Care homes are increasingly modernising their assets to appeal to younger customers who may be making choices on behalf of family members. Jeremy Huband, head of healthcare at HSBC, explains what measures businesses can take to ensure first impressions count
A lot of my time is spent visiting current and prospective care home customers across the UK and my first impressions of those businesses are varied. The first thing I do, much like anyone looking to choose a care home these days, is research the environment and facilities online. This is the ‘shop window’ to the business and will give people a good idea of whether they would wish to send their family member there.
Some homes have terrific websites with videos, details of recent events and all the data and pictures you could wish for, while others have nothing at all. In this digital age, having an outdated, poorly functioning website will be the first turn off for potential customers, so it is an area worth paying some attention to.
Anecdotally, I have heard that a photo drives four times the number of enquiries to a care home, so having lots of strong imagery on the site will translate into physical visits to the home. Plus, many homes also take advantage of Facebook and Twitter, which can also drive footfall, so this is something else I’d encourage if there are the resources in place to keep social platforms up to date.
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