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VSP Vision Care is the nation’s leading provider of vision care and coverage. Their mission is simple: provide affordable, accessible, high-quality eye care. One way VSP does this is through their direct-to-consumer insurance, VSP Direct, which provides comprehensive coverage for individuals and families.
VSP’s Direct-to-Consumer Market Manager, Steve Gándola has focused on continuing to grow VSP’s online audience and increase awareness of the various plans offered. Unfortunately, many new customers have difficulty differentiating between plans. To address this pain point, an interactive experience was created to both educate new buyers about VSP’s products and help them choose the right plan for their needs.
“With VSP Direct coverage, members get high-quality vision insurance at a low out-of-pocket cost, which can typically save them over $200 per year. But sometimes consumers have difficulty believing that those savings estimates apply to them,” Gándola says. “We needed a savings message that was believable, so we thought a savings calculator would help put them in the driver’s seat.”
As VSP explored the development costs for both a product selector and a savings calculator, they found it would be nearly twice the cost of subscribing to ion’s platform. With ion, the brand could save money on developing these tools and have the capability to develop additional future interactive content pieces.
“It was a no-brainer,” Gándola says.
The interactive answer to VSP’s needs were twofold. First, VSP created a savings calculator that could be modified by state. They then set out to create a product wizard that generated a personalized recommendation based on consumers’ answers to questions about their eyewear needs and preferences.
While the product wizard is relatively new, VSP has received positive feedback from users who were able to determine the right plan for their needs. According to a recent poll, 98% of respondents found the wizard useful in helping choose an insurance plan, and nearly one-third of users found the content extremely useful. Additionally, 90% of respondents reported that the product wizard offered important information, with over one-quarter of those polled indicating the information was extremely important.
For Gándola, the value of the product wizard goes beyond informing consumers. In the end, he’s optimistic it will increase conversions.
"Ultimately, we want to help more people enroll in plans,” Gándola says. “And one of the best ways to earn those conversions is by helping them wade through a myriad of considerations to quickly get to the right solution.”
In addition, the new savings calculator is also receiving significant traffic and allowing users, in a matter of seconds, to get an impressive savings estimate that they can buy into. It gives new customers a clear idea of the products' value through interactive content.
VSP has already begun experimenting with even more interactive content! Their next experience will be a quiz that helps respondents determine what style of eyewear is best for them. More recently, they began working on a piece of content titled “8 Things to Know When Choosing a Vision Insurance Plan.”
“We don’t want to make people wade through a boring sales sheet,” Gándola says. “These are fun engagement tools that allow us to drive more people to our site. We get high-funnel people engaging, and then drive them to our site where we can continue to inform them about the benefits of choosing a VSP Direct plan and help them enroll in the best plan for them. All these pieces of content grab attention and help people at every stage of the purchase funnel.”
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