Hi, everyone. This is Erica Spicer Mason with
Becker's Healthcare. Thank you so much for tuning
into the Becker's Healthcare podcast series.
So today, we're going to discuss how payers
can unlock new growth opportunities by prioritizing
compliance in their digital marketing efforts.
And joining me for this conversation is David
Chai, senior manager of product marketing at Freshpaint.
David, welcome to the podcast. Thank you so
much for being here today.
Thanks for having me, Erica.
We're really thrilled to have you here, and
I know this topic is top of mind
for a lot of payer organizations. So excited
to dig in some more. But before we
do, I wanted to give you the chance
just to share a little bit more about
yourself, your role, your organization,
whatever feels important for our listeners to know.
Yeah. Absolutely. So as, you mentioned, I I
lead product marketing at at Fresh Paint. Now
exactly what does that mean? It means a
lot of things. But I'm focused on really,
the go to market strategy and execution, helping,
you know, FreshPaint maximize its effort in bringing,
privacy compliance to health care at scale.
More about FreshPaint, you know, it's a health
care privacy platform built specifically for health care
marketers,
you know, built by privacy and data experts.
We make it easy to collect,
activate, and optimize data, without any, headaches, from
compliance.
Unlike others who plan the space, you know,
like your typical CDPs,
we're 100%
focused on health care, serving,
payers, providers, pharmacies, and health tech companies.
Our our platform is built so marketers can
get, up and running quickly without needing an
army of engineers or or technical expertise.
And we, you know, don't just help you
stay HIPAA compliant. We help you grow.
With Fresh Paint, health care marketers can unlock
full funnel marketing strategies,
accurately,
measure acquisition costs, and maximize their results.
Oh, great. David, it's so great to learn
more about Freshpaint, and you hit on a
lot of things that I think probably perked
up the ears of many of our listeners,
including,
I think you called it a compliance headache.
So we'll get into some of those details
around compliance and privacy.
But before we do that, I wanted to
just kind of start high level and get
your take on the key shifts or trends
that you're paying really close attention to right
now when it comes to digital marketing. And
what challenges or opportunity opportunities are you seeing
for payers?
Yeah. So the first,
you know, trend I'm really, paying close attention
to is a a bigger focus on outcomes.
Health care, you know, marketing budgets are under
much more scrutiny,
than they ever were before.
Most organizations
are operating with flat or declining budgets,
forcing marketers to really prove, ROI on every
dollar that they spend.
As a result, you know, marketing strategies are
shifting away from,
traditional tactics like, you know, using billboards, radio,
and even sports sponsorships,
towards more digital channels.
And and that's really because, you know, they're
they offer better tracking, faster insights,
and more flexibility
to adjust,
you know, your campaigns in real time.
But this poses a problem, or a challenge,
as privacy regulations tighten,
and platforms like Google and may Meta enforce
stricter privacy policies.
Payer marketers are losing access to key targeting
and measurement tools that they once relied on.
HIPAA compliance adds, yet another layer of complexity,
making it even harder to reach the right
audience,
track campaign performance, and optimize spend effectively.
And without a a clear strategy to navigate
these changes, you know, marketing teams are forced
to make decisions with limited data,
leading to less precise audience engagement, higher acquisition
costs, and, you know, uncertainty around what's actually
driving enrollment.
Another trend is, a shift to,
privacy first marketing.
Privacy, you know, remains a bipartisan issue.
And while the regulatory landscape is still evolving,
consumer expectations for data protection have never been
higher.
As I mentioned, even platforms like Google and
Meta are tightening restrictions on how health care,
marketers can target and track users,
you know, making it harder for payer marketers
to reach and engage members effectively. But this,
you know, presents an opportunity,
to use a health care specific privacy platform
like Freshpaint,
to ensure that, you know, you're staying compliant,
adapting to evolving regulations, and really to help
you scale your digital marketing confidently,
without the risk of compliance issues and brand
damage slowing you down.
Right.
Yeah. That shift to privacy first marketing, that
that makes a lot of sense. You know,
we're seeing in the mainstream media
cyber threats, not only are they growing, but
they're being covered much more regularly, and I
feel like they're in the public eye,
quite a bit more compared to past years.
So Yeah. Of course, consumers' expectations
for their own data privacy and transparency, that's
really growing as well. So kind of in
this environment, how can payers position compliance
really as a competitive advantage rather than a
constraint?
Yeah. As you mentioned, you know, consumers are
increasingly choosing brands that they trust with their
data,
especially in health care since health data is
so innately personal.
By proactively
communicating,
privacy commitments, you know, payers can really strengthen
the relationships with members,
differentiate from competitors,
who who often treat privacy as an afterthought.
This, you know, in turn builds long term
loyalty, which pays dividends every a AEP.
I mean, I personally pick a payer who's
doing the absolute most to protect my health
data versus a payer who's,
just doing the bare minimum ten ten out
of 10 times. Compliance is also not just
a a box to check. It's a strategic
investment,
for the long term.
By adopting privacy first marketing now,
payers can avoid disruption when regulations tighten,
and maintain continuity as the industry evolves.
This is super critical for payers since the
majority of their business happens during AEP.
Imagine a compliance issue arising during the enrollment
period and having to pause campaigns and and
what that would do to your results.
I'd like everyone to remember that, you know,
stronger compliance doesn't mean weaker performance.
With the right privacy first approach, payers can
still reach the right members, optimize campaigns,
and measure success without comp compromising sensitive data.
Platforms like Fresh Paint,
empowers payers to run full funnel privacy compliant
marketing from,
the top of funnel DSPs to build awareness
and brand preference to bottom of funnel,
direct response ads on Google and Meta that
drive conversions.
