building trust

BUILD TRUST WITH CUSTOMER ENGAGEMENTTHE BUSINESS IMPERATIVE FOR CHANGE

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

This paper discusses the importance of transforming the foundational relationships with customers for healthcare companies. It is inspired by the results of a recent Wunderman Data and Insights research, study on consumer attitudes toward healthcare.

Based on past industry research it’s no surprise that physicians top the list as consumers’ most trusted source, and insurers lag far behind. However, this gap is now extreme and appears to be widening.

Source Trust1

Primary Doctor 80%

Specialist 71%

Pharmacist 52%

Organizations specialized in care and disease management 38%

Internet or website 23%

Health Insurer 22%

Should insurers be concerned? We argue they should, for important business reasons. First, individual consumers are increasingly responsible for their own health insurance buying decisions, a trend that is likely to continue. At the same time, population dynamics are making wellness and chronic-condition management more important to both the overall health of Americans and to the cost structure and economic well-being of providers.

These trends require healthcare companies to communicate more effectively and persuasively with both prospects and customers. Communication rooted in trust is far more likely to be persuasive, particularly regarding personally sensitive issues of health and finance.

To strengthen trust, we believe all healthcare companies must recalibrate their customer interactions to be more relevant and engaging: to reflect and respond to individual concerns, issues, and motivations in truly customer-focused conversations.

1. Percentage of consumers who rate the source 4 or 5 on a scale of 1 to 5, where 1 is “don’t trust at all” and 5 is “trust completely.”

To strengthen trust,

we believe all

healthcare companies

must recalibrate

their customer

interactions to be

more relevant

and engaging.

BUILDING TRUST WITH CUSTOMER ENGAGEMENT: THE BUSINESS IMPERATIVE FOR CHANGE

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We identify three broad strategies to achieve that challenging goal:

1. Insight to create a unified, holistic, data-driven view of each customer throughout their journey, serving as the foundation for individualized, engaging communications;

2. Connection created by marketing interactions that focus on personally relevant messaging delivered through preferred channels;

3. Experience built and nurtured by an engaged, personalized relationship, maintained consistently across each customer’s journey.

Healthcare companies that are able to reinvent their customer relationships in this way will improve their competitive standing and business results. THE CASE FOR ENGAGEMENT: CHALLENGES AHEAD

In virtually every important dimension, healthcare companies face challenges that threaten their profitability and success.

Affordable Care Act 2.0: It’s not just consumers who are confused. Healthcare companies are trying to plan strategies as the Affordable Care Act changes markets, shifts consumer needs, intensifies competition, and recalibrates value and vulnerability in their marketing mix.

There is one certainty: Consumers are in charge, whether they like it or not—a trend that will continue and grow. Today, each customer must decode and evaluate plan benefits, coverages, deductibles, copays, and other characteristics to choose an insurer and plan—then take the lead in ensuring access to healthcare services obtained under their coverage.

• Take-away: Healthcare companies must focus on individuals, from acquisition to activation to retention. They must engage and educate their customers to help them navigate complex decisions, and support them effectively to build loyalty.

Demographics and population dynamics: The baby boomers, who have driven growth in every industry, are now driving unprecedented growth in the consumption of healthcare services.

Today, chronic conditions account for $3 of every $4 in the U.S. healthcare bill. That percentage will only grow in coming years: 17 million baby boomers will turn 65 by 2018. It adds up to a strong bottom-line incentive for health insurers to help their customers manage chronic conditions more effectively. Evidence-based clinical practices, predictive outcomes modeling, pay-for-performance reimbursements, and multidisciplinary professional collaboration will assume increased importance.

• Take-away: These approaches will not deliver their promised benefits unless healthcare companies can engage customers and help them make informed decisions to improve health behaviors and condition management.

Marketing and customer retention: Of course, acquisition will remain essential to growth—in particular, marketing to the “right” consumers to support long-term stability. But as important as it is, acquiring new customers costs three to six times more than retaining existing ones—and as marketing costs continue to escalate, the differential will increase.

• Take-away: Strengthening retention means building stronger relationships with customers. But as all healthcare companies work toward the same goal, the first generation of customer satisfaction tools—responsive service, competitive pricing, and proactive engagement for transactions—will become table stakes in the battle to retain customers.

