Who are the baby boomers? Anyone born around 1946 up to 1964 falls in this category, and they number over 76 million in the US. Two-thirds of these people are active on social media, and they actually spend more money on technology than people of other age groups. (Medical Marketing and Media)
If you’re a healthcare marketer, you want to reach this group with digital health services. In fact, it’s urgent! Baby boomers are having health problems more than previous generations. By 2030, it’s believed that a quarter of the baby boomers will have diabetes, almost half will have arthritis, and over a third will be obese. (Medical Marketing and Media)
It’s vital to reach this demographic with information that can be helpful for their conditions. Even now, baby boomers are communicating with their doctors via patient portals to look at health information, refill prescriptions, view test results and more. And over half of baby boomers said they would be open to virtual treatment options.
It’s clear that baby boomers search for health information online, and some are using wearable technology to improve health. Currently, 20% of baby boomers own a wearable health-tracking device, and they are not opposed to their doctor using the information to personalize their health care.
But the baby boomers aren’t as fond of using apps. But they’re not unlike others, in this respect. With around 165,000 health and fitness apps to choose from, they could simply be overwhelmed.
One pharma company, Pfizer, launched a program in 2012 to challenge people’s perceptions about aging. The “Get Old” program has at least 400,000 members in its online communities. They definitely have made an impact in this demographic group. Hopefully, more companies will follow suit. Because the baby boomers are definitely using digital technology. You don’t want to miss reaching half of your target audience because you neglect that aspect.