It’s that time of year again, and your people would rather throw a dart at a list of health plans than read Open Enrollment materials. This lack of engagement leaves your people confused, your (carefully crafted) resources unused, and causes overall dissatisfaction with the Open Enrollment process for you and your people.
While getting your people’s attention this season is hard, it is possible. How? Think like a marketer. Marketers have spent their entire careers figuring out how to get people’s attention (and hold onto it!). So, we asked them to share their tips and tricks with us to help you make this year’s Open Enrollment your best yet.
Learn from last year’s Open Enrollment
Good marketing teams always take the time to review how their last campaign went before mapping out a strategy for their next campaign. Understanding both tactics that worked and those that didn’t is a great way to ensure your next campaign is more successful than the last.
Regroup with your team
Schedule an Open Enrollment post-mortem discussion.
- What went well? Did you take any creative risks that paid off?
- What common questions did you receive from your people last year?
- Do those common questions lead you to believe there was a gap in communications that can be improved upon this year?
Survey your audience
Use Survey Monkey or Google Forms to get your people’s take on last year’s Open Enrollment. If your company has restrictions on mass communications, try a focus group.
- Which communications do they remember receiving?
- Which were the most helpful?
- What channel of communication did they prefer?
- Did they feel confident in the benefits decisions they made?
- Do they wish they made different choices?
Align on your goals
A marketing campaign that doesn’t prioritize the overall goals of the company will never be truly set up for success. Aligning your goals with the appropriate stakeholders from the beginning is critical to your campaign’s success.
Put in the groundwork to get on the same page
- Schedule time with your leadership team to understand key business objectives and priorities.
- Outline your strategy and take into account how any plan or network changes this year could inform your Open Enrollment goals.
- Preview your Open Enrollment presentations with your HR team to help prep them for employee questions.
- Think about setting measurable goals with specific targets.
Do you want 25% more people to sign up before the deadline or 15% more people to utilize a new program?
