Generational Differences In Technology Usage

The concept of marketing segmentation isn't new, but what may be new, is the idea of generational segments within the Medicare market. Until recently, messaging to the senior market has involved painting  a picture of a peaceful and relaxing retirement. The Silent Generation, born between 1925-1945, responded very favorably to this messaging. And many of the older Baby Boomers, born between 1946-1954, also respond well to this promise of peace, although not all.

The younger Baby Boomers have absolutely challenged the norm and the expectation of what it means to age, and they're not resonating with this ideal of retirement. They feel they're just getting started and respond best to the promise of adventure and exploration.  A 2018 Columbia University study found "considerable evidence for age-group dissociation" meaning today's older adults don't see themselves as old.  

And it's not just messaging that's changed with the younger Boomers. The tactics and channels have changed too. Whereas older Boomers still prefer word-of-mouth, traditional marketing, and in-person opportunities, like agents; younger Boomers prefer a transactional relationship that maximizes value and efficiency.

Another concept not widely considered in the Medicare market but certainly avant-garde, is messaging aimed towards Generation X and the Millennials. As the insurance space becomes increasingly more digital, it may be perceived as confusing or intimidating to aging-in seniors. In many cases, seniors are looking to their children and even their children's children to help them navigate online platforms and even the growing complexities of health insurance. Generation X is not the first generation to help their parents through the aging process, but they are the first generation to understand things that their parents may not. They're essentially taking the place of agents in some cases. This aspect of Medicare marketing is an under explored area of opportunity. There are some data points that can indicate whether you're interacting with a proxy, although this concept is in its infancy. Perhaps the greatest benefit of interacting with future generations as proxies is the opportunity to build  rapport and members for life.

Host: Hi, welcome to Episode 9, Generational Differences In Technology. Marcie Robinson-Caughey is with us today. Marcie’s been studying senior populations for 20 years. She began her career running senior community recreation programs, and a large part of that was marketing and messaging geared towards increasing registration. Today, Marcie is the Operations Manager for a Digital Outreach platform. Welcome Marcie.  

Marcie: Hey, I’m happy to be here.  

Host: Marcie, in your time marketing senior recreational programs, what did you learn that carries over into the Medicare Advantage space?  

Marcie: Well, 20 years ago, digital marketing didn’t really exist, especially in the senior market. So it was mostly traditional marketing strategies. Word of mouth was always the highest target, giving you the biggest return. If you could hook 1 or 2 influential seniors into attending an event at the senior center, they would spread it to friends at lunch, and that would help you get to your minimum number of participants. But, we noticed a shift in how the younger baby boomers were responding to being called seniors—they didn’t like it, and they wouldn’t come to the events because they didn’t identify as seniors. They felt like they were just getting started. This generation really challenges the norm and the expectation of what aging means. So we started naming events things like 50 and nifty or thriving and jiving at 60. The imagery shifted from passive/relaxing scenery to more adventurous explorations. This shift in messaging increased participation. This is when I realized there were generational segments within the senior population, and you couldn’t talk to everyone the same way.  

