Kaiser Permanente is one of the largest health insurers in the industry and the inventor of the modern HMO. Today, the enterprise remains focused on delivering exceptional care to its large member base in California and across the country. As part of a new Healthy Profiles initiative, Kaiser sought to rethink critical customer experiences — from onboarding to maintenance — alongside marketing tools, service design, and digital flows. These touchpoints are essential to retention, as they shape the most meaningful moments for both members and corporate sponsors.
One early effort involved using gamification to drive completion of an online self-assessment for customers and prospects, with data capture at the conclusion. The assessment provided personalized content based on industry and company attributes, rewarding users with a profile score, benchmark data, and curated resources. This turned what might have felt like a form-fill exercise into a motivating experience that delivered immediate, tangible value.
The success of this pilot sparked a broader service redesign aimed at reducing attrition during plan rollout, enrollment, and renewal. By surfacing timely, relevant information at pivotal moments, Kaiser strengthened perceived value for both employers and members. Results in the first year showed measurable gains in retention and site performance. While external business factors may have contributed, the initiative clearly demonstrated impact — and ultimately led to a broader reconsideration of service blueprints across the organization.
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To ground our design and content strategy in real-world insights, we drew directly from Kaiser Permanente’s extensive research into member needs and market behavior. This data allowed us to identify distinct audience segments, each with unique priorities around depth and breadth of care, quality of care, and cost and convenience. By mapping these priorities, we clarified the trade-offs and value drivers that shape decision-making across different groups.
We then extended that segmentation into a taxonomy of industries and roles, clustering them into broader categories such as Merchants, Makers, Caretakers, Managers, and Advisors. This framework created a clearer understanding of how Kaiser Permanente’s offerings align with diverse market needs, while also revealing areas of overlap where shared concerns and opportunities exist.
By connecting audience attributes with sector-specific contexts, we built a segmentation model that not only reflects the complexity of healthcare decisions but also provides a practical foundation for tailoring messaging, design, and engagement strategies.
As part of our discovery, we conducted a competitive analysis of other providers using similar technology approaches. We focused on platforms that leveraged online assessments to deliver value beyond simple lead capture — specifically those that provided users with a novel result, industry-specific insight, or tailored recommendations that naturally encouraged further engagement.
By evaluating the structure, tone, and conversion strategies of these experiences, we were able to identify best practices as well as gaps in the market. We paid particular attention to how competitors positioned the utility of the assessment — framing it as both an immediate benefit to the user and a stepping stone toward deeper platform adoption. This analysis revealed patterns in content framing, data requests, and conversion triggers that directly informed how we designed Crowdbotics’ own assessment flow.
The outcome was a more strategic approach that balanced user value and business conversion goals — providing prospects with actionable insight.
Each group is then funneled through a tailored sequence of questions (A–F), with branching answers that adapt the experience based on responses. This modular structure ensures that every user pathway feels relevant, while still driving toward consistent outcomes. At the end of each path, key data is captured to inform follow-up and conversion efforts. The flow concludes with a thank-you, reinforcing trust. By balancing personalization with structured data capture, we maximized user engagement and business value.
To maximize visibility and engagement, we placed the assessment on relevant sections of the Kaiser Permanente website, tailoring it to the interests of different audience groups. The tool was surfaced within pages where brokers, employers, and small business owners were already exploring solutions.
By embedding the assessment in contextually relevant content areas, we aligned the experience with each visitor’s intent — whether they were focused on cost management, employee health, or plan options. This ensured that the quiz felt like a natural next step, increasing both participation and the likelihood of meaningful conversions.
Feedback
To validate the experience and ensure it resonated with real users, we implemented a multi-layered testing strategy combining automated testing, moderated interviews, and focused group sessions. This allowed us to capture both broad behavioral data and deeper qualitative insights.
Crucially, we didn’t start from scratch. We folded in findings from two prior client research studies, allowing us to ground our testing in existing behavioral patterns and expectations. This gave us a more complete picture — not just of how users interacted with the prototype, but how the new approach compared to past efforts.
