When it comes to managing population health or deploying an employer wellness program, the conversation doesn’t last long before it inevitably turns to engagement. Namely – How do we get more people to participate?
This trillion-dollar question (as in $3 trillion) has long been one of the biggest challenges faced by employers and other organizations as they work to increase participation in the programs and resources they provide to their consumers. While there are numerous approaches and levers that can impact engagement rates, we believe we should follow the same behavior change principle we apply to help shape healthy habits – focus on the simplest thing that will have the biggest impact.
Recently, the MIT Sloan School of Management had a release announcing the high-level findings from a research study on optimizing the effectiveness of email marketing they have been doing in conjunction with RedBrick Health. This research specifically studied the engagement level of individuals in RedBrick programs, when they were presented with a yes/no option compared to a standard “enroll here” option. The study found that yes/no resulted in nearly 40% higher engagement rates across a sample of 40,000 RedBrick users.
It shouldn’t be surprising that providing consumers choice will have a positive outcome as it pertains to program engagement. Choice architecture has long been incorporated into all aspects of our life. However, that making such a minor change in a communication can result in such a dramatic percentage increase in engagement is a great lesson to remember that engagement isn’t always complex algorithms or program designs. Instead, sometimes it’s as simple as empowering a person to choose to take the next step.
Look for us to provide additional insight from this research in the coming months as the paper is published and additional findings are disseminated.
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