How to sell to baby boomers online in 2025?

In most “generational” research online when it comes to online marketing—most emphasis is on Zoomers and millennials. 

It makes sense. These two generations are most present online and are mainstays of the “digital transformation.” But the digital transformation is catching on even among the elderly.

With that in mind, we’ve decided to find reports concerning one of the oldest generations—and how they fare and shop in the digital age.

The main question: should you run baby-boomer-centric ads online? Let’s check.

Baby boomers are the richest generation

Lucky people.

According to stats, baby boomers have accumulated a tremendous amount of wealth in the previous years—even decades:

Which means that there’s a lot of untapped potential to transfer a tiny fraction of that boomer wealth to your company’s annual revenue, eh?

In case one wasn’t enough, here’s another chart:

Most boomers have a credit card, making shopping online that much easier. They are also starting to shop frequently online (39%) and have a high purchasing power (23%).

This shows that they are also more present online than before. Meaning that you can now target them with online campaigns easier.

All this points to one—marketing to boomers should be a home run if they are in your target market.

Well, that might not be that easy…

Baby boomers are also the most cautious spenders

Might be a reason why they are the “richest”, eh?

Turns out, even if they have money, boomers aren’t fond of parting ways with it. Unlike Zoomers, for instance. Which we will see soon.

Combine it with a high traditional media consumption—where you can hear a lot about rising inflation, cost-cutting, and similar—and the conclusion might be obvious.

They won’t spend a lot in these times.

Here’s the report to back it:

Only 14% of all baby boomers aren’t concerned and have not changed their behavior due to the economic environment that started last year. Around 16% are concerned, but still keep up with the same spending ways.

On the other hand, 70% of all respondents said that they’re either concerned—or very concerned—and have changed their spending behavior. Uh-oh.

So despite having the most money, they are the most reluctant to part ways with it.

More than any other generation:

As you see, baby boomers have started paying attention to sales more than Gen X—and much more than millennials and Zoomers. 

They are also more likely to use coupons and discount codes.

The Crew’s opinion: Baby boomers are the most frugal generation, according to reports.

When selling to them, you’ll have to go with the classic money-saving tactic first and foremost. Promote sales, discounts, and savings. 

How do boomers research a product?

They aren’t looking at TikTok reviews, yet. Despite their increasing online presence.

Instead, if they want to find out about a product, they’ll turn to who they trust the most—other people:

Almost 80% of all baby boomers will look for customer reviews and ratings when researching a product. 

Plus, more than half will rely on friends and family for recommendations. Again, people.

A little less, around 47% take recommendations from customer photos and videos. People. See the pattern? 

Another report that we found also goes in favor of this:

Unlike above, however, search engines are also high on the list of sources.

But here’s the catch: Most users actually use search engines to look for…what? Customer reviews, recommendations, price comparisons—and even second-hand products. 

We can conclude that social media is not high on baby boomers’ pecking order yet. However, they are more likely to adopt it, as we’ve mentioned before.

But if you want to get baby boomers’ trust—rely on having a lot of reviews on your website, real feedback from real people, and having your product visible, listed, and rated on marketplaces.

Also, place a lot of value in user-generated content (UGC), as that’s the type of content boomers will trust the most.

Boomers are loyal 

Find someone who will love you like baby boomers love their favorite brands.

In fact, boomers—and Gen X as well, according to the following report’s age range—will always choose a product if it’s from a brand they know and trust:

This is telling.

See the stark difference between a preferred brand and everything else? It even trumps recommendations from friends and family by a high margin.

Compared to that, online advertisements and in-store recommendations are a statistical error.

Here’s another chart to back it up:

As you see, boomers hold tight to their brands, no matter the industry.

If you’re selling groceries or beauty products, there’s especially a huge chance that you’ll have a cohort of loyal baby boomer customers.

So work on that loyalty: Boomers don’t let go that easily, it’s up to you to fall in their embrace. Loyalty programs, frequent discounts, and other improvements in customer experience can go a long way in retaining these loyalists.

There’s also a caveat: If you’re in a competitive industry, acquiring boomers might be as hard as trying to get a Zoomer to watch a video longer than three minutes.

Therefore, new customer acquisition might be much harder than retention when it comes to baby boomers.

Are baby boomers impulse buyers?

The “wisdom comes with age” might not apply to all generations.

But for boomers, the wisdom comes in not trusting the first ad they see. And having multiple touchpoints until a purchase decision:

Looking at this report, baby boomers are the least likely to buy anything on impulse. 

Catchy hooks, quick attention-grabbing ads might work to bring some awareness. But it will take a long, slow slide down the sales funnel for them to actually buy.

This means that you will almost always have to rely on multiple touchpoints when selling to boomers. They will do their research—especially looking for customer reviews,  other people’s opinions, product comparison content, and similar.

But as we learned earlier, if you manage to acquire a baby boomer customer—you might’ve acquired them for a long, long time.

How to target baby boomers with holiday ads?

You’ll like this one.

It appears that boomers have just two rules during the holiday shopping season:

• A product has to be discounted
• The shopping process should be convenient 

Here it is compared to other generations:

Earlier, we’ve already figured that boomers like to keep their wallets tight. This confirms it.

In fact, better prices and promotions are a prime factor for holiday shopping for most baby boomers—almost ¾. That’s 10% more than millennials, and 35% more than Zoomers.

Another thing they look for more than others is convenience. 

While not clearly stated, convenience might include how easy and straightforward the shopping process is—so look for creating a seamless shopping experience for boomers.

…maybe even with fewer upsells, cross-sells, or additional steps. 

On the other hand, quality is not the imperative for baby boomers. So for holidays, try to force savings and special, discounted offers—on products that are super easy to buy. 

Fun fact: Boomers are high-spending pet owners

If you’re a pet brand—or are doing marketing for a pet e-commerce company—check this out:

Overall, baby boomers are major drivers of the pet industry’s growth. 

Compared to all other generations, baby boomers are spending a substantial amount on their pets—especially cats and dogs.

It’s up to you to leverage it: If you’re a pet brand, emphasizing health-conscious, high-quality pet food, or other pet products could yield returns.

Also, segmenting campaigns for different types of pets can help you sell more. Cat owners are the most prominent among boomers, according to data. 

Why not target them specifically?

If you’re not a pet brand, but target boomers: Just adding pet imagery in your ad creatives, might help you grab boomers’ attention. A scented candle shown next to a dog, perhaps. 

Verdict

What we’ve learned? Selling to baby boomers today requires an approach focused on value and trust—mostly trust based on their own experience, or experience from other people. 

Since they’re not happy spenders, you can focus on leveraging discounts, customer reviews, and seamless shopping experiences to get to this hard-to-acquire generation.

Then, retention is key. But also consistency and patience to build long-term relationships with this affluent, yet cautious generation.