By combining methods, we pinpointed friction, validated assumptions, and gained a better understanding of what was working at both the interactive and emotional level. A layered approach helped build confidence in the solution’s real-world performance before launch.
We developed a suite of personalized start screens, each tailored to reflect the mindset, needs, and motivations of our various user segments. Users were greeted with visuals and messaging aligned to their industry, role, and readiness stage. For more action-oriented people, we used motivational language (“Let’s get started,” “Take 3 minutes, get clarity”) with pictures reflecting confidence, momentum, and progress. For uncertain or reactive audiences, the tone was more reassuring and empathetic, acknowledging the emotional weight of decision-making; “When you don’t know what’s next, they don’t either” or “You need people in your corner.”
Each experience was visually distinct, with treatments matched to the user’s segment; frontline workers and administrators, brokers and small business owners. This light layer of identity-driven customization made the assessment feel like it was for them, not just anybody. Aligning messaging, visuals, and tone to user type reduced drop-off, built trust early, and increased the likelihood of follow-through.
The success of the initial assessment experience became a catalyst for business-wide service design initiatives aimed at improving member reach and retention. With a clearer understanding of what engaged users — and where drop-offs occurred — we began to apply those learnings to more complex and critical touchpoints across the member journey. These extended beyond business and operations managers to the actual plan membership.
Previous studies had borne out the fact that poor member participation tended to go hand-in-hand with poor renewal rates. It is interesting to note that the specifics of the service designs were strongly driven by segmentation, much like the assessments. This was particularly apparent during plan enrollment; where the phone was considered a more “valid” contact method.
Building on the success of our initial engagement tools, we expanded the approach beyond just HR managers and business owners to include brokers and plan members — broadening the impact and creating a more cohesive, multi-touch service design strategy.
We began with Medicare plan enrollment, a critical area where drop-offs were common and often handed off to costly call agents. By analyzing gaps in the enrollment funnel, we identified partially completed journeys and re-engaged these users using personalized digital outreach and content. This not only reduced the load on support teams but increased participation rates in a high-value segment.
Preliminary determinations about where and when to eschew total automation and AI were made based on a triage model, with the most “at-risk” member accounts being singled out for an agent response. Our focus expanded to include harder-to-reach audiences, including older adults who may be less digitally native, and younger individuals entering the workforce for the first time. Each group presented unique behavioral patterns and barriers, from technology friction to low perceived value. Using what we learned about tone, pacing, personalization, and reward structure, we began designing targeted flows that made it easier for these groups to understand their options, take action, and feel supported. The goal wasn’t just engagement — it was sustained connection through moments that traditionally saw high attrition. This work laid the foundation for a broader transformation in how Kaiser Permanente approaches service delivery — one that’s user-driven, inclusive, and measurable at scale.
We also applied this model to members who had failed to complete registration or had stopped engaging with their benefits — a group that historically had higher attrition rates and generated more employer complaints. Leveraging internal databases, we deployed targeted interventions: resources, nudges, and reminders tailored to the member’s plan type, enrollment phase, and behavioral signals.
To manage this in a compliant way, we developed a series of time-based escalation models that respected the sensitive legal constraints of health data, but still introduced urgency. As time elapsed without action, members received progressively stronger calls to engage — all while staying within privacy and regulatory guidelines. This approach resulted in a smarter, more proactive member experience: one that prioritized retention, satisfaction, and trust across all stakeholder groups, from brokers and HR teams to individual policyholders.
This approach has been continually refined through client workshops and additional stakeholder interviews, allowing us to align closely with operational realities and member needs. Feedback loops helped validate assumptions, sharpen messaging, and uncover new opportunities to streamline the experience across channels.
Early signals indicate that this model is highly effective, with measurable improvements in engagement, conversion, and member retention. As a result, it’s now being adopted as a company-wide framework for process improvement — extending beyond marketing, enrollment, and retention into other areas of the business where timely, personalized engagement can make a meaningful impact.
© 2023 Jon Gifford
