How and When Are Care Seekers Getting in Touch in 2024?

We have analysed data from 12,000 care enquiries, over the past 3 months to determine what method our care seekers are using to get in touch with us and what day and time of the week they are getting in touch.

Key takeaways:

• 67% of new care enquiries are made by telephone

• 21% of telephone care enquiries are made on a Monday

• 29% of telephone care enquiries are made between 10am - 12pm

• 8% of telephone care enquiries are made during the weekend

How are care-seekers getting in touch?

The data collated shows that 67% of care-seekers choose to get in touch via telephone, often due to the urgent nature of their needs.

Despite minimal changes in recent years, just over a quarter of care-seekers opt for online enquiry forms as their method of contact. Quick responses to these enquiries are crucial to ensure that every care enquiry is captured.

Over the last three months, only 6% of care-seekers chose to use 'live-chat' as their preferred contact method.  We have seen an increase of 1% in the last year of care-seekers choosing to use live chat as a preferred contact method.

As telephone enquiries make up 67% of all care enquiries, it is interesting to see the trends by day. 21% of new care enquiries are made on a Monday.

Compared with the last year, enquiries accross the rest of the week have evened out more, with Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday all equal at 18%. There is a slight drop on Friday, which is to be expected as it is heading towards the weekend.

8% of care enquiries are made over the weekend. This is vital information to ensure that you have adequate telephone cover in your service during this time, in order to ensure you do not lose any potential new enquiries. In many care services, the management team are not in during the weekend, so it is important to ensure that the staff working during these hours have been trained to capture details from new care enquiries.

Care enquiries can take place at any point throughout the day, but we have noticed that they peak between 10am - 12pm. In total, 29% of care enquiries are made during this time, with a further 23% between 12pm - 2pm.

We know that between 11am - 2pm, is a busy time for care homes with medication rounds, personal care and lunch all taking place. It is important to note that if you do not have a dedicated reception or admin team to answer the phone during these hours, you could potentially lose 52% of the day's care enquiries.

Our advisors take calls from 8am - 7pm, ensuring that we capture as many new care enquiries as possible.

For further insights, or to find out more about our contact centre support, please contact hello@trustedcare.co.uk.