Online sales for 123.ie boosted 159pc with Google Adwords


11 Aug 2010

Online insurance broker 123.ie says it has increased its online sales by 159pc in the last year solely by using Google Adwords.

The firm decided to focus on a new advertising media strategy along with TV, print and radio. It sought the expertise of digital advertising agency BARK to achieve this result.

“We decided to focus on this business area because according to the consumer commerce barometer, car insurance is researched by 62pc of Irish Internet users, or over two million people,” said Padraig O’Neill, marketing director of 123.ie

“Within one month we could see that the CPA, (cost per insurance policy sold), in the Adwords search campaign was lower than on any other channel.”

123.ie then aimed towards driving as many policy quotes as possible, enabling it to push sales through its website and call centre.

“After only three months we decided to advertise our home insurance via Adwords which also had fantastic results,” O’Neill added.

Along with seeing a higher return on investment, Google Analytics helped the company develop a better understanding of what customers wanted and allowed it to adjust its advertising sales accordingly.

“The most important result for 123.ie has been the increase in its customer database,” explained Simon Ferguson, managing director of BARK.

“This was helped by Adwords tools such as conversion tracking, keyword reports, ad extension and re-marketing which really gave the campaign a competitive edge over other advertising mediums. 

“We were able to use these tools to optimise the amount visitors to the 123.ie website, increase the number of quotations given and increase the rate of insurance policies sold,” Ferguson said.

Ronan Harris, director of Online Sales at Google, noted the importance of cost reduction in marketing for businesses today.

“A significant advantage of Google Adwords is the fact that the advertiser only pays when a potential customer actually clicks on an ad and is brought to their website,” he said.

“If someone sees the ad but doesn’t click on it, there is no charge, but the advertiser still benefits from the brand recognition delivered.

“Furthermore, using Google Analytics, it’s possible to determine how a company’s advertising campaign has helped to increase company sales,” Harris said.