Insurance Marketing Online
Roberto’s views
Roberto Hortal
Head of eBusiness

A promising start
• Direct insurance brands launch sales sites
between 1999 and 2002
• Online discounts reflect absence of
commissions
• No separate marketing: TV, outdoor main
product marketing channels
• Motivation: lower total costs + don’t get
left behind

A promising start
Source: E-Commerce Inquiry to Business 2000 – Office for National Statistics

Penny-pinching
Secondary, cost-reducing, simple sales channel
Online able, not online ce

Built on
Legacy
Systems
and
Products

Insurance so far
Just one online-only
company
2004 - 2007

The Financial Services Marketing mix
• We love TV!
• DR traditionally from
BUY!
direct mail
• Online Marketing getting attention
– Over 60% sales online, just 15-25% spend
– Saturation in other channels
– Supporting/replacing offline DR channels
– Measurability, flexibility, reach
Sources: eBenchmarkers October 2007 report / Internal research

Making the tills ring
Online Motor Insurance May-Oct 07
• 2.1M online sales
• Double-digit increase YoY
• Majority of all sales – share of online sales up
20% YoY
Source: eBenchmarkers October 2007 report

Big online spenders
• >£110M spend YR to Oct 07
– 40% increase YoY
• Traditional business
model supported large CPS
(£34 - $165 across peer group)
but customer
behaviour is
changing
fast!

Updating insurance
Products and services

Getting it right
• Online extensions to product
– Green wheel
• Online mastery
– Back to basics: user experience
• Engaging with customers
– Living
• Leveraging the brand
– Nodding dog
– Aviva/NU preparing an aggregator?

Getting it right
• Online extensions to product
– Green wheel
• Online mastery
– Back to basics: user experience
• Engaging with customers
– Living
• Leveraging the brand
– Nodding dog
– Aviva/NU preparing an aggregator?

Updating insurance
Engaging with our customers

Popular
Source: iCrossing

900
Top 100 keywords over all time
800
700
Engaging green social network
600
Averge time on site
500
morethan living
400
flood advice
flooding summer 2007 summer 2007 floods
300
green motoring
200
long egg
100
morethan
0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Source: iCrossing Average pages per visit

Every piece counts
• Products designed for loyalty
– Multicar makes it difficult to leave
– 2 months free when you renew
• Fighting commoditisation
• Opportunity keeps growing
– 32M Britons online (75% more than 2001’s 18M)
• The world is bigger than your site

The new
Intermediaries

Aggregators

Eroding customer loyalty
Price transparency, commoditisation
cashback incentives

Aggregators and consumers
• Save lots of
time
• Save money
every year
• Expand
reach
• I’m in
control

Aggregators and
insurers
• Changing the game
– From brand list to price shortlist
– Commoditisation
– Pricing transparency
– Adverse selection risks
• Significantly affecting loyalty
• A race to the bottom
– Agg-centric no-frills products

Source: eBenchmarkers October 2007 report

Resistance is futile?

The Aggregator effect
Saturated market: always growing spend to maintain share of
voice
Aggregators + new branded entries increase competition for
attention

2008
2006
Coming soon to
a business near you

Everyone
wants in

• Specialisation/positioning
– Different premiums = customer segments
– Different product ranges
– Different propositions (price/value/platform)
Aggregators:
what next?

• Peak Agg?
– Mature market - 65%+
– Share battles - £1M giveaway, win a Boxster
– Cashbacks threaten revenue
– Consolidation, regulation may
be imminent
Aggregators:
what next?

• Could kill the Golden Goose
– Long-term sustainability of insurers
at risk
– Race to the bottom may leave consumers
unprotected
– Shrinking competitive landscape?
Aggregators:
what next?

• Or make it stronger
– Back to basics of direct model
• Lower cost at all stages
• It’s the Customer Experience, stupid
– Customer at the core: reinventing
insurance for today’s customer
Aggregators:
what next?

Cashback sites

Cashbacks and consumers
• Consumers get rewards every
time they use a cashback site
– Up to 100% of site’s commission
– Down to £0 joining fee
• Cashbacks offer forums, blogs for members to
discuss merchants
– Payment terms/speed most popular
– Service/product review/recommendation growing
• Spreading like wildifire thanks to excellent
MGM programs

Cashbacks and retailers
• Taxing access to consumers - la famiglia of the
online Marketing world?
– Not really a demand generation tool
– You still have to do all the hard Marketing work,
and spend all the money
• Large volume cashbacks can
drive high bounty
• Purely an added cost
• They are spreading!

Cashbacks and retailers
• High additional CPS across the board
• Selection, profitability impact
– Bounties for Insurance products tend to be flat
• Disproportionate benefit for low premium policies
• Will Aggregators bear the brunt of the
cashback revolution
– Not completing the sale?
– Having to offer cashback?
• Commercial value doubtful

Who are these people?
Source: MoneySavingExpert

• Immature • Massive recent growth
– Basic category lists – Quidco: 3x traffic in 9
– Evolving, eroding months
model (100%, no fee) – Up to 30% affiliate sales
• Inefficient • Media darling
– Operating through – BBC, GMTV, Five, Radio 4
(expensive) affiliate • Bandwagon
networks
– MS Search to offer
cashback in US

Social Media
• The biggest opportunity in
online marketing
• Participate in
conversations
– Listen
– Change
– Communicate
• Your customers on the
driver’s seat

Popular

900
Top 100 keywords over all time
800
700
Engaging green social network
600
Averge time on site
500
morethan living
400
flood advice
flooding summer 2007 summer 2007 floods
300
green motoring
200
long egg
100
morethan
0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Average pages per visit

Not bad for £0 marketing
but...

Cashbacks are better social media!!
• WOM fuels growth – social media marketing
working at last!
And rather good at it...

• Very large audience of committed
users
– No shortage of enthusiasts of your
brand
• Huge collection of user-generated
content
• Finely tuned WOM program
• A social Marketer’s dream!
Cashbacks: Dive in

3 final thoughts
• Mastery
– Back to basics: the user experience
– Get the best people available
• Where will your brand take you?
• Mobile. It’ll happen, just not as we’ve been
told

Thanks!
Roberto Hortal
roberto.hortalmunoz@uk.rsagroup.com
www.morethan.com
www.hortal.com All photos: Flickr users via FlickrStorm