In the healthcare space it’s very similar, in your older generation of baby boomers, 80’s, in that range, still, it’s word of mouth. It’s a very loyal generation, the older baby boomers. They act more like their predecessors than the younger group of baby boomers do. When you’re talking to 75-85 year-olds, they respond really well to traditional marketing strategies. They like the tangible, like word of mouth, in-person opportunities, so they can actually see someone they are talking to and build a relatable relationship instead of a transactional relationship. The younger baby boomers are the opposite; they value the transactional relationship over the relatable ones, so they’re looking for what they can get out of something versus something that may enhance their golden years. The younger baby boomers want to know what’s the most efficient, what’s the price point, how are you going to treat me? What do I get out of all of this? So, you want to reach out to these two segments of baby boomers in different ways. For example, in the Medicare Advantage space, you want to talk to the younger boomers with messages that portray all of the extra benefits of being a Medicare Advantage member. Like Silver Sneakers, pharmacy programs, MedRecover, or telling them how they will save money or get reimbursements for things like COVID tests, masks, or healthy food purchases. The younger boomers are going to be attracted to these benefits because it’s something that meets the ME of them. It’s really putting those of us in this space in an interesting position because you have to do both traditional relationship building in order to gain the trust and loyalty of the older boomers, typically through agents, whereas with the younger boomers you have to look at them quick and furious—with emails, getting something in the mail, text messages, constantly reaching out in different ways to get them to consider switching what they already know or assuring them they’ve made the right choice already and they are getting everything they possibly could out of the plan they selected. And then you have Generation X that’s coming up. Most Gen Xers are just starting to reach that mid-fifties point. Gen X is a really small generation, but it’s a really diverse generation in how they act with technology how they buy things, and just their general perception of anything that is considered established. Gen X is the first generation to collectively question everything and not believe in the status quo. The reason why I’m bringing up Gen X is because they're the ones that are now looking after their parents, helping that subsection of older baby boomers and some in the younger generation of baby boomers, depending on their technological skills. They are the ones who are helping their parents find the right solutions for insurance. As the insurance space goes more digital and is more easily accessible on a digital platform, it becomes either more and more confusing or more and more intimidating to those that are older and they’re looking to their children and in some cases their children’s children, the Millennials, to help guide them and make sure they’re getting all of their questions answered. So that’s why it’s important to look at Gen X as well and cover their marketing space. They’re the ones sandwiched between being caregivers to their parents and their children. They’re used to using platforms to register their children for things online, they’re heavy Amazon users, they have deep trust in being able to make purchases online and trust the online transaction process. Gen Xers are less likely to use an agent, they’re self-sufficient. In the Medicare Advantage space, it’s important that we consider this generation as well.  

Host: That’s really interesting. Diving a little deeper into the messaging, how is the industry determining what that looks like?

Marcie: Technology today uses data science, machine learning, and behavioral AI. Health plans need to develop very specific messaging to different generational targets for acquisition to speak to them in the way they respond best. For older parts of the population, building on messages that generate loyalty and confidence, using information you already know, like maintaining provider relationships. But, Medicare Advantage marketing cannot be built on traditional marketing alone. I’ve demonstrated why traditional marketing is really important to the older segment of the population, but we also just talked about how the younger aspects of the population and their children are looking to digital channels for their information, and they prefer digital transactions. Now, there are some distinct advantages when you’re marketing in the digital realm. You’ve got this constant stream of data flowing in, and that really amps marketing up to be this fast-paced, ever-evolving turnstile of messaging that can really speak directly to the segment—and you can get a lot of information about your digital users based off of their behavioral activity online and very timely feedback on how your messaging is performing so you can adjust and iterate based on what’s working and what’s not.  

Now, it’s interesting with the younger baby boomers because they’re this independent group, fairly tech-savvy. They enjoy those transactional relationships, yet they need a place to voice their frustrations, like talking to a real human when they have questions or concerns. So, plans have to communicate that in their messaging. You know, “You have someone right here in your own state.”  

Going back to the loyalty of the older baby boomers, many plans don’t capitalize on group-to-individual conversions, and this is a mistake. This generation knows the plan, and they’re loyal, so it’s not a hard sell to get them to stay. But they have to know it’s an option for them. For the younger generation of boomers, the grass is always greener. They want to know they’re getting the best deal, they are going to shop around, and they might even switch around—so plans not only have to communicate the idea of familiarity but also have to show these members that they are getting the value by staying.  

