The digital age or the information age, or indeed the digital revolution depending on your point of view, technically began in the 1980s. However, in mass market terms, it was corporate adoption of the internet in the mid to late 1990s and critically, the launch of the iPhone in 2007 which drove popular use of digital media.
On that basis, it is widely assumed that use of digital media is confined to the younger demographic, the digital natives, those aged under 30 years who have never known a world without the internet or younger still, those aged 16 or younger, who have never lived in a world without smartphones.
However, that’s no longer really the case. 93% of older people (defined by ACMA as 65 years and over) now have access to the internet at home, a 36% increase on 2017. Additionally, the devices used by older people to get online now more closely mirror the rest of society, with mobiles, tablets, and laptops, in that order, proving the most popular.
And what are these ‘older people’, these digital immigrants, doing online?
The same things the rest of us are doing – in the following order they are, checking their emails, banking, watching videos and then shopping.
They’re also embracing apps and social media and older Australians over index in their use of Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn and Pinterest and only heavily under index in their use of Instagram and TikTok .
So, what does this mean for brands?
In simple terms, you can reach this demographic online and with tried and tested methodologies.
However, brands shouldn’t forget, neglect, or patronise this demographic. Older Australian’s are our wealthiest generation and, in many cases, have disposable incomes like close to that of GenX households.
Facebook is arguably still the most successful participation based digital medium and continues to offer a cost-effective route to targeting consumers – who are increasingly older. 21.6% of all people aged 55+ are now regular Facebook users as this channel ages, and younger people are attracted to alternative mainstream channels, like Instagram and TikTok .
17.8% of people aged 55+ are also regular viewers of YouTube content, which from a brand perspective, creates a content opportunity, as older consumers are also more likely to research their purchases more thoroughly. They consider themselves more likely to be able to spot overt advertising and consider themselves less likely to fall for advertising gimmicks – it seems they believe that you can teach an old dog new tricks!
However, confirming the ‘old dog’ theory is the use of search by consumers aged 55+ who are less likely to adopt new tech, like voice search, and are more likely to be very specific in their search terms and indeed, focus on searching for specific URLs rather generic topics .
Equally, whilst there are huge opportunities for business in older Australians enjoying greater digital connectivity, there are still 7% or 300,000 (aged over 65) that don’t have access to the internet at home. From both a UX and a CX perspective, it remains important that brands targeting people aged over 55 years take this into consideration and offer analogue alternatives for both sales and customer services.