With the first quarter of 2015 coming to a close, it is a great time to review insurance search trends from the past year, and look forward to what can be expected for the rest of 2015.
Insurance Search in 2014
The year 2014 outperformed 2013 for “insurance” search in the beginning months of the year. However, 2013 blew trending out of the water through the last few months of the year, due to the rise in “health insurance” search and interest from the Affordable Care Act. This was especially evident in October 2014, when open enrollment began.
There was also a spike in “insurance” search and “health insurance” search in March 2014, when open enrollment was coming to a close.
Not surprisingly, December was the lowest month for “insurance” search in 2014. The last week of December in particular was the lowest week of the entire year. Typically, “insurance” search dips every year around October, and continues in a downward trend through December.
What is to Come in 2015?
So far, “insurance” search has been trending lower in 2015 than in 2014, for the months of January and February.
While it is difficult to predict how the rest of the year will go, if it is anything like 2014, search volume may continue to be lower through most of 2015. Overall, search volume in 2014 was lower than 2013, and 2013 was lower than 2012, barring the couple of spikes related to health insurance.
So far in 2015, the top trending keyword phrases searched in Google that involve “insurance” are:
- Health insurance
- Life insurance
- Car insurance
- Auto insurance
Use these trends as indicators of the topics you should address in your digital marketing efforts. Consider these four insurance products when crafting your blog posts, social media posts, and email marketing campaigns.
Using Search Trends in Digital Marketing
If your agency provides any of the products associated with the top four insurance search terms, consider utilizing them as jumping off points for your digital marketing efforts.
Blogging
Integrate these trending topics in with your blog posts. You do not have to focus on just insurance information either; you should also address lifestyle and educational topics. Here are some topics you could add to your editorial calendar:
- Why Have Collision & Comprehensive in Your Auto Insurance Coverage
- 5 Health and Diet Tips that Can Lower Health Insurance Costs
- Term vs. Whole Life Insurance Explained
- How Seniors can Save on Their Car Insurance
Social Media
Start sharing the blog posts you are writing on these topics on your social media sites. You could also post some fun facts having to do with those products. For example, “Did you know there were over 77,000 crashes in 2013 on the Minnesota roadways?” Or, “Did you know that 32% of Texans are without health insurance coverage?”
Consider posting common questions your clients have that pertain to those products, like “what type of life insurance is right for me?” Or, “how does smoking affect my health insurance rates?”
Email Marketing
Use the topics you are writing about on your blog and social media pages to promote these products through email marketing. Set up an email drip campaign to a set of personal lines prospects that targets popular misunderstandings of auto, health, or life insurance. Develop an email newsletter that you send to your clients monthly or quarterly, outlining those product lines as some of your topics.
Is your agency trying to focus on commercial lines this year? Try using these trending personal insurance lines to round-out a customer and receive their commercial business as well. Chances are, you have some existing personal lines clients that own businesses.