Why and How to Conduct a Phone-a-thon 2-24-2014

Why and How to Conduct a Phone-athon with a Local Media Outlet

Monday February 24, 2014
© 2013 Enroll America | EnrollAmerica.org

SPEAKERS
Moderator:
Anita Fete, Director, State Assistance and Government Affairs

Presenters:
Dayanne Leal, Deputy Director, Best Practices Institute, Enroll America
Bill England, Pennsylvania State Director, Enroll America
Trey Daly, Ohio State Director, Enroll America

2


AGENDA

I.

Capitalizing on Your Strengths

II.

Why and How to Conduct a Phone-a-thon with a Local Media Outlet

III. Tips on Monitoring & Evaluation
IV. Q&A

3


I. Capitalizing on Your Strengths

4


What Has Worked Well So Far?

• 35 days until the end of open enrollment
• This is the time to:
 Focus on what you do WELL
 Build on what you have done so far
 Leverage relationships with your network
 NOT the time to invest a lot of resources in doing something totally new

IDENTIFY
what has
worked

Make plans to
REPEAT these
strategies

AMPLIFY for
the next five
weeks

5

II. Why and How to Conduct a Phone-a-thon
with a Local Media Outlet

6


Six Reasons Why Phone-a-Thons Are an
Effective Outreach Strategy
Free advertising from the TV or radio station - Broad reach

Reach consumers where there are
• Convenient for consumers! Great for reaching populations in rural areas!
All-in-one strategy: educate, persuade, refer
• Share key messages
• Connect consumers to enrollment assisters
• Promote current enrollment events
• Prepare consumers for an appointment with an assister

Can take less time and be more cost-effective than other types of outreach
Opportunity to talk directly with consumers who are seeking answers to
their questions and need information about health coverage
High-energy strategy
• Boost staff and volunteer morale during the home stretch

7

How Does A Phone-a-thon Work?

8


It Only Take A Few Steps…

Step 1:

Step 2:

Step 3:

• Establish a
relationship with a
Local Radio or TV
Media Outlet

• Determine the
Goal of Your
Phone-a-Thon

• Get the Word Out

Step 4:

Step 5:

Step 6:

• Train Staff and
Volunteers

• Have a successful
Phone-a-thon!

• Staff the
Phone-a-Thon

9


Sample Timeline

Week 1:
Research
and reach
out to media
outlets

10

Week 2:

Week 3:

Media outlet
confirms it
can conduct
the phone-athon

Promote the
event with your
partners,
friends, and
families

Week 4:

Media outlet
promotes on
the day off
and Phone-athon
happens


Side Note: Follow Up Is Important!

11


Phone-a-thon Success Stories

ME

PA
IL

OH

SC

Alaska:
Hawaii:

12


Let’s Hear From Pennsylvania!

13


How Did We Set Up Our Phone-a-thon?

Contacted by CBS Affiliate in October, we contacted them again in December
– two great events!
I. We have conducted two events in Southeast Pennsylvania
II. Both events were staffed by Navigators and CACs
III. I personally reached out to partners and recruited Navigators and
CACs to be at our phone-a-thons
IV. Established shifts for the staff for the second event, which ran
Noon – 6:30 PM – assigning 90 minute shifts

14


How Did We Promote the Phone-a-thon?

The Philadelphia Phone-a-thons were promoted heavily by the station

I.
II.

Spots were created and run in the days leading up to the event
Both the station and the reporter used social media to inform the
community about the event
III. Enroll America staff publicized through social media and email

15


What Happened at the Phone-a-Thons

Most common questions asked during each event (they were similar):
• How do I find out if I qualify
• How do I apply?
• Can I get assistance in paying for the premium?
• What happens if I do not enroll?

16


Some of Our Successes in Pennsylvania!

