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Brand Health Resolution: Balancing Acquisition and Retention in the New Year

by Giunero Floro
Chief Marketing Officer

Many companies prioritize cost-effective, hyper-targeted ads to attract new customers, and with good reason. Front-end performance measurements such as click through rate (CTR), conversion rate (CR), and leads generated help determine the impact and efficiency of marketing investments. The challenge is to apply that same rigor and approach when evaluating overall brand health, particularly from the customer's viewpoint. Marketing performance metrics alone will not tell you how your new customers feel now or how loyal they will be in the future.

Don't get me wrong—customer acquisition matters. I think we've all heard, ad nauseam, that it costs less to keep existing customers than it does to acquire new ones. Retention is, without a doubt, the most efficient strategy. A financial services business must retain its current customers to thrive, however. Thus, instead of doubling down on acquisition, seek to understand brand perceptions among your existing customers, then develop and deliver targeted products, solutions, and content that meets their individual needs.

How to Understand Brand Health

Your perceptions of your company may differ from those of your existing customers. Understanding how they feel, both now and over time, is crucial.

This year, we commissioned our largest ever Brand Health Tracker Study that asked hundreds of our customers about their perceptions of, and experiences with, Selective. The study included more than a dozen questions, including questions concerning product value versus cost, satisfaction with customer service, awareness of policy benefits, and feelings about Selective within the insurance marketplace.

We compared customer responses against the same metrics from other carriers. What we learned was both surprising and invaluable.

Without divulging specifics, we discovered many new (to us) brand health opportunities that pertain to the overall awareness of our products and services, and alignment with what we deliver versus what the customer sees as the primary drivers for their engagement and satisfaction.

The question for us then was: how to capitalize on these insights?

Turn Brand Health Insights into Retention Strategy

At Selective, we recently launched a new marketing automation platform that lets us better use data across customer category segments. We used this new tool to align our messaging with customer needs and ideals and engage existing customers with meaningful, trust-building communications using insights from our brand health study. We built hyper-segmented campaigns around coverage types, homeowner attributes, and other indicators related to geographic areas. Some campaign aspects involved cross-selling relevant products, promoting paperless capabilities, and showcasing new value-added services to make their engagement with us more delightful and relevant.

We also empower our sales teams and independent agents by leveraging this data. Personalized content encourages meaningful dialogue, builds trust, and reduces attrition without over-communicating.

Retention Starts with Targeted Marketing

Brand health thrives where marketing and the customer's experience intersect.

Satisfied customers are among the best brand evangelists around. Tailor your marketing strategy to build up relationships where they already exist, target at-risk customers, and open new lines of communication where they didn't exist before.

Start by taking ownership of your data. Source, analyze, and act upon as much information as possible. Build your retention strategy from that foundation. With enough insight, businesses can perhaps, get a step ahead of what customers want and strengthen their brand in the process.