The myth-busting power of data: Reimagining engagement in marketing

For today’s guest, data isn’t just a tool; it’s the foundation on which her team transforms life insurance from a once-a-year conversation into an ongoing, value-rich relationship. To kick off season two of the Marketer’s Alchemy podcast, host Kathryn Turnoff sits down with Lindsay Hanson, a life insurance marketer with nearly two decades of experience, to discuss how her team uses data to help impact customers’ lives for the better.

What’s inside this episode

Over her 19-year career at the company, Lindsay has seen firsthand how data, behavioral science and personalization can work together to help positively impact customer health outcomes and boost engagement.

“Data is gold to us as an organization,” she shared. “It’s quite powerful when you think of all the ways we can leverage the data our customers share with us.”

From annual touchpoints to daily engagement

At John Hancock, customer engagement is done a little differently. Traditionally, life insurance companies might interact with policyholders once or twice a year. But Lindsay shared how her company’s Vitality program has changed that dramatically, engaging with customers 20 to 30 times a month with wellness tracking, personalized goals and rewards.

By gamifying healthy habits—like converting long-term workout targets into weekly challenges—the company has significantly boosted participation while helping customers make meaningful lifestyle improvements.

“We created this healthy competition to get results that not only we wanted, but that we know is better for the customer overall,” Lindsay shared. “That’s powerful.”

Busting myths through data

Lindsay also shared how her team has leveraged data to help challenge assumptions. For example, her team initially expected that older customers wouldn’t engage as frequently with their digital wellness program. But as it turns out, one of their most active segments ended up being 70- to 80-year-olds, many logging into the app multiple times a day. Another misconception was that more affluent customers wouldn’t value small rewards gained from the program; and yet, many eagerly participate and even see it as an opportunity to reshare these gifts with family and friends.

Other topics explored in this episode include:

• Personalization at scale: Personalization plays a key role in John Hancock’s next-best-offer strategies and targeted goals, informed by customer health profiles and activity data.
• Customer stories as data: Real-life experiences, especially around early disease detection, serve as powerful data points to shape emotionally resonant campaigns.
• The power of partnerships: External partnerships have allowed John Hancock to offer advanced services; for example, their partnership with Grail, a cancer detection solution, and Function Health, which provides biomarker tracking.
• AI-driven sales enablement: Lindsay shared how John Hancock’s internal AI tool has helped surface targeted sales opportunities in real time, increasing both tool adoption and sales results through peer-led training and integration into daily workflows. She also shares her thoughts on AI as an enabler for hyper-personalization and accelerated growth.

For Lindsay, the goal is simple yet ambitious: use data not just to inform marketing, but to help empower customers to live longer, healthier, better lives—and in the process, redefine what people expect from their life insurance provider.

Listen to Marketer’s Alchemy on your favorite podcast platform like Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Audible, and rewatch all of season one on our YouTube channel.