Marketing Tactics Can Improve Your Benefits Engagement Strategy

Marcy Klipfel oversees the full HR department and contributes to a high-performance culture as chief engagement officer at Businessolver.

When speaking to HR peers and clients lately, I’ve noticed that employee engagement is rising to the top of their organizational priorities. To attract, retain and engage talent, companies are investing in a broad, diverse spectrum of benefits. However, healthcare-related costs are skyrocketing, having increased by 24% since 2019. Considering benefits rank among the top influences on retention, HR leaders and our teams are under pressure to maximize return on investment (ROI).

To drive tangible engagement while managing costs, many of us are adopting marketing tactics to improve overall employee engagement. One particularly effective strategy is launching benefits communications campaigns that leverage AI technology. By putting information front and center, you can make it easy for employees to engage in their benefits experience year-round.

Introduce Employees To Their Benefits

The crowded marketplace of benefits options has made it more difficult for employees to determine which perk or program is particularly relevant to their circumstances. However, the right AI tools can help you provide concierge-like service, which is becoming a helpful ally in the battle for employee attention and interest.

At Businessolver, we took data from our 18 million users, across more than 10 different industries, to learn about their relationship to benefits engagement. We found that, when employees have access to advanced tools within their benefits experience, they overwhelmingly engage with the technology. There are noticeable increases in benefits and point solutions impressions, click-through rates, email open rates and platform log-in rates—metrics that any marketer would love to see trend upward.

To showcase your benefits offerings to employees, consider these two approaches:

• Email Campaigns: Plan a publishing schedule for sending emails that highlight benefits throughout the year. For example, May is Mental Health Awareness Month, making it a timely opportunity to showcase your employee assistance program.

• Knowledge Consolidation: If you don’t currently have a benefits administration platform that pulls everything together, consider creating a digital space that houses all of the links, reference documents and FAQs. For example, you can build a microsite or use a content management platform.

Educate Employees About Their Benefits

Awareness is only the tip of the benefits literacy iceberg. Even when employees know the available options, many don’t understand what they are or how to use them. Oftentimes it’s because most benefits content still uses jargon-filled language that even HR professionals have a tough time deciphering—let alone the workforce at large.

Here are some effective strategies that we’ve used at Businessolver to communicate our benefits offerings:

• Leverage multiple communication methods. Share information across a variety of communication methods, like email, text messages or even benefits fairs. You’ll be able to reach employees where they’re at and in ways that are meaningful to them.

• Communicate year-round. The benefits experience doesn’t stop at enrollment. Sending reminders throughout the year, such as tips on using FSA/HSAs or telemedicine availability, helps employees stay connected and engaged.

• Personalize and humanize your messaging. One barrier to benefits engagement is how difficult they can be to understand. Employees don’t want to translate insurance jargon. Personalized messaging, like timely emails or plain-language helper text, removes unnecessary complexity by connecting the dots between a benefit’s value and the employee’s well-being needs or goals.

Enroll Employees In Right-Fit Benefits

When it comes to healthcare benefits, decision support can help guide employees toward budget-friendly, optimized plans. For example, while a combination HDHP-HSA plan can be a financially healthy choice for many employees, the potential risk of a large, out-of-pocket medical expense might stop people from looking further into it.

Helpful messaging and communication tools, such as plan comparison charts and plain-language explainer text, make it easier to see the bigger picture of cost savings. Some employers are leveraging AI chat or virtual assistants to accompany decision support. These tools provide a seamless experience so employees can ask clarifying questions about the decision support’s recommendations in real time. It’s just like having a benefits concierge professional sitting right beside them at enrollment.

When evaluating advanced tools, here are a few key questions to ask to ensure you’re getting the right support:

• How does the tool serve up tailored recommendations?

• Can the solution simplify complex benefits information?

• Does it provide detailed reasoning for benefits recommendations to help employees feel more confident in their decisions?

Maximize Benefits ROI With The Right Strategy

HR teams challenged to deliver ROI in a crowded, costly benefits marketplace must approach it with strategic intent and a marketing mindset. Today, opportunities exist to capitalize on personalized communications and decision support to boost employees’ engagement with your plans. By leveraging advanced tech tools, benefits teams can scale personalization and manage routine tasks without sacrificing the employee experience.

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