Personalization – When employees purchase benefits, that they become consumers. And like all of today's consumers, they've come to expect their buying experiences to be unique and relevant to them. To have a truly personalized enrollment experience, you need to know the customer. Not just their gender, age and whether they have a family, but how they make financial decisions — their preferences, financial style and thought processes.  

Why? Because no two employees think about these decisions alike and, therefore, no two experiences should be alike. That means the experience should differ based on an employee's style, wants, needs and expectations. And, to do that, you need to get to know them early in the experience. A highly personalized online enrollment tool can help prevent regret, because employees get the information they need to make informed decisions. Those are the decisions most likely to stick. 

Simplicity – For both the employer and the employee, a tool that's easy and intuitive streamlines the whole process. For instance, an enrollment experience that mirrors other online shopping experiences will be familiar to many employees, and that makes it more comfortable. And, when a tool is designed to consider how people process financial decisions, the result is an experience that's more intuitive, less scary, ultimately faster … and simple. 

How do you know you're recommending the most engaging personalized enrollment experience? If it's designed to sell products, stop. If it's a one-dimensional tool that treats all employees the same, stop. If it relies primarily on education to help people make selections, stop.   

There are a lot of enrollment engines in the market today, and most of them incorporate behavioral economics and education to nudge people into the right decisions. All very important, but do they tailor the experience to the individual's financial style? 

Tee up an "intelligent" experience — a tool that "learns" what's important to the employee, how they feel about their finances and how they make financial decisions. Then use that information to tailor the experience to that specific person. It could mean presenting solutions that other customers who are "like them" have purchased. It could mean one-click automatic elections that are later reviewed in a summarized shopping cart. Bottom line, give the employee a shopping experience versus a selling experience. While the end goal is the same, the paths are quite different. 

Why is this difference so important? Because, in my experience, participation results are 20 percent higher when enrollment is through a personalized and simple shopping experience. While not mainstream, some carriers are moving in this direction. And that's a win-win-win for you, your employer clients and their employees. So, get up close and personal. It makes a big difference.