It’s no duck, but ‘One Day Pay’ promotion has had major impact

It naturally doesn’t get all of the sizzle and applause afforded the creation of the Aflac duck, which has pushed the Columbus-based supplemental insurer to top of mind among American consumers, while also energizing the revenues and profits of the company that does business in the U.S. and Japan.

But the promotion called “One Day Pay” is having a significant impact on sales of health insurance policies, while generating perhaps immeasurable goodwill with customers who view the quick turnaround on their medical claims — particularly at critical times of financial need during stressful events — very favorably.

“We’ve had a very good response to One Day Pay,” said Robin Wilkey, Aflac’s senior vice president over Investor and Rating Agency Relations. “For about 70 to 75 percent of our product, within 24 hours — a business day — you can file your claim and have your account credited with a claims payment. ... This is really resonating with people. We’ve had a lot of positive feedback from our policyholders who have put in a claim.”

One Day Pay was launched in February 2015 as a way to speed up the process of paying claims for individual policies involving accidents, cancer, hospital and sickness, hospital indemnity and intensive care treatment — no matter how complicated the claim. In essence, fully documented online SmartClaim filings by 3 p.m. Monday through Friday would be paid by 3 p.m. the following day, said Aflac spokesman Jon Sullivan.

Aflac Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Dan Amos has said his company — which does about 75 percent of its business in Japan — wants to “pay, not deny and delay” customers in their times of need. Sullivan said his company is unaware of any other insurer in the voluntary insurance industry paying clients within 24 hours.

Aflac released its second-quarter earnings report a week ago, with the company posting an operating profit of $707 million on total revenues of $5.4 billion during the April-June period. Through the first half of 2016, it has racked up $1.4 billion in operating earnings on total revenues of $10.9 billion.

During his post-earnings report conference call with Wall Street analysts who follow Aflac, Amos singled out One Day Pay as a “key differentiator” for his firm moving forward.

The CEO pointed out since the initiative was launched more than 17 months ago, 100 percent of eligible One Day Pay claims were paid within the required time frame. He said more than a million such claims have been approved in the first half of this year. He also noted 96 percent of policyholders using the quick-pay avenue are likely to refer other people to the company.

“I am convinced that this will result in more new sales going forward. Paying claims fast and fairly sets us apart from the competition,” Amos said on the conference call. “We will continue our promotion of One Day Pay to the consumers, which we believe will help drive increased brand loyalty, account penetration and production.”

This comes from the man who launched the Aflac duck advertising campaign in 1999, with it becoming wildly successful through whimsical commercials in the U.S. and Japan and appearances on various telecasts and sporting events. The duck has a place on Madison Avenue’s Walk of Fame as an advertising icon, appearing as well in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Aflac is a major employer in Columbus, with about 4,000 staffers. It has about 1,200 more workers across the U.S., with about 4,500 in Japan.

This story was originally published August 4, 2016 at 6:08 PM with the headline "It’s no duck, but ‘One Day Pay’ promotion has had major impact."