In sum, healthcare companies will be operating in an uncertain marketplace ruled by individual consumers, where escalating marketing costs make customer retention a vital business priority, and an

WHITE PAPER

The baby boomers,

who have driven

growth in every

industry, are now

driving unprecedented

growth in the

consumption of

healthcare services.


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aging population makes effective health management a matter of business survival.These interrelated trends intensify the need for persuasive, effective communication with prospects and customers, covering everything from plan features and benefits to individual health behavior. To prosper, healthcare companies must:

• Focus on interactions, not simply transactions;• Recognize and leverage individual

motivations as well as emotional and rational drivers;

• Build and maintain an individualized dialogue with each customer through

their journey.

Changing behaviors on a broad range of health-related concerns, including personal health habits, requires a stronger relationship between insurers and their customers, based on trust and characterized by mutual engagement. WHERE WE STAND TODAY: THE CONSUMER VIEWAn in-depth survey of consumer attitudes conducted by Wunderman Data and Insights reveals the healthcare industry has a long way to go to achieve relationships of trusted engagement with customers.

1. Private insurance companies play a central role in providing healthcare services. More than half of all consumers (50.8%) purchase private insurance, making private insurers the largest providers of health and medical insurance. The majority purchase their policies through a group such as an employer, union, or professional association. But almost 20% purchase their coverage directly.

Slightly more than one in three respondents has a Medicare plan.

2. Insurers are NOT doing a good job of influencing and engaging customers.

How bad is it? Only 12% of consumers say they rely on insurers as a source for health advice or information about health issues.

The results on trust are almost as bad: Only 22% of consumers trust their health insurance provider to guide them to a path or plan that is good for their health. One-third (33%) are likely to NOT trust them, leaving 45% “neutral.”

That’s a sobering statistic for healthcare companies; information they provide about health behavior is likely to be discounted or disregarded by the majority of their own customers. 3. Who do consumers turn to? Primary care doctors.

Primary care providers have the highest rate of influence and engagement of all healthcare entities in the survey; 74% of consumers rely on their primary doctors for health advice and information, and 80% trust the advice and information they receive. Specialist providers and nurses are close behind—underlining the importance of front-line healthcare providers in influencing consumers.

4. Where else do consumers go for health advice and information?

The second most cited source for health advice and information—cited by 30% of consumers—is the Internet or a website. This reflects ease of access rather than reliability, as just 23% trust the advice and information they find there. Still,that’s higher level of trust than for insurance providers!

The least sought-after source for health information is the most ubiquitous:

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Fewer than 2%

of consumers seek

healthcare advice from

advertising, and 70%

do not trust the

information presented.


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When asked to rank

6 different channels

over which providers

could contact them,

39% of consumers

ranked email as the

most preferred, and

86% included it in

their top three.


advertising. Fewer than 2% of consumers seek healthcare advice from advertising, and 70% do not trust the information presented. Although consumers typically underestimate how much they are influenced by advertising, these results suggest that ad campaigns are not the best answer for improving customer engagement.

5. Turning to health behavior, the survey found that personal responsibility is the most important factor in reaching a decision to improve quality of

life or health.

For health issues that consumers can control—such as diet, exercise, and weight—53% reported that their own decision to change was the most important factor in modifying their behavior. Advice from a healthcare provider was the second most important factor, cited by 28% of consumers.

Importantly, a large majority of consumers—73%—seek as much information as possible from doctors, websites, books, and other sources en route to their decisions to improve their health. 6. Email is the winner among contact

channels, but it’s not unanimous.

When asked to rank 6 different channels over which providers could contact them, 39% of consumers ranked email as the most preferred, and 86% included itin their top three. Mail ranked second, preferred by 22% and among the top three for 74%. Landline telephone was the third most popular choice, followed by cell phone and website. Text messaging was the least popular option.

The good news for healthcare companies is that email is inexpensive, and can

be customized by automated systems utilizing consumer data. Still, healthcare companies that put a premium on building trust and engagement will give their customers a choice of channels, and maintain capabilities across multiple channels.

