4 Visual Formats to Create More Helpful Content for AEP 2021

The nearly 10 months that fall around the Annual Election, or Enrollment, Period (AEP) for healthcare are all about preparation. Sales and marketing are (or should be) working together to prepare the information, materials, and tools that are needed to execute a succinct, but successful campaign beginning the moment the clock strikes midnight on October 1st. Planning for success means updating and creating content that will assist consumers in choosing the plan that’s right for them.  

As information has become increasingly accessible, consumer expectations have increased as well. They’re more empowered than ever, and they’re demanding honesty, transparency, and simplicity in the health insurance content they review when shopping around. As empowered as they’ve become, they’re still no match for the complexities of health insurance plans. They’re relying on the content provided to them by their sales consultant to clearly layout the terms and prices of each plan in an easily absorbed format. The following is a list of 4 visual formats that marketers should be utilizing when creating content for their AEP 2021 Campaign. 

Why Visual? 

According to Learning Solutions, visuals “have perceptual, motivational, and cognitive characteristics that make them exceptionally valuable for instructional content, including improving clarity and conciseness, ability to make sense of complex information, focus on key information, and engagement and ease of remembering.” Creating content for healthcare consumers in a visual format is the most comprehensive and conceivable way to deliver the honest and transparent educational information they need to make an informed decision during AEP 2021. 

4 Visual Formats for More Helpful Content during AEP 2021 

1. Video

Using video will be increasingly important during an era of restricted face-to-face interactions in order to guide your prospects through complex enrollment processes that require you to provide explanation that is difficult to convey through text alone. 

Additionally, the importance of video marketing has risen (for the most part) for the last five years. Whether it’s product reviews or how-tos, consumers are choosing to learn through video more than ever before, and it doesn’t appear like that will change any time soon. In fact, the 2020 edition of The State of Video Marketing created by Wyzowl reported that 86% of the consumers surveyed wanted more video content. Out of those, 36% of them wanted to see educational or ‘explainer’ video content over any other style.  

Live video will be the ideal communication for meeting and discussion, but you may not always be available to walk your prospects through certain processes in real-time. Using playback video to explain complex terms and language or how to perform a complicated enrollment step will provide an extra layer of support and help your consumers feel more informed when making their final decision.

2. Infographics

Similar to video, infographics have been increasing in popularity over the last few years. They are an excellent format for breaking down complex processes, presenting multiple data visualizations, as well as displaying side by side comparisons.  

Comparison infographics will be especially helpful during Annual Election Period because they allow the consumer to visualize the differences and similarities of each plan in one simple side-by-side chart. Furthermore, because the infographic depicts the differences and similarities it should also give the consumer a concise list of all the benefits that are and are not included in each plan. Simplifying a process such as comparing plans, which can be extremely time consuming and difficult with several different plan packets to sift through, will significantly reduce fatigue and frustration and increase comprehension and consumer confidence.  

Infographics can also be helpful supplemental material. Doubling down on instructional material—preparing both video and static content—will strengthen the educational value and give your consumers the option to choose which material(s) they prefer to learn from. 

3. Screenshots

Screenshots are another great visual format for creating a clear and thorough step-by-step instruction. Particularly for those who are new to the enrollment process or to a specific provider site, step-by-step instructions with accompanying screenshots of webpages and forms will provide consumers with the certainty that they’ve completed each step correctly or help them identify where they’ve made a misstep.  

As with video and infographics, screenshots enhance the consumer’s experience. Although, you may not be there to guide them personally, you’ve still taken the time to make the process as easy and pleasant as possible for them. 

Use screenshots as a standalone material with annotations that clearly highlight where to click and fully explain why they are taking each action. You may also choose to use screenshots as supplemental material for reference within infographics and videos. 

4. E-books

Of the four formats, E-books have the most value when it comes to creating comprehensive content for consumers who need a little extra help. Whether they’re completely new to Annual Election Period or they’re simply switching to a completely new plan, there will be consumers who need more than one or two pieces of helpful content. Rather than sending several emails with loads of individual materials, you can use E-Books to compile the screenshots, infographics, and videos/links you created into a single resource.  

Similarly, AEP 2021 will be much different than AEP in years past due to the restrictions placed on in-person meetings and social distancing. These constraints will likely limit the amount of time you have to interact with your prospects, so having all of the visual content as well as any textual tips and information in a neat package will save time and allow you to share the same amount of information without losing any personal quality. 

There is also standalone value in the E-Book format. They can provide consumers with a single source for understanding the unfamiliar terminology or the complex terms of a plan that may cause them frustration and confusion. You could use another format for this, but an E-Book allows you to include visual elements that may provide further context or simply add interest to a generally quite dry topic.  

Cross-Functionality 

Each of these formats has the potential to be multi-functional. Videos are a wonderful offer to send along to individual clients and prospects, but they’re also great for social media engagement. Infographics can be great sales materials and social media content, but they’re especially engaging and useful as the focal point or final content offer of a blog post. Screenshots are exceptionally helpful for customer support and on-boarding, but they can also be used to build a how-to blog post. Finally, E-Books can be sales resource offers or gated content offers, but they can also be sliced and diced to create social media posts and blogs. Using these four visual formats to build your content strategy for AEP 2021 will increase consumer confidence while simultaneously building brand awareness and supporting future marketing campaigns.  

See how Triptych can help you align marketing and sales to create quality content that’s always compliant, visit Triptych.com/Healthcare