First, the consumer will have from October 15th to December 7th, 2018 for AEP.  Then from January 1st to March 31st, 2019 there will be an open enrollment period. What communication plan do you have to first indicate that you would like to be the healthcare provider and then insure they are satisfied with their choice? At DDG, we segment this audience into market segments*: Consumers who wish to become a Medicare Advantage Member:  1,049,182 Individuals who prefer to purchase Medicare Supplement Insurance:  1,255,367 Persons who desire PDP (Part D) only:  937,833 Dual Eligible individuals:  488,602 Special Needs Persons (SNP):  6,621,042 Turning 65**           3,342,487 Turning 66**           3,342,487 Turning 67**           3,236,222 Movers***                1,305,457 These audiences are very useful in AEP campaigns—direct mail and Facebook.  We call these custom audiences-dataFaces.   However, OEP will present a different challenge.  Our market(ing) research does indicate that many consumers can not accurately describe the form of Medicare coverage they possess. Do you have a Medicare Advantage Plan? Does it include prescription drug coverage? Did you purchase a Medicare Supplement policy? Are you dependent on only Medicare Part A and Part B? Thus, it is certainly understandable that the member can become very dissatisfied with their coverage during the following months.  For example, did the individual consumer grasp that the PDP selected should match the prescription drugs that they are currently using? Does your customer service groups have training that enables them to assist the consumer in making the choice that optimizes their satisfaction?   Or does your member learn that they had choices from their neighbor and thus becomes irate that your firm did not explain. To measure your risk of “members switching” you can consider both a. market research and b. churn analytics.   Obviously, the goal of the two exercises is different but both can provide you with keen insight for member behavior in OEP.

In the extremely competitive world of healthcare acquisition, many firms seek a reduction in the cost per thousand mailed.  In fact, if a procurement style of cost management is in place that is your KPI. For many years, this approach was sufficient for success. In today’s fragmented consumer marketplace, the focus must be on audience identification.  Who wants to buy our policy?  Not every consumer over 65 years old wants to buy our specific product-Medicare Advantage or Dental etc. The shift from Cost per M to Cost per Lead is often perplexing due to the increase in cost for the audience/mailing list.   It seems illogical to spend more per thousand.  However, it is required.  Standard demographic mailing: List                                          $20.00/M                             Total mail cost                    $350.00/M Response rate                     .006                                                                                                    Cost per lead=$58.33 (350/6)                                        But if I raise the cost of the mailing list to $70.00/M or $50.00/M higher and get a response rate of 2.0 percent what is the outcome? Propensity based mailing: List                                          $70.00/M Total mail cost                   $400.00/M Response rate                     .02 Cost per lead                       $20.00 each (400/20)       The client that I mentioned reduced their mail volume by 3 million pieces and saved over a million dollars annually.   By switching their KPI. If your organization has put procurement in charge of your marketing expenses then I recommend you stop and review their decisions.  Efficient targeting is the key to lower cost per acquisition as opposed to lowest cost per thousand mailed.

Every year a relatively small group of Medicare enrollees switch their Medicare coverage.

The Medicare opportunities are rapidly flying past us Each month a new group of Baby Boomers qualify for Medicare. In fact, approximately 10,000 individuals per day search for information with keywords such as: “What is Medicare?” “What are the financial implications to me?” “What should frame my Medicare choices?”

Chapel Hill, NC – Dino Fire, President of Research and Analytics at datadecisions Group and Wendy Weathers, Senior Analyst in Grid Planning and Performance at Salt River Project, present a white paper at the EPRI Grid Analytics and Power Quality Conference and Exhibition 2018. The white paper is “The Power of One: Electric Grid Reliability and Its Effects on Individual Customer Satisfaction,” and explores three primary areas empirically relating residential utility customer satisfaction and electrical grid reliability.

Each year I ask my friends — colleagues who work at a healthcare-related entity — when does your Medicare marketing plan indicate that you should start evaluating the adjustments for the new year? You might be surprised how many companies are behind schedule and waiting too long to ask some of the most critical questions to set up for a successful year. As datadecisions Group only works on a few of the issues involved in offering Medicare to the senior American, I will limit my comments to those topics.

The foundation of successful customer acquisition is prospect data that targets consumers who are in the market to buy a specific insurance product. Too often, insurance marketers rely on simple targeting criteria such as age, income and gender. The use of this commodity prospect data results in a higher effective cost per lead, fewer policies sold, and higher lapse rates. Fortunately, the use of life event trigger data can help you target individuals who are highly likely to purchase an insurance product in the near future.

The foundation of successful customer acquisition is prospect data that targets consumers who are in the market to buy a specific insurance product. Too often, insurance marketers rely on simple targeting criteria such as age, income and gender. The use of this commodity prospect data results in a higher effective cost per lead, fewer policies sold, and higher lapse rates. Fortunately, the use of purchase propensity data can help you target individuals who are highly likely to purchase an insurance product in the near future.

Suppose you are driving your car on a dark and curvy mountain road, on a rainy night, with a very foggy front windshield, dim headlights, and a perfectly clear rear view mirror to guide your path forward? It’s not a comforting scenario. Surprisingly, this is how many companies still operate when attempting to understand and improve their customers’ experiences and the resulting customer satisfaction (or JD Power/Net Promoter) ratings. They know a great deal about the past but very little about the future; they know a lot about the average customer but very little about the individual customer.

When it comes to life insurance leads, too many companies are wasting their marketing dollars. In fact, their cost per lead is 2-3 times too high.