Health Engagement Webinar FAQ

Transcription

1 Health Engagement Webinar FAQ Thank you for your interest and participation in our health engagement webinar. The purpose of this document is to address all frequently asked questions surrounding attitudinal segmentation, both from the webinar and other resources. Questions Answered by Kaulen Taylor, Aon Hewitt 1. Can you explain again how the employee population is placed in the segments? From where does the consumer marketing data come? There are two ways to conduct a segmentation analysis on your population: The first is via a 5-minute short form survey. We included a link to the short form survey in the invitation to this webinar, and we ve also posted it on aon.com/healthengagement. The second way, which we discussed in the webinar, is via a database match and append process that leverages The Futures Company s robust consumer marketing database. All of our segmentation clients to date have used this approach because it is very fast and easy and does not require a survey. The only limitation is that we cannot use this process to segment populations outside of the U.S., where these types of consumer marketing database are not available (see question 14 for more information). The following is a detailed explanation of how the database match and append process (for U.S. populations) works: Aon Hewitt s exclusive partner, The Futures Company, initially completed comprehensive attitudinal and behavioral interviews with over 17,000 people to develop the LIVING Well segmentation model. This model is described by the six segments we ve shared with you. It is updated periodically through similar interviews to capture new insights and changes which are then incorporated into the segmentation model. This survey data was linked to a large set of consumer variables, on about 230 million Americans in the database. These consumer variables include a broad set of publicly available sources (primarily postal name and address, driver s license data, and census data) as well as other sources that aggregate lifestyle interest data, retail purchases, category level credit card purchases, and proprietary attitudinal data. It was discovered from this integrated dataset that the segments could be reasonably predicted from the set of consumer variables available. Therefore every person in the consumer database can be assigned a predicted LIVING Well segment. This append has shown to be about 70% accurate, i.e., about 3 of 4 people are assigned the segment they would have been in if they had taken the comprehensive survey. In our work, even with some individuals being classified into a segment that may not be precise, the segment that is assigned typically is a very-near-neighbor in that many characteristics are similar between those segments. We also find that the relative proportions of people in each segment remain reasonably consistent using either the append or survey approach. Thus, the append process delivers an accurate level of insight while maintaining lower costs and a faster turnaround time. 1

2 The Futures Company can append a segment to anyone in your employee or dependent population who is over age 18 and who exists in their consumer database. They do this by matching your employee/dependent name and address file to their consumer database. Match rates are typically quite high. Most of Aon Hewitt s clients have seen 85% or higher match rates. 2. Can you explain a little more about the time, effort, and cost involved in doing segmentation? Conducting a segmentation analysis, leveraging The Futures Company s database match and append process (for U.S. populations), is a very quick, easy and cost-effective process. Typically the time from planning to results is approximately eight weeks (depending on data requirements) and ranges from $15,000 - $45,000 depending on final requirements. With any scope, your time and effort is minimal all we need is your help securing the name and address data, as well as any other data you d like Aon Hewitt to aggregate and analyze with the segmentation results. If you re an Aon Hewitt outsourcing or Health and Benefits client, we can actually do most all of this data gathering for you. 3. Why are names needed to do the analysis? The Futures Company s database match and append process assigns a segment value (1 through 6, representing each of the six LIVING Well attitudinal segments) at the person level not just by household or ZIP code. Therefore, The Futures Company requires both name and address to assign a segment to the individuals in your population. The Futures Company does not need, and will not accept, Social Security numbers or any other demographic or organizational data from Aon Hewitt or our clients. This, along with many other security measures in place, helps ensure the protection and privacy of your and your employees and dependents data. 4. How do you measure if employees are actually healthier as a result of their increased participation in these programs (for example, health coaching or disease management)? Some of the most common health improvement measurement techniques used by employers today include health risk questionnaires (self-reported employee/dependent data) and biometric screenings (conducted by a medical professional). Along with the analysis of health claims data, these two techniques allow the employer to create a baseline measure of the health of their population, identify and address significant risk and cost areas, and track how health improves over time for those participating in the employer-sponsored health improvement programs. Wellness program vendors and disease management vendors typically have their own recommended measurement methodologies. 5. How did Raytheon isolate spouse segmentation data? Did they have separate census file to share for this group, or did they make assumptions based on the employee s location? The Futures Company s segmentation scoring methodology and database match and append process can be applied to any individual, age 18 or older including both employees and their adult dependents (typically spouses). All we need are the names and addresses of the spouses and/or adult dependents, as well as an indicator for each record that distinguishes them from the employees in the file. This allows Aon Hewitt to analyze and report on the segmentation results overall, by employees, and by spouses/dependents. 2

