Websites that seniors like create business benefits. Photo credit: paulinemwilson

Older Americans represent an enormous opportunity for marketers. The number of online Americans 65 and older is growing faster than younger adults and will continue to increase quickly as the population ages and as more seniors embrace the Internet.

Elderly online users present even greater business opportunities than demographics suggest, according to the Nielson Norman Group. Because Internet use among younger adults is already high in wealthy nations, the elderly are the last online frontier.

E-commerce purchases for seniors are lagging indicators. Consumers typically begin purchasing products and services online sometime after they start accepting free services. Many seniors who’ve recently learned about the Internet have not yet started completing online purchases. But they will soon.

Seniors – the Last Online Frontier

Seniors are not averse to technology. They will use new devices when they see clear benefits. However, they use the Internet differently than their younger counterparts. Organizations must design websites differently to accommodate their needs and preferences.

Vision, hearing, motor control, and cognitive ability inevitably deteriorate with age, especially for seniors over 75. Time takes its toll on everyone. Even the hip, young programmers will also one day find their iPhone screens too small.

Creating Websites for Seniors

Here’s some advice from the National Institute on Aging on how to create senior-friendly websites and web content:

• Write in the positive. For instance, write “Remember to take your medicine” and not “Don’t forget to take your medicine.”
• Write clear headings for sections. Headings can include action verbs like “Caring for Someone with Alzheimer’s” or questions such a “How do cataracts develop?”
• Give instructions clearly and number each step.
• Minimize use of jargon, technical terms, and acronyms.
• Use single mouse clicks.
• Include plenty of space around clickable targets.
• Use 12- or 14-point type size, and make it easy for users to enlarge text.
• Use high-contrast color combinations, such as black type against a white background.
• Provide a speech function to hear text read aloud.
• Provide text-only versions of multimedia content.
• Minimize scrolling.

In fact, those guidelines could apply well web design for all viewers, not just senior citizens. Many designers often forget that readability is the first requirement of web design.

No Time to Waste

Contrary to common perception, older people don’t have time to waste, writes

Ollie Campbell, a co-founder of design consultancy Navy Design, in an article for Smashing Magazine. If a website is too difficult, they’ll go elsewhere. Here are some of Campbell’s recommendations for building websites for seniors.

• Avoid blue for important interface elements.
• Always test your product with screen readers.
• Follow interface guidelines for touch-based interfaces. For instance, Apple recommends a minimum target size of 44 pixels wide 44 pixels tall.
• Avoid relying on small-screen devices like smartphones.
• Don’t use SMS text to convey important information.
• Emphasize connections with smaller, more familiar and trusted groups of people as opposed to large undifferentiated social networks.
• Don’t overemphasize security and privacy controls when trusted people are involved.
• Introduce product features gradually over time to prevent cognitive overload.
• Avoid splitting tasks across multiple screens if they require memory of previous actions.
• During longer tasks, give clear feedback on progress and reminders of goals.
• Provide reminders and alerts as cues for habitual actions.
• Don’t assume users have prior knowledge about online devices.
• Interrogate all parts of your design for usability, even the parts you didn’t create.

Bottom Line: Companies that take seniors’ needs into account when designing their website will be better positioned to take advantage of the growing ecommerce opportunity that seniors present.

Bonus Payoff: Principles to improve Web design for seniors make a website more user-friendly for all viewers.  

Glean.info grants permission to republish this article provided that the republished version contains a link to the original article on the Glean.info Blog.

William Comcowich

William J. Comcowich founded and served as CEO of CyberAlert LLC, the predecessor of Glean.info. He is currently serving as Interim CEO and member of the Board of Directors. Glean.info provides customized media monitoring, media measurement and analytics solutions across all types of traditional and social media.