A four-minute-long survey has made a senior living provider a winner in more ways than one.

Sunrise launched the Care Questionnaire in late September 2014, and the website innovation showed immediate promise. Now, more than a year in, results show a noteworthy increase in leads and move-ins. The success has led to the provider winning a marketing competition put on by MarketingSherpa, and a related case study quantifies just how impactful the tool has been.

All of this has proven the tool to be “groundbreaking,” Abby See, Sunrise Senior Living’s senior director of online marketing, told Senior Housing News.

“There’s No Pressure”

Sunrise Senior Living, based in McLean, Virginia, operates a total of 304 senior living communities in the United States, Canada and the UK. The company operates across the continuum of care, with independent living, assisted living, memory care and skilled nursing facilities–and that very diversity of care was part of what prompted the questionnaire.

The idea for Sunrise’s Care Questionnaire came in early 2014, when a usability test showed visitors responded well to Sunrise’s website, but they still weren’t sure what care they or their loved ones needed, See told SHN.

And so, the Care Questionnaire was born.

The 8-question survey asks basic questions about a prospective resident’s needs and is meant to take about four minutes to finish. Those who complete the questionnaire are given a simple assessment, suggesting perhaps independent living or assisted living as an appropriate option. Survey takers can then choose to send their results to Sunrise, email their results to someone else or print them.

Essentially, the Care Questionnaire is a two-step process, See told SHN: taking the survey, and then validating the results at a Sunrise community.

“What’s really great about the tool is that there’s no pressure,” See said. “It’s just there, free for anybody.”

But the seeming simplicity of the tool should not lead people to believe it’s a breeze to implement something like this. Sunrise had to overcome myriad challenges, such as ensuring that it fit into existing sales flows and that it was helpful and accurate in guiding customers without making an actual medical diagnosis.

Leads and Longevity

So far, more than 20,000 users have completed the Care Questionnaire at a 63% completion rate, according to a case study recently conducted by MarketingSherpa.

The introduction of the survey has resulted in a 12% lift in online leads, See told Senior Housing News. The MarketingSherpa case study revealed a 5.8% conversion rate by individuals who completed the survey and submitted their information to be contacted by a Sunrise representative.

Additionally, more than 70 move-ins have been attributed to the tool, See told SHN.

Of all of the successes of the Care Questionnaire, the most telling is its longevity, See said. Since its launch over a year ago, she said it hasn’t lost its relevance or its popularity.

“I haven’t seen it slide since we’ve launched it,” See told SHN. “I feel like it would have dropped off had it not been resourceful for our visitors.”

A Winning Strategy

Business benefits aside, the Care Questionnaire has landed Sunrise on the receiving end of other accolades.

MarketingSherpa’s blog readers voted for the best digital marketing campaign among four finalists between Oct. 2 and Nov. 10, with Sunrise winning the 2016 MarketingSherpa Reader’s Choice award for its business-to-consumer marketing campaign, which included the Care Questionnaire.

Although the award is technically being presented in February, Sunrise has benefited from the publicity. There has been, for instance, a press release and media coverage about the achievement, See told SHN.

“I do think something will come of it,” See said of winning the award.

Written by Mary Kate Nelson