3 6. Do the companies in your examples use internal or external marketing resources to create these separate campaign messages and marketing pieces? The companies highlighted in our presentation are Aon Hewitt Communication clients. These clients, and hundreds of others not featured in this presentation, work with our consultants to conduct their segmentation analyses, develop their targeted marketing strategy and creative approach, craft key messages and content, apply graphic design, and, in many cases, also produce and deliver the final print and online materials to employees and dependents. Although we believe Aon Hewitt consultants are uniquely qualified and experienced at applying segmentation insights to deliver results-based marketing communication, how we support a client beyond conducting the segmentation analysis is very flexible and specific to that client s unique needs and resources. 7. What tools or resources do you suggest using to understand what goals we should set? Our Aon Hewitt Health and Benefits and Communication consultants can help you identify appropriate goals and metrics for your health engagement efforts, based on expert research and experience with other clients and benchmarking data. They can also provide you with an understanding of factors that will be unique to your organization and population, including, but not limited to, segmentation insights. 8. Are there issues with segmentation that should be considered specific to the public sector (local government)? We have conducted segmentation for a number of organizations in the public sector. Their needs and considerations have not been significantly different than those of our other private sector clients. 9. What is the average employee size of the organizations that have found this segmentation valuable? We ve conducted segmentation for organizations ranging in size from 200 employees to over 300,000 employees. Clients of all sizes have found the insights and analyses valuable and actionable. 10. Wouldn t influencing financial incentives be more effective to gain participation and compliance? For example, our company provides discounts on the employee s portion of the health insurance premium if they participate. Aon Hewitt s point of view is that you ll need to employ a variety of integrated strategies and tactics to achieve your health improvement and health engagement goals. Segmentation insights can help you determine the best way to build, mix, and promote your efforts to optimize the engagement of employees and dependents. Incentives financial and otherwise are an important part of an overall health improvement and health engagement strategy. Our segmentation research will help you understand which types of incentives your population is most likely to find motivating, as well as how to frame and promote those incentives through marketing communication so that employees and/or dependents sit up, take notice, and take action. 3

4 11. Can you give me an example of a laser-focused approach to segmentation? We d like to start by clarifying that attitudinal segmentation is primarily a research and insights mechanism used for better understanding your employees/dependents what is most likely to motivate them and get on their way. It can also show key similarities and differences in the predominant attitudes, motivators, and barriers in your overall population, and within specific sub-groups (for example, by age, geography, or business unit). When we talk about laser focus, we re talking about how you apply segmentation insights to your marketing communications and other health engagement efforts, like program design or incentives. Segmentation offers valuable insights, but they don t necessarily have to be applied in a laser-focused way. As you heard in our client examples, many clients are simply using segmentation insights to help them better understand and reach their majority in other words, their one or two largest segments through broad-based communication. Those clients taking a more targeted or laser focused approach to applying segmentation insights, like Raytheon, the pharmaceutical client, and the industrial services client highlighted in our presentation, are making the choice to get very specific communication and outreach to very specific target audiences. They re identifying which types of employees and dependents are most critical to engage and in which specific behaviors by looking at some combination of attitudinal segmentation data, demographic data, and other medically-informed data. Then they re developing and delivering different, targeted communication (messaging, visuals, media, and channel), and sometimes incentives and other outreach, directly into the hands of those individuals. 12. Has anyone tried to measure the cost/benefit of investing in wellness considering the long-term nature of the return versus the turnover in the organization? In other words, will the same people be with the company when the possible benefits of wellness are realized? There have been numerous studies related to the return on investment in wellness. We d be happy to share those insights and discuss your specific situation. Please reach for your Aon Hewitt account executive and we ll put you in touch with one of our subject matter experts in the Health and Benefits Consulting practice. If you aren t a current client or don t know who your account executive is, please contact aon.marketing@aon.com. 13. Do these programs target family members as well given that 60% or so claim costs are form dependents? Yes, our segmentation analysis can be conducted on any adult dependent (age 18 or over) including spouses and we recommend this analysis for many of our clients. Through our health strategy, design and communication consulting, we work with clients to understand and address the needs of this very important population in the way that makes most sense for their situation and goals. 4

5 14. What are some things companies are doing to tackle communicating wellness and health on a global basis (i.e., nationals and expats outside of US)? We re seeing that many global and multinational organizations are expanding (or even starting) their wellness and health improvement/engagement efforts with an eye on their entire organization, not just those in the U.S. Obviously, the U.S. has been a priority for many organizations, global or not, who are desperately trying to mitigate rising health costs. But research shows that a healthier workforce is also a more engaged and more productive workforce. Organizations that believe in that promise and that are committed to building a culture of health are developing global workplace wellness strategies and programs. These can include everything from subsidizing onsite fitness and healthy food options, to developing an overarching global wellness brand and marketing communication strategy. Aon Hewitt has a practice specifically focused on Global Health and Benefits to help clients through these challenges effectively. 15. Can you use segmentation for anything other than health engagement? For example, could you use it to motivate employees to save more for retirement? The Futures Company s LIVING Well segmentation model, which we featured in our webinar on May 15, is best applied to motivating health and wellness-related behaviors. However, The Futures Company does have another segmentation model, MindBase, that Aon Hewitt can access on behalf of our clients via The Futures Company s database append method (for U.S. populations) or a short survey (all populations). We ve been successfully applying MindBase segmentation insights to help clients address financial and retirement savings and investing behaviors through more targeted and motivating communication. These MindBase insights which capture consumer attitudes and behaviors related to multiple dimensions of work and life are also being sought out and applied by clients who want to develop or improve their overarching employee value proposition and brand, their total rewards value proposition and brand, and/or the effectiveness of their overall corporate communication all with the end goal of attracting, retaining and motivating their key talent. 5