When it's done right, compliance isn't a limitation.
It's a a growth engine.
Yeah. That's really fascinating, David. And I know
earlier in our conversation, you mentioned how so
many payer organizations are really focused on ROI
and driving outcomes.
So with taking this compliance,
you know, forward approach, do you have any,
specific examples of maybe KPIs that are really
important to organizations that this kind of approach
is helping to achieve?
Yeah. Absolutely.
One of our customers had to stop sharing
conversion data with their ad platforms due to
HIPAA restrictions.
And without this critical information, their cost per
lead skyrocketed to $300.
And this really put their entire marketing strategy
and their ROI,
at serious risk.
That's when they turned to Freshpaint.
And and using our privacy first approach, they
were able to securely send,
conversion data back to platforms like Google Ads
while ensuring that, you know, pace patient privacy,
member privacy,
remained intact.
With Freshpaint, they were able to optimize their
campaigns and and reduce their cost per lead
by 96%,
bringing it down from $300 to just 12.
Another example,
was one of our customers based a major
roadblock,
when their compliance team came and shut down
all of their analytics tracking due to HIPAA.
Without that ability to track journeys or optimize
digital campaigns, their their marketing cost increased,
and the campaign effectiveness declined.
To stay compliant without sacrificing performance, they turned
to us,
with our healthcare privacy platform, they were able
to continue using, you know, the tools that
they're used to using Google Analytics, Google Ads,
and Meta ads, in a compliant way.
As a result, you know, their cost per
acquisition dropped by 30%,
going from $13 to to just 9.
Their Google Ads campaign saw higher conversion rates
despite, you know, a reduction in ad spend,
and their meta campaigns improved with custom conversions,
increasing click through rates and impressions.
So, you know, FreshPaper helped them stay compliant,
cut costs and improve results, you know. And
this really proves that,
privacy and performance can go hand in hand.
Yeah. Really helpful examples. Thank you so much,
David.
And I know we're we're coming toward the
end of our time together. But before we
close, I wanted to just kind of get
your your stance on or I I should
say your view on what's ahead. So as
technology
is quickly
evolving and advancing and you mentioned
standards and regulations like HIPAA,
all of these will continue to evolve alongside
technology. So
what emerging tools or maybe strategies do you
think payers should explore now and in the
near future to really ensure that their digital
marketing strategies are resilient?
Yeah.
In my opinion, you know, everything starts with
a solid privacy foundation.
Without that, payer marketers are are really stuck.
You know, they're no matter how great a
tool or or a strategy sounds, it won't
matter, if it doesn't meet compliance standards.
But, you know, it's important to remember that
not all privacy solutions are created equal. You
need to, you know, look for a platform
built specifically for health care, you know, one
that not only supports your needs today but
also scales with you, as the regulations and
strategies evolve.
Switching costs are high, so the last thing
you you want to, do is outgrow your
privacy solution and have to start all over
again. Once you have that foundation in place,
full funnel marketing becomes key.
Focusing only on bottom of funnel conversions can
work in the short term. But eventually, you
know, you're gonna hit a ceiling. There are
only so many,
people actively shopping for a health plan at
any given moment.
And to keep growing, you need to educate,
consumers early, highlight plan benefits, and stay top
of mind. So, when they are ready to
enroll, you're you're the first choice in their
head.
As you navigate, you know, on your privacy
journey, there are a few, things I wanna
highlight, you know, for you. One is to,
avoid the privacy patchwork trap.
What this means is, you know, you know,
a lot of payer marketers today,
layer different,
different tools together to meet privacy requirements,
but a fragmented approach creates inefficiencies
and and, you know, risk compliance gaps.
A single health care specific privacy solution eliminates
the need for,
workarounds,
and assures your data remains protected across all
your marketing channels.
The next thing is, you know, scale scalability
really matters.
You need to, you know, think beyond AEP.
Many payers focus on short term privacy fixes
to get through AEP, but,
compliance is just, isn't just an enrollment season
concern. It impacts your year round marketing strategies.
A future proof privacy foundation allows you to
scale your,
marketing efforts smoothly,
rather than having to to scramble and adjust
to new regulations every year.
And the last thing, you know, I'll leave
you with is, you know, the cost of
waiting is very high. You know, waiting to
fix privacy gaps until they become a problem
can lead to campaign disruptions, lost audience insights,
and and wasted ad spend, you know, things
that are nightmares for marketers.
The smartest peer marketers are proactive, not reactive,
so investing in a compliant, scalable privacy solution
now
ensures you're prepared for the future, and not
just today.
Yeah. Really appreciate the sound advice, David, and
having you outline all of those steps so
clearly, I think, is going to help our
listeners so much.
Before we end our time, is there anything
else that we missed or anything else that
you wanted to highlight for listeners?
Yeah. You know, we we have a team
of, experts around privacy compliance, you know, within
health care. So definitely, if there's additional questions,
you know, please, you know, head to our
website freshpaint.io,
to to learn more. And, you know, if
if you have any other burning questions specific
to your organization, you know, feel free to
reach out. We're happy to help you. We've
worked with over 205,
health care organizations to bring forth, you know,
their their privacy first marketing strategies, and and
we can definitely help you, do the same.
Fantastic. David, it's been great learning from you
today. So thank you again for your time
and expertise. Really appreciate you sharing it with
Becker's.
Awesome. Glad to be here. Thank you. And
we'd also like to thank our podcast sponsor
for today, Fresh Paint.
Listeners, please be sure to tune in to
more podcasts from Becker's Healthcare by visiting our
podcast page at beckershospitalreview.com.