CHANGING THE CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP: THREE ACTIONABLE STRATEGIESHealthcare companies stand to reap significant benefits from stronger, individualized relationships grounded in trust.

• They will better identify the kinds of consumers who will support their strategy and goals, and market to them more effectively and persuasively, gaining a better return on marketing investments;

• They will improve their customer relationships and strengthen customer retention, helping to limit marketing costs while improving profitability;

• They can more effectively promote healthy behavior and improve management of chronic conditions, improving the lives and health of their customers and helping to contain the increased costs associated with an aging population.

34,000 Consumers SpeakThese days, you find sweeping recommendations based on “industry surveys” that may involve as few as several hundred self-selected recipients.

The study summarized in this paper, by contrast, involved careful analysis of 34,000 completed consumer surveys.

The study was solely focused on healthcare—specifically, on consumers’ relationship with and attitudes toward healthcare companies. The study gathered

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Every company can

do a better job of

gathering, analyzing

and utilizing

consumer data to

understand their

customers better.


and analyzed:

• Demographic data such as age, gender, income, and wealth;

• Responses to questions about health insurance sources and coverage;

• Attitudes toward healthcare providers such as levels of trust;

• Causes and influences of behavior change.

The findings are drawn from a statistically significant, representative population that accurately captures consumer attitudes.

It may seem a daunting task, given that one-third of consumers do not trust insurers. But the glass is also half-full: two-thirds of consumers are either neutral or do trust their health insurers—a solid base to begin building more engaging relationships.

Here are three sequential and interrelated strategies to begin turning the tide and strengthening customer engagement.

1. INSIGHT Create a unified, holistic, data-driven view of each customer over their lifecycle to serve as the foundation for building trust through engaging, individualized communications.

Trusted relationships are personal and individual. While it’s not possible to have truly personal relationships with tens of thousand of customers, every company can do a better job of gathering, analyzing, and utilizing consumer data to understand their customers better and more completely, and drive individualized communications throughout their lifecycle.

• Recognize that different people—even those who are demographically similar—

can have different interests, concerns, and motivations. The most effective communication, for acquisition and retention as well as health and wellness, will speak to consumers about issues that are relevant to them, with content and through a channel that is meaningful to them.

• Your own customer data is your starting point. Enrich it with the addition of trusted third-party data and additional sources of insights (such as the study summarized in this paper). Adding behavioral and attitudinal data will enable data analysts to develop insights into each member’s lifestage, healthcare attitudes preferences and even behavioral characteristics.

• Use data on your most valuable customers to develop look-alike models to identify and market effectively to prospects who will support your business.

Having identified your customer’s motivating concerns and issues, your company will be able to incorporate these insights into the complete range of your marketing and customer communications, driving better results in marketing and retention as well as improvements in trust and engagement—and from there,improvements in health outcomes.

2. CONNECTIONBuild on the foundation of insights to strengthen your connections with each prospect and customer, structuring interactions on their terms by focusing on relevant content and reaching them through preferred channels.

Use the demographic and attitudinal insights you gain to create predictive analytic models that will drive highly individualized communication throughout

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Your customer data

can and will affect

more than the tone

and messaging of your

marketing efforts.


the acquisition funnel, from initial contacts through customer activationto retention.

For an example, consider the insights to be gained using data that ranks consumer propensity to engage with a healthcare company and to be influenced toward a healthier lifestyle—and how that data could inform and refine customer interactions at multiple touchpoints throughout their lifecycle:

• Acquisition marketing: Identify and prioritize prospective customers, who are most likely to engage and be successfully influenced;

• Activation: Query new customers to establish dialogue and channel preferences, and triage them with specific health concerns for individualized communications regarding appropriate services and support programs;

• Retention marketing: Prioritize for retention efforts those current customers who are more likely to be successfully influenced toward adopting healthier behavior and improved medical management.

You can apply additional insights to tailor creative elements in additional messaging. Some customers, for example, will be more responsive to short, straightforward, fact-based messages; others will be more effectively influenced by longer communications, with more elaboration and perhaps real-life examples.

The result is highly individualized communication that resonates more effectively with each recipient.

