People want to feel their health insurance providers care about their personal health, and generic, impersonal messaging won’t do much to impart that feeling. Companies in the healthcare space must better engage with their members and promote their healthy choices like preventative screenings and lifestyle changes through personalization.
Let’s look at five healthcare marketing strategies for leveraging personalization to build a stronger relationship with your members.
1. Start with a Secure Member Database
Before you can personalize your communication, you need to know your members. It starts with collecting relevant data points like members’ demographics, health history, preventative care schedule, and behaviors. More than half of consumers feel that their health insurers lack the necessary information to personalize healthcare recommendations, so you can differentiate yourself by collecting the right information.
Of course, as you collect and store this data, you must maintain Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) compliance. It’s also important to practice good database hygiene. In other words, you want to make your data as useful as possible by eliminating inaccurate or irrelevant data points. When you have clean, detailed data on your members, you can gain valuable insight into how best to personalize your communications according to their needs and preferences.
2. Reward Members for Healthy Behaviors
Insurance carriers benefit greatly when their members proactively maintain their health through preventative treatments. Of course, prioritizing preventive care is also beneficial for patients, so it’s a win-win that insurance companies should promote in any way they can.
Encouraging members to take positive steps toward maintaining their health also demonstrates a level of care that is sure to leave a positive impression on members. Consider offering rewards to incentivize healthy behaviors, like eating a nutritious diet, exercising, ceasing tobacco use, or scheduling an annual wellness check with their doctor.
These rewards can take different forms. For example, you can use the data you have on file to remind members at the right time about preventative care steps and offer gift cards (either e-cards or physical) like Visa gift cards, gas cards, or even retail gift certificates to prompt members and reward them for taking care of themselves.
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3. Make Relevant Personalized Recommendations
Whenever you make health recommendations, they should be based on accurate data to ensure they’re relevant. Health history and demographic information can help you recommend appropriate preventive care and avoid recommendations that don’t apply to the member.
For example, women ages 50-75 are encouraged to have a mammogram at least every other year. You can remind women in this age bracket to schedule a mammogram to proactively care for their health. Sending a postcard in the mail to females in this age group can help you add value for your existing members.
On the other hand, a blanket recommendation to all your members to schedule a mammogram will likely leave a negative impression on members for whom this recommendation is inapplicable, making your company seem impersonal and out of touch with their needs.
4. Speak Their Language
No one wants to feel like the brands they trust don’t really get them at all. Learn what is actually relatable to your members so your healthcare marketing strategy speaks to them more effectively.
Typical healthcare messaging may fail to connect with consumers. For example, email, SMS, or direct mail communication encouraging healthy behaviors likely won’t resonate if the recipient doesn’t see themself reflected in the image or messaging.
Personalized communication can help you better engage your members and make them feel that you really do care about them. Avoid messaging that falls flat by tailoring various aspects of your communications with individual members. Factor in members’ identities and preferences to personalize aspects like:
- Recipient names
- Topic/content
- Wording
- Images
- Communication channel
- Personal care recommendations
5. Monitor the Success of Your Communication Strategy
How can you tell if personalization is having the desired effect, or if you need to pivot your strategy? The key is to track how members engage with your messaging and wellness campaigns. This way, you can see what’s working and what’s not to troubleshoot and refine your strategy.
Ideally, you should work with a partner who can help you manage your program from start to finish, including monitoring success. A partner like Baesman is with you every step of the way, from managing your database to executing your communications (through a personalized web portal, text messaging, email, direct mail, or other means), and fulfilling your rewards.
Partner with Baesman for a Healthcare Marketing Strategy That Gets Personal
Baesman understands the unique considerations of the healthcare industry and can help take your communications to the next level so you can better connect with your members. We’re HIPAA-compliant so you can trust us to securely manage member data and leverage this data for powerful personalization. We’ll also help you fulfill rewards and monitor your campaigns to promote better healthcare.
Want to learn more about leveraging personalization in your marketing? Read our eBook, The Customer Experience Just Got More Personal!
