How healthcare advertisers can reach consumers during open enrollment

Why open enrollment marketing for healthcare advertisers is challenging

Open enrollment is one of healthcare’s busiest marketing periods, compressing acquisition, retention, and member communications into a relatively short window. Consumers are reviewing plan changes, comparing coverage options, evaluating provider networks, and deciding whether to stay with their current insurer or switch to a new one. Healthcare marketers are also trying to reach audiences with very different needs, priorities, and motivations.

Open enrollment requires marketers to do more than generate interest. Healthcare advertisers need to explain plan options, communicate changes clearly, build confidence, and support informed decisions throughout the enrollment journey.

Retention plays a larger role in open enrollment than many marketers realize. For 2025, 24.2 million consumers selected Marketplace coverage, with more than 20 million returning or automatically reenrolled members. Medicare Advantage enrollment also reached approximately 35 million people in 2026, reinforcing that open enrollment is just as much about retaining existing members as acquiring new ones.

An effective audience strategy starts with recognizing that consumers enter enrollment season with different priorities. Understanding those priorities helps marketers align messaging, channels, and timing with how people navigate open enrollment.

Why privacy-aware measurement matters

Privacy-aware measurement matters because healthcare advertisers operate in one of the most highly regulated marketing environments. Every stage of the campaign lifecycle, from audience creation and activation to attribution and reporting, must balance marketing performance with responsible data practices and consumer trust.

As privacy expectations continue to evolve, healthcare organizations are rethinking how they measure campaign performance. Traditional approaches that rely heavily on browser-based tracking are becoming more difficult to maintain, creating greater demand for measurement strategies built around privacy-forward data practices.

Healthcare marketers still need to understand which audiences engaged with campaign messaging, which channels contributed to enrollment activity, and how marketing investments influenced business outcomes. The difference is that these insights increasingly depend on consumer privacy-conscious measurement approaches designed to support both regulatory expectations and long-term marketing performance.

From onboarding to outcomes: The privacy-first, independent identity workflow for pharma marketing

Pharma marketing teams need identity workflows that can support accurate audience creation, governed activation, and partner-enabled measurement without combining patient (DTC) and healthcare professional (HCP) identity paths.

Download our pharma marketing playbook to help your team:

• Plan DTC and HCP identity strategies with clearer separation
• Prepare audiences for activation across approved channels and partners
• Evaluate audience quality, usable reach, and governance

Three audience signals shaping healthcare marketing during open enrollment

The audience strategy behind a successful open enrollment campaign is shaped by three key signals:

1. Affordability is changing enrollment decisions.
2. Provider networks are influencing plan selection.
3. Enrollment journeys are becoming more fragmented across channels.

You can find the full taxonomies in the appendix below.

1. How affordability is changing audience strategy

Affordability is changing audience strategy as consumers approach open enrollment with very different financial realities and different definitions of value. Rising premiums, deductibles, and out-of-pocket costs are influencing how they compare plans, weighing not only monthly premiums but also provider access, prescription coverage, and overall value.

The data reflects that shift: 23% of insured working-age adults are considered underinsured, Marketplace deductibles have increased by 37%, and 61% of Marketplace enrollees report difficulty affording deductibles and other out-of-pocket costs. More than half also say premiums are difficult to afford. For healthcare advertisers, these financial differences create the need for distinct audience segments, from existing members reviewing annual plan changes to consumers seeking lower-cost coverage. Tailoring messaging to those priorities helps make enrollment communications more relevant.

Experian Audiences you can activate to address affordability and differing values

Insurance shopping signals

1. Active Health Insurance Shoppers
2. Insurance Shoppers

Cost-conscious/value-seeking consumers

1. Careful Money Managers
2. Deal Seeking Shoppers
3. Frugal Living and Savings Focused Households
4. Household Annual Income $50,000-$74,999
5. Savvy shoppers

Premium/broader-value plan shoppers

1. Brand loyalists
2. Premium Spend Index Elite
3. Quality shoppers

How to use these audiences

Activate audiences like Active Health Insurance Shoppers alongside Careful Money Managers to reach consumers who are actively comparing coverage options while also prioritizing affordability. Messaging can then highlight clear plan comparisons, predictable monthly costs, and deductible considerations to align with both their shopping behavior and financial mindset.

Build custom audiences with SDOH attributes

In addition to our syndicated audiences, Experian can also work with open enrollment advertisers to build custom audiences from our Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) data attributes, which can offer insight into how certain social and environmental factors may shape enrollment decisions.

These include models for:

• Access to care
• Access to medication
• Access to food
• Housing instability

2. How continuity of care influences enrollment decisions

Provider access plays a major role in enrollment decisions, as many consumers begin comparing plans by asking whether they can continue seeing the doctors, hospitals, pharmacies, and specialists they already trust. Cost remains a major factor, but continuity of care is becoming an increasingly influential part of open enrollment decision-making. Because health insurance options are often tied to geography, location-based audiences can serve as a foundational layer for targeting, helping advertisers ensure messaging is relevant to the plans, provider networks, and coverage options available in a given area.

Provider networks continue to vary significantly across the country. The average Marketplace enrollee has access to only about 40% of local physicians through their plan’s network, while 70% are enrolled in plans covering half or fewer nearby doctors. Access to behavioral healthcare providers can be even more limited.