Match communication about programs and services to customer interests and needs.

Your customer data can and will affect more than the tone and messaging of your marketing efforts. It should drive your ongoing customer communications as well, particularly regarding health and wellness programs, and services for managing chronic conditions.

Tone is especially critical in health-related communications. As revealed by the Wunderman Data and Insights study, many customers will distrust their insurer. Both the communications you use to inform customers about programs and services that may be valuable to them and the design of the programs and services themselves must work to overcome this underlying skepticism.

Act on channel insights in the same way.

Strengthen the full range of your customer communications by using preferred channels to reach each customer. Your onboarding process should include the capability to capture each customer’s preferences among the channel options you offer.

For acquisition efforts and other communication where direct data is lacking, use predictive analytics to identify channel preferences based on demographic and other consumer data. Keep in mind that channel preferences can change as customers age, and as newer technologies such as text messaging mature and gain broader acceptance.

Test, test, test.

As with any data-driven communication, testing is invaluable to validate or modify strategies, and improve and sharpen

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Right now, your

customers are far

more likely to trust

the doctors and

nurses who deliver

their primary care

than your business.

executions. Its importance cannot be overstated, particularly when the goal of the overall effort—to lift engagement and trust—is so fundamental, challenging, and important.

3. EXPERIENCE Build and nurture a relationship of trust throughout the customer experience.

The process of increasing engagement and building trust cannot be switched on and off. Remember, distrust—or at best neutrality—is the baseline for the majority of your customers. Your business must demonstrate that you take your customers’ interests and well-being seriously, through consistently customer-focused communications. Lapses in your approach will only convince skeptical customers that their doubts were justified.

Therefore, your customer-focused attitude for relevant, personalized communications must be evident throughout the customer journey. For that level of commitment to be adopted and maintained, your communications program must be viewed as a strategic business initiative, with support from the highest levels of the organization. C-suite buy-in and support will be important to your success.

Use customer journey mapping and touchpoint analysis to understand your customers’ point of view.

There is no substitute for actually experiencing the way your organization interacts with customers.

Customer journey mapping allows you to walk in their shoes through every significant touchpoint—from initial contact and information gathering, through

acceptance and enrollment, to benefit delivery and retention, to—hopefully— advocacy. It allows you to look at every communication by every department that goes to every customer.

This endeavor provides irreplaceable insights into the kinds of experiences every customer-facing part of your organization delivers. It helps you understand more clearly both frustrations and positive experiences, and uncovers gaps and opportunities to improve interactions with your customers in both quality and consistency.

Reinforce positive experiences by building partnerships and providing resources to physicians and clinical staff to influence the influencers.

Right now, your customers are far more likely to trust the doctors and nurses who deliver their primary care than your business. Build on these existing relationships of trust with your customers—and reinforce the positive experience you’re building through direct communication—by cultivating more cooperative working partnershipswith clinicians.

• Help physicians and nurses who work with you by providing support and education on your policies and practices, and pursuing other activities that will assist and support their medical practice.

• Pay as much attention to physician

communications as you do to your customer communications. A consistent commitment to customer interests across all audiences will inspire greater levels of trust in clinicians, and through

them among your customers.


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Consumers want

to do business with

companies they admire

and believe in.

CONTACT:

Lindsay R. Resnick

Chief Marketing Officer Wunderman Health

314.590.8376 [email protected]

WUNDERMAN HEALTH HEADQUARTERS

3 COLUMBUS CIRCLENEW YORK, NEW YORK 10019

212.941.3000 © 2015 WUNDERMAN HEALTH ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

• Create focused communications to clinicians regarding wellness programs and condition management services available for their patients—and deploy them in parallel streams with customer communications. If customers hear the same reinforcing messages from you and from their doctors and nurses, trust and program utilization will both increase.

TO THE VICTOR BELONG THE CUSTOMERSThere is nothing easy about changing consumer perceptions; healthcare companies face an enormous task in changing the way their customers think about them.

But the need for healthcare companies to establish trust, where today there is little, is fundamental to their ongoing business success. Consumers want to do business with companies they admire and believe in, doubly so when it involves something as personal as their healthcare.


building trust

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