Answering 46 Million Home Insurance Questions in Real Time
Welcome to part two of this month’s edition of the Brand Breakdown series, a deep dive into markets, consumers, and brands through the lens of owned asset optimization (OAO), a new approach to building consumer connections.
In part one, we revealed that Allstate’s secret to marketing efficiency is meeting consumers’ needs in search. Today, we’ll dive into the topics home insurance seekers care most about and which brands are guiding their purchase decisions.
46 million opportunities to connect
Terakeet analyzed 46 million searches about homeowners insurance to find out what’s most important to consumers.
Surprisingly, despite the massive investment in brand advertising, 67% of all home insurance searches don’t include a brand name in the query. That means companies have 30 million opportunities to connect with new, in-market customers seeking answers.
Among these non-branded searches, insurance companies control 62% of the organic search market share, losing 33% of the online journey to publishers and media brands.
Although insurance brands control the largest slice of non-branded organic search market share, they only represent half of the top 10 websites in search results.
The other half is occupied by publishers like Bankrate, NerdWallet, and U.S. News, which send valuable leads to competitors and dilute profits through referral fees. On top of that, they rob brands of crucial trust-building touchpoints.
Segmenting home insurance customers by search intent
So how can home insurance brands continue to outperform publishers that write about similar topics?
Understanding what consumers want when they search online is the key to building authentic connections in the home insurance space.
By analyzing search data, we can uncover the questions people are asking in Google, segment them by need, and create customer-centric content that resonates.
Terakeet segmented non-branded home insurance searches into four groups based on consumer intent:?
This gives us a high-level view of what people care about when searching for insurance coverage.
What do home insurance Window Shoppers want?
The Window Shopping segment includes people asking general “What is” questions about home insurance topics like liability, casualty, and hazard insurance. It also includes more transactional terms like “best home insurance companies.”?
This segment is primarily seeking information or comparing brands rather than looking for specific types of coverage or asking for quotes.
Insurance companies control 73% of organic search market share in the Window Shopping segment.
This is the segment where Allstate really pulls ahead and connects with consumers.
Connecting with consumers in the Cost Conscious segment
Cost-conscious consumers represented 24% of non-branded home insurance searches. That’s a powerful insight because pricing was much more important to people seeking auto insurance, accounting for 51% of all non-branded searches for that product category (check out our auto insurance breakdown for more on that).
You may expect the percentage of folks seeking cheap auto insurance would be similar to the percentage seeking cheap home insurance. But clearly consumers have different needs when shopping for each type of insurance. It’s important to analyze consumer search data separately for each category to avoid making inaccurate assumptions.
Zooming into the Cost Conscious segment, only 13% care about affordability compared with more than 45% of auto insurance shoppers. Most searchers just wanted quotes or had general cost and pricing questions.
By drilling into the behavior of home insurance buyers specifically, we learn about their unique journey. Equipped with this data, marketers are prompted to ask questions that can lead to more valuable, targeted assets.
Although insurance brands control 57% of the organic search market share for cost topics, publishers like Bankrate and NerdWallet have a strong foothold here.?
If affiliate websites capture too much search market share, they can send in-market customers to competitors or increase insurers’ acquisition costs through referral fees.
Meeting the needs of Custom Coverage consumers
While some people are focused on cost, others are more concerned about getting the coverage they want. This segment is researching various types of coverage, including flood, fire, hurricane, earthquake, and home warranties.?
They also want the convenience of bundling multiple types of coverage under one insurer. This group is more likely to pay a premium to get everything they want.
领英推荐
Insurance brands control 50% of the organic market share in the Custom Coverage segment. However, publishers and home warranty brands are threatening their visibility.
Although home warranties aren’t considered home insurance policies, there’s plenty of interest in these products.
Home warranties are a growing trend with inconsistent search interest likely driven by media buying. More than 11 million people each year search for home warranty information, and searches for “home warranty” have surpassed searches for “home insurance” more than once.
This indicates the confusion between warranties and insurance in consumers’ minds, presenting a huge opportunity for insurance brands to clarify these products by providing valuable, trustworthy information about the pros and cons of home warranties.
How Local Preference consumers search for home insurance
The Local Preference consumer segment cares most about location. About 26% of this segment uses terms like “near me,” indicating they want a hyper-local agent. This customer group likely prioritizes personal relationships and is very loyal to brands that meet their needs.
Nearly 75% of this segment searches for companies using state-specific keywords. This group wants a provider that understands the unique needs of their state, including legal requirements and special types of coverage they may need. For example, California residents may want fire insurance, while Florida residents may want flood or hurricane insurance.
Insurance brands control 60% of the search market share for Local Preference consumers, but publishers and government resources also outperform many brands.
Connecting through intent
As a marketer, it’s crucial to understand how your audience searches. Rather than interrupting potential customers with brand advertising, this data reveals how engaging them through reception marketing provides real value by answering their questions.
Now that we understand the most important topics consumers are searching for around homeowners insurance, we can build a strategy to connect.
Stay tuned for part three of our brand breakdown where we’ll dive into the winning content for each of those four critical customer segments.
For more OAO and Reception Marketing Insights direct to your inbox, subscribe to Terakeet’s Consumer Connections Newsletter today.