Michael LloyCross-sell mail was not a primary acquisition strategy among insurers in 2019, comprising only 2% of all their mail in the U.S. and Canada. But insurance companies have an opportunity to leverage existing relationships to increase customer product ownership, which makes it worthwhile to examine what is being sent among competitors across insurance types.
Let’s take a look at some notable cross-sell trends in insurance from Q1 2019 to Q1 2020, based on our recent analysis at Comperemedia.
Cross-Sell Mail Volume in the U.S.
Despite its small representation of total insurer mail, cross-sell direct mail volume did increase across all lines, up 25% from 2018. Surpassing P&C as the top cross-sell category, life sent the highest volume of cross-sell offers, up nearly 50% from 2018.
Credit: Comperemedia
Top cross-sell mailers correlated heavily with top insurance mailers, overall, as no particular brand adopted the mailing type as a primary strategy. Globe Life and GEICO sent just over 60% of cross-sell offers in 2019 through to Q1 2020.
Credit: Comperemedia
Home & Auto Bundling
GEICO sent the top three cross-sell mailers – all home bundle offers. In the mailer shown below, GEICO encouraged customers to get a home insurance quote to save on both their auto and home insurance with a multi-policy discount. The campaign also encouraged recipients to “find your keys to savings” within a mobile-enhanced game.
Credit: Comperemedia
Farmer’s promoted its bundle offers in the following mail piece that folded into a square. The piece was themed around saving time and money, and Farmer’s promoted up to 20% in savings when bundling its home and auto insurance products.
Credit: Comperemedia
With respect to bundle-related email offers, subject lines containing the keywords “upgrade,” “discount,” or “bundle” garnered the highest average read rates. In contrast, emails with subject lines containing “combo,” “offer,” or “urgent” performed below average.
Trust and Protection Are Key Themes
Brands are leaning on their customer relationships with cross-sell offers, focusing on the trust they’ve established with consumers. Phrases like “you already trust us to protect your [home/car/family/x]” are commonly placed before an offer to add a product line or additional member to existing insurance plans. For example, the following AAA Texas mail piece reads, “You trust AAA for great Roadside Assistance. Now trust us with your insurance, too…”
Credit: Comperemedia
BlueCross BlueShield reached out to members who had prescription coverage gaps in their Medicare plan, encouraging them to add that coverage to their plan. This mailer shared the reassurance that “we’re always looking out for you.”
Credit: Comperemedia
Comperemedia, a Mintel company, is an industry-leading competitive marketing intelligence agency. To find out more about Comperemedia’s products and services, please get in touch.
