“When someone starts their first job out of college and H.R. hands them a benefits package and says, ‘Make your choices,’ it can be an extremely anxious moment,” said Chris Baker, VP of Technology & Innovation at Genius Avenue.
“I remember my first job. They gave me a folder and said, ‘Figure it out.’ I was lost. We want to help the broker simplify everything for both employer and employee. That’s what S.E.A. Advantage does. It simplifies.”
The Solution: Benefit Enrollment on Apps
In 2021, SnapRetail did a survey and found that the average U.S. adult spends two hours and 43 minutes each day on a mobile app. That’s opposed to only 27 minutes on mobile websites.
Why this tilt towards apps? The foremost reason is the ubiquitous role of cell phones in today’s world. According to a mobile fact sheet by the Pew Research Center, cell phone ownership for individuals aged 18-49 is at a statistical 100%. Between ages 18-29, 96% of those devices are smartphones. Between the ages of 30 and 49, it drops—to 95%.
In 2020, 68.1% of all website visits came from mobile devices. These numbers demonstrate how mobile usage is becoming the dominant method for going online.
Finally, if you look at the rate that people add items to their shopping cart, referred to as the add-to-cart rate, mobile wins again, at 8.96% for mobile compared to 4.35% for a desktop.
Because apps are custom built for the mobile experience, they are preferable to regular desktop websites when using a mobile device. Apps are thus dominating the mobile landscape and are the foremost platform for online services, including benefit enrollment.
Genius Avenue Offers the App Solution
This is why Genius Avenue created S.E.A. Advantage, a software system and mobile app that enables member enrollment services for employers. The three initials that make up the S.E.A. name stand for Sales, Enrollment, and Administration. This is a recognition that their principal services can help brokers not only handle the traditional E&A part of the business, but they can also help with the S part of the business, the sales. While some broker solutions focus on sales, Genius Avenue’s S.A.E. Advantage takes a “life of the customer” approach.
Everyone Wins Through App Enrollments
The reality is that mobile is the preferred channel for people to communicate and make purchases. As a broker, everyone wins when you can help an employer offer insurance and benefits products via an app.
- Employees win because they have more control over their benefits, and they can see the cost for themselves on S.E.A. They can add and subtract insurance products easily and immediately see how it affects their paycheck.
- Employers win because much of the benefits administration work is offloaded from their H.R. department. Benefits done through an app look “cool” to the employee, especially those in the 18 to 30 age bracket, the Gen Z and Gen X employees who expect this type of technology.
- The broker wins because the enrollment process is easy for the employee. Genius Avenue’s S.E.A. Advantage product is a complete service that handles payments associated with insurance sales, including applicable sales taxes, commissions, and percentage payouts. S.E.A. has taken away much of the E&A burden from the shoulders of the providers, brokers, and the employers.
The broker and Genius Avenue can also collaborate to offer employees unique benefits through S.E.A. Advantage. These include prescription discounts, discounts on health club memberships, and other health-related products. These offerings help promote customer engagement and keep customer satisfaction at high levels. Statistics show that most cell phone users check their phone every ten minutes, which makes app notifications an extremely effective way to communicate with customers.
Genius Avenue Makes the Broker the Hero
Genius Avenue puts the broker in control with access to the portal. Once an employer selects the app for benefits enrollment, the broker creates a page and populates it with insurance and benefit offerings.
As employees choose the insurance benefits they want to use, prices are reflected in the shopping cart function of the app. The employee can see what part they will pay for the cost of the benefit and what part is covered by the employer’s contribution.
Brokers can work with Genius Avenue to offer benefits through associations, such as a realtor’s association or a self-insured trust, where payroll deduction is not always applicable.
Payment Options
Employees make their portion of the payment through the traditional method of deductions from their paycheck. S.E.A. processes payments from credit or debit cards or ACH payments.
Unique Applications for S.E.A. Advantage
Some unique insurance products that use the S.E.A. advantage program from Genius Avenue include:
- A pet insurance carrier uses S.E.A. Advantage, allowing pet owners to enroll through the app. Genius Avenue is currently working with the carrier to make a discount pet prescription card available for owners through the app.
- Genius Avenue works with a vision insurance provider who wanted to expand. Through the S.E.A. Advantage program, Genius Avenue defined the product, created the product website, and supported 100% of the E&A. The insurance company did not have to add in-house staff to accomplish those tasks.
