The ever-evolving landscape of the healthcare industry demands that healthcare plans truly understand who their prospective members are, what they need from their coverage and what will motivate them to take action.
Data analytics has already made it possible for payers to understand member behavior, habits and preferences, create targeted campaigns that are high-value and low cost and identify ways to foster member loyalty and generate revenue.
In fact, when various pathways enabled through big data are used by patients, such as making healthy diet and lifestyle choices and finding the right provider, they can account for an estimated $300 to $450 billion reduction in healthcare spending, a report by McKinsey & Company found.
Here are 5 ways healthcare plans can use big data to acquire and retain members, foster loyalty and increase revenue.
- Target the right members
With big data, health plans can identify who their prospective members are and how to target them with relevant, timely messages that will convert.
By analyzing behavioral data, psychographic profiles and demographics, the data is then segmented into buyer personas. Buyer personas can help plans understand who their buyers are, the products they will buy, and which messages and channels they will respond to. With this information, plans can then create targeted marketing campaigns to optimize member acquisition.
- Create outstanding campaigns
Once plans understand their buyer personas, they can design and execute micro campaigns in order to acquire and retain new members. Each campaign will be unique to each segment but plans must be actively testing their creative, messaging, offers, incentives, calls to action and channels to ensure they’re achieving the desired outcomes.
Plans can use data from health risk assessments, provider visits, hospital claims and prescription fulfillments to create targeted campaigns that are personalized for individual members and their specific health conditions.
- Improve onboarding and retention
After acquiring new members, there are countless opportunities to gather and analyze data to foster loyalty and improve retention rates. Data from outbound and inbound calls, text reminders for doctor’s appointments and prescription refills, and action take on incentives and special offers can all give plans valuable insight into member behavior.
- Predict the value proposition to improve positioning
Data analytics can help plans understand where to focus their marketing efforts so they will have the greatest value at the lowest cost.
If they have traditionally marketed to a specific demographic, geographical location or income level, data analytics can give them insight about where their most valuable prospects actually are. Data analytics can also help identify members who are likely to switch plans and respond with a high-touch, multi-channel approach to keep members engaged and loyal.
- Maximize cross-selling
With data analytics, plans can find opportunities to cross-sell new products to their members. During open enrollment, they can use data to send targeted campaigns to promote new products or send invitations to special events that will target members who are at risk for diabetes or heart disease, for example.
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