I had heard the term Silver Surfers, but I was too brainwashed by marvel that I forgot about it and started thinking about the Fantastic 4 Villian/Hero Silver Surfer. “Silver surfers” is a term commonly used to refer to older adults, typically aged 50 and above, who are active users of the internet, particularly for browsing, communication, and various online activities. The term is often used to highlight the contrast between the traditional image of surfers as young individuals riding waves on the ocean and the older generation embracing technology and the digital age.
As I researched more about designing for this age range, I came across A 2017 Forbes article states that 96% of baby boomers (aged 56-74 years) use search engines regularly, with 92% using the internet to buy products and services online rather than in-store. Making up a third of the population in the UK, the over 50s are a huge market for businesses. Whilst Google remains the dominant player in the search engine sector, Bing is often overlooked by business owners who predominantly focus on Google. Bing accounts for 10% of all UK searches and this statistic has continually grown over recent years. The over 50s age category is extremely valuable for businesses. Whilst they shouldn’t be overlooked, there are a few trends to consider when planning marketing for this age group 1) Use of Bing. 2) Eliminate bias in customer personas. 3) Site Security is essential. 4) Change writing in ecommerce pages for over 50s.
Another Article I looked at was “Silver Surfers & eTourism: Web Usability and Testing Methods for the Generation 50+” by the Management Center Innsbruck, Austria. The thing that interested me most about this article was that, they has used very out of the ordinary testing methods, almost like MAAI interventions, instead of using extremely technical methods. Such as “Thinking Aloud” and “Retrospective Review”. For the method of “Thinking Aloud” test-subjects are urged to speak their thoughts out loud, which allows for insights into the personal thoughts of a person, and therefore insights into their thinking processes. The “Retrospective Review” or “Retrospective Think Aloud” is a method that collects the thoughts on the task of the user after this task is over. According to Nielsen (2000) a Usability Test does not need more than five participants to give accurate results. Hence a tester user-group consisting og ten Silver Surfers is adequate when it comes to usability testing.
Articles Mentioned:
Five Things You Need To Know About Marketing To Baby Boomers:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescommunicationscouncil/2017/09/26/five-things-you-need-to-know-about-marketing-to-baby-boomers/?sh=4618b7a34e55
Silver Surfers & eTourism: Web Usability and Testing Methods for the Generation 50+: https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-7091-0503-0_7
References:
Silver Surfers, E-government and the Digital Divide: An Exploratory Study of UK Local Authority Websites and Older Citizens: https://academic.oup.com/iwc/article-abstract/25/6/417/1124713
https://eprints.qut.edu.au/93335/: Silver surfers: proposing an e-servicescape framework for active ageing
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/106480460401200107: The Silver Surfer: Making the Internet Usable for Seniors