4 Steps to Boosting New Member Acquisition During Annual Open Enrollment

Share this article

If you are in the healthcare insurance business, it is never too early to start prepping your marketing campaign for the next Annual Enrollment Period (AEP). Targeting prospective new customers, focusing their attention on your brand’s benefits, and converting them to members can be complicated and time-consuming. But the good news is that today, sophisticated tools are available to help streamline the process. Here are four steps for creating an omnichannel marketing campaign for AEP that will enable you to identify new member prospects and put your message in their mailbox – using variable data personalization to let them know how important they are to your business.

Step up your data analytics. Data is the key to any successful AEP marketing campaign. Start with your existing customer base and collect current data on everything that makes it unique, including demographics, psychographics, geographic and behavioral data. If you are not an expert in this area, consider working with a trusted data specialist to mine your data for gold. Use the results to develop a data-driven persona mirroring your best, most retentive members.
Once you have developed your persona, use it as a template to broaden your prospective customer database by acquiring lookalike audience lists from reliable sources. Even if these new prospects are currently unaware of your brand and its benefits, they are more likely to be receptive to your message during AEP.
Next, it’s time to get creative and design marketing collateral that effectively hits your message points and broadcasts your brand DNA. It’s not enough simply to update last year’s healthcare plans with this year’s benefits information. It’s equally important to organize and store these and other digital assets for fast and easy accessibility by your marketing team.
If your team is involved with Medicare enrollment, you know that Baby Boomers are hitting “peak 65” in 2024, with a record number reaching retirement age. Leverage that huge potential customer base by making direct mail the cornerstone of your omnichannel AEP marketing campaign. According to a U.S. Postal Service survey, 71% of Boomers say physical mail feels more personal than digital communications.

Southeastern’s Boombox platform enables our clients to amplify their marketing campaigns by using variable data printing to customize postcards and other direct mail pieces with a variety of data points, taking personalization to a whole new level.

Boombox features include:

1:1 Variable data personalization
Social match to prime your target audience for your message via social media before, during, and after your direct mail campaign.
Mail tracking to let you know exactly when your direct mail campaign hits mailboxes.
Informed Delivery®, a USPS service that sends a preview of your direct mail piece to your target audience’s email when it’s in their mailbox, adding another touchpoint to your campaign.
Live data results help you to track the effectiveness of your direct mail campaign by recording each resulting call and hit on your website, enabling you to collect their information and follow up.

It seems like the next AEP is always just around the corner. Streamline your preparations by creating an integrated omnichannel marketing campaign that incorporates branding, messaging, personalized direct mail and social media, along with multiple online and offline touch points. If you partner with Southeastern, we can help you in every step of this annual journey by providing you with all the proven marketing tools you need to succeed.