For a growing number of seniors in the US, finding information on Medicare Supplemental Insurance is crucial, yet difficult. Using the UserZoom remote quantitative tool, we were able to analyze the online user experience when searching for this information on the web. Furthermore, we conducted a benchmark study to gain meaningful statistics such as ease of use, satisfaction, productivity, etc. on Kaiser Permanente, Aetna, United Healthcare, and Blue Cross / Blue Shield websites.

The goal of the study was:

• Compare and contrast leading Medicare sites regarding the ease of use of locating and getting rates for Medicare Supplemental Insurance / MediGap online

For this study we collected 200 overall responses with the follow characteristics:

• Must live in California, Colorado, Georgia, Maryland or Ohio
• 100 participants were Medicare eligible or within 1 year of becoming eligible
• 100 participants were caregivers (son, daughter, spouse, etc)
• All participants only were asked to review 1 of the 4 sites (between-subjects design)

Participants were asked to complete the following tasks on one of the four sites:

• Learn & Explore: Please take a few minutes  getting a basic understanding of Medicare Supplemental Insurance and the plans available with <site>. Do NOT get a quote for Medicare Supplemental Insurance and do not spend a lot of time exploring the site in detail. When you feel you have an understanding of Medicare Supplemental Insurance and the plans available with <site>, click ‘Success’.
• Get Rate: Using the site, obtain the rate for any of the Medicare Supplemental Insurance plans [A-L] available from <site> that is of interest to you.   Click ‘Success’ or ‘Abandon’ after you have completed the task.

Excerpt of executive findings for this study that ran from August 26 -  September 10, 2009:

• Overall, study showed that leading sites for Health Care have significant opportunities to enhance the online user experience for researching and getting online rates for Medicare Supplemental Insurance
• With 52% overall satisfaction, Blue Cross Blue Shield (Anthem) has the best overall experience for both the research and get quote tasks ; other sites had overall satisfaction below 50%
• All sites had low Net Promoter Scores (likelihood to recommend friend/colleague)
• All sites showed a lift in brand perception pre/post with Aetna showing the highest increase

To request the full report, contact us at sales@keylimeinteractive.com .