Empower your people—and their families—to make the most of the benefits you work so hard to provide.
If you’ve managed more open enrollment cycles than you care to count, you already know the basics. What you’re looking for now are ways to make the process more efficient, more engaging, and more strategic—without reinventing the wheel every year.
Here’s your open enrollment game plan, complete with advanced tactics, proven engagement strategies, and free downloadable tools from Strategic Factory that help you elevate your communications and outcomes without adding work to your plate.
1. Start with a Strategic Debrief
Experienced HR leaders know that what happens after enrollment matters just as much as what happens during. Request utilization reports on benefits plans and EAPs from brokers and vendors, if accessible, to analyze along with your own data. Use a formal post-mortem meeting (now, before the next wave starts) to evaluate:
- Participation rates by department or location
- Which messages or formats saw the most engagement
- Employee (or household) feedback from last year’s experience
- Internal team bottlenecks during execution
Download: Open Enrollment Debrief Worksheet
Created by Strategic Factory, this tool helps you record last year’s wins, misses, and key takeaways to inform this year’s plan.
2. Align Benefits Communication with Employer Brand
Your employer brand doesn’t stop at recruiting. The benefits experience should feel like it comes from your organization—not a third-party vendor. Especially if you are white-labeling content from benefit partners, all assets need to be on-brand.
That means:
- Brand-consistent fonts, colors, and tone
- Custom iconography and simplified visuals
- Unified messaging across channels
Download: Brand Audit Checklist
Use this to assess how well your current materials align with your brand—and where there’s room to improve.
3. How to Announce Open Enrollment
Don’t underestimate the power of print when announcing open enrollment. Digital-first doesn’t mean digital-only. For complex or high-impact messages, printed materials cut through the clutter. They also offer a tangible, personal experience that email can’t replicate.
Advanced Use Cases:
- Personalized welcome kits for new hires
- Location-specific benefit highlight sheets
- High-impact postcards with a magnet included that highlight important information and dates
- QR codes on printed materials that lead to enrollment platforms
- Folded benefit guides mailed home for spouse/partner visibility
- Posters in common workspaces like breakrooms with timely reminders
Strategic Factory works with HR teams to develop fully branded open enrollment campaigns, from print & mail to signage & digital marketing, all under one roof, so you don’t have to juggle multiple vendors or chase down proofs. Reach out today for help with your Open Enrollment season.
4. Automate Your Communication Cadence
Every experienced HR leader can struggle with the logistics of scale. A templated communications cadence helps ensure consistent messaging across all departments and locations—without relying solely on email.
Build a layered calendar that includes:
- Executive announcements and talking points for managers
- Employee-facing teaser emails, print flyers, and digital banners
- Multi-touch reminders with countdowns and embedded links
- Multi-channel outreach to accommodate preferred communication methods
- Materials timed to allow for household conversations before OE begins
Download: Open Enrollment Messaging Calendar Template
Plug-and-play calendar with suggested send dates, audiences, and formats.
5. Engage the Whole Household—Not Just the Employee
Many employees aren’t the sole decision-makers when selecting benefits. Spouses, partners, parents, and adult children often weigh in—after selections are made, leading to mid-cycle questions, requests, and confusion. Avoid that by educating employees early and encouraging them to share plan options with their household.
Strategies to include household decision-makers:
- Host a benefits webinar for employees and their families
- Mail printed guides home to ensure access
- Encourage early family conversations before enrollment opens
- Use plain language and financial context to aid understanding
6. Rethink the Traditional Benefits Fair
Benefits fairs may not be for everyone, but for larger companies dealing with 10, 15, 30+ vendors, it’s a great idea to host one. Today’s workforce includes remote teams, shift workers, and part-time staff making coordination a challenge.
Here are some questions to ask yourself as you plan:
- Are materials available both in-person and online?
- Did you schedule multiple dates or times to accommodate all shifts?
- Do you offer bags or folders for employees to collect materials?
- Do you close the loop—track attendance, collect post-event feedback, and assess whether employees got their questions answered?
7. Reframe Benefits Education as Year-Round Engagement
Savvy HR leaders are shifting away from a once-a-year education model to a lifecycle-based communication approach. This ensures employees actually understand and use their benefits.
Ideas for year-round engagement:
- Quarterly benefits highlights (e.g., “3 Things to Use This Spring”)
- A “Benefits 101” digital flipbook or printed quick-start guide
- Annual surveys to assess benefit comprehension and satisfaction
Ready to Promote Open Enrollment?
You don’t need to overhaul your entire benefits strategy—you just need a partner that helps you scale your vision, streamline your execution, and elevate the employee experience.
At Strategic Factory, we work with HR teams to:
📝Design and produce branded benefit guides, toolkits, and forms
📩 Print and mail personalized employee communications
💻 Create digital versions optimized for intranets and enrollment portals
📢 Develop signage, posters, and promotional materials to reinforce key messages
🪄 Full-service campaign support with in-house creative, production, and fulfillment
Explore Our Free Resource Bundle for HR Teams
Includes templates, checklists, and worksheets to elevate your next enrollment season.
Book a 15-Minute Consult
Let’s talk marketing strategy. Our team is here to help you through open enrollment and beyond!
[email protected] I 443.548.3500
