The Affordable Care Act has given healthcare payers the opportunity to let Americans buy healthcare benefits in a whole new way: online. With a new open enrollment period right around the corner, the marketplace is changing how individuals think about and make healthcare insurance purchasing decisions.
With the launch of HealthCare.gov and the state exchanges, consumers are increasingly engaging with digital platforms to conduct research, interact with companies, and enroll in healthcare insurance. There is huge opportunity for all insurers to take advantage of this new addressable customer experience to connect directly with their targeted prospects and their own members at the point of purchase.
Segmented messaging
The new marketplace is full of first-time shoppers who have never had health insurance or purchased a plan. Payers should learn about their prospects and identify their target market. Instead of assuming the answers, gather insight directly from your prospects to build distinct segments for the marketplace. Understand their needs, attitudes, and motivations.
For example, the under-30-year-old segment, the "Young Invincibles," can receive messaging like: "When you're healthy, it's easy to imagine you don't need health insurance. One accident could change all that."
Identify target audience online
In order to effectively reach and influence your prospects, it is not enough to just know who they are--you also need to know where they are. There is scalable opportunity for insurers to connect with their prospective members by delivering targeted messaging and content at an individual level.
Payers can develop campaigns that involve the use of direct response TV (DRTV), direct mail, digital media, paid social, and email, armed with primary consumer segmentation and digital analytic insight.
Understand the capabilities enabled by your technology stack
While health insurance companies understand the power of embracing digital channels, some may lack the capabilities and infrastructure to do so. The timeline of the open enrollment period can escalate the need for insurers to establish digital marketing and database capabilities that directly supported their targeting strategies. A foundational marketing platform can be implemented, as well as campaign management and business intelligence applications, to support integrated measurement and optimization for the campaign.
Avneet Batra is a management consultant at Merkle and David Magrini is vice president of insurance and wealth management.