Need More ROI From Google Ads? Avantia Say They Can Help

Avantia, the technology-enabled insurance provider behind HomeProtect, is reporting that in the six months since the launch of MarPod, they have been able to increase the return on investment in Google Ad spend by 40 per cent, whilst maintaining sales volume.

MarPod is the proprietary cloud-based and machine-learning led modelling tool that has created a new way to deploy data in real-time to forecast the lifetime value of customers, in a process that is unique within the insurance industry and wider digital marketing.

This new functionality is a spin-off from Avantia’s existing decisioning technology platform and determines a forecast for lifetime value (FLTV) based on the customer’s quote information and 660 individually modelled values for their retention propensity, renewal price and cost to serve. This is fed back to Google for customers who complete a purchase, which allows its systems to learn which types of customers are more valuable and likely to buy, improving targeting and spending.

For insurers and many other digital-first business, cost of acquisition is a significant and essential expense, and so adopting MarPod makes the process much more efficient, putting advanced modelling in the hands of marketers, rather than being restricted to lengthy offline analyses conducted periodically by finance teams.

Having access to this data in real-time for individual customers quoting online facilitates enhanced segmentation and personalisation, such as displaying discount codes to high FLTV customers who are leaving the site without buying, in the highly competitive insurance market where price is major factor in customer decisions.

MarPod allows Avantia to provide customised messaging to customers arriving on site from aggregators, reassuring them that the product covers their specific needs e.g. homes built on flood plains. This has increased Avantia’s conversion rate by 12 per cent.

The initial focus has been to drive increased ROI in Google ads, with plans to later integrate into Bing & Facebook marketing, as well as facilitate further in-journey personalisation and targeted promotional offers.

Commenting on the launch, Mark Eastham, CEO at Avantia said: “Digital marketing and paid search are fundamental parts of the customer acquisition process, so we sought to make it as effective as possible, drawing upon the millions of data points we have created through our machine-learning proposition.

“Our challenge was how could we find the customers  with the highest lifetime value, and then properly allocate our resources to attracting them. The value of the insurance premium that a customer purchased is generally a poor indicator of what their true value is, so the launch of MarPod allows us draw upon more effective measures and optimise our marketing spend.

“Avantia’s agile approach, focus on technology, and significant depth of data means we have the perfect set up to integrate this effectively into our marketing practice.”