Dr Felicity Bigelow and Thomas Cox, Neuro-Insight
In a world full of uncertainty, we have needs for reassurance of what the future may hold. The degree to which brands authentically address these needs, whilst remaining true to their unique identity, is where the distinction in the insurance game comes alive.
The way the brain processes and encodes information into long-term memory, ultimately guides consumer decision-making. Previous research has shown that if a campaign effectively addresses our needs, we are more likely to remember it, and in turn, it is more likely to motivate our future behaviour.
Neuro-Insight unearthed the most important consumer needs in relation to the sector, including simplicity, personal value or relevance, and demonstrations of trust, credibility and understanding.
Through focusing on our validated memory metric, the two examples featured in Figures 1 and 2 saw heightened brain activity as brands consolidated trust within their creative.
Campaign 1 (Home and Contents Insurance)
Campaign 1 reinforced elements of trust and security by effectively showcasing brand accolades. During this key scene, memory encoding peaked above the 50th percentile benchmark (see Figure 1). This means that viewers considered the credibility-related information as memorable and useful for future reference.
Campaign 2 (Health Insurance)
We also observed that insurance brands can strengthen elements of trust by reassuring consumers. Campaign 2 likely consolidated elements of trust and protection by demonstrating how the insurer minimises health-related risks. During key scenes of reassurance, memory encoding peaked above validated benchmark levels (see Figure 2). This suggests that viewers considered the reassurance-related information as memorable and valuable for future behaviour.
Neuro-Insight discovered brands that adopted the tactics above experienced 9% greater overall campaign performance and 10% stronger engagement, when compared to validated category benchmark levels. Small, fleeting moments in the creative can have a huge impact on the effectiveness in terms of personal relevance, credibility, value and trust. In other words, insurance brands that talk to consumer needs tend to be more engaging and have stronger overall campaign performance.
Brian Hill, General Manager for Neuro-Insight APAC: “Clearly, establishing trust with consumers is an essential foundation for insurers to achieve success, just as it is important to serve the other major consumer needs which relate to this category. By making the subconscious conscious, Neuro-Insight works with brands to optimise memorability and communications to deliver long-term campaign and brand success. And in an established and competitive industry like insurance, the impact of these insights and opportunity they provide can be immense.”
Felicity Bigelow.