Beyond CPM: Why Regional Health Plans Should Rethink ROI
When it comes to digital advertising, cost-per-thousand impressions (CPM) has long been a fundamental metric for measuring efficiency. But for regional health plans operating in smaller, high-value markets, CPM doesn’t always tell the full story—and in many cases, it can actively mislead.
In our first post of the series, we explored how regional plans can navigate the broader digital ecosystem. This follow-up dives deeper into rethinking ROI beyond traditional CPM benchmarks.
Too often, regional health plans try to match the CPM benchmarks of national campaigns—targets that work at scale, but not in smaller, niche markets. National plans can afford lower conversion rates because they’re casting a much wider net. But when your target audience is just 50,000 people, not 5 million, those same CPMs often don’t generate enough high-quality leads to justify the spend. That’s why it’s time to shift the conversation from cost-efficiency to value-efficiency and build media strategies designed for smaller, high-value audiences.
Stop Competing on the Wrong Metrics
Regional health plans aren’t just smaller versions of national carriers. Their audiences, goals and constraints are fundamentally different. That’s why CPM alone can’t be the yardstick for success.
The Problem with CPM
On the surface, CPM is a simple way to keep costs in check. But for regional players, staying under a CPM threshold often ‘costs’ in other ways:
- Getting pushed to lower-quality inventory
- Underdelivering in high-value zip codes
- Serving ads to people who are never going to convert
In other words: penny wise, pound foolish.
It’s a bit like buying a cheaper laundry detergent that’s mostly water—you might save upfront, but you end up using more and getting worse results. The same logic applies here: chasing a low CPM often means wasting impressions and missing the people who matter most.
National carriers can afford to run massive campaigns that rely on scale. But if you’re laser-focused on specific demographics in a defined service area, you’re going to need to bid higher to reach the right people — and that’s okay.
Instead of asking, “What did I pay per thousand?” we should be asking, “What did I get for what I paid?”
A Better Way to Measure ROI
Moving beyond CPM means realigning your metrics with business goals. Here are three key shifts:
1. Track Engagement That Matters. Instead of focusing on vanity metrics like impressions or even clicks, start measuring the interactions that signal real interest. Think:
- Time on site
- Clicks on key calls-to-action
- Return visits or repeat interactions
- Form submissions
These engagement signals offer a better proxy for readiness to convert than CPM ever could.
2. Prioritize Lead Quality Over Volume. When audience sizes are small, every lead counts. That means quality matters more than quantity. Set up compliant tracking to measure downstream actions like:
- Enrollment confirmations
- Completed calls to call centers
- CRM-triggered behaviors (e.g., opening follow-up emails)
3. Connect Paid, Owned and Earned Media. Success rarely comes from one channel alone. Use attribution models and first-party data to understand how your channels work together. Coordinate retargeting efforts, email nurturing and organic content to stretch the value of every paid impression.
What This Looks Like in Practice
Say you’re running a campaign for a Medicare Advantage product in a few key counties. You’re working with a focused budget and a tightly defined audience. On the surface, certain metrics, like CPM, might suggest your campaign is expensive compared to broader efforts. If you focus on top-line metrics, like reducing CPMs and increasing reach to generate a lot of impressions and site visits, without looking at true marketing qualified leads your bottom line will suffer.
The real story lies deeper: Are you reaching people who are qualified, engaged and likely to convert?
It’s not just about how much you’re spending, but about what you’re getting in return and how well your metrics reflect that. High-quality leads that move efficiently through the funnel can drive stronger outcomes and streamline the sales process. In other words, understanding the quality behind the numbers changes everything.
When your audience is narrow, the value of each interaction increases. That’s why defining success on your own terms, and choosing the right KPIs to match, is critical to making informed decisions and driving real impact.
Why Your Own Customer Data Matters Now
As web browsers phase out third-party cookies—the kind that track people across different sites—the data you collect directly from your audience becomes even more important.
For regional health plans, this includes:
- How people interact with your website and email campaigns
- Information you already have about current or former members
- Partnerships with media networks or data providers that allow you to target audiences similar to your current members, in a privacy-compliant way
Using this data to guide your marketing not only improves performance — it also gives you clearer insight into how people move from awareness to enrollment. When done within HIPAA and CMS guidelines, using first-party data to refine targeting strategies can improve efficiency — and give you better control over the customer journey. We’ll be going in-depth on first-party data for regional payers in an upcoming blog – stay tuned!
Want a broader view of how regional plans can succeed in a changing media landscape?
Read: Navigating the Digital Ecosystem: A Guide for Regional Health Plans.
At Media Logic, we help health plans reframe what success looks like in a fragmented, fast-changing digital landscape. Because when you define performance on your terms, you’re free to invest where it matters most. Ready to hear more? Reach out today.
