do older people really use the internet? content strategy at a

Do old people actually use the internet?

OR: Content Strategy @ Age UK

By Rob Mansfield

A quick question…

What I’ll be talking about…

- Age UK? Who, what

- Some facts and figures

- How Age UK site evolved

- What I’ve learned

Age UK - Who, what, why?

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Age UK in 2013...

3 National Partners: Age Cymru, Age NI, Age Scotland

169 Local partners

2 financial services companies

470+ Age UK shops

500+ local friendship centres and older people’s forums

1 Biomedical research charity

1 International sister charity for overseas relief

Older people in the UK…

• There are now more people in the UK aged 60 and above than there are under 18

• There are 10.3 million people aged 65+ in the UK

• There are well over 21 million people aged 50 years and over, over a third of the total UK population

• There are now over 14m people in the UK aged 60+

• Over 1.4 million people are aged 85 or over

Source: ONS, April 2013

Older people on the internet…?

Over-55s are the dominant group in the UK, with more than 9m unique online visitors during 2012

Source: comScore 2013

BUT….

In the third quarter of 2012, 5.3m people aged 65+ have never been online

– 54% - Don't need Internet (not useful, not interesting, etc)

– 22% - Lack of skills– 15% - Equipment costs

too high

Source: ONS

What we used to look like

Age Concern and Help the Aged websites used to follow the standard IA of a charity website – internally focussed, rather than user-focussed.

After many months research, user testing, focus groups, etc, we decided to go down the user-centric route that exists now, based on our Information & Advice being the core reason people come to us, as a charity.

So we went topic-based...

We divvyed up our Information and Advice content (which is one of our Primary services) into relevant topic areas and based the core part of the site around that – our five pillars.

And we put most of the rest into other categories, such as Products & Get Involved…

We’re not a one-issue charity, which goes some way to explain reasons that people come to us…

What older people do online...

55+s now account for more than 20% of all people who go online. This reflects a growth of 11% during 2012.

From our own research, we know that:

68% of our users are aged 50+

41% of our users are aged 60+

Of our users aged 60+:

86% have bought something online

45% have downloaded software

32% have communicated on a forum or social network

On the Age UK site...

• 60% of users are looking for information: – Either for themselves– Or for someone they help care for

• 14% want to find out about a product• 13% for professional/academic reasons• 9% to donate/volunteer/support

Personas…

Brenda Bill Jean

A very simple strategy...

• To make our Information and Advice as clear, simple and accessible as possible

• To reaffirm our brand messages: we’re not about age, we’re about people

• To promote our key campaigns and services

• To promote our other products and raise income

I could show you the usual stuff now…

Case studies

Video

Blogs

Audio

News Infographics

Calculators

11 things I’ve learned about our users...

What we know about our users…

1. Money is their biggest concern

What we know about our users…

2. They don’t really like celebrities

What we know about our users…

3. They like in-depth content…

What we know about our users…

4. Rich media – naah, not so much

What we know about our users…

5. They like big, trusted brands

What we know about our users…

6. They hate advertising

What we know about our users…

7. They hate being stereotyped

I’m intelligent. I worked in the pharma industry for a long time. I can spot quackery at 10 paces

I feel really childish. I don’t want to feel old.”

I’ve got no interest in virtual friends. I know who my friends are.”

I buy almost everything online

What we know about our users…

8. They love to speak their mind

What we know about our users…

9. They love iPads

What we know about our users…

10. They do everything you do online...

...just a bit more slowly

11...and with a little less urgency

Where do we go next...?

• Better mobile

• Refine our tone of voice

• More case studies

• More about money

• Make care easier to understand

Any questions...?

uk.linkedin.com/in/robmansfield rob.mansfield@ageuk.org.uk

Twitter: @robram