Wechat starting new conversations for medibank customers

Medibank launches new WeChat channel and connects with a growing Chinese market

Medibank has launched a WeChat channel to better connect with the growing Australian-Chinese population.

WeChat is a multi-functional Chinese messaging app with over 1 billion global monthly active users.

The WeChat platform joins Medibank’s traditional channels as a way to discuss health insurance products with customers. In particular the channel is used to connect with overseas students and visitors who may need insurance.

Customers can use WeChat to find their closest store, and to see who in the store can speak either Mandarin or Cantonese.

The Medibank WeChat channel also features health-related content from Medibank’s Live Better program that users can view on the company’s feed and share with their friends. Followers can read a number of articles from how to cure home sickness, to being safe at the beach.

The channel is gaining popularity with customers and there has been a 60 per cent increase in the number of followers in the first two months of this year.

Almost 40 mandarin or Cantonese fluent employees are currently engaged in the channel across 28 Medibank retail stores and growing. Customers can contact them directly to discuss their health insurance needs

Medibank employees have been receiving more questions from customers, and not just those looking to take out insurance. Customers use the channel to ask questions like: how to find a member’s choice provider, what can be claimed at hospital and even how to sign parents up for visitors insurance.

Medibank joins a growing number of businesses that are looking to better connect with the Chinese population as it grows in Australia.

According to the Department of Home Affairs, Chinese nationals account for the largest portion of approved student visas in the second half of 2017, with 40,925 visas or 24.4 per cent. China had the largest number of lodged visitor applications with 941,088 lodgements in 2016-2017 as well. KPMG and the University of Sydney are also predicting an increase in Chinese investment into the Australian healthcare sector in particular.

Medibank Senior Customer Consultant Jason Huang sees the WeChat channel as a great way to serve and shows respect to Chinese customers, particularly those who are new to Australia.

Jason has been working at Medibank since 2015, after moving to Australia from the Hubei province in Central China in 2010. Jason also translates content into Mandarin and Cantonese for articles on WeChat.

Since 2015 Jason has worked in both the Glen Waverly and Box Hill Medibank stores and says that WeChat is great for many of his customers who have migrated from China and don’t know the language and the health system.

“Our new WeChat channel means that we can be better at supporting the Chinese community here in Australia, and particularly those who are new to the country,” he says.

“我们新的微信渠道意味着我们可以更好的为澳大利亚的华人社区提供支持与帮助，特别是那些对这个国家不太熟悉的华人群体，”他说。

“Coming to Australia can be hard because everything is different; the language and the health system in particular. I know from my own parents – who still live in China – that speaking to someone in your own language can really make a difference.

“来到澳大利亚生活可能会有困难，因为所有的事情都不一样；特别是语言和卫生医疗系统。对于我们的父母这一代，不会说英文的人很多，如果我们能够使用母语和他们交流，可以让他们真正明白澳大利亚卫生医疗系统以及保险的重要性。

“When we are serving customers, we find that there are many new migrants who have a misunderstanding of Medicare and private health insurance. For example, Lifetime Health Cover loading might cost them more if they don’t understand what it is and how it works.

“当我们服务客户时，我们发现有很多新移民客户在Medicare和私人保险方面存在误解。例如，关于医疗保险终身年龄附加费方面，如果他们不了解相关规定以及如何计算年龄附加费，他们可能会付出更多的保险费。

“People like my parents have a culturally different view of insurance. It is very different here in Australia and WeChat will help us to communicate that,” he says.

“像我父母这一代人可能对保险有着各种不同的看法。每一个国家的保险都会有自己的特色，澳大利亚的保险与中国的保险会有很多不同，微信可以帮助我们进一步的沟通和解释”他说。