LCS Offered Powerful Insight into How Data and Analytics Help Predict the Future
Thanks to sophisticated and innovative technology, senior living data collection is easier than ever. The key is to use this information effectively to meet residents' needs, appeal to prospects, plan renovations, and new builds, and watch for trends and emerging challenges. In essence, data and analytics help assess and manage the present and predict the future. A recent webinar The New Senior Consumer: Data and Analytics, offered powerful insights into how data revolutionizes senior living.
The Evolution Explodes
There has been a tremendous evolution in data collection. We started years ago with manual reports and spreadsheet siloes. Today data comes from varied sources, and analytics are part of organizational DNA. It shows us who we are as an organization, where the organization has success, how we measure up with our peers, and where changes or innovations are in order. Data can help identify trends even before we realize they are happening. It is possible to have a one-stop platform to get all your metrics – from leading sales indicators to occupancy trends and turnover metrics.
Among the many insights from the speakers, and leaders at LCS, from the webinar:
Whether you are just getting started and trying to answer questions about data from your electronic health records system about resident engagement or your HR system about turnover, be patient. Pick your top two or three business questions and work backward. For example, you could see how your resident preferences and other needs are changing.
Perhaps you are seeing a high volume of prospective residents in your community, however, you are not necessarily getting the conversion into move-ins. You can address this question with data analytics and build a “data lake” that brings all the information together and pays significant dividends. You can learn what you need to do to convert prospects to move-ins.
LCS is building a resident hub to bring together all their information about perspective and future residents, so they understand resident preferences and interests from the sales funnel or the buying journey. As a result, they can piece together what activities they enjoy and are likely to be most appealing to them. The company also looks at wellness metrics to help them best serve residents and identify changes in consumers’ wellness-related interests and needs.
The first part of the data and analytics journey is asking some questions. One popular question is, “How can we better understand our consumers?” We know that residents moving in today are much different than they were 5 or 10 years ago, and it is important to have data to determine who these individuals are and how to find them. Understanding the market helps predict its impact on future business expansions or issues such as underperforming communities. Data metrics that track the information you need to answer your questions must be developed and implemented.
LCS uses market viability ratings (MVR) to assess the viability of a market for a senior living community. This ranges from sites for new development expansion of current communities to markets that the company is currently in. LCS historically used a market score. This was based on deep and extensive industry expertise to determine if the metrics utilized in the market score were correlated with community performance. Another aim was to create a tool that could not only evaluate the market today but also evaluate the future performance of that market.
It is important to gain insightful characteristics on senior households to get a better sense of the depth of the market and the core values of consumers. As a result, senior living communities can market to these households in the way they prefer using the platforms and venues they frequent and trust.
Senior living communities should track their digital platforms. By understanding how prospective residents interact and access the community's digital platforms. By studying engagement, communities can create predictive models and get a better understanding of where prospects are in their buying journey.
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