Sun Life U.S.

Business Challenge 

Building on insights gained from existing client satisfaction surveys, Sun Life wanted to better understand the needs of Clients and Brokers on the front lines of this industry.

“B2B Clients can be tough to engage,” shared Lydia Frangos, Senior Client Insights Analyst at Sun Life U.S. “They have limited time and need to see immediate value in participating in a community. Their feedback is so important in informing the decisions we make, whether it’s our products, services, or client support. We had to find a way to hear from them regularly and these communities allow us to do that.”

Fast forward to 2022. Sun Life was continuing to ramp up its investments in digital transformation strategy (insurtech) in order to stay competitive in a crowded market. The team needed to be sure new programs would hit the mark with customers out of the gate and knew that the valuable intel from the communities could greatly support these initiatives.

Solution

On an ongoing basis, Sun Life engages two separate online communities called Broker and Employer Voices. With dedicated groups of several hundred participants, Sun Life’s analysts are able to ask questions and get insights back quickly. Surveys and in-depth interviews with participants reveal important details about their customers’ motivations and challenges. 

“I like very much that I get a chance to learn about new concepts and ideas in the corporate world that I might not already know, and that I have a chance to share my opinions on such topics.” – Employer from Connecticut

Through these Voices communities, Frangos and the rest of the Client Insights Team support initiatives across Sun Life’s business groups. Some examples include:

Digital solutions

Sun Life’s Digital Innovation team has utilized the rapid feedback obtained through the Voices communities to build and evolve digital capabilities and offerings that improve connectivity for Employer Clients. “It’s important to have a great UI for users to adopt the product,” notes Frangos. “Our goal is to save our Clients time and money by automating functions and offering seamless administration that meets their specific needs.”

Sun Life Link
Sun Life’s portfolio of in-house APIs and API partnerships, enabling the company to serve a wide range of Employer Clients around the country.

Sun Life Onboard
Sun Life recently launched the platform to onboard new Employer Clients with an interactive, intuitive digital experience.

“I appreciate that Sun Life listens to those of us who are ‘in the trenches.’ I feel they listen and take to heart what we are saying and try to create ways to make our lives easier.” —Employer from Iowa

Health and risk solutions

Sun Life is a leader in health and risk solutions, offering care navigation and stop-loss protection for high-dollar medical claims to employers who self-fund their employees’ health plans. The Voices communities provide a space to test new ideas and give Sun Life valuable insights to ensure they are addressing relevant needs.

Clinical 360
Clinical experts review high-dollar claims to identify opportunities for cost containment, from alternative treatment scenarios to billing errors.

Stop-Loss research report
Annual report that analyzes medical trends and costs, including Rx and emerging treatments. Insights are valuable to prioritize trends, topics, and data most relevant and useful for Clients.

Health Navigator
Sun Life’s care navigation offering helps employees through their medical journey with a dedicated Health Advisor who advocates for appointments, treatment centers, billing, medical records, and more.

Benefits education

Insights from the Voices communities has informed many projects that help employers be the experts for their workforce. Sun Life has built online resources to address these needs and help employers provide timely, helpful education and communication around benefits. Through the Voices communities, Frangos’ team found that HR professionals were overwhelmed with the task of educating employees about their benefits, but wanted to be able to answer frequently-asked questions and provide education and communication to employees. Sun Life acted on this feedback by building a co-brandable website to answer questions, provide benefits information, contact information and more, which businesses could then share with their employees.

“I like feeling as if I’m making a difference in the group benefits community and helping to improve products for the future. I appreciate that Sun Life realizes the value of polling the broker community to find ways to improve.” – Broker from Tennessee

Sun Life BenefitsExplorer
A co-brandable website that provides benefits information, contact details, etc., that employers can share with their employees.

Virtual enrollment
Services offer 1:1 or small group counseling via virtual, live communication, along with customizable web pages that employers can brand and link to their enrollment platforms.

Mental wellness resource page
This microsite offers employers strategies and supporting information to provide mental wellness programs and services for employees.

Results

Instead of fielding costly external market research surveys, Sun life’s Marketing and Client Experience teams tap into the Voices communities to discover industry trends, ensure that marketing materials resonate with appropriate audiences, guide product development strategy, and so much more. They appreciate the ability to get fast and detailed feedback from exactly the right audiences. By using Broker and Employer Voices, Frangos’ team saves Sun Life the time and cost—an average of ~$200k/year—of fielding similar, external research.

“I enjoy seeing the new products and being allowed to share feedback. Sun Life is the only company I can think of which allows this type of interaction. I like it a lot!” – Broker from New York 

Brokers and employers rave about their Voices community experiences, consistently providing satisfaction scores in the 90-100% range, well above industry benchmarks. Participants especially appreciate having early access to information about new products and services, and the opportunity to influence the final product. They also learn how other companies like theirs manage similar challenges, giving them helpful advice and a broader view of the market. Ultimately, they can provide better service to their own customers and employees and focus their resources on growing their business.