Choosing a homecare provider can be a stressful process, and there are lots of different ways it might come about.

For example:

• Susan has been caring alone for her husband Philip for 4 years, and is really struggling to cope.
• Anne’s mother has just been diagnosed with dementia. She’s still well, but as Anne wants to prepare well for the future, she’s doing her research now.
• Amit thinks that homecare might be beneficial to his wife Denise, but isn’t sure how she’ll respond to the idea.
• Sheila’s sister Dawn already receives basic homecare as she has visual and physical impairments, but she seems unhappy and unfulfilled.

Each of these circumstances is vastly different. Some people are desperate for immediate help, others can wait. Some already get care, whereas others aren’t ready to accept it yet.

This is why it’s so important to identify different customer segments and their individual worldviews, and use empathy to understand how best to connect with them. This means really digging deep to see the world from their perspective, understanding the challenges and choices they might be facing.

Creating a suitable call to action

Different calls to action will resonate with different customers, depending on their needs. Four examples to illustrate:

1. Get care now
2. Learn more about why we’re different
3. Request a brochure
4. Book a home visit

What does each of these communicate, and who would it work for?

Get care now: A quick browse of a website and a click on ‘get care now’ suggests that the customer segment in question needs help as soon as possible. This is a good option for reaching people who really need support, now. In our example, this might be attractive to Susan – who is struggling to cope.

Learn more about why we’re different: A call to action that helps the customer to learn more through videos, articles, factsheets and PDFs would be best suited to someone who is making a rational, thoughtful decision. This is most likely to happen when they are preparing for the future, and aren’t under a lot of immediate pressure – like Anne.

Request a brochure: Sometimes people aren’t quite ready to make the leap to letting people into their home to provide care. A brochure is a tool that can be used to introduce the idea to someone, without setting up an initial meeting. This call to action might appeal to Amit, who could show it to his wife.

Book a home visit: On the other hand, others might be completely comfortable with the idea of receiving care – in fact, they might already be receiving care that they aren’t happy with. For them, the idea of inviting people into their home might be ideal – that way they can get a real ‘feel’ for the type of service they might receive, intuitively. This might be most suitable for Sheila and Dawn, especially as Dawn has visual impairments and would not be able to read a brochure or website.

Choosing the best option

The good news is you don’t have to pick between these options. You can use them all in different circumstances on relevant parts on your website. For example, targeted Facebook ads might aim to reach people like Susan, who desparately needs help – and when she visits your website she sees the ‘Get Care Now’ button. On the other hand, through her considered research, Anne might come across one of your blog posts called ‘Living well with dementia in [town name]’ which has the call to action ‘Learn more about why we’re different’.

If you’re looking to reach more people with your care services, it’s important to start with the premise that everyone’s different and each circumstance is unique. Care companies are used to taking this approach in how they deliver care already, but to successfully talk about what they offer, they need to think about it to reach new people, too.

Key points to remember:

• Create a range of customer personas that help you think through and empathise with different situations
• Brainstorm different calls to action, using empathy to put yourself in the shoes of the personas, and thinking what would appeal most
• Generate ideas for useful content that might be of interest to each of them, and think how you would link them to the calls to action, as well as how you might get this content to them in the first place
• Consider how different media will suit different people at different stages in their care journey