At Rx Savings Solutions, we communicate with all types of employee and health plan groups. And we know, even with a great benefit to share, how challenging engagement can be.
While our offering is unique, we do share common communication challenges with other types of employee benefits. We all want better awareness, education, and for members to know they’re eligible.
We’ve tested many methods and found that some work better than others. Here are seven fundamental factors to driving member engagement:
Simplicity
Before you even consider communicating a benefit, make sure it’s clear how to use it! We always recommend that a few members on the client’s benefits team register first, so they can see how easy the benefit is to register for and use.
Contact Information
Seems like a no-brainer, but having valid contact information for your employees or plan members is crucial. Typically, this means having a good email address, phone number and mailing address on file. The easiest way to get this information is to require it during open enrollment. Let your members know that they may be contacted about their benefits, including new ones you may add throughout the year.
(Whenever a new benefit provider is contacting members on your behalf, the provider should commit to HIPAA, CAN-SPAM and FTC compliance.)
Cadence
Work within your communications calendar, but err on the side of frequency whenever you launch a new program! We typically send a 3-email campaign over the course of the first month:
1. Introductory email explaining the benefit, it’s value to members, how to register, etc.
2. Reminder that repeats the above, but is sent only to those who haven’t registered yet.
3. Educational email with more info about how the benefit works.
Note: A “Last Chance” email can be sent to those who are still unregistered, especially if a registration incentive is planned during the launch.
Incentives
Having a registration incentive, such as wellness points or gift card drawings, can go a long way toward encouraging early adoption of new programs. Many benefits programs are similar to Rx Savings Solutions, in that the sooner members are engaged, the sooner they’ll be able to reap the “benefits” and the bigger your ROI.
Digital, Digital, Digital
When promoting a digital tool, as many benefits have an online component today, the best method for communications is also digital. After all, you can’t click on a breakroom poster or snail-mail postcard. (That’s not to say those can’t be effective complements.)
Support
It helps to have a strong support team behind the new benefit. Rx Savings Solutions provides Customer Success, Member Services and Marketing teams to help communicate your benefit, so you don’t have to worry about it! This is great for members, but also takes the burden off your HR team and frees them up to help with local questions about the benefit.
Trust
Finally, one of the most critical factors to success is when a health plan or employer does its part to communicate clearly about the benefit, which sets the stage and builds member expectation for forthcoming communications from the benefit provider.
Combine all seven with a benefit that says what it does, and does what it says, and engagement will follow.
