Client Situation

Business Objective

  • During a Special Enrollment Period (SEP), a health insurance client had the opportunity to enroll qualified new members that were ACA-eligible.
  • In particular, the health insurer was interested in better understanding potential members who were exiting a group or commercial coverage plan.

The Challenge

  • The health insurer did not have a strong understanding of the journey and pain points endured by consumers seeking ACA coverage.
  • By learning more, the company would be able to better target their messaging, optimize marketing tactics and ultimately improve conversion.

Schmidt’s Solution

Our Approach

  • Schmidt took a qualitative approach. Recruiting from a client-supplied list, the team conducted virtual in-depth interviews with a target audience of health care decision-makers who had enrolled in an ACA plan via SEP within the past year or were currently shopping for an ACA plan.
  • A member of the Schmidt team with deep healthcare insurance and industry experience was utilized to moderate the interviews.

Outcome

  • The Schmidt study identified multiple communications vehicles that the health insurer could best use to promote their plan offerings.
  • Feedback from study participants directly contributed to the development of support tools that the were used to explain industry terminology, offer potential cost cutting tips and clearly compare the company’s plans against plans available through COBRA.
  • Learning more about the emotional impact of this health insurance decision, Schmidt recommended that their client consider including a high level of empathy when positioning marketing materials.