Outdated Addresses, Broken Trust: Why Data Accuracy Is Key to Member Engagement
- rebeccapreslar
- 6 days ago
- 2 min read
Health plans invest heavily in member experience—onboarding, benefit communications, care navigation, and more. But all of that effort can fall apart if your member never receives the materials you send.
For many organizations, bad address data is the root of communication breakdown. Mail gets returned. Members feel ignored. Call volumes go up. Satisfaction drops. And yet, most plans aren’t actively fixing the problem.
It’s Not Just a Mailing Issue—It’s a Trust Issue
When a member doesn’t receive their ID card, provider directory, or claims notice, it feels personal. They may question your reliability, or worse, assume their coverage isn’t active. And once that trust is broken, it’s hard to win back.
Return mail is often the first visible sign of a deeper issue: fragmented or outdated member contact data. Whether due to system silos, manual entry errors, or missed NCOA updates, bad addresses hurt more than operations—they hurt relationships.
The Downstream Effects
Bad address data doesn’t just delay communication—it increases costs and member churn:
Higher call center traffic from confused or frustrated members
Reprints and re-mailings that duplicate effort and expense
Delayed care if members don’t get time-sensitive materials
Risk of non-compliance if critical notices aren’t received
A Simple Fix That Makes a Big Difference
Return Mail Management (RMM) isn’t just about reducing bounce rates. It’s about restoring confidence. When members receive what they need, when they expect it, it reinforces reliability and builds brand trust.
By implementing a process to clean, monitor, and act on return mail, health plans can:
Reduce missed communications
Strengthen compliance posture
Improve the member experience, especially during critical onboarding windows
Trust is hard to earn and easy to lose. Don’t let bad address data create doubt in your members’ minds. A better return mail strategy can be one of the simplest ways to protect your brand—and your bottom line.
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