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Tricky Time: CRM and a Rate Hike

February 21, 2012 Leave a Comment

“Ahhh. We want your business….but you are going to have to pay more in premiums.” That is how health care and insurance plan members see it when it’s plan renewal time and the fare is higher than before.

For providers, this is when you are most vulnerable to churn, which should come as no great surprise. But what can save the day is a prominent, yet not always positive trait that many have: Complacency.

“I was going to shop around, but frankly got busy and there was no time,” one individual health plan member recently confessed. “I just keep on paying the monthly premium because it’s on auto-pay and I just don’t even think about it.”

There are so many truths in this statement that marketers can potentially plumb for insightful tidbits. Can you take for granted that…

If rates are going up a little bit, count on customer inertia to help you avoid major member loss? (Maybe.)
Get individual member accounts on credit card auto-pay so that the decision to re-up goes virtually unchallenged every pay period? (Yes, please.)
Members are really that un-enthusiastic about their health plan that the decision to stay or go ends up becoming a choice between the evil of the two lessers? (Quite possibly.)

All sad reality aside, what organized CRM activities can a proactive, smart-marketing health or insurance organization deploy ahead of a premium increase? Is there any proof that doing anything will reduce churn?

The answer is: Do one thing at a time so you can measure—but do two or three things to retain each valuable customer. And yes, case studies prove that certain activities will absolutely reduce churn by as much as 60%, while stimulating cross-sells at no additional marketing cost.

So what are the two to three smart things you can do? We’ll give you one today. (After all, we want you to stay with us.)

Figure out who’s worth saving. This somewhat Darwinist exercise will force your IT folks to earn their salaries and will potentially put you in bonus contention. You can’t save everyone, as the captain of the lifeboat will tell you. The answer to the burning question “Who’s the most valuable?” is different for each organization and depends on analysis of customer data. Know that you’ll be ranking those lucky members for targeted communications going forward.

For actions two-three, stay tuned!

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Direct Choice Inc. is a full-service direct marketing agency that has worked with national and regional brands in a wide variety of vertical markets. In addition to this blog, you can also find us on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and LinkedIn.

Filed under Healthcare Marketing Tagged with CRM, Customer retention healthcare, healthcare marketing, insurance marketing

Showing you ♥ your members

February 7, 2012 Leave a Comment

February is American Heart Month and what better time to think about how you can influence improved outcomes and positive lifestyle choices with members? Time to show the love by helping them keep on track with their healthy lifestyle commitments in the second month of the new year.

February is typically when that map of great intentions starts hitting some temptation-packed bumps in the road (think Super Bowl Sunday’s chili-meatballs-nachos-beer drive-by, followed immediately by the Valentine’s Day chocolate-fueled fender-bender). Add in gym burnout, and it’s a five-car, health-resolution pile-up.

As a health plan, broker or other influencer, what can you do to keep those members on the road to better health?

Well, it’s true that you can’t solder shut the fridge door or make sure the fast-food window won’t take members’ orders. But some upbeat encouragement delivered direct to your members’ devices and computers can sure make a difference.

Herewith, some of our cost-effective thoughts to consider:

Monthly email support: Offer your members an opt-in to receive ongoing tips and useful tools to keep up their resolutions. Cardio workout ideas, healthy recipes, emotional support tools, stress reducers and cheat-busters are all worthwhile and value-add content to help members cope.
Encourage a dialogue: Live chat, counselors/coaches for specific disease management (obesity, heart disease), member-driven blog for weight-loss, smoking cessation and getting-into-shape activities can provide opportunities for members to take control and communicate directly with you and one another.
Employer groups outreach: Provide tools and materials to help employers foster healthy choices in the workplace. Healthy cafeteria menus, exercise options, and smoking cessation programs can be amazingly effective when the employer gets behind them.

Bottom line: Everyone benefits from having a heart.

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Filed under Healthcare Marketing

Insurers and Customer Relationship Management: The Key is in the Follow-Up

December 13, 2011 Leave a Comment

Every member is worth something to an insurer. In these challenging times—especially for health care insurance—it is still much more cost effective to retain members than to acquire new ones.

Still, where is that break-even point between marketing costs in retention and a member’s “worth” in terms of value? HIPAA prevents insurers from making case-by-case “value” decisions. However, best customer look-alike models can enable some fairly accurate segmentation and decision-making as to tiered investments. The member that is most likely to be your customer for the long term may not need the hand-holding that a slightly lesser-value (but more churn-likely) member might. With these facts, you can design communications streams customized to each segment.

Regardless, there is such a thing as too much contact. The smart money is on regular outreach—typically quarterly—with some value proposition such as a newsletter, health tips, or benefits-usage stimulation message. Other than that, a great CRM program can be summed up in two words: FOLLOW UP.

Did a member call in with a question? FOLLOW UP by email thanking them for the call and making certain their question was answered. Was there a recent claim? FOLLOW UP with a note from the claims representative. Was there a problem, a service issue, or complaint? FOLLOW UP to make sure everything was resolved.

The gist of it is this: CRM is a state of mind…in essence a demonstration of good manners and your desire to keep that member happy and satisfied. Find the right mix of proactive and reactive communication styles, and the customer won’t just continue with you, they will thank you for the opportunity to do so.

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