Ep. 521 | Benefits Decoded: Making Healthcare Choices Clear & Confident

In this episode of OnBase, host Chris Moody welcomes Nicole Warshauer for an enlightening conversation on health benefits, empathy-driven branding, and building consumer trust through education. Nicole walks us through her non-linear career journey and how her passion for community and storytelling has shaped her role at HealthEquity. She shares practical strategies for educating diverse healthcare consumers, discusses the emotional complexities of health benefits, and explores the skills marketers need to build brands around “unsexy” topics.

Nicole also explores HealthEquity’s innovative tools, such as Engage360 and HSAnswers, which use AI and multi-channel strategies to deliver personalized, accessible benefits education. Whether you’re navigating the healthcare landscape or trying to humanize your B2B brand, this episode is full of actionable insights and authentic inspiration.

Key Takeaways

• Empathy is Foundational: To demystify healthcare benefits, brands must lead with empathy—understanding emotional roadblocks like fear and confusion that often prevent consumers from making informed decisions.
• One Size Doesn’t Fit All: Benefits education must be personalized. Demographics, health history, family structure, and financial literacy all play a role in how people access and use healthcare.
• Data-Driven Education Works: Programs like Engage360 have led to a 46% increase in HSA contributions and a 60% increase in investing, showing the power of well-targeted benefit education.
• Building Brands for “Unsexy” Industries: The best marketers can make even mundane products relatable. Skills like curiosity, critical thinking, empathy, and strong writing are essential for success.
• Tech with a Human Touch: AI tools can scale education efforts, but without human oversight and strategic intent, they won’t succeed.

Quotes

“Marketing for the unglamorous takes empathy and grit. That’s where the best brand builders thrive.”

Tech recommendations

• ChatGPT
• Jasper
• Copilot

Book recommendations

• Storytelling with Data by Cole Nussbaumer Knaflic – A go-to for making data digestible and visually compelling.

Shout-outs

• Jade Tambini, Founder and Marketing Course Leader, B2B Jade.
• Hannah Shamji, Customer researcher for B2B SaaS.
• Erica Schneider, Founder, Cut The Fluff.

About the Guest

Nicole Warshauer is the VP of Brand Marketing at HealthEquity, where she builds, leads, and engages community-first marketing teams that drive brand growth and resilience. With more than 15 years of experience in marketing and communications across healthcare, tech, design, nonprofit, education, and real estate, Nicole has cultivated a unique ability to deliver integrated, purpose-driven strategies that resonate.

She is passionate about creating and nurturing communities of brand evangelists—both internally and externally. Her past work includes collaborations with renowned organizations like Yelp, Dribbble, and Trusted Health. Nicole also offers consulting services to help managers lead high-performing remote teams and optimize their marketing strategy.

Connect with Nicole.