Healthcare is evolving in the US – and Bing Ads is here to help you successfully navigate the waves of change.
What’s changing in healthcare?
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) is a new “Patient’s Bill of Rights” giving Americans the flexibility they need to make informed choices about their healthcare. The ACA will go into effect on January 1, 2014 with health insurance enrollment beginning on October 1, 2013 in most states.
What’s the impact to search advertising?
Americans will be looking for answers on how the new healthcare law will affect them, resulting in spikes in search traffic in 2013 and into 2014.
How can search marketers prepare?
The below 5 tips can help you prepare your search campaigns for the post-ACA world.
1. Seek out the right audience.
The Affordable Care Act will impact individuals, families and small businesses – audiences that the Yahoo Bing Network over-indexes in when compared to Google. In contrast to Google, the Yahoo Bing Network is more likely to have children in the home, work in a small business, or start a business in the next year. This audience is also primed for purchasing health insurance – they’re 21% more likely than Google’s audience to have applied for health insurance online in the last 6 months.[1]
2. Choose your words carefully when refining ad copy
Not all words are created equal. When it comes to delivering your message, some are more effective than others. For example, the keyword “affordable” in the Ad Title and Ad Description proved to have higher clickability, while keyword “savings” performed significantly lower.[2] Check out the most recent keyword list we’ve compiled on Medicare and Health Insurance keywords to leverage in campaigns.
Also consider Dynamic Keyword Insertion, which contributed to four of the top five top performing Ad Title/Ad Description combinations below:
TOP AD TITLE/AD DESCRIPTION COMBINATIONS2:
3. Leverage key ad formats for a richer, more engaging experience
There are multiple options to boost ad performance and create more relevant search ads for health insurance advertisers.
- Sitelink Extensions. Sitelink Extensions increased Health Insurance ad copy quality by 316%[3] compared to ads that did not include Sitelink Extensions. Sitelink Extensions attract attention to search results, capture more clicks, and give prospective customers direct access to more relevant content on the site. Consider including additional messages about services, offers, and more.
- Location Extensions. Financial services and insurance ads that used location extensions saw a 24% increase in average click-through rate (CTR)[4]. This is a great feature for driving performance campaigns with a clear call-to-action like a phone call.
- Content Ads. Boost clicks at a lower cost per acquisition (CPA). Content Ads may help health insurance advertisers get more clicks at a lower CPC, resulting in lower acquisition costs. An internal study showed that Financial Services and Insurance advertisers saw cost per acquisition 36% lower[5] than with standard text ads.
4. Formulate bidding strategies: Budget & Bids
2013 - 2014 forecasts show that top Medicare and Health Insurance searches and clicks will peak in October 2013, due to the attention given to the delayed ACA reform starting in 2014 and the open enrollment season in October. This means a lot more people will be searching with the intent to research and make a health Insurance purchase decision. This traffic translates into more clicks and more competition as advertisers bid on relevant keywords to capitalize on the demand. Your October budget should be larger than usual to account for more people searching and more competition between health Insurance advertisers vying for top ad positions.
5. Optimize for devices
Lastly, we recommend examining website analytics to create a mobile strategy. It’s important to
understand how searchers are accessing your website. If mobile is substantial or on the rise you should consider the following:
- Leverage Sitelink Extensions and Location Extensions to help potential customers quickly obtain information
- Create targeted landing pages to showcase content from SEM campaigns, such as a healthcare reform FAQ or other educational resources
- Considering launching a mobile site if you haven’t already
The Affordable Care Act presents a huge opportunity for the health insurance industry and by leveraging the 5 recommendations we’ve outlined, you’re sure to capitalize on the upcoming traffic surge with open arms.
To see the full set of recommendations, review the presentation below:
[1]comScore US Plan Metrix Site Audience Profile, May 2013
[2]Microsoft internal research study. Compared to ads that did not use any of the listed variables with brand terms removed. Variables were chosen based on frequency of use and positive impact on ad quality.
[3]Performance study based upon beta testing data on Bing owned and operated only and is not a guarantee of performance. Increase in clicks is dependent upon a seasonality and advertiser vehicle
[4]Microsoft internal data, includes US PC searcher for Yahoo and Bing properties, 9/10/12 to 10/6/12 and 10/8/12 to 10/28/12. Considered all ads with extensions on mainline where ad is displayed as: URL + Location URL + Location + Phone URL + Phone
[5] Microsoft Internal Study on Content Ads, Jan 2013