Write for two readers: the parent receiving the service and the son or daughter arranging it, often from elsewhere. Answer the arranger's questions about access, payment, updates and trust on the page itself.

The person reading is not the customer

Many of the people reading pages about home care, hearing clinics, mobility equipment or retirement housing are not the people who will receive the service.

They are sons and daughters, often in another city, arranging something for a parent. They read at lunch or late in the evening, with three businesses open in three tabs.

The same is true of the trades. A furnace, a water heater or a roof in a parent's house is often arranged by someone who has never met the contractor and will not be there when the work happens.

Most of those websites are written for the person in the house. The person deciding gets almost nothing.

What the arranger needs to know

Their questions differ from the parent's, and they are practical.

The fifth is the one people rarely ask aloud and often worry about most: that an older parent will be talked into something at the door. A clear rule on extra work settles it before it is raised.

Write for two readers at once

The parent may still read the page, on a tablet or printed out by the person arranging it. They should recognise themselves in it.

That rules out writing about them as if they were not in the room. Words such as loved one or seniors keep them at a distance; mother, father and you read as people.

It also rules out jargon and small pale type, which both readers dislike for different reasons.

Address the person receiving the service as you through most of the page, and give the arranger a section of their own.

A section for family members

The simplest change is a short section, or a page, headed something like arranging this for a parent.

It answers the questions in the list above directly, in the order people ask them. It says what you need from the family to get started, and what you will send them before and after.

Link to it from the service pages and the contact page, where the arranger is most likely to look.

If someone in the business already handles these calls well, write down what they say. Those answers are the page.

Make it possible from a distance

Someone arranging work from another city cannot drop by, and often cannot call during your business hours.

Offer email and a form as well as the phone, and say how quickly each is answered. Let them choose a call-back time that suits their working day.

Accept payment in ways that work from away: a card by phone, Interac e-Transfer, an emailed invoice. Say so on the page, since the arranger will wonder.

And tell them what information to gather. For many jobs, a photograph taken on the parent's phone or a neighbour's saves a visit.

Updates are part of the service

The arranger's real worry is not knowing. They booked something they cannot see, for someone who may not explain it clearly afterwards.

A text when the technician is on the way, a call once the work is done, a photograph of the finished job, a receipt by email. Each costs a minute and replaces an anxious evening phone call.

Say on the website that you do this. It is one of the strongest reasons to choose one business over another from a distance, and it is rarely mentioned.

A worked example

A water heater installer with two vans, working mostly in older neighbourhoods of a coastal suburb, noticed how many of its calls came from out-of-town numbers.

They were sons and daughters in Calgary, Toronto and the Okanagan, phoning about a parent's house. Each call ran long, because each one asked the same questions the website never answered.

The site was written for a homeowner standing in a cold basement: an emergency number, tank sizes, gas or electric. Nothing told a daughter in another province how any of it would work without her.

The office manager wrote down the answers she gave on those calls, and they became a page called arranging a replacement for a parent, linked from the home page and every service page.

It asks for a photograph of the label on the side of the tank, which tells the installer its size and fuel.

It promises a call to the parent before arrival, with the installer's name, no extra work without the arranger's approval, and a photograph of the finished installation by email.

Nothing about the installation changed. The page simply said in advance what the office had been explaining one call at a time.

Trust signals the arranger checks

An adult child choosing a business for a parent is choosing who will be alone in that parent's home. They look harder than usual for signs of a real, accountable business.

A physical address, licence and insurance details near the booking button, staff photographs with first names, and how long you have worked in the area all count.

Reviews that mention older customers or family arrangements carry particular weight, so reply to them warmly when they appear.

The counter-case

Some services are almost never arranged by family, and a page for them would be clutter. A business selling mainly to young households or to other businesses can leave it out.

Privacy also sets limits. A clinic or care provider usually needs the client's own consent before discussing their details with a son or daughter, and the page should say so plainly rather than promise what it cannot do.

And a page for arrangers does not replace the phone call; it makes the call shorter and calmer.

Where family members are a real part of your enquiries, write for them as well as for the person receiving the service.

What to write

  1. Count the calls made on a parent's behalf.
  2. List the questions those callers ask.
  3. Write a section for family members.
  4. State your rule on extra work.
  5. Offer contact and payment that work from away.
  6. Promise updates, then send them.
  7. Keep the parent addressed as a person.

Step four carries the most weight. It answers the worry arrangers rarely say aloud, and a business that puts it in writing has already shown the kind of care they are looking for.

The answers for that page usually already exist in someone's head, as described in writing down what your best salesperson says.

Frequently asked questions

Who reads pages about care and home services?

Often a son or daughter arranging something for a parent, frequently from another city, as well as the person who will receive the service.

What do family members want to know?

Whether they can arrange it from away, who will contact their parent, how to pay, whether extra work needs their approval, and who to call afterwards.

Should the page address the parent or the family?

Both. Address the person receiving the service as you through most of the page, and give family members a clearly labelled section of their own.

Which question matters most to arrangers?

Whether an older parent will be talked into extra work at the door. A written rule that extras are agreed with the arranger first answers it.

How can a business help from a distance?

Offer email, forms and call-back times, accept payment by card or e-Transfer, ask for photographs instead of visits, and send updates and receipts by email.

Are there privacy limits?

Yes. Clinics and care providers usually need the client's own consent before discussing their details with family, and the page should say so plainly.

West Coast Media Solutions Inc. provides web design, web development, hosting, digital marketing, and business consulting to organisations across Canada, drawing on more than twenty-five years in the field.

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