► Life and Health Insurance Online - NZ SEO Reach 2014

Which websites are maximising their market share?

Searching for Life Insurances Online

Copyright © FIRST., part of the BeyondD Pty Ltd Group. http://www.firstdigital.co.nz

2

Calculating share of search

• Rankings Based Reach (RBR)* provides a simple way to compare a

website’s search engine rankings with its competitors.

• RBR is an estimate of the percentage of available search traffic a

website will receive for a set of phrases – this gives the sites share

of search or reach.

• It is weighted based on the popularity of each search phrase and the

relative click through rate (CTR) of each ranking position.

Source: Rankings Based Reach (RBR) is a methodology developed by First, http://www.firstdigital.co.nz

http://www.firstdigital.co.nz/



3

Selected sites

Leading New Zealand life and health insurance sites were selected for Ranking Based

Reach (RBR) performance analysis.

Sites

aa.co.nz bnz.co.nz

pinnaclelife.co.nz kiwicover.co.nz

cigna.co.nz mas.co.nz

state.co.nz platinumlifeinsurance.co.nz

kiwibank.co.nz fmg.co.nz

mylifeplus.co.nz anz.co.nz

aia.co.nz partnerslife.co.nz

insuranceadvice.co.nz asb.co.nz

lifedirect.co.nz asteron.co.nz

sovereign.co.nz nib.co.nz

nzlife.co.nz amp.co.nz

fidelitylife.co.nz accuro.co.nz

westpac.co.nz onepath.co.nz



4

What are people searching for?

Source: Google Keyword Tool, New Zealand exact match, May 2014

In order to investigate which websites are leading in search we researched frequently used

life and health insurance - related phrases.

Search Phrase

Local

searches per

month

Search Phrase

Local

searches

per month

life insurance 2400 compare health insurance 30

health insurance 1600 health insurance comparison 20

life insurance comparison 390 life insurance companies 20

life insurance quotes 320 international health insurance 20

life insurance calculator 170 health insurance companies 20

health insurance new zealand 140 cheap life insurance 20

life insurance online 90 life insurance payout 10

health insurance quotes 90 do i need life insurance 10

partners life insurance 90 life insurance quotes online 10

compare life insurance 50 life insurance for seniors 10

private health insurance 40 life insurance rates 10

lifetime insurance 30 health and life insurance 10

what is life insurance 30

Total searches per month

5,630

Total searches per year

67,560



5

Google: Search engine results page 1 What the consumer sees: The top of the Google search results page for a search on “life insurance”

Kiwicover and Life

Direct are also very

present within the

paid search ranking

on fourth and fifth

position. In total there

are ranking 11

companies in the paid

search. That

represents the

maximum amount for

the 1 Page. This

market is highly

competitive.

Up to 3 keyword-related

Google ads lead the

Google ranking:

Pinnacle Life, Sovereign

and Cigna are ranking

under the top 3

positions for the paid

search term “life

insurance”.

Under the organic

search results a large

variety of the

analysed companies

rank on Google’s first

page starting with

Life Direct, followed

by AA, Pinnacle Life

and Cigna for the

search term “life

insurance”.



6

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

paid organic

Source: Chikita, 2010 (Organic Search) & Accuracast 2009 (Paid Search)

35% of users click

on the top organic

search result

Almost 95% of organic

traffic goes to the top 10

results

The importance of top rankings

Search engine position

Pro

po

rtio

n o

f clic

ks



7

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

Ran

kin

gs B

ased

Reach

Rankings Based Reach: Natural Search

Source of ranking data: Google New Zealand, www.google.co.nz, May 2014. * includes all websites under the relevant domain name (eg, including www.)

MASSIVE OPPORTUNITY

As the RBR of these companies is 2% or

less, there is still a lot of room for

improvement.

The RBR leader is “Life Direct”

which reaches a fantastic RBR of

62%. The closest followers are

“AA” and “Pinnacle Life”. Most

banks rank in the middle field.

There are quite a few companies

“present“ within search, although the

overall RBR for half of all companies

is below 5%. These companies are

missing opportunities for potential

sales.



8

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

Ran

kin

gs B

ased

Reach

Rankings Based Reach: Natural Search (Mobile)

Source of ranking data: Google New Zealand, www.google.co.nz, May 2014.

* includes all websites under the relevant domain name (eg, including www.)

MASSIVE OPPORTUNITY

These websites can compete by

optimising for mobile searches.

Life Direct also maintains

it’s leading RBR position

in mobile search.

Sovereign falls back from

a 12% RBR score to 4%

in mobile search and will

need some improvement.

In mobile search, it is more important

than ever to rank on the first page.

Smart phones are critical shopping

tools with 74% of NZ users having

researched a product or service on

their mobile device*.

*Source: Scary eCommerce Statistics , www.ecommerce.org.nz May 2014.


http://www.ecommerce.org.nz/


9

Search trends: Smaller and bigger players

Source: Relative total keyword performance on a normalised scale 1 to 100, Google Trends, New Zealand, May 2014

The chart illustrates that bigger players such as AMP and Sovereign show higher brand search volumes, compared to the “smaller “ players Life

Direct, FMG and OnePath.

To combat being left behind, runner-up companies need to drive consumer brand recognition via search, display, social and email

campaigns.



10

0.00%

5.00%

10.00%

15.00%

20.00%

25.00%

30.00%

35.00%

40.00%

Equally important Health insurance Life insurance Are not important

Consumer Research: Importance of insurances

This representative survey was carried out by 3Di Research on

the Great Sites platform May 2014 (n=1,915).