Gen X is not the first Generation to help their parents. But, they are the first generation to understand things where their parents may not. In the past, when you got your insurance, you went to your agent, you did it when you were 18, you did it when you were 40, and you did it when you were 80. Agents were the ones to help guide you. Now agents aren’t used as much, and the internet has taken a front seat, and it’s a vast ocean of misinformation and a source of confusion for many. If you’re not being very direct with who you’re trying to target, you will miss them. This is why you have to include caregivers and family members in your targeting. This is an under-explored area. There is some data that can point to whether your messages are interacting with a proxy, like a caregiver of a younger family member, but we don’t yet have a good way to collect that information. If you know you’re talking to a caregiver, you’re going to talk to them very differently because someone who’s in that position is going to be looking at the process differently. It’s also an opportunity to communicate that your product understands them as a caregiver. It’s a good opportunity to build members for life because for those Gen Xers who are caregivers, this experience forces them to think forward for themselves.  

My mom is a younger baby boomer, she’s been a nurse her whole life and was a care manager for a health plan for ten years before she retired. Even for her, she didn’t realize Medicare Advantage was better for her. She went with a normal Medicare, paid her premium, and went on and on. I remember having a conversation with her and saying, “Mom, you really should look at Medicare Advantage.” And she’s like, “Well, it’s really a lot more money.” I was like, “Well, it’s really not. Especially when you look at what you get. And I said, just try it for a year, and see what you think. And she did; it worked with her budget because that was her biggest concern was the price point. And then she was shocked because she didn’t know she could get all these benefits. That sunk into me; she’s a classic baby boomer, so I should have realized that. She was a nurse and a care manager in the insurance space, so I just assumed she would understand. But that’s my point, is that if I had been seeing messaging, even though I’m not a caregiver per se, I do look out for my parents, if I had seen that messaging, I might have started a conversation about it.

Host: Yeah, that makes sense, marketing to Gen X and having segmentation based on each generation's unique attributes. That leaves me curious. As the younger generations age, these older generations aren’t part of the … population.  

Marcie: The word you're looking for is celestial transition.  

Host: OK, yes. That’s exactly what I was getting at. What do you predict is going to happen to the landscape of marketing as the majority of the Medicare Advantage population that understands and comfortably uses technology grows? Do you think traditional marketing will take a back seat to digital? Do you think agents will become a thing of the past?  

Marcie: While baby boomers are really embracing digital and social media. They use it to follow relatives, see pictures of their grandparents, but they also get their news there and follow political campaigns and celebrities. Research is showing they are using it for civic activities and now logins for different digital platforms that use social media login information as a quick way to log in—so the boomers are getting comfortable in this space. You are seeing this steady removal of in-person experiences, and obviously, the pandemic accelerated this trend. But I don’t know. I could also see a rebellion with the Gen Z group, the Zoomers. You know, they might claw back as they get older. If you think about their life experience with the pandemic forcing them to go to school online, schools were already adopting online platforms to deliver classwork and submit assignments. Many kids today have some kind of technology they use at school whether that’s a one-to-one laptop or tablet situation or they have it in their classrooms for use while they’re there. Then, take the fact that they get out less to see their friends in person— in favor of texting and social media interactions. They watch TV and play video games far more than any generation in history. Take me for example, when I grew up, the only TV shows worth watching came on between 7 am and 9 am on Saturday morning, there were no cell phones, and video games were in their infancy, so not everyone had it. This generation practically lives online. So I could see a rebellion where they start to demand more human experiences. But I definitely think that the remaining baby boomers, Gen X especially, and the millennials, collectively, will 100% prefer technology. A lot of them don’t want to be bothered with people, and they want to multi-task for speed and efficiency. So they can watch TV and pay their taxes while shopping for shoes.  

The important thing is adaptability. Plans need to constantly evaluate the data and metrics and make sure they don’t have blinders on—you know, the attitude of, “This is how we’ve always marketed to seniors.” They have to be aware of change and how to move with it.

Host: That’s a great point. That is the differentiator between successful businesses and those that sort of fall into obsolescence—you must adapt to the market. Marcie, this was a fascinating conversation that really changes how we look at the 65+ population. Not just for health plan marketing but really, daily interactions. It’s been great having you on today.  

Marcie: Anytime, this was fun!

Host: If you enjoyed this episode, follow on Apple podcast or Spotify, and share it with your colleagues. Sign up to get notified when monthly episodes are released. Thanks for listening.