The first phone-a-thon on October 2nd ran from 5:00PM – 6:30 PM
(evening news)
 Staffed by 20 volunteers, received 592 phone calls
 Viewed by 108,000 people in PA, NJ and DE
The second phone-a-thon was conducted on December 17th from
12:00 Noon – 6:30 PM
• The event was staffed by 32 people
• 997 calls were handled, and the program reached more than
200,000 viewers

17


Some Words of Wisdom from Pennsylvania!

Plan everything aspect in advance
 How the Phone-a-thon will be staffed?
 How will it be publicized?
 What materials should be on hand to support the staff and
volunteers answering the phones?
 What information will be collected?
 Have copies of appointments available and someone to track to
avoid overbooking
 Prepare script for calls, facts about YOUR state and FAQs

18


Let’s Hear From Ohio!

19


How Did We Set Up Our Phone-a-thon?

I.

Have organized nine phone-a-thons, seven with WLWT in
Cincinnati and two with WBNS in Columbus.

II. Staffed by Enroll America staff / volunteers, enrollment
assisters, advocates involved in other health related phonea-thons

20


How Did We Promote the Phone-a-thon?
I.
II.
III.
IV.
V.

VI.

21

TV Station announced the phone-a-thon on news broadcasts
leading up to event
TV Station posted information about the event on website
Newspaper mentioned phone-a-thon in the morning of the event
TV Station ran a crawl during the event encouraging calls
TV Station interviewed representatives during news broadcast day of event
TV Station showed the phone-a-thon in action going into
commercials during news broadcast


What Happened at The Phone-a-Thons
I.
II.
III.
IV.

Half hour training before shift began
Volunteers worked 2 – 3 hour shifts
Volunteers were provided with an ACA FAQ script
Volunteers completed intake sheet for each caller with
contact information, whether they were likely
Medicaid- / Marketplace-eligible, whether they wanted
enrollment assistance
V. Lots of Medicare beneficiary calls
VI. Later Phone-a-thons made direct connections to
enrollment assistance

22


Some of Our Successes in Ohio!

• Total calls received in nine webinars = 1883
• The WLWT phone-a-thons were 2 hours each, 5-7pm
• The WBNS phone-a-thons were 8 hours each, 11am-7pm

Note: Regardless of the length of the phone-a-thon or time of
the day, the average has been 50 calls per hour.
Challenges/Opportunities: Tracking results

23


Some Words of Wisdom from Ohio!

I.

Single most effective tool for reaching large
numbers of uninsured people at once

II. Very popular volunteer activity
III. Close the gap between call and enrollment
IV. Data, data, data
V. Consider purchasing supplemental adds
24


III. Tips on Monitoring & Evaluation

25


Develop an Evaluation Plan Before
You Implement
Why evaluate?

Things to
consider…

Suggested
Questions:

• Identify which outreach strategies and partners reach the most
consumers
• Basis for future funding requests

• How will you know if your strategy was effective?
• What outcomes will you be measuring?

•
•
•
•

How did consumers hear about your organization?
How did they get your phone number?
How did they come to attend a particular enrollment event?
How many consumers created an account? Successfully enrolled?

Collect information that will help you build a better system for next year:
When do you ‘lose’ consumers? What helps get consumers ready to buy insurance? How many times
do you talk to a consumer before they sign up? What are the barriers/ questions people have?
26


Future Webinars in this Series

Engaging Community Colleges in Outreach and Enrollment
Wednesday, February 26, 2014 at 4:00 p.m. ET
How to Engage Faith Communities in Outreach
Monday, March 3, 2014 at 4:00 p.m. ET
Creating an Earned Media Strategy: Fast Ways to Engage Local Media
and Motivate Consumers
Tuesday, March 4, 2014 at 4:00 p.m. ET
Conducting Effective Enrollment Events and How to Get More
Support
Wednesday, March 5, 2014 at 4:00 p.m. ET

27


IV. Q&A

Trey Daly
TDaly@enrollamerica.org

Bill England
WEngland@enrollamerica.org
Dayanne Leal
dleal@enrollamerica.org

28


Why and How to Conduct a Phone-a-thon 2-24-2014

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