Communities

Survey Indicates Cost Remains the Most Critical Consideration in Choosing a Senior Living Facility

September 3, 2019

DALLAS, TX–Working Solutions, a leader in virtual contact center solutions, recently conducted a survey of several hundred of its customer service agents representing senior living facility. Responses confirmed that cost remains the most important consideration when selecting an assisted living home. The surprise open-ended response was that many prospective community members were anxious to bring their pets.

Conclusions suggested from respondents included:

  • Cost remains the most critical consideration in choosing a facility.
  • Technology for health (51%), security (56%) and adaptive abilities (55%) significantly outweighed the desire for technology for social purposes (29%).
  • Priorities pertaining to people and face-to-face relationships rated high and generally outstripped perceived importance of technology, including community dining/social activities (79%), travel and outings (64%), caring staff and volunteers (88%), and classes/ongoing learning (48%).
  • The #1 and #2 ranked top considerations for choosing a facility were cost and location, considerations that are important to family members making the decision for loved ones.
  • While the importance of caring staff and volunteers was rated ‘Very Important’ or ‘Important’ 88% of the time, it still ranked #3 in the overall buying decision, behind cost and location.
  • Lower ranked priorities were more relevant to residents’ preferences, including amenities, transportation and technology (#4, #5 & #6 respectively).
  • The desire to keep pets was the #1 unsolicited response for choosing a facility, followed by quality of food and cleanliness of the facility.
  • Some implications for businesses competing in the senior living facility market are:
    • Cost and location are givens and not negotiable among decision makers.
    • Competitive advantage can be gained by ensuring a qualified and caring staff, quality amenities, transportation and outings, and technology that supports health outcomes, security and adaptions for physical limitations, in that order of importance.
    • A clean, pet friendly facility with good food is a strong draw among decision makers.

Twenty-two years ago, Working Solutions began as an idea that sparked an entire industry—on-demand contact center outsourcing. With clients across the United States and in Canada, the company today is a recognized industry leader in distributed business process solutions. Its virtual network of more than 110,000 registered agents handles sales, customer care and tech support for diverse industries, including consumer services, travel and hospitality.

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