Health Plans have suffered notoriously low consumer satisfaction for years and industry experts have long been urging payers to step it up. Plans are starting to pay attention, and there are now a wealth of health-plan mobile apps flooding the Apple and Google Play stores. The COVID-19 pandemic has hugely accelerated digital transformation, making app quality increasingly critical. Plans who have appropriately invested in quality app technology are already seeing huge improvements in customer satisfaction and cost savings.
A recent study by Health Payer Specialist reviewed the top 25 payers (by annual claims amounts) looking for change in mobile app reviews in Apple’s App Store between March and October 2020. In the six-month period since the start of COVID-19 shut-downs in the US, one plan stands out for its incredible and rapid progress.
With a newly transformed app, Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey saw a 41% improvement in Apple stars ratings, jumping from 2.9 in March to 4.1 in October.
Tweet
The rating-improvement was driven by 300 unique members who took the time to record their positive app experiences in the Apple store — giving Horizon and their improved customer experience exposure to over two million Apple store users.
Horizon’s accomplishment is an example to all payers. Digital transformation really does work and consumers can see it — quickly. Positive consumer experiences build brand loyalty and their ratings on the major app stores draw in new members. In addition, apps enable self-service with huge potential for payer ROI. Members who can download their own ID card, check a bill, and find a provider based on their current location do not need to be on hold waiting for a service rep to pull that information.
However, not all mobile apps are created equal. The right member mobile app can track usage, patterns, and trends. This allows the payer to gain new consumer behavior data, which enables them to develop the right features, create the right campaigns, and deliver the right messages to the right members. All together, this reduces call center burden and costs while continually improving customer satisfaction.