6 Questions Answered by Tina Anastasiow, First American 16. What was First American s budget to begin this campaign as far as starting the segmentation? Each year, First American aligns our communications budget with our goals for the year and any potential savings we may realize if those goals are met. This makes it easier to justify an investment in a particular campaign. We already used a multi-channel approach to communications in prior years, but once we introduced attitudinal segmentation, it required an additional investment in the segmentation analysis itself, and we then chose to expand our efforts to engage employees with Flash videos, additional highimpact s, and birthday postcards, along with a refreshed design concept that would better engage our target segments. These efforts were instrumental in helping us achieve our goals (e.g., higher health assessment and biometric participation, greater migration to the CDHP plan, etc.) resulting in lower projected health care costs in 2013, or approximately $1.8M saved. Total investment in these new items was about $150K (including segmentation and follow-up communication). 17. How did they launch Healthy Steps? Initiate a wellness committee? Hire a wellness coordinator? We launched Healthy Steps in October 2010 through a comprehensive communications campaign that started in September with a message to employees from our CEO. Communications continued throughout the health assessment window, annual enrollment, and even through the time that incentives were granted for completing the health assessment in the form of premium reductions in January the following year. We do not have a wellness committee, but rather communicate proactively through our network of Human Resources staff located throughout the country, who in turn keep divisional leadership informed of our wellness efforts and any new initiatives we might be undertaking in advance of rolling them out. We are in the process of recruiting a dedicated wellness program manager, but have been executing our communications and programs without specialized staffing. 18. Tina mentioned that segmentation validated a lot of what she already knew about her population. Did she learn anything new that she didn't know before? Any surprises? Yes, we learned that our employees were unfamiliar with the basics. Our communications were more laser-focused than ever, but we had made the assumption that they understood basic terminology like preventive care, knew what screenings they should get and when, and knew what tools and resources were available to them. When we started getting questions about these things, we knew that we had to simplify our messaging even further, and evaluate the tools and resources available to employees to consider improvements, so that will be our approach starting later this year and into In fact, we have already selected a simplified, engaging, action-oriented design concept with the tagline You: Simplified for annual enrollment We have begun surveying employees about the CDHP plan to evaluate the tools and resources available to them and to gauge their understanding of the plan, and we ll also be cross-referencing high 401(k) savers with segmentation results to determine the best potential candidates for targeted communications regarding CDHP participation. 6

7 19. Have you run into any problems getting internal support for doing more highly targeted communication? For example, any concerns about HIPAA privacy? How have you overcome those barriers so far? Luckily, we have had terrific support internally for doing targeted communication. Because we don t cross the line of touching HIPAA information, very little negative feedback has come from employees or from management. Whenever we reference our Healthy Steps program, we are very clear about the program s confidentiality and that employee engagement in any wellness program offered by First American is voluntary and individual results are never shared with us. We do receive some feedback from employees regarding the outreach done by our wellness vendor, which can be prompted by claims or health assessment data, so we continue to build employee understanding through clearer communications, FAQs, and other materials to address their concerns. Consistency in communications and actions each year, along with aligning ourselves with quality vendors, has helped us build credibility and is likely the reason why we haven t had any significant issues to this point. 20. It sounds like segmentation has really helped First American raise the bar on their marketing communication approach. Did you learn anything from segmentation that could help you with things beyond communication? For example, the design of your wellness programs or incentives? Absolutely. The same things that motivate an employee to read the communications you send work for wellness engagement as well. The insights gained from the segmentation analysis have helped us develop a variety of incentives, including a new menu of options that we re considering right now. It can also help us develop additional wellness programs, such as activity-based competitions that might appeal to the In It for Fun segment, or five-minute stretches at your desk that could appeal to the time-strapped Not Right Now segment. Now that we better understand our primary segments, that knowledge has continued to influence not only our communications, but our wellness program and health plan design as well. 21. Have you done any other research or considered doing any other research to supplement what you've learned through segmentation? Other than employee surveys, we haven t done research beyond segmentation. However, that s something we could consider in the future. 22. What is First American doing to reach and engage spouses and family members at home? Did you look at spouses in your segmentation analysis? Part of our multi-channel communications approach is to send communications to the home. We understand that spouses and partners are often the decision-makers when it comes to health care and wellness, so it s important that they receive the information as well. We also know that spouses, partners, and adult dependents are often the largest drivers of health care cost, so we definitely want them engaged in our health and productivity efforts. That being said, they are often the hardest to engage, as they feel less of a connection to First American than the employee does. Although we extend benefits and wellness programs to this population, we do not currently offer incentives to them, which makes engagement even more challenging. We are planning to offer incentives to this population as early as 2013, so we expect to see improvement in this area. We did not look at spouses or partners in our segmentation analysis but certainly could do so in the future. 7

8 More Information For more information, or to find out how Aon Hewitt can help your organization implement attitudinal segmentation, please contact Kaulen Taylor at or To watch and listen to a recording of our May 15, 2012 webinar, go to aon.com/healthengagement. 8