UK #PPC Finance Insights - Economic Meltdown or Conversion Opportunity?

The last few months (or years) have felt, financially speaking, like one of Christian evangelist, Harold Camping’s claims that “we are all doomed”.

Whilst we may do our best to ignore the increasingly disturbing financial news coming in from – well, from everywhere – for several months now, it's becoming harder to ignore, isn't it? It’s difficult to understand and every other news story seems to open with apocalyptic proclamations about the state of Europe’s finances, the global economy or our ever dwindling expendable cash. The bewilderment of the economics correspondents is frightening to watch.

It has probably never been less clear what normal individuals should do with their money and by the same token, what those in the finance sector should do to allay their fears. What is the best way to manage our search accounts in these difficult times?

Portfolio management

Whilst the recent banking crisis has highlighted some flaws in the practices on which the economy was built, we can still learn a few things from them in regard to the management of our search accounts.

In tough times, it is best practice to minimise your risk. Modern portfolio theory (MPT) is a theory of investment which attempts to maximise portfolio expected return or equivalently minimize risk for a given level of expected return, by carefully choosing the proportions of investment of various assets.

In other words, you increase the chance of improved return on investment, while minimising your risks if you advertise your full portfolio of financial products, and optimising dependent on performance.

Green shoots in Search: Mortgage and Saving Accounts

Recent forecasting suggests that rates on savings are to remain depressed and property prices are forecast to fall. But that’s not to say that interest in those areas is dwindling.

Despite all the doom and gloom, there are some surprising areas of growth in Search advertising. The most financially astute action for individuals is to accelerate the repayment of their mortgages or move to a better deal. Economic turmoil has lead customers to think more about their savings options, with searches up 3% year on year.

Therefore, it makes sense to optimise your mortgage and Savings accounts to ensure that your ad copy has the latest and best rates advertised to capitalise on this traffic. Updating your creatives with your brands unique selling points, latest products and prices helps influence a searcher decision but building trust is also paramount. Ill feeling against the finance industry is at its highest since the great depression and using keyword like “official” helps build an element of trust between you and your potential customer.

It’s not just lending and savings rates that are driving these queries but also additional fees. In the past British consumers were considered more likely to get divorced than to change their banks, but all this is changing too. We are looking for better deal and with many banks charging a fee for their services, they are searching a number of choices before making an informed decision.

‘24% YOY increase in loan related traffic with payday loans showing the most significant rise’

Credit cards and loan accounts are seeing increased interests from a number of fronts. That’s not entirely surprising. "Stressed borrowing" is on the increase, "with more people having to borrow to help finance their spending as a consequence of the extended squeeze on their purchasing power from elevated inflation, low wage growth and tighter fiscal policy. In addition, job losses are rising".

33% of all financial searches are made for loans. Loan based products account for five out of ten of the most searched for personal finance products. On adCenter we have seen a 24% Year on year increase in loan related traffic, with payday loans seeing the most significant rise.

Conversely, there has also been an increase in loan related traffic from those looking to pay off their debt. The financial term is deleveradging, which relates to the fact that it makes more financial sense to pay off debt than to save, and loan and credit card providers advertising the best terms and conditions seeing the best conversions as a result.

January is also a peak month for Loan search traffic, after the expense of Christmas and therefore it is important that all Loan accounts are optimised before the traffic starts rolling in, taking into account those who are in financial difficulty, as well as those interested in paying off debts..

Insuring everything will be OK: home insurance searches on the rise

I’ve already spoken about minimising risk and in these tough times many are insuring themselves should the worst happen.

One sad statistic to come out during the recession is the 14% rise in burglary in England and Wales, with direct correlation between recession and spikes in burglary. In conjunction with the riots that took place all over the UK, and this year’s unpredictable weather, home insurance traffic increased 14% Year on year.

Spread your risk, increase your ROI.

Wait! Come back out of the nuclear bunker, take the tin foil hat off your head - all is not lost. Whilst the mainstream media may paint a very bleak picture of the current economic outlook, nearly all finance sub-verticals are seeing increased interest – and in some cases for not so obvious reasons.

In order to minimise risk with your finance search accounts, you need to ensure that you are optimising all accounts to show the best rates and deals and if necessary move budget from accounts that aren’t performing well to those which are far more buoyant.

Mick Hucknell was right when he said that “Money’s too tight to mention”, but it doesn’t mean that the public isn’t thinking about it every day and make the necessary changes to balance their budgets. They are searching for new deals and new products – are your search accounts ready to turn them from a searcher into a converting customer?