Web search data suggests big-city consumers’ attention could be getting harder to capture
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A new analysis of web search data in the US suggests that life insurance marketers may be facing greater difficulty getting the attention of users in three major cities.
New Jersey-based market research and campaign management firm iQuanti recently conducted an analysis of Google local search volume data for life insurance agents, reported Think Advisor. The analysis was done in an effort to detect “switchover moments” among web users.
According to managers at iQuanti, a big increase in local search activity for live-human advisors — New York-based users searching for New York-based agents online, for example — shows that people are looking for human interaction in the purchasing process. Insurers who can pull consumers to its agents or call centre reps during such moments, the firm contends, have a better chance of winning their business.
To chart switchover moment trends at the national level and in local markets, the firm has developed a method using its own list of search terms and Google search data. It found that this past March, web users across the US were around 1% more likely to search for live-human life insurance advice compared to the same period last year.
“[But] for New York, Los Angeles and Chicago, life insurance switchover moment search activity was down 18%,” reported ThinkAdvisor.
Looking at figures for the first quarter of 2018, national life insurance switchover activity was down some 3%. Switchover activity in New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago went down even more drastically by 43%.
The large drop in life switchover activity among those three cities might be explained in part by changes in the way Google manages its local search tool, or in the way it tracks and collects local search data.
“But the drop could reflect changes in life insurance marketing programs, such as changes in spending on local or regional television, print, outdoor or digital advertising campaigns,” ThinkAdvisor said.
