Are You Sending the Right Benefits Info?

The “marketing rule of seven” says that someone needs to see, hear, or read a message at least seven times before they’ll take action. The same is true for benefits, which is why a strong communication strategy can make or break the employee experience.?

By transforming benefits from an enroll-and-roll event to a year-round wellbeing event, our clients are seeing incredible improvement in how their employees use and even understand their benefits, well beyond enrollment.??

How are they doing that???

Keep scrolling to learn more.??

Here’s what we’re covering in this edition:?

• Can emails solve your benefits engagement woes? Probably (with the right strategy)?
• Thinking ahead about your benefits strategy after enrollment wraps up?
• 5 questions you should be asking about benefits AI when it comes to driving real results?

Plus, news you might have missed.?

Let’s dive in!?

Your blueprint for employee benefits engagement

When we asked HR pros like you what their top organizational priorities are, 45% rank benefits engagement among their top 3, second only to reducing costs. What if we told you that boosting employee engagement could be as easy as building out a strong communication plan???

Seriously???

Yeah, seriously.??

A planful, balanced, and empathetic communication plan can drive real results, like an average 19% lift in benefits engagement.??

Hear it from an expert:??

“[American Cancer Society] plans out a whole content calendar as part of our wellbeing program. We’ll [work with] our vendors—they’re more than happy to provide you stuff for their programs. It truly is a lot of planning to have a rough idea for a year out so you’re not scrambling trying to figure out what you’re going to do.” – Crystal Clark?

Crystal Clark , Senior Program Manager of Benefits at American Cancer Society , and Rebecca Hayter , Consumer Experience Strategist at Businessolver joined us at Businessolver's annual Vision conference this year to talk to Sherri Bockhorst , Head of Consumer Experience and Strategy at Businessolver. Crystal shared how her team uses strategic communications alongside personalization tools to boost the overall benefits experience for her employees.

Hear more from Crystal on the Benefits Pulse?

Or, check out the rest of our guest experts in Season 1?

Are you ready for what comes after enrollment?

If not, don’t panic. We can help you prep.?

In our last edition, we shared that we rolled out an automation update in our benefits communication tool for our clients, giving them even more insights to keep guiding their benefits programs in the right direction with a strong communication strategy.??

But a strong benefits communication strategy goes way beyond simply sending out an email. Here’s how we help our clients drive meaningful engagement as soon as employees confirm their election choices:??

• Regular communications: Crystal Clark at American Cancer Society, like many of our clients, has an annual benefits communications calendar to send out regular reminders and resources for all of their different benefits programs. This kind of planning leads to an average 44% email open rate for our clients (that’s double the best marketing email open rates).?

• Omni-channel engagement: Remember that marketing rule of sevens? Diversifying your communications helps you get in front of your employees more often. Consider using text message reminders, postcards, and even breakroom posters alongside your email communications.?

• Personalized reminders: Personalized reminders are like a friendly nudge, boosting benefits engagement by connecting employees to the right benefits at the right time, sometimes before they know they need it. Our clients see a 19% boost in overall benefits engagement with personalization in our platform.?

• Making access easy through a mobile app: 9 in 10 U.S. adults have a smartphone. We also spend about an average of 5 hours a day on those phones (seems low to us…??). Bringing benefits to the palms of your employees hands not only makes access easier, it also boosts engagement—25% of employees activate on their benefits through our mobile app.??

Not sure where to get started? Madicyn Maines , Director of Consumer Experience at Businessolver, recommends taking a closer look at how you can leverage your communication strategy to drive lasting results.?

Read more from Madicyn about how you can boost year-round engagement with communications?

Is your benefits AI working as intended?

Or, a better question: Is the AI in your benefits platform doing what that sales person promised you it would?

AI can do a lot for you and your employees, from serving up critical insights to personalizing the benefits experience. But not all AI is created equal.?

Just as you’re looking for a strategic partner with your benefits vendors, you should be looking for similar qualities in the AI technology before you invest. Ideally, benefits AI should act as your co-pilot, driving ROI, efficiencies, and real-time insights year-round.?

Here are five questions we recommend asking to dig into a potential AI partner’s capabilities:?

1. How will AI help you drive year-round engagement??
2. What kind of data or real-time analytics can AI bring forward to help inform your benefits strategy??
3. How does AI improve employee self-service with benefits??
4. What percentage of employees who see benefits reminders served up from AI take action? And how does that compare to when AI isn’t in play??
5. Can the AI provide personalized nudges and benefit reminders for employees? If so, what does the success rate look like??

Our AI is driving results for organizations like yours—and we have the data to prove it.?

Plus, news you might have missed

Are your benefits inclusive enough??

How to drive 100% participation at enrollment?

How do finances impact employee wellbeing and retention??