Ask any health care marketer what they think of Open Enrollment and they’ll describe a sea of dense PDFs, compliance language and panicked last-minute emails. Ask any HR leader, and they’ll tell you it’s an uphill battle to get employees to actually read any of it.
Open Enrollment isn’t an administrative push—it’s an internal product launch.
Every year, organizations spend millions on world-class benefits, yet utilization trends across the board often remain low for fringe benefits. Why? Because most open enrollment communications treat employees like administrators filing paperwork instead of consumers making lifestyle choices and paving healthy paths forward.
If we want employees to live healthier lives, value their total rewards and make confident choices, HR needs to steal a playbook from Marketing. Here are some tips for how you can develop communications plans designed to educate and inspire employees.
Warm up the audience (The pre-launch strategy)
No brand launches a product with a cold email two weeks before release. They build anticipation, showcase value and prime the audience first.
- Drip the good stuff early: Use late summer to highlight lifestyle perks (mental health tools, gym stipends, family care resources) before dropping complex plan mechanics.
- Build a cohesive campaign identity: Stop sending disconnected flyers from five different vendors. Wrap your benefits in a single, recognizable internal brand that inspires and supports.
- Trade 40-page PDFs for micro-content: Think short videos, quick interactive quizzes and bite-sized infographics that take 30 seconds to digest.
Market the outcome, not the specifics
Marketers don’t sell specifics, they sell the emotional benefit that consumers can realize from interacting with the brand. Benefits messaging needs the exact same repositioning.
- The “old way” (HR Specifics): “Our primary care network features integrated telehealth options with zero deductible.”
- The “new way” (Consumer Benefit): “Sick kid at 9 PM? See a doctor in 5 minutes from your couch—for free.”
When you position benefits around real human moments, employees don’t just remember them during enrollment—they actually use them and stay healthy year-round.
Treat OE as the conversion event, not the whole funnel
If employees are discovering a benefit for the first time on the day enrollment opens, the marketing funnel broke. By launching an engagement strategy months ahead of time, you guide employees through a natural consumer journey:
- Awareness: “I didn’t realize our company offered this!”
- Consideration: “Here’s how this actually saves me money and time.”
- Conversion: Confident, proactive choices during Open Enrollment guided by real-life information
The takeaway
You’ve already invested heavily in your benefits package. Don’t let a low-budget communication strategy compromise your ROI.
When HR and Marketing think alike, benefits stop feeling like confusing fine print and start feeling like a true competitive advantage for your culture.
Want to run Open Enrollment like a top-tier brand campaign this year? Let’s connect for a brief strategy session on how to build an internal marketing plan that actually converts, or to see examples of Open Enrollment campaigns we’ve worked on.
