When the Muzak you hear in stores over the coming months croons about "the most wonderful time of the year," it's probably not referring to open enrollment season. But in our business, no time of year is more important. Your clients' annual open enrollments in the fall are the optimal opportunity to ensure their investments in their employee benefits programs meet their goals.
Here are five strategies you can use to help ensure your clients get the best possible results from their open enrollments:
1. Select the right enrollment methods for your clients' needs.
Online, self-service enrollments and virtual meetings are now the default enrollment method for most carriers, according to Eastbridge's recent "Enrollment and Technology Funding Practices of Voluntary Carriers" Spotlight™ Report. Most still prefer some type of in-person interaction for voluntary enrollments, but they tend to agree that online self-enrollments — when paired with decision-support tools, videos and virtual or call center benefits counselors — can deliver good customer experiences and improved participation results.
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Online enrollments also can provide faster and more accurate data and reporting and offer enrollment ease and accessibility for both employers and employees. But you and your clients have many other options: Most carriers accommodate a wide variety of enrollment methods to provide flexibility and options to better reach diverse employee populations, including virtual meetings, one-to-one meetings with a benefits counselor or enroller, inbound and outbound telephonic enrollments, and paper enrollments.
2. Make sure your carrier partner offers the support you and your clients need.
Most voluntary carriers offer different types of enrollment services or support, but the level of support can vary based on case size, geographic location, the number of their products you're offering, your clients' needs and the enrollment methods used. As a rule, the larger the case, the higher the level of customized support, methods, and materials available.
Carriers are also taking steps to expand their relationships and depth of integration across all entities involved in the enrollment to streamline and simplify the enrollment process. This can include new APIs or data transfer capabilities with both new and existing platform partners, seeking out or developing better decision-support technology to use in the enrollment process, and providing more internal resources and support for the enrollment set-up, implementation, and ongoing service and support.
3. Work with a carrier that has a relationship with your preferred technology platforms.
As more enrollment technology platforms enter the market, carriers are continually expanding the number of platforms with which they partner. In fact, almost half of those surveyed say they work with 100 or more platforms that can offer or house their voluntary products. However, most carriers have a much shorter list of preferred platform partnerships, usually influenced by you and your clients, the platforms' reach or popularity in the marketplace, its overall capabilities and functionality, the products being sold, the case specifics and demographics, and the overall sales opportunity.
Key differentiators for using preferred platforms include increased speed and efficiencies for product set-up, data transfer, and case implementation. Advantages of tapping into these preferred platforms include streamlined data transfer, providing preconfigured products and plans, benefits education and enrollment tool collaboration, and streamlined customer support services and response times.
4. Consider your needs for tech platform funding.
More than two-thirds of carriers we surveyed say technology funding requests are increasing from both new and existing cases across the size spectrum. However, carriers say they don't always meet these requests. Key criteria that may affect whether you or your clients receive technology fees or subsidies include case size, the number of voluntary products being offered, and your history with the carrier. History with the group, future sales potential, and your client's agreement to preferred enrollment conditions are also important considerations for most carriers.
5. Improve participation in voluntary products.
Some of the most common voluntary products have relatively low participation, according to Eastbridge's recent "Understanding Voluntary Participation Rates" Spotlight™ Report — and the larger the group, the lower the participation tends to be. That could indicate a need for stronger benefits education and other strategies to make the enrollment process easier and more efficient.
Buy-in from your clients for a comprehensive enrollment communication plan with an adequate timeline is vital. It should include multiple customized communication touch points, a variety of communication channels, messages and materials, and opportunities for personal interaction with employees. Incorporate interactive and easy-to-use decision-support tools, calculators, videos and product materials. Positioning voluntary products directly after core benefit offerings in the enrollment system and requiring an active (accept/decline) enrollment process also can have a positive impact on voluntary participation.
Creating and implementing the best possible open enrollment for your clients and their employees requires strong partnership and ongoing collaboration. With the right enrollment methods, support services, technology platforms, funding and benefits education plans in place, it just might be the most wonderful time of the year for your business.
Eastbridge's "Enrollment and Technology Funding Practices of Voluntary Carriers" Spotlight™ Report includes data collected in January and February 2024 from 29 carriers about their current voluntary enrollment methods and best practices, the technology platforms they use most frequently and their evolving approach to technology funding. The "Voluntary Participation Rates" Spotlight™ Report provides comparative data on the participation rates of 29 carriers active in the voluntary market collected in March and April 2024. Find information about how to obtain a copy of these reports on Eastbridge's website or email [email protected] to learn more.
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