There is little secret that insurance is among radio’s biggest national advertisers. Media Monitors data shows last week seven of top 25 national advertisers on stations it tracked came from the category. There is good reason according to a new analysis of radio’s impact on consumers. AnalyticOwl examined 35,700 radio ads that aired last year for insurers and found they moved listeners into action.
The analysis showed radio increased traffic to an insurance advertiser’s website by an average 15%, compared to when the spots were not running. And every radio ad aired, generated an average 2.2 new website visits. In other words, for the nearly 36,000 radio spots examined, the radio ads generated more than 135,000 website visits. The findings were released by the Radio Advertising Bureau.
While web activity was consistently higher Tuesday through Saturday, Sunday had the highest new user visits per airing, said RAB Senior VP Annette Malave. “What does this mean for auto insurance advertisers? Whether or not your physical location is open Sunday, auto insurance advertisers should take note to include Sunday as part of their on-air activity,” she wrote in a blog post. Monday was far and away the day of the week when listeners were least focused on shopping for insurance.
Malave said middays (10am-3pm) drove the highest new visitors per airing, followed by evenings (7pm-12midnight). “Auto insurance advertisers should take advantage of the evening daypart when planning their campaigns since it can contribute a high number of web visits,” she advised.
AnalyticOwl said it was not just website traffic that increased. So did overall foot traffic into insurance agent offices. Six in ten people who stepped into an office said they were influenced by the radio ads they heard. And the days when radio ads were on-air, on average, agents experienced an increase of 16 new visits according to AnalyticOwl. The highest total foot traffic was Thursday but the day that experience the highest percent of new traffic overall was Saturday.
One reason that radio commercials work so well for insurance companies is they hit the target. AnalyticOwl said radio touches 88% of adults who use any auto insurance and 80% of adults who are planning to switch their auto insurance provider. The figures are even higher for radio’s reach among Blacks (94%) and Hispanics (93%).
Download the full report HERE.