website by automating based on how they’ve interacted with you before. Provide them with guide downloads, resource interactions, and even customized forms based on where they are in their customer journey. 

The good thing about all these smart ways of nurturing your leads is that they also serve to let your future residents know you CARE. You don’t provide them with generic information about your community. Customize content, letting them know you see them and are listening to their needs.

Build Your Sales Pipeline the Smart Way and Watch More Leads Convert

Effectively managing leads in the senior living industry requires a strategic and multifaceted approach. It’s not enough to simply capture leads; you must actively engage and nurture them throughout their journey. By employing targeted strategies such as hosting events, offering soft conversion materials, and providing video tours, you can create meaningful connections with your prospects. Utilizing tools like live chat and personalized chatbots further enhances engagement and trust.

Moreover, understanding that not all interactions will lead to an immediate “yes” is crucial. Valuing “maybes” and maintaining ongoing communication ensures that you remain top-of-mind when prospects are ready to make a decision. Automating lead nurturing processes through emails, SMS, retargeting ads, and website personalization can significantly boost lead generation and conversion rates while demonstrating genuine care for your future residents.

By integrating these smart strategies, senior living communities can optimize their marketing efforts, build stronger relationships with prospects, and ultimately drive more successful conversions.

Watch the full webinar with Jen Lovely and John Greaves.

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