Medicare AEP 2021: A Closer Look at Direct Mail Calls to Action (CTAs)

We already knew that the 2021 Medicare Annual Election Period (AEP) would be an unusual selling season due to several factors – some anticipated at the start of 2020 (the presidential election) and others not (the impact and duration of the COVID-19 pandemic). But as they say in show business “the show must go on” – Medicare consumers only have the AEP period to shop and switch their benefits for the upcoming year, and Medicare marketers must put together strategic plans to help reach prospects and grow market share.

Here at Media Logic, the Healthcare Marketing Team is constantly keeping a pulse on all things Medicare, including marketing tactics used by health insurers. Direct mail continues to be at the foundation of many campaigns and a key funnel for lead generation. This year, we decided to compile a list of all calls-to-action (CTAs) and offers used by Medicare marketers throughout the 2021 AEP. We reviewed Medicare acquisition direct mail pieces from across the country – tracked and reported by Mintel – received September through November. We want to see if the CTAs shifted throughout the 2021 AEP. Here some observations:

• There are a lot of CTAs encouraging consumers to request literature in September and October, but by November, CTAs are mostly to contact sales. This makes sense as the consumer nears the deadline, health plans will want to encourage engagement with sales.
• Request literature and register for a meeting are still dominant CTAs.
• Most of the offers are gift card based, which makes sense. According to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) “nominal gifts may not be in the form of cash or other monetary rebates even if their worth is $15 or less.” Gift cards are perceived as high value and still within CMS regulations. Because cash bank cards are similar in nature to cash, some health plans may be reluctant to use them, but they seem to be a popular option.
• There are still quite a few health plans that don’t use direct, specific CTAs – instead they go with broad-based CTAs like call for more information. Direct response marketing best practices would indicate that consumers are more likely to act when marketers use more explicit, tangible CTAs.

Ultimately, our review found quite a bit of similarity across CTAs, but we felt that Medicare marketers might be interested in a full list of CTAs and offers. You can scroll through the tables below for a monthly snapshot.  

September 2021

October 2021

November 2021

Check back with us in a few weeks for our annual review of marketing campaign highlights from the past year’s AEP.