Open Enrollment Video: Why One Minute Beats a Thirty Minute Info Session
Quick answer:Open enrollment video is short video that helps employees choose benefits during the enrollment window. Voya found 91% of surveyed adults typically pick the same plan as last year, and 49% spend under 20 minutes reviewing benefits. Open with what changed for each viewer, using templated variants instead of one long session.
How much attention does open enrollment video really get?
A benefits team books a 30 minute recorded info session and posts the link. Then nobody watches it. The numbers explain why.
Voya Financial's October 2024 release reported that 91% of 345 working adults surveyed said they typically choose the same plan as the year before. A separate Voya survey of 2,201 US adults, including 513 benefits eligible workers, found 49% spend under 20 minutes reviewing benefits during open enrollment. Those come from two surveys, so read them as two signals. MetLife's 2025 Employee Benefit Trends Study of 2,500 full time US employees found only 57% fully understand what their benefits cover.
What should an open enrollment video say first?
Start with what changed for this viewer this year. If nothing changed for them, say so and tell them they can stay put. That is the fastest honest answer.
| Segment | What changed | Example opening line |
|---|---|---|
| Plan type | Premium or coverage difference in the plan they hold | This year your plan costs more per paycheck. Here is what you get. |
| Region | A carrier or benefit only offered locally | Your region has a new dental option. It takes one minute to review. |
| Life stage | New options for parents, or for people near retirement | If you have a new dependent, one thing changes for you. |
Why are templated variants better than one long video?
The answer to what changed differs by plan, region, and life stage, so one video cannot give it. A set of short variants built from one template can. Capsule Variants is built to produce many on brand versions from one template. Read more aboutCapsule Variants, and a related format infifty seconds of recruiting video, one variant per name.
Keep the template locked so the brand, disclaimers, and benefits language stay consistent. Only the segment specific line and a short slot for the details change. HR and comms teams can start on ourinternal comms page.
How do you measure whether an enrollment video worked?
Pick the action, such as completing elections before the deadline or opening the plan comparison tool. Compare the video group to a group that received text. Do it before the window closes if you can, so you can adjust a variant mid season. Whatever the comparison shows, report only what you measured.
What belongs in a locked enrollment template?
Lock the brand elements, the disclaimers, the plan names, and the deadline. Leave open the opening line, the one or two details that changed for the segment, and the call to action link. A benefits lead reviewing thirty variants should only need to check the parts that move.
Ask legal or your benefits vendor to approve the locked language once, at the template level. Then each variant inherits that approval, and the review cost drops for every version after the first.
Plan the send around the window. Produce variants early, hold a review day, and release them in the first week of enrollment so people see them while they are still deciding.
What happens to employees who never watch?
Plan for them. A one minute video reaches people who would never sit through a session, and the rest still need the plan documents. Keep the written comparison and the deadline reminder, and let the video point to them.
Send the video by the channel employees already use, and repeat it near the deadline. A reminder video that opens with the number of days left, and what most people in the segment still need to do, gives people something concrete to pass along.
How should you test variants before the window opens?
Send each variant to a handful of employees in that segment a few days early and ask one question: what changed for you? If they cannot answer in a sentence, the opening line needs work. Fix the template once and every variant improves together, which is the practical advantage of building them from a single source.
FAQ
How long should an open enrollment video be?
About one minute. Employees spend under 20 minutes on benefits in total, so each piece has to earn its place quickly.
Do employees usually change plans at open enrollment?
Most do not. In Voya's survey, 91% of 345 working adults said they typically choose the same plan as the previous year.
How do you personalize benefits video at scale?
Build one locked template and produce variants by plan, region, and life stage, each opening with what changed for that viewer.
Do employees understand their benefits?
MetLife's 2025 study found only 57% fully understand what their benefits cover, which is the case for short clear video.