Senior Living Search Behavior Report
How Families Actually Find, Vet, and Rule Out Senior Living Communities, and What AI Has Already Changed
AI is already shaping which communities families call, tour, and choose. We surveyed 300 families who are searching for senior living right now, or have searched in the past 12 months, to understand exactly how AI fits into their process: where they start, what they trust, what they can’t find, and what gets a community crossed off the list before anyone picks up the phone.
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What AI has already changed
The Senior Living Search Behavior Report helps marketers and leaders understand how AI and search engines influence the senior living search process. Five findings stand out.
The list gets built before you know it exists
Search and AI narrow the field to a handful of communities long before a family ever makes contact.
Citation earns trust, not just clicks
Being named as a source in an AI answer makes families more likely to trust a community, and more likely to visit its website.
The information families want most is the hardest to find
Cost and pricing transparency is the #1 factor in comparing communities, and the #1 thing families can’t find online.
Your online presence can lose you the sale before the tour
44% of families ruled out a community based on something they read online. The most common reasons were negative reviews and concerns about quality of care.
Families use AI to compare, not just to discover
Most families use it to weigh cost, care level, and amenities across communities they already know about.
Families in the middle of a senior living search
300 respondents who are actively researching senior living or have done so within the past 12 months.
What the report covers
- 01What prompted their search for a community
- 02How long a typical senior living search lasts
- 03Who’s making the decision (a family member vs. themselves)
- 04How many communities they seriously consider
- 05Which platforms they use like a search engine (Google, AI tools, YouTube, social)
- 06Which AI platforms they use most, and how they use AI during research
- 07How much they trust AI answers
- 08What’s most important when comparing communities, and what’s hardest to find
- 09Why communities get crossed off the list
- 10How much being found on page 1 of Google, or in an AI answer, influences consideration
Saw the session at SMASH? Take the data home.
The slides covered the headlines. The report has all 35 figures, so you can bring the numbers to your next marketing meeting.
