The Affordable Care Act changed the landscape for health insurance in many ways, one of which was requiring companies to allow children to stay on their parents’ plan until they turned 26. With over 20 million Americans aging out of their parents’ plans in the next six years, insurance companies looking to capitalize on this emerging audience, can learn from an unlikely audience: 65-year-olds.
Much like 65-year-olds are aging into Medicare, 26-year-olds aging into independent coverage. These two situations have similar triggers and strategies that can help your messaging break through. Here are three key lessons from Medicare marketing that can help you engage and activate 26-year-olds.
1) Educate. Educate. Educate
Medicare can be confusing — and 65-year-olds have had years to navigate the world of health insurance. For most 26-year-olds, this is their first foray into the world of health insurance, and understating their options can be confusing. Brands should focus on creating educational content that appeals to a younger audience and utilizes the channels where they live.
Much like 26-year-olds aging into independent coverage, 65-year-olds are aging into Medicare. These two situations have similar triggers and strategies that can help your messaging break through. Here are three key lessons from Medicare marketing that can help you engage and activate 26-year-olds.
2) Establish a buyer mindset
Just as with Medicare, there is a change-of-life trigger for 26-year-olds that lets brands know when someone is entering the market. But if you wait until they do — you’ve already lost. Make sure your contact strategy engages your audience at least six months prior to their 26th birthday. This way, you can guide them from consideration into purchase. Owning that relationship early means a higher chance of conversion.
3) Prospect your base
Marketers know that it’s easier and more affordable to retain existing customers than it is to acquire new ones, so use your current base when prospecting. Use first-party data to identify plans in which children are aging out. Then, talk to those customers about the benefits of having their 26-year-old staying with you when they get their plan. It’s not pure retention, but it’s as close as you can get with an emerging audience.
As you can see, while on the surface no two audiences could be more dissimilar, when it comes to health insurance, 65-year-olds and 26-year-olds have more in common than they know. Which means there’s a wealth of knowledge that can help savvy marketers capitalize on this opportunity.
Interested in learning more, or discussing how we can help you tap into this emerging market? Schedule a conversation today.