For healthcare advertisers, this creates an opportunity to reach audiences for whom provider continuity matters most and communicate network access before enrollment decisions are made.

Experian Audiences you can activate to influence enrollment decisions

Existing insurance/Medicare-oriented consumers

1. Medical Insurance Policy Holders
2. Medicare Policy Holders
3. Memberships: AARP Members
4. Precision Medical Insurance Holders

Household and family care decision-makers

1. At-Home: Families at Home (kids under 13)
2. Child Age 0–36 Months
3. Multigenerational Household
4. Presence of Children in Household

Service-area audiences

1. State

How to use these audiences

Activate audiences like Medical Insurance Policy Holders alongside Multigenerational Household segments to reach families managing care for multiple members, emphasizing continuity of care, in-network providers, and coordinated services that support household health needs.

3. Why life events and fragmented enrollment journeys require cross-channel activation

Consumers rarely make enrollment decisions after a single interaction. This is especially true for audiences with high enrollment intent, such as active health insurance shoppers, as well as consumers experiencing major life events that may trigger coverage evaluation, including new parents, recently married households, or individuals aging into Medicare.

These groups are more likely to require multiple touchpoints before making a decision. They move between enrollment resources, provider websites, search engines, licensed insurance agents, direct mail, social media, and conversations with family and friends before choosing a plan. Many begin by reviewing an Annual Notice of Change (ANOC), compare plans on HealthCare.gov or Medicare Plan Compare, and confirm whether their doctor is in-network before enrolling. In fact, 73% of Americans use at least three different sources to look for health information.

For healthcare advertisers, every interaction should reinforce that multiprong approach. Coordinating audience activation across channels, from direct mail and CTV to search, social media, and provider websites, helps create a more consistent enrollment experience and keeps messaging relevant throughout the decision journey.

Experian Audiences you can activate to target life events and fragmented enrollment journeys

Life events that can change care routines

1. New Homeowners > Last 6 Months
2. New Movers > Last 6 Months
3. Newly Divorced Past 3 Months
4. Newly Married Past 3 Months

Research and information-seeking audiences

1. Highly Active Online Users
2. Local News Readers
3. News Readers and Followers
4. Online Research-Dependent Consumers

Channel-driven audiences

1. Active Instagram Users
2. Engagement Channel Preference > Digital Display
3. Engagement Channel Preference > Digital Video
4. Engagement Channel Preference > Email Engagement
5. Engagement Channel Preference > Streaming TV
6. Social Network Content Engagers

How to use these audiences

Activate audiences like New Movers and New Parents alongside Online Research-Dependent Consumers and Highly Active Online Users to reach consumers navigating changing care needs, reinforcing plan education and enrollment messaging across digital touchpoints.

What sets Experian Audiences apart?

Our syndicated audiences give you an advantage across channels, offering both scale and accuracy:

• Experian’s 3,500+ syndicated audiences are available at over 200 leading activation platforms, including programmatic, social, TV destinations.
• Reach consumers based on who they are, where they live, and their household makeup.

We also help you build your own custom private marketplace through Curated Deals. Our team of media and audience experts will work with you to understand your campaign goals, audience needs, and any compliance restrictions to build, activate, and optimize your private marketplace.

Explore some of our Partner Audiences that complement Experian Audiences across key health use cases, with flexible activation through Experian’s data marketplace or leading activation platforms.

Open enrollment audiences from MARS Consumer Health

Current health insurance carrier members

1. Aetna Health Insurance Members
2. Blue Cross Blue Shield Health Insurance Members
3. Cigna Health Insurance Members

Coverage status and insurance type

1. Government Issued Health Insurance for Low Income People or Medicaid
2. Health Insurance Marketplace or Exchange like Obamacare or Affordable Care Act
3. Private or Selfpay Health Insurance
4. Healthcare utilization and care relationship
5. Frequent Doctor Visitor
6. Frequent Hospital User Propensity
7. Frequent Urgent Care User Propensity

Open enrollment audiences from AnalyticsIQ

Access to healthcare audiences

1. Has access to Medical Supplies
2. Has Reliable Transportation Access
3. Healthcare Cost Barriers
4. Healthcare Transportation Barriers
5. Healthcare Work Schedule Barriers

Health research and information channels audiences

1. Facebook Health Forums
2. Health Education Websites
3. Online Patient Community or Advocacy Group
4. Provider or Hospital Website
5. Reddit Health Topics

Need a custom audience? Reach out to our audience team, and we can help you build and activate an Experian audience on the platform of your choice.

Want to activate an Experian Audience on Meta, Pinterest, Snap, TikTok, or on a platform not listed above? Contact us today.

For a full list, download our syndicated audiences guide.

Reach the right audiences for your industry

Build your open enrollment audience strategy with Experian

Open enrollment campaigns work best when messaging reflects the decisions consumers are actually making. Affordability, provider access, coverage changes, and existing member retention all influence how people evaluate their options.

Experian Audiences helps healthcare advertisers identify and activate privacy-forward audiences across digital, connected TV (CTV), social media, and other channels before enrollment decisions are made.