Eastbridge recognized Assurant Employee Benefits as one of the industry’s sales growth leaders in 2011 and for exceeding the industry sales average during each of the last three years. Among large companies, those with $30 million or more in voluntary sales, Assurant Employee Benefits 2011 sales increased by more than 13 percent as compared to 2010.
Assurant Employee Benefits works diligently to be a responsive partner who anticipates its customers’ needs and develops targeted, customized solutions to meet them. One area the company focused on was making benefit communications clear, straightforward, consistent and easy.
Prior to the fall of 2009, Assurant printed 11 different, non-personalized employee benefit booklets depending on the employee location, pay rate, and circumstances. Upon receipt of one of these booklets, some employees would have to decipher data tables and do manual calculations to determine their individual voluntary insurance rate. The process was somewhat ineffective and caused lower participation.
Converting from Static to Variable Data
Assurant Employee Benefits decided to tap into the power of variable data printing to customize each booklet and show the rates applicable to each individual employee as defined by age, location, company, pay scale, benefits package and more. This required more than 1,300 text and graphic variables that could be printed and shipped within 24 hours.
To move from static to variable benefits booklets, Assurant Employee Benefits turned to Mail Print to provide the asset management system, print automation processes and print technology that insures each booklet can be printed without errors 100% of the time with no need for further client involvement, downtime, errors or disruptions.
A Turnkey Variable Solution that Converts More and Costs Less
Assurant Employee Benefits’ IT team worked closely with NextPage (formerly Mail Print) and made the commitment to test hundreds of variable combinations before the new variable benefits product could begin production. In the testing process, a book had to be built to reflect every possible combination of graphic and text asset. Mail Print also worked with two outside ad agencies to acquire compliance-related and creative assets.
The results have been outstanding. NextPage began producing complete customized booklets for Assurant Employee Benefits’ customers that contain more than 1,374 variable fields and nearly 1,000 graphic and text assets that ship in 24-hours upon order receipt, error-free.
To date more than 400,000 benefit booklets have been produced for Assurant Employee Benefits. This communications upgrade, as well as many other internal enhancements, helped to increase the voluntary benefits enrollment rate by 5 percent the first year and 13 percent the second year.
“When Assurant Employee Benefits launched its expanded suite of voluntary, or employee-paid, products in 2010, our goal was to make these coverage options accessible to more employers and their employees,” said Tim Knott, senior vice president of strategic markets and product management. “We’ve met and exceeded that goal, as demonstrated by the Eastbridge sales report findings.”
What Can Variable Do for You?
Variable Data Printing generates response rates 3-10 times higher than traditional efforts.
Gina Danner, CEO of NextPage shares this insight, “When marketers are able to share specific information with specific individuals – much like Assurant Employee Benefits was able to provide employees with the exact rates and the specific benefits available to them – they are able to increase engagement. Essentially with VDP, marketers make it easier for people to buy.”
Interested in learning more? Download this VDP report compliments of NextPage.