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.