Kirstie Redford talks about the marketing success of HSA to its chief executive, Des Benjamin
The HSA brand has seen massive growth over the last few years. Its memorable TV campaign starring the white rabbit is maybe the first association many people have with the provider. Whether people remember the rabbit as cute or irritating, the fact remains that most of us remember the branding HSA.
It is no coincidence that the rise of the provider's brand began at the same time as Des Benjamin, its chief executive, came on board in March 2000.
After a varied career within financial services, Benjamin joined the healthcare cash plan provider with some firm marketing strategies in mind. The techniques he has employed at HSA have been drawn from his previous roles in the industry, particularly from his time working at Frizzell Financial Services.
"I learnt an awful lot there about what can be done well in financial services. It really was quite extraordinary at customer service," he says.
Benjamin describes himself as 'the ambassador of the customer', and it is his philosophy of cultivating brand loyalty first and explaining products second that has certainly got HSA noticed.
"The trick to date has been to get people aware of us and feeling warm towards us, so then when we have a technical conversation about a sale or a service incident, they understand what we feel more than perhaps what we do," explains Benjamin.
"I think people have a deep seated need to deal with insurance companies they feel they can trust. That's what we're trying to put across."
Building trust
With 25 years working in financial services, Benjamin sums up his career as, "the scratching of my head asking 'why do things have to be like this?'" He believes that the main challenge for the insurance market is to help rebuild consumer confidence.
"Building trust is what we are here for," he says. "I think that you have, in some markets, absolute antagonism between the customer and the insurer. In travel insurance it's a battle – people have had to pay a premium so they want something back from it. So that the watch you lose was a Rolex and when your luggage disappeared it was full of Armani t-shirts."
Benjamin believes an unhealthy contest has been built between the insurance industry and the public, which needs to be addressed. "This degrades everything and then makes products nonsensical grudge purchases," he says.
However when it comes to health insurance, Benjamin says there is no room for bad service.
"If we fail at the point of need when someone is ill, this is fundamentally wrong. It is about building a currency of trust, which is many years in the forming and we know takes two minutes to spoil."
HSA has certainly focussed on new ways to better customer service. Benjamin is a firm believer that gaining trust is a two-way process.
"An awful lot of what we build in insurance is to prevent the customer from cheating. And actually it is only the tiniest cross-section of customers that do that. In the meantime we build mechanisms that inconvenience all the others," he explains.
Following this logic, if a policyholder wants to change their address, for example, instead of having to write to HSA, it takes the customer's word for it and confirms back to them.
"We know we might get caught once or twice by unscrupulous people but we learn how to live with that and try harder not to get caught," says Benjamin. "But in the meantime the focus is on how to make it easier for the million people who are not trying to cheat. At HSA, we're trying to reverse some of our insurance defences."
HSA is of course best known as a healthcare cash plan provider. The company's refusal to use the term 'cash plan', instead employing the term 'health plan' is one example of its drive to change the perception of the market.
Confidence
After the buy-out of private medical insurer Simplyhealth, HSA launched HSA Personal Medical Plans in June this year, building on the scope of cover it provides. The modular plans are targeted at the corporate market.
Benjamin has confidence in the private medical insurance (PMI) market and sees a future where the two product areas can work more effectively together.
"I have no doubt that the future of health plans and PMI depends on them evolving together.
"The notion that the NHS will provide the only choice that customers want is absurd. It just won't work because consumers' mindsets aren't like that. There isn't another market in life where one choice will suffice all of us," he says.
According to Benjamin, making products appear more relevant to modern lifestyles, is also crucial if either market is to grow.
Lifestyle changes
"Customer needs have undoubtedly changed over the past few years. As we watch the NHS modernise, which is happening at a huge pace, and as we watch lifestyle changes and movements from a saving society to a credit society, we have to adapt to these changes and make our products relevant to the needs of today," he says.
With cash plans now expanding from the traditional realms of dental and optical benefits to include more 'lifestyle' benefits such as alternative therapies and stress counselling, the products are gaining popularity, especially in the corporate market.
However, intermediaries still seem unconvinced, with few adviser-led sales. Benjamin says that the corporate market could hold the key.
"Traditionally we have not really geared ourselves to the level of commission earnings that would attract intermediaries' attention and get them keenly focussed on this product area. They would argue that PMI and income protection have been their focus with corporate business. But there are huge opportunities for health plans. Intermediaries need to be able to service a client's entire need, not just the strata of management they have focussed on in the past," he says.
Benjamin's impact on HSA is hard to ignore. When the company was listed in 42nd place in The Sunday Times Best 100 Companies to Work For 2004, it was reported that 84% of staff found him full of positive energy and two-thirds said he inspired them. With HSA recording a 32% premium increase last year, a claims payout of £163m and two million customers on its books, Benjamin's marketing strategies may just be working.
