In Good Shape: Included Health uses direct mail to activate 45% of accounts
Impact at a glance
Campaign Spotlight:
Included Health is a healthcare company that provides comprehensive, primary, urgent, and behavioral healthcare services. Included Health knows that high-quality healthcare shouldn’t be exclusive or expensive and should include everything people need to be healthy.
Included Healthcare needed a surefire way to reach prospective members and make them aware of their available services and healthcare providers. Unfortunately, about 20% of its members don’t have email addresses.
But, they do have physical addresses.
Included Health looked for a partner in the direct mail space so it could reach its members and prospective members at home. The healthcare company also needed a solution to automate its mailings and scale based on member data and triggers for particular services or healthcare campaigns without recreating the wheel each time. Included Health’s pain points could be addressed with a prescription for Lob.
The process started with an initial check-up of Included Health’s marketing workflows and technology stack. Then, direct mail campaigns were automated, using Lob, based on triggers in the CRM system, such as a member starting a new job, moving, or a follow-up after a visit to a clinic or healthcare facility.
The results got Included Health’s heart pumping. The average activation rate was nearly 3% (2.87) across multiple direct mail campaigns compared to 2% for email. This result is especially notable due to the fact that customers only get one letter in the program but multiple emails. Another bonus of direct mail? High engagement! Included Health saw an average engagement rate of 6.5% from the direct mail letters it sends.
“Direct mail has a higher engagement rate as we can reach people at home,” says Brian Bojan, Senior Marketing Manager at Included Health. “Direct mail is a high-performing channel within our Targeted Outreach Program – with 45% of account activations attributed to these mailings.”
Using specific triggers allows Included Health to send highly-personalized and HIPAA-compliant mailings to their members.
“Our goal is to ensure that we’re reaching the right people with the right message at the right time, and intelligent direct mail does just that,” says Bojan.
Direct mail isn’t the only marketing channel Included Health utilizes for member acquisition. Bojan tells us, “Direct mail and email are the bread and butter of our targeted outreach program.” Thanks to Included Health’s effort to A/B test email, they’ve found what works for copy and personalization and translated that to their direct mailpieces, specifically letters which have outperformed postcards in prior direct mail A/B testing.
45% of consumers surveyed in the State of Direct Mail Consumer Insights say they prefer letters from healthcare providers, compared to 30% that prefer postcards. It’s no surprise that Included Health sees similar results with an increase in activations through letters compared to postcards.
Beyond tracking activation and engagement rates, Included Health closely tracks its Cost Per Acquisition (CPA). With a CPA of $22 per letter, Included Health has a healthy ROI on its direct mail marketing. Recent research by Wordstream found that in the healthcare industry, the average CPA for paid search is $78. Not only can direct mail be more cost-effective, but it’s also more relevant and personalized to the recipient.
"We assign a unique identifier to every individual in our database regarding direct mail attribution and tracking. When we look at the reports and see that a person received a letter and if they do something within the three-week attribution window, it's attributed to the letter because that's the only marketing piece they received.”
Measuring ROI on direct mail is easy for Included Health due to fixed costs. Lob’s upfront and transparent pricing was another reason Included Health chose Lob for its direct mail marketing.
Included Health has plenty of skills in sending high-performing acquisition and awareness direct mail campaigns but wants to laser-focus on personalization and testing. Bojan explains that some upcoming A/B tests could include different mailpiece form factors, adding QR codes, or even more envelope personalization to increase opens and activations.
Included Health is excellent at holistic healthcare, and it's also looking at more opportunities to have a holistic marketing approach by using digital marketing triggers for its direct mail efforts.
“This targeted program is something that we’re continuing to build around and invest in. The automation aspect of Lob is huge. It’s easy to manage our evergreen direct mail campaigns and know that they’re always on. And we’re happy with what we’re seeing and trying to continue to scale and grow it.”
Included Health found a healthy balance for their marketing efforts by including direct mail. Check out its campaign on our Best Direct Mail Campaigns page and see what a healthy dose of direct mail can do for your business. Request a demo with Lob.
The Challenge
Included Health uses automated direct mail for brand awareness and acquisition.
Profile
Industry
Healthcare
Website
https://includedhealth.com/The Solution
Our goal is to ensure that we’re reaching the right people with the right message at the right time, and intelligent direct mail does just that.
Results
Next Steps
Conclusion
