November 12, 2014
LV= is a dynamic financial services business that offers a range of insurance,investments and retirement products. As the UK’s largest friendly society, the company has more than five million members and customers. LV= 50 Plus is a life insurance plan geared to customers ages 50 and older. Internal research showed that between 35%-40% of LV= 50 Plus customers are on mobile devices of some type, with this figure set to rise in 2014.
Responsive web design for all devices
LV= wished to maximise on the mobile opportunity by developing an end-to end acquisition and sales process for over 50s customers across all devices. With this in mind, LV= used responsive web design to ensure potential customers could access educational content and apply online through their device of choice. This means that the interface is always optimised, so for example on tablets the display responds to the screen size so the user never needs to scroll. On smartphones, the display reacts as the user changes from portrait to landscape and back again, making it simple to tap and slide.
More powerful search through AdWords features
With the website and application optimised for all devices, LV= then sought to market the LV= 50 Plus plan to customers using tablets and smartphones. To begin, LV= embraced the features of enhanced campaigns in Google AdWords, using the geo-targeting bid modifier to increase bids in cities that were known to perform well for the company both online and offline. LV= also put time-based bid modifiers in place so that bids automatically increased during the top converting hours of the day, and used these modifiers to up weight bids around its television advertisements, enabling more aggressive bidding to coincide with TV spots.
Aiming to drive further efficiency, LV= employed sitelinks in its AdWords campaigns, too. Sitelinks provide additional links to specific LV= content, so rather than sending all users to the same landing page, the company can display additional destination URLs from the LV= site for users to choose from.
LV= took advantage of ad extensions to boost the power of its AdWords activity even more. Seller rating extensions showed LV=’s star rating gathered from review sites all around the web, review extensions displayed accolades from third-party sources, and social extensions linked to the company’s Google+ page so that all +1s from LV=’s page, website, ads and search were tallied together.
Understanding the importance of reconnecting with people who had visited the LV= 50 Plus web pages but had not converted, LV= seized the opportunity to use remarketing lists for search ads (RLSA). This AdWords feature enabled LV= to customise campaigns to users who had previously visited by automatically tailoring bids and ads to these high-value prospects when they searched on Google.
Savvy tactics, outstanding results
A host of compelling success metrics indicate that LV= is well on the way to offering a truly seamless multi-device experience from search to sale for the older demographic. LV=’s innovative mobile-first design approach led to an 89% increase in smartphone conversions and a 52% increase in tablet conversions. Through Google AdWords enhanced campaigns, LV= has seen growth across all devices, with the mobile click-through rate showing the most dramatic improvement (an 18% increase, compared to 11% on desktop).
Sitelinks produced a 275% higher click-through rate and 37% lower cost per click than the account average, demonstrating better efficiency than standalone ads. The use of RLSA meanwhile produced CTR increases of up to 160% when targeting users who had previously been to site. Based on these performance improvements, LV= is extending RLSA to all of its campaigns.
“A big focus for LV= is winning in mobile,” says LV= Digital Marketing Manager Marcus Oughton. “We believe the use of Enhanced Campaigns together with our responsive web design has allowed for a fully integrated journey for customers across multiple devices. It’s delivered excellent results that we’re extremely happy with.”