Hiscox is a specialist insurance provider, offering high value home and motor insurance, overseas holiday home insurance, commercial insurance and event cover. Rather than striving to be a low-cost choice in the market, the Hiscox brand has been built upon a heritage of solid products and excellent service.
Challenge
As Hiscox’s online presence forms a core generator of its Direct Business new sales leads it was imperative that the organisation’s various online marketing strategies were streamlined and optimised to deliver the highest possible returns in a measurable way.
As part of a wider marketing strategy, Hiscox had implemented a number of online tactics including paid search, display advertising and an affiliate programme. In order to take their online campaign to the next level and maximise return on digital marketing spend, it was decided to engage the services of digital specialist.
“We identified a need within our marketing function to overhaul and consolidate our digital campaigns,” says Annabel Venner, Head of Marketing, Hiscox UK. “Whilst our online strategies to date had proved successful, results had begun to plateau. Therefore, in order to build momentum we decided to seek specialist guidance from a consultant who would be able to link our strategic business objectives to the most appropriate online marketing channels – whilst quickly and effectively helping us to meet challenging online revenue targets.”
Hiscox approached Stream:20 to take on and manage the day-to-day running of its online marketing function for a two-month period. Stream:20’s in-house consultant initiated a two-step process; an initial audit followed by the engagement of a series recommendations.
Results
The 360-degree audit of existing online marking activities reviewed strategy, outcomes and measurement processes to help Hiscox understand where and how online marketing budget could be spent more effectively. The key findings of the audit highlighted a gap in knowledge in some aspects of the digital space that would need to be addressed, along with a review of the ways in which Hiscox measured and reported the results and analytics generated by its search, display and affiliate programmes, as well as how online marketing activity was contributing to the overall direct business.
With the audit complete Stream:20, working closely with Hiscox’s in-house team, began to streamline existing online efforts by identifying which activities were generating revenue and working to optimise those areas which were proving less effective. Rather than viewing each aspect of Hiscox’s digital campaign as an individual entity, Stream:20 integrated efforts, with a view to making its entire digital marketing campaign more measurable and attributable.
As a direct result of this ability to measure results, it is now much easier for Hiscox to attribute sales to specific activities, and therefore simpler to target, plan and execute successful future digital campaigns. Stream:20’s in-house support over the two-month period also resulted in an increase in click-through rates, a primary marketing indicator, as well as a positive, attributable increase in sales.
The two-step process also provided an opportunity for Hiscox to test and implement new digital marketing strategies, such as email campaigns, to complement their existing activities as well as developing robust testing capabilities across all key online marketing channels to ensure Hiscox can deliver the right messages, to the right customers, through the right channels.
“Having the support of a specialist Stream:20 consultant based in-house with our own marketing team has enabled us to Identify exactly what needs to be accomplished and when,” continues Annabel Venner. “Their support has enabled us to bring together our existing projects, as well as key stakeholders within our organisation to define the best path to making a successful, cohesive digital marking strategy part of our wider marketing mix.”
To conclude the period of consultation, Stream:20 helped Hiscox’s internal team to define and develop its online marketing strategy for 2010 and beyond, allowing them to realise the potential profitability that digital marketing activities can have across Hiscox’s entire Direct Business.
“In a relatively short space of time Stream:20’s expertise in utilising these key online marketing channels has resulted in a direct increase in sales. Rather than this being a spike which may drop-off following the consultation period, Stream:20 has also trained our in-house team in the specialist fields, equipping them with the knowledge required to continue building on this initial roll-out, helping our department as a whole to improve what we do to increase sales, without having to increase our budgets long-term.”
