The open enrollment period for medical coverage under the Affordable Care Act starts November 1st each year and runs through mid-December for plans taking effect January 1st of the following year. This period of time is critical for health insurance shoppers as it is the best window of time to purchase new insurance without a qualifying life event, and for health insurance brands it is a period of high volume. Millions of Americans will be searching for information on health care plans, starting with cost and coverage details. For health insurance providers to generate better traffic for their brand during open enrollment, it is beneficial to follow these three tips.
Read More: Case Study: The Call for Open Enrollment Campaigns Continues to Grow
Use Easy-to-Understand Content
Most consumers searching online during the open enrollment period are trying to find a more affordable plan and/or health insurance that offers better overall coverage. As such, the details are important to these consumers. However, the vast majority feel overwhelmed by the verbiage typically included in health insurance plans. Readers don’t want to hear all the insurance-based language that tells them about possible coverage options. They want to know, in simple terms, why this plan is better for them than the one they currently use.
It’s important that you create online content that is easy for the reader to understand. From blog posts to content on your landing pages, avoid going into too much detail. Too many complex details will only confuse the reader. If you want to generate more traffic and get more phone calls, make it easy for the reader to gather basic details and then use a strong CTA to entice them to call for greater details.
Read More: Understanding the Power of Content Marketing
Advertise on Multiple Platforms
While 49% of the American population still has health insurance from an employer, an estimated 7% of the population buys individual health insurance according to a 2017 Kaiser Family Foundation survey. That amounts to roughly 22.4 million American shopping for health insurance plans during the open enrollment period. The best way to generate more traffic during this six-week period is to advertise across multiple platforms.
Before noting the platforms, it’s important to point out the value in advertising across multiple platforms. While this might be a waste in some marketing schemes, for a health insurance provider it is valuable during open enrollment. There is no singular demographic that identifies those 22.4 million Americans shopping for new insurance during open enrollment. These individuals are young and old, married and single, childless or multi-child families. By advertising through email, banner ads, search ads, social media, and blog promotions, you cast a wider net capable of attracting the varying niches within that 7% of the population.
Take Advantage of Negative Keywords
Finally, if you want to generate better traffic, don’t forget to target the right kind of traffic. Using negative keywords in your Pay Per Call campaigns during open enrollment can help avoid drawing in people searching for other types of insurance. Negative keywords can be thought of as keyword exclusions. Using negative keywords ensures that your ads in your Pay Per Call campaign don’t appear in searches for similar, but nevertheless irrelevant searches. For example, consumers shopping for other forms of insurance. It’s a similar niche and some companies might offer multiple types of insurance, but during this high-volume period of the year, you want to be singularly focused on generating traffic for your health insurance plans. Do some keyword research and make sure you use negative keywords to weed out those other forms of insurance.
Read More: How to Use Negative Keywords in Your Pay Per Call Campaign