How to Boost Medicare Retention with the Right Strategies and Tools and Protect Your Growth Potential

In Medicare marketing and sales, the importance of retention can’t be overlooked. With more folks signing up for Medicare Advantage each year, and a growing variety of plans on the table, the stakes of enrollees switching are only getting higher. 

Even if AEP and OEP season feels like a dead sprint, teams can’t afford to lose sight of the longer marketing marathon along the way. Dig into the importance of holding onto your clients below, and understand the strategies and tools you can adopt to boost Medicare retention during this year’s enrollment season and beyond.

The Importance of Medicare Retention

Taking a broad view of Medicare Advantage enrollment behavior, retention may not seem like too big of an issue. Indeed, the latest available data shows that only about 10 percent of Medicare Advantage enrollees switch their plans. However, that number jumps to over 20 percent among Part D enrollees with traditional Medicare coverage.

Though members making changes are in the minority, failing to drive successful Medicare retention during enrollment season can still take a big bite out of your revenues and commissions.

What’s more, overall Medicare Advantage enrollment continues to grow and so does the number of available plans. Even if the rate of change remains constant, the number of enrollees switching plans will also increase, posing yet more risk for Medicare sales organizations.

Browse our Health Insurance Sales Success Kit—your go-to resource for generating more health insurance policyholders all year round.

How to Boost Medicare Retention and Prevent Disenrollment

Ultimately, however, the importance of Medicare retention isn’t just in the risk that enrollment losses pose—it’s in the fact that many of these losses are preventable with the right strategies and tools. Put these best practices to the test and be sure your organization is able to hold onto—and ultimately grow—its book of business.

Know Why Medicare Enrollees Decide to Make a Switch

To hold on to more Medicare clients, you first need to understand what motivates an enrollee to move elsewhere. Understanding what drives the most extreme changes in coverage—those dreaded, costly rapid enrollments—can shed light on the wider dynamics of Medicare retention.

As ever in sales and marketing, the biggest issues are likely going to be cost, coverage, and convenience. This is clear if you consider the most likely causes of rapid disenrollments:

• A client’s providers are out of network
• Their prescriptions wind up costing too much
• Less expensive options are available

From year to year, these factors will also drive Medicare Advantage and Part D enrollees to search for a new plan. That’s why, even beyond understanding your enrollee’s behavior, it’s crucial to understand your plans and providers. Keep tabs on these changes and understand how these changes might affect your customers: Which of your enrollees are going to see increased premiums? Whose doctors are no longer going to be in-network?

Equipped with answers to these essential questions, your team can deliver more personalized experiences to its members. Delivering on their unique needs, you’ll boost your overall retention and be in a position to drive greater revenue.

Focus on the Most Valuable Members

The Annual Enrollment Period is demanding for all Medicare sales and marketing teams. When resources are stretched to their limit, efficiency is more vital than ever. While on the front-end of the sales cycle, lead scoring and list management strategies can help you tailor your approach to different prospects, you’ll need to take a different tact to drive Medicare retention on the back-end.

If you’re looking for a way to train your retention strategy on a narrower group of customers, look no further than your most valuable customers. Analyze customer data to understand which enrollees have the greatest potential lifetime value, and start your efforts with these enrollees. This will transform your retention strategy from a short-term approach to one that continues to provide returns for enrollment seasons to come.

Be Proactive, Even After Enrollment

Proactive education and support are important to nurturing leads and driving Medicare retention and increased enrollment during AEP season. However, the value of well-timed, enterprising outreach is still remarkably high even after enrollment.

Whether it’s over email, text, or outbound calls—or a mix of all three—staying in touch with your recent enrollees is critical to ensuring that clients receive the right care and coverage, enjoy top-notch service, and ultimately decide to stick with you as their preferred agent or provider.

Leverage Technology and Automation to Boost Engagement and Efficiency

With each Medicare Advantage marketing season becoming more competitive than the last, adopting technology and sales automation tools to drive performance is no longer a luxury—it’s an imperative. 

Today’s Medicare customer base is more tech-savvy than ever before, demanding tailored, timely communications in the channels of their choice. Without the ability to automate outreach cadences with the right contact center software, your team is leaving enrollment opportunities on the table.

Moreover, Medicare marketing and sales decisions need to be made based on hard data. Whether it’s choosing which leads to dial and text or deciding which of your enrollees to center in your retention strategy, robust, granular reporting tools are essential.

So, how do you ensure that your team can efficiently and effectively contact leads and enrollees during enrollment season and beyond? Put a powerful dialer solution at the center of your marketing and sales approach—one that can bring together the data-driven intelligence and winning strategies you need to succeed.

Learn more today about Convoso’s leading insurance dialer and schedule a free live demo today.