The document discusses best practices for using email to drive enrollment in health insurance plans. It finds that consumers who were contacted by both phone and email were significantly more likely to enroll than phone contact alone. It recommends sending a series of short, simple emails with clear calls to action and buttons. Testing different subject lines and content is important because open and click rates can vary. Examples of high-performing subject lines from enrollment campaigns are provided.

1. © 2015 Enroll America and Get Covered America
EnrollAmerica.org | GetCoveredAmerica.org
© 2015 Enroll America and Get Covered America
EnrollAmerica.org | GetCoveredAmerica.org
You’ve Got (e)Mail:
Using Email to Drive Enrollment

2. © 2015 Enroll America and Get Covered America
EnrollAmerica.org | GetCoveredAmerica.org
Agenda
• Why email is important
• What you should write
• Why testing is important (and how it works)
• Best performing email examples
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3. © 2015 Enroll America and Get Covered America
EnrollAmerica.org | GetCoveredAmerica.org
WHY EMAIL IS
IMPORTANT
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4. © 2015 Enroll America and Get Covered America
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Consumers who were called AND emailed were significantly
more likely to enroll than phone contact alone.
34.0%
40.9%
31.9% 34.5%
Phone Only Phone + Email
Contacted
Not
Contacted
Contacted
Not
Contacted
18.5% more likely
to report getting
enrolled
Source: Enroll America, State of Enrollment: Helping America Get Covered and Stay Covered, 2014-2015, http://www.enrollamerica.org/
soe_report_2015/?utm_source=EA_homepage&utm_medium=sidebar_1&utm_campaign=EA_homepage
Percent enrolled in
HealthCare.gov or Medicaid
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60% enrolled via
in-person assistance
40% enrolled via
online marketplace
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6. © 2015 Enroll America and Get Covered America
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• 18% of our email list connected to their online
marketplace
• And 17% connected to in-person assistance
• Compare that to a 20% average contact rate for
phone banking
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7. © 2015 Enroll America and Get Covered America
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Social Media
Paid Media
Google (SEO)
Word of Mouth
Earned Media
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8. © 2015 Enroll America and Get Covered America
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Emphasizing email
acquisition in the
field increased
acquisition by 34%.
And these were our
top performing email
addresses – click
rates were 58%
higher!
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9. © 2015 Enroll America and Get Covered America
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• Consumers that connected to
their marketplace by Dec
2013 deadline took an
average of 8 days on the
email list to connect
• Consumers that connected to
their marketplace at the end
of OE1 took more than
3x longer, an average of 33
days, to connect
7.69
14.11
32.50
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
Q4 2013 Jan 1-Feb 28 2014 Mar 1-Apr 15 2014
Days
Average # of days on email list before
connecting to Marketplace
Consumers need multiple emails – some more than others.
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10. © 2015 Enroll America and Get Covered America
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Things to know:
• The first emails sent are the most important –
click rates dropped by half by the 7th email
• Click rates are much lower if you delay sending
the first email – 19% lower if delayed by a week
Ø Develop a welcome series sent everyday (or every other
day) for 4-7 days
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11. © 2015 Enroll America and Get Covered America
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Other benefits of email:
• Gives you a list to build on every year – develop
long-term relationships with your consumers
• Renewal outreach becomes much easier
• Enrollees become supporters
• 44% who renewed in OE2 forwarded emails
• 34% of first time enrollees forwarded emails
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The results:
• 79% more likely to report feeling informed
about the ACA and how it affects them
• 60% more likely to report that getting enrolled
was “very easy”
• 26% less likely to report still being uninsured
if connected to a digital resource
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13. © 2015 Enroll America and Get Covered America
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BUT WHAT SHOULD
YOU WRITE?
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14. © 2015 Enroll America and Get Covered America
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Keep it short
Keep it
simple
Know your
audience
Have a clear
call to action
Put a button
on it
5 email rules to live by
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15. © 2015 Enroll America and Get Covered America
EnrollAmerica.org | GetCoveredAmerica.org
Sweet spot:
~100 words
in length
Keep it short
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16. © 2015 Enroll America and Get Covered America
EnrollAmerica.org | GetCoveredAmerica.org
Financial help is available
Pam in PA got covered for $9.43 a month
Free in-person help is available
You could get stuck with a fine
Deadline, deadline, deadline
Keep it simple
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17. © 2015 Enroll America and Get Covered America
EnrollAmerica.org | GetCoveredAmerica.org
Tip:
Use free readability tests
to see how user-friendly
your email copy is.
Read-able.com
Keep it simple
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18. © 2015 Enroll America and Get Covered America
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Tip:
Take time to build
separate email lists for
your different audiences.
Know your audience
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19. © 2015 Enroll America and Get Covered America
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A call to action (CTA) is a request to do something:
• Always link to a page on your site where the consumer can
take action.
• The action you ask them to take should lead them down the
path of enrollment (or down whatever your goal is).
• Free tools are available.
Have a single, clear call to action
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20. © 2015 Enroll America and Get Covered America
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Put a button on it
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21. © 2015 Enroll America and Get Covered America
EnrollAmerica.org | GetCoveredAmerica.org
Every audience is different.
That’s why you should test.
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22. © 2015 Enroll America and Get Covered America
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EMAIL TESTING
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Basic Email Actions
Open
When a recipient opens an email and allows the
images to download
Click
When a recipient clicks on a link created by the
sender in the email
Unsubscribe
When a recipient clicks on the unsubscribe link in the
email
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Basic Email Metrics
Open Rate
# of Unique Opens/# of Emails Sent
Click Rate
# of Unique Clicks/# of Emails Sent
Unsubscribe Rate
# of Unique Unsubscribes/# of Emails Sent
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25. © 2015 Enroll America and Get Covered America
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Example 1:
Open Rate = 315/4500 = 7.00%
Click Rate = 46/4500 = 1.02%
Email Sent to
4,500
Consumers
Email Opened
by 315
Consumers
Email Clicked
by 46
Consumers
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26. © 2015 Enroll America and Get Covered America
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Example 2:
Open Rate = 135/2250 = 6.00%
Open Rate = 180/2250 = 8.00%
Click Rate = 27/2250 = 1.20%
Click Rate = 34/2250 = 1.51%
Email A Sent to
2,250 Consumers
Email A Opened by
135 Consumers
Email A Clicked
by 27 Consumers
Email B Sent to
2,250 Consumers
Email B Opened by
180 Consumers
Email B Clicked
by 34 Consumers
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Free Tools
• Google Sheets
• Open Office/Office Libre
• Some email list management programs
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Why Test Your List
• Learn about your list’s behavior
• Improve or maintain your email metrics
• Your gut instincts aren’t always right
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BEST PERFORMERS
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30. © 2015 Enroll America and Get Covered America
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Subject: Tar Heel State, you could get Obamacare financial help
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31. © 2015 Enroll America and Get Covered America
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Subject: LAST CHANCE: Obamacare sign-up deadline
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Subject: Action required: Finish your Obamacare application
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Subject: Beat the Monday Obamacare deadline
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