Question 1: Which insurance type would you consider as being most important?

More than 35% of Kiwis

mentioned that health such as

life insurance are equally

important.

Surprisingly, nearly 1 out of

10 respondents considered

life and health insurances as

not being important.



11

0.00%

5.00%

10.00%

15.00%

20.00%

25.00%

30.00%

35.00%

40.00%

Neither Life and health insurance Life insurance Health insurance

Consumer Research: Kiwis and their insurances

Question 2: Do you currently have a life or health insurance?



The results of the study

show that more Kiwis

have a life than a health

insurance.

A bit more than 6 out of 10 New

Zealanders have a life or health

insurance or even both, consequently

4 out of 10 do not have any health or

life insurance at all.



12

0.00%

5.00%

10.00%

15.00%

20.00%

25.00%

30.00%

35.00%

40.00%

Directly go to the website of a known insurance provider

Search for insurance information on

Google

Seek recommendations

from friends or family

Visit the physical branch of a known insurance provider

My employer Visit other financial websites (such as

interest.co.nz)

Consumer Research: Where do people search?

Question 3: Typically, where is the first place you go to find

information about a life or health insurance?



Most Kiwis search for insurance information on the website of a

known provider, but also a large proportion go to Google’s

search engine. Ranking at a good position for insurance related

phrases in the search engine can be very beneficial and

increase sales.



13

3.50

3.70

3.90

4.10

4.30

4.50

4.70

4.90

Reputation and credibility Range of cover options Responsiveness of agent Professional advice Easy termination

Consumer Research: Most important when considering an insurance

Question 4: What is most important to you when considering

an insurance? (rank the following on a scale of 1-5, 1 being

least important, 5 of great importance)



Reputation and credibility

play the most important role

for Kiwis when considering

an insurance.

Interestingly,

termination

options play the

least important

role when

considering an

insurance.



14

0.00%

5.00%

10.00%

15.00%

20.00%

25.00%

30.00%

35.00%

40.00%

Would like to have

coverage but it is too

expensive

Have other, more

important financial priorities

No dependents

Lost my coverage

when left job

Don’t trust life insurance providers

Too young Buying process too

difficult

Don’t understand

the benefits of life insurance

Other (please specify)

Consumer Research: Main reasons for not having an insurance

Question 5: Why don’t you have a life or health insurance?


the Great Sites platform May 2014 (n=709).

1 out of 3 Kiwis would like to

have coverage, but can’t afford

it and more than one quarter of

respondents mentioned that

they have more important

financial priorities. The vast majority of

people in the “other”

section mentioned that

they would not have a

health or life insurance

because they couldn’t

afford it, are too old or

did not qualify due to

health issues.


• According to Standard & Poor’s the insurance market has room to grow due

to population growth and the low rate of New Zealanders having a life

insurance.* Therefore insurance providers should not miss out, but optimise

their online visibility.

• Search results are broadly dispersed among a wide range of competitors,

even more in mobile. In this competitive life and health insurance market,

retailers are missing out optimising on the most cost effective marketing

channel: Search.

• Currently Life Direct stands out in the search landscape followed by AA and

Pinnacle Life capturing big proportion of the voice thanks to prominent

organic presence.

• In our survey we revealed that 1 out of 3 Kiwis do not have any coverage due

to high costs or would not qualify for insurance as they had health issues or

wouldn’t need life insurance as they didn’t have any dependents.

• A considered digital strategy that integrates both organic and paid

search should be a key customer acquisition and revenue driver for life

and health insurance providers.

Summary &

Observations

* Source: Life insurance sector profitability highlighted,

http://www.stuff.co.nz , May 2014

Life and health Insurances

http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/money/9642808/Life-insurance-sector-profitability-highlighted

http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/money/9642808/Life-insurance-sector-profitability-highlighted


16

About FIRST.

Respected digital veterans are the foundation our agency is built upon: each team holds

a core capability that feeds into a business’ digital requirements. Our expertise in digital

has been built on over 14 years’ experience in digital strategy, analytics, conversion,

search marketing and digital campaigns.

FIRST, our award-winning team of internet marketers, has helped over 300 companies

across 100 industries achieve digital success. We provide companies with a digital

roadmap to success centered around a “digitally led” sales and marketing strategy.

Our services span search (SEO and SEM), email, performance media, conversion

optimisation and advanced analytics. Most importantly, our work is underpinned by a

focus on delivering the return on investment our clients expect.



17

Contact us

Contact FIRST to find out more.

Phone +64 (9) 920 1740

Email [email protected]

Web http://www.firstdigital.co.nz

http://www.linkedin.com/company/first-digital

http://www.firstdigital.co.nz/blog


Our Vision

To be highly sought after for

making a measurable

difference

Our Mission

We’re a team focused on

transforming businesses and

creating market leaders

through digital marketing.

We innovate, test and

optimise to create a

competitive advantage to

dominate the digital channel.

Our data-driven approach

will keep things simple and

make a measurable

difference.

Our Focus

As a Google Certified

Analytics Partner (GACP),

we focus on smart customer

acquisition using search and

performance media,

maximising conversion

using best practice CRO and

helping NZ businesses

making the best possible

decisions based on

accurate, actionable web

analytics.

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► Life and Health Insurance Online - NZ SEO Reach 2014