Silverchain is a leading provider of in-home care services, supporting more than 105,000 Australians each year. Silverchain has a intimate understanding of their patients’ care experiences, but needed more insight into the many audiences that interact with Silverchain online to inform recommendations for the digital experience strategy.

Since COVID-19, acceleration in the uptake of tele and virtual health services has transformed how people receive care. Our challenge was to build a granular view of the experiences of these people and those who care for people getting hospital care at home.

To understand unmet needs, pains, and undiscovered motivations, we used a mixed methods research approach. The approach aimed to progressively craft a detailed and research-informed view of Silverchain's digital audiences, with a particular focus on Consumers (the people who receive care) and their Supporters.

Stage 1 - Internal understanding: Digital Audience Understanding workshops with Silverchain to capture their assumptions and audience knowledge.

Stage 2 - Exploratory qualitative research: In-depth, semi-structured interviews to learn more about the experiences of people who receive clinical care and who support people getting care.

Stage 3 - Quantitative phase: A nationwide Consumer and Supporter survey with MaxDiff questions to validate our qualitative research themes and findings at scale.

Combining the research insights from each research method, we generated six validated personas, journey maps and a detailed Audience Research report. We analysed the survey data using Latent Class analysis and demographic responses to create audience segments based on age, region, and preferences in relation to hospital care in the home.

Our findings included:

• Family and friends don’t have a strong influence when choosing a provider, but they do play a role in the early stages and when information gathering.
• Customer reviews were also found to play a marginal role in the decision-making process to select a provider.
• Carers typically supported consumers by providing meal preparation and transport to health care appointments.
• Younger consumers often find themselves in a sector targeting the elderly, which can contribute to their feelings of loneliness and alienation.

This essential research lays the foundation for the not-for-profit to provide expert aged and clinical care to all Australians, ensuring that everyone has access to the best care possible, whether at home or in any other comfortable setting, when and if they need it.