Can Direct Help Save ObamaCare?

Can Direct Response Save the Affordable Care Act?

Can Direct Response Save the Affordable Care Act?

ObamaCare and the Affordable Care Act….

website is already one of the biggest flops in the history of digital media.

Is this because the government including congress is unable to get anything right?

This is not necessarily the case, not least because the act was largely “privatized” in the first place, to placate a conservative congress.

One of the the most difficult challenges seems to be the fusion of numerous private databases in the service of what is essentially an e-commerce site.

Many insurance websites allow you to compare and shop for rates among different carriers and even e-bay and Amazon have perfected and evolved their e-commerce sites.

The difficulty with the the ACA web sites, apparently, is that many who seek to enroll cannot get past the authentication page, and cannot therefore apply for insurance.

In direct marketing you would never attempt to roll-out something this large without testing it on a smaller scale and troubleshoot the problems especially on a self serve website that can easily be hacked and compromised.

As a cry for help, the White House has promised a “tech surge,” which seems to be taking shape. It’s the first thing we’ve heard so far that seems hopeful and we wish them all the best.

Analytics and Testing

In direct marketing you test and analyze segments to determine what works and what needs to be improved.

The website swat team whomever they turn out to be, will need to pay close attention to analytics. At first, it will be all about error messages and fixing infrastructure.

But once they get it to perform minimally, it will be, because of its early failure, just that much more important that the site delivers on conversion. Those in charge will need to rapidly identify friction in the system and make it more than a default way of solving a problem.

Why Direct Marketing?

Because direct marketing is the only way to be cost efficient

Is direct marketing the savior; that it cuts friction, it’s a self serve solution that it is swift and simple and creates a permanent solution. 1-800 numbers and paper applications might have served as well or better than an online solution

The ACA may quite prove that direct marketing can solve societal problems and instead prove that it really cannot–at least not without much, much more care and devotion that would have been required by another (non-digital) system.

Analysis and testing is What Makes This Different

But direct marketing compensates in many ways that non-digital cannot hope to compete.

Let’s say instead that without the ability to:

  • understand user behavior and spot trouble and fix it quickly,
  • continually test and improve using feedback and algorithms,
  • define desired outcomes and build in measurement and optimization;

…then digital really becomes just another choice among choices, and who can say if it was the best?

More Articles on ObamaCare

  • Health Care and the 2012 Election – Scribd – Health Care and the 2012 Election – Free download as PDF File (.pdf), Text file (.txt) or view presentation slides online. In commentary on its September 2012 poll …
  • ObamaCare Summary – Scribd – ObamaCare Summary: A Summary of Obama’s Health Care Reform. A Quick Overview of ObamaCare and How it Works The following ObamaCare Summary is a quick overview of …
  • Obama on Upholding of ACA – Scribd – Obama’s speech from the East Room of the White House on the US Supreme Court’s decision June 28, 2012, to uphold most provisions of the Affordable Care Act.
  • Barack Obama on Healthcare – BARACK OBAMA ON HEALTHCARE. BARACK OBAMA HAS A PLAN FOR HEALTHY AMERICA The Problem Nearly 45 million Americans lack health insurance. Health insurance premiums have …
About Tim Little

Tim G. Little has a BS in Business Administration, and has worked in the magazine publication and circulation management for the past
20 years. As an Internet Publisher and Entrepreneur, he has developed expertise in the field of strategic planning, direct market
advertising and analysis, direct mail marketing and is a specialist in developing unique and lucrative opportunities using direct response
marketing methods for business.

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