In a bid to revolutionize the Medicare plan shopping experience, eHealth, Inc. (Nasdaq: EHTH) (eHealth.com), a prominent online private health insurance marketplace, has announced an ambitious rebrand. The company has collaborated with Shinebox, a Minneapolis-based agency, to bring this transformative change to fruition.
eHealth’s rebrand initiative goes beyond superficial website updates. It’s driven by valuable feedback from Medicare beneficiaries who expressed frustration with aggressive sales tactics. The new brand, crafted in collaboration with Shinebox, includes a fresh logo and color scheme, a user-friendly omni-channel interface, revamped consumer messaging, and a suite of television, direct mail, print, radio, and online advertisements aimed at distinguishing eHealth in the eyes of beneficiaries.
Michelle Barbeau, Chief Marketing Officer at eHealth, emphasized the consumer-centric approach, stating, “We listened carefully to the consumers we serve, and every change we’ve made in our rebranding process puts them first. We’re addressing the trust deficit among Medicare beneficiaries by embracing transparency, making their best interests our own, and showing them how easy it can be to compare plans from top insurers and find the right match.”
Barbeau added, “Our new brand makes Medicare plan education, selection, and enrollment experience intuitive and empowering. We want every beneficiary we serve this Annual Enrollment Period to walk away confident they made an informed coverage choice.”
As part of the rebrand, eHealth is introducing a new company spokesperson named Eve, who will become the face of the organization. eHealth conducted over 170 auditions, garnering real-time feedback from seniors to select Eve as the most relatable representative. Eve will feature in television commercials, marketing materials, and on eHealth’s consumer-oriented website.
One of the most impactful aspects of eHealth’s new approach involved a real-time user experiment with Medicare beneficiaries. In this experiment, half of the participants were invited to research and select a new Medicare health plan through eHealth, while the other half used conventional methods like online searches or non-eHealth agents and insurance companies. Multiple iterations of this experiment were filmed and transformed into a TV campaign, showcasing that real consumers who used eHealth reported being 25% less stressed compared to those who did not.
Fran Soistman, CEO of eHealth, expressed enthusiasm for the rebrand, stating, “I couldn’t be more excited to celebrate the launch of the new eHealth brand today, and I want to congratulate the organization for spearheading an exciting new path to a better Medicare plan shopping experience for our customers. It marks the culmination of a year-long process of introspection, listening, and learning, and a tremendous amount of cooperative effort.”
Soistman concluded, “I’m confident that our new brand will resonate and help us to better serve the Medicare beneficiaries who come to us for assistance, and make this Annual Enrollment Period a success.”
Note: The 25% less stress figure is based on an eHealth study conducted in June 2023, involving 24 beneficiary participants. It compares beneficiaries who utilized eHealth services for selecting and enrolling in Medicare coverage to those who started with a preferred search engine.