Mar
16
Written by:
Dennis Barnes, Jr.
3/16/2011 1:19 PM
Today’s challenge for the Medicare Advantage marketer is keeping up with changing legislation and its impact on marketing and sales objectives. A recent change that we are now faced with is a reduced Annual Enrollment Period (AEP) from October 15th to December 7th, limiting the traditional marketing window to 54 days. These changes can be viewed as problems or as opportunities… I suggest the latter!
As a MA marketer you have an obligation to exhaust all possibilities to achieve the sales objectives of the organization during AEP, while operating within the time and budget constraints you inherited. Additionally, MA marketers have an opportunity to think creatively and positively influence other areas of the business.
In the posts ahead I will be addressing this need for MA marketers to substantiate their existence despite this very limited AEP marketing and sales window. I will evolve your thinking to include an evaluation of how you can help other departments, i.e., customer service, retention and even your Chief Medical Officer. Your experience as a communications professional should make you invaluable throughout the organization!
While ultimately we will explore marketing planning, multi-channel marketing, conversion, retention, and member engagement, let’s begin with pre-AEP lead generation as it is a tested and proven strategy. In 2010 roughly 1/3 of our MA clients boosted their typical AEP budget to begin marketing in September. While these pre-AEP communications could not be benefit specific, clients did so in hopes of building the lead funnel. Here were the results:
Average response rate: 3%
Average cost per lead: $22
Average cost per acquisition: $399
In summary, those who were willing to fund non-benefit specific communications by mail in September and get their brand in front of the completion met or exceeded their lead goals and saw a nice ROI from the effort. For specific descriptions of the successful segmentation and creative approaches for pre-AEP communications feel free to contact me.