Consumer research drives enrollment and education site, benefits
guides
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--
The principles behind simple, effective benefits education and
enrollment drove the design of a new website with a shopping cart
approach -- one of several tools Unum (NYSE:UNM) has developed to help
simplify benefits decision-making.
“We listen to consumers, ask them what works, what doesn’t and how we
can most effectively support them in making benefits choices they feel
good about,” said Stacy Gray, assistant vice president of Consumer
Strategy for Unum. “Our new tools are the direct result of that work.”
The site at unumbenefits.com features a shopping cart that shows exactly
which benefits an employee has selected, what each coverage costs and
the total cost for all the products. For now, the site serves small to
mid-size businesses with 500 or fewer employees, but it will eventually
expand for use with larger employers.
Unumbenefits.com offers the guidance of a video coach, real-time
quoting, and straightforward descriptions of Unum products and how they
work. The products are presented in price segments, offering a clear
view of the amount of coverage available at different premium levels.
“The platform provides a flexible, consumer-friendly tool to give people
the kind of online shopping experience they increasingly want and
expect, whether they are enrolling themselves or with the assistance of
a benefits counselor,” Gray said.
Research into how people make benefits decisions and the value of
effective benefits education has helped to influence Unum’s development
of these and other tools for consumers.
The Unum guide “The
Science of Choice: Guiding employees to wise benefits decisions,”
outlines the key principles of decision-making and identifies how to
best present employee benefits information so employees make the most
informed decisions.
And Unum’s benefits education research
clearly shows the critical role of benefits education in boosting
employee engagement and satisfaction with their workplaces.
“Decisions about employee benefits can be perplexing; they are also
among the most crucial decisions consumers make,” Gray said. “Helping
individuals feel confident in their benefits decisions and comfortable
with the process is a critical goal for us.”
Unum has also developed benefits booklets for small to mid-size
employers that can include co-branding with the employer, conveniently
packaged education, rates and forms information, and a front-page
summary of when and where enrollment events will occur.
The booklets include descriptions of what employees will be able to
purchase, clearly outline product prices and offer engaging stories that
illustrate the ways customers may use different coverages. Booklets are
available in English and Spanish.
“This approach makes it simple for employees to know what they need and
why, and to understand what the products will cost and what they will
cover,” Gray said.
Unum is also providing templates to allow plan administrators to easily
distribute benefits education to employees via email. The messages can
include video, printable material and web page links to offer benefits
education to employees in a variety of formats that accommodate
different learning styles.
About Unum
Unum (www.unum.com)
is one of the leading providers of employee benefits products and
services in the United States and the United Kingdom. Through its
subsidiaries, Unum Group paid approximately $6 billion in total benefits
to customers in 2010.
Source: Unum
Contact:
Unum
Mary Fortune, 423-294-6368
mfortune@unum.com