Define stages that marketing and operations share.
| Stage | Working definition | Primary owner |
|---|---|---|
| Discovery | A relevant website, map, directory or advertising interaction. | Marketing |
| Prospective-care enquiry | A genuine contact about a possible resident, separated from recruitment and suppliers. | Marketing/admissions |
| Potential suitability | Care type, location and initial requirements may fit the home. | Admissions/home |
| Tour or meaningful conversation | A substantive next step occurs, not merely an attempted call. | Admissions/home |
| Assessment | The operator’s approved assessment process begins. | Care team |
| Decision/admission | An outcome is recorded, including reasons where the journey stops. | Admissions/home |
The exact stages depend on the operator’s process. What matters is that each term has one agreed meaning.
Record enough context to make the funnel useful.
- Home or location enquired about
- Care type or initial need category
- Enquiry type: care, recruitment, supplier, other
- Timing or urgency band
- Initial suitability status
- Tour/conversation date and outcome
- Assessment status
- Admission outcome or non-progression reason
- Marketing source where reasonably known
- Unknown status where evidence is missing
Keep operational and clinical detail in approved systems.The marketing view should use minimal categories or identifiers and should not become a shadow care record.
Attribution is useful, but incomplete.
Families may encounter several sources, discuss options with relatives and contact the home later by phone. Analytics and advertising platforms can show parts of this journey; they do not reveal every influence.
| Source signal | Useful for | Limitation |
|---|---|---|
| Web analytics | Pages, journeys and tracked actions | Consent, device changes and offline calls can reduce visibility. |
| Advertising platform | Campaign, keyword and advert optimisation | Platform attribution is not the same as a confirmed admission. |
| Call tracking | Campaign-level call source | Needs privacy review and does not judge suitability by itself. |
| Admissions/CRM record | Progression and outcome | Depends on consistent human input and source capture. |
| “How did you hear?” | Human-recalled influence | Memory can be incomplete and categories inconsistent. |
A useful monthly view.
- Enquiries by home, care type and source.
- Prospective-care percentage versus recruitment and other contact.
- Potentially suitable enquiries and tours/conversations.
- Assessments, recorded decisions and admissions.
- Median or appropriate response-time measure.
- Main non-progression reasons, including unavailable capacity.
- Unknown or unclassified rates at each stage.
- Marketing cost by source where the data supports comparison.
A dashboard should enable a decision. More metrics do not compensate for missing enquiry outcomes.
Use the data to change the right thing.
| Pattern | Possible interpretation | Next check |
|---|---|---|
| High traffic, few enquiries | Weak intent or website friction | Search terms, location, mobile journey, CTA |
| Many enquiries, low suitability | Message or targeting mismatch | Care-type clarity, campaign intent, directories |
| Suitable enquiries, few tours | Response or practical barrier | Call handling, timing, fees, visit process |
| Tours, few admissions | Operational or proposition issue | Assessment outcomes and non-progression reasons |
This is a commercial measurement framework, not an admissions, clinical or privacy policy. The operator should approve definitions, systems and access before implementation.
