With the interviews and personas in hand it is time to dive deep on user journeys. In this case the journey of senior citizens when it comes to interface interactions.
While younger generations often integrate technology seamlessly into their lives (they’ve grown up using it, so it’s a natural extension of their day-to-day activities), older adults use technology a bit differently.
Applications that aren’t useful are generally neglected by seniors. Even with notifications, if an older adult doesn’t find an application to be useful, they’re likely to ignore it for days, weeks, or even months.
However, if they see the benefits of using an app or website, they’ll be motivated to use it regularly and to respond to notifications. While gamification and similar motivators work well with younger adults, they are often not as effective on seniors. Instead, making sure an app is useful and easy to use is the best way to ensure that the app will be used by them consistently.
Senior citizens tend to prefer tablets to phones because of the difference in screen size and ease of use. According to a research the older adults hold a high share in tablet sales.
Help is a big part of this user journey. Compared to other age groups seniors need much more help with a new interaction when they are learning it or throughout the whole experience. The usage of tutorials or help sections in an interface plays a big role in this case. Also co-usage of an interface is a lot more common. Meaning seniors rely more on their younger relatives or friends when it comes to learning or adapting an interaction.
