Insurance
Home insurance has the opposite problem to motor. Nobody is legally required to buy it, most people do not think about it, and a large share of policies renew automatically because switching feels like more effort than the saving justifies. That apathy is the market. We build acquisition for insurers and brokers who understand that the job is finding the small proportion of households actually paying attention this month.
Engagement is the core issue. Motor insurance at least forces an annual decision. Home insurance frequently renews without the customer reading the letter, and a household paying twenty percent over the market rate may be entirely content because they have never checked.
That produces a specific failure pattern: campaigns generating enquiries from people who are curious rather than committed. They request a quote, discover the saving is modest, decide the paperwork is not worth it, and renew with the incumbent anyway.
The second problem is the mortgage bundle. Buildings cover is frequently arranged at mortgage completion, sometimes by the lender, and the customer may not know what they have or who provides it. Enquiries from those households often stall on basic questions of what is currently in force.
Third is the tenure and property-type mismatch that quietly eats spend. Tenants enquiring about buildings cover they do not need. Landlords wanting a product that is actually commercial. And the non-standard property problem: flood zones, subsidence history, thatch, listed status, unusual construction, extended unoccupancy. These households shop hardest, because standard panels keep declining them, which means they appear in disproportionate numbers in any campaign that does not filter.
Split by complexity, in much the same way as motor but with a different dividing line.
Standard property goes to forms. A three bedroom semi with no claims history and no flood exposure is a straightforward risk. The customer wants a price and a quick purchase, and a phone call adds friction to a low-involvement decision.
Non-standard property is a conversation. Flood risk, subsidence history, listed buildings, thatched roofs, unusual construction, holiday lets and unoccupied periods all need a human, because automated quoting engines simply refuse them. These customers are motivated, less price-driven, and genuinely relieved to reach someone who can place the risk.
High-value households also suit calls. Larger sums insured, specified items, art or jewellery, and the kind of cover that requires a proper conversation about limits rather than a dropdown.
IVR qualification routes on tenure and property type. Owner or tenant, buildings or contents or both, standard or non-standard construction. Three questions that resolve most of the mismatch before an agent is engaged.
Underinsurance is worth raising during the call. Rebuild cost is widely misunderstood and frequently confused with market value, and a household underinsured by a third will discover it at the worst possible moment. Addressing it is good advice and it also justifies a conversation the customer might otherwise have skipped.
Paid search. Captures the households actually engaged, usually triggered by a renewal notice or a move. Query segmentation matters: "home insurance quotes" is mainstream, while "flood risk home insurance", "listed building insurance" and "subsidence history insurance" are specialist queries with far better economics for the right panel.
Owned comparison properties. We operate comparison and review properties, so home insurance demand can be met on our own estate rather than paid for on aggregator terms. In a low-engagement category, owning the comparison moment is more valuable than bidding for it.
Pay-per-call networks. Strongest for non-standard property and high-value households, where placement genuinely requires expertise.
Content and organic. Unusually effective here because the category is poorly understood. How rebuild cost differs from market value, what subsidence history means for cover, whether contents insurance covers items outside the home, what unoccupancy clauses actually require. Households searching this are engaged, which is the scarce commodity in home insurance.
Email and consented data. Best matched to renewal timing and to move triggers, since a house move forces a genuine decision in a way that annual renewal does not.
Paid social. Useful for move-triggered targeting and retargeting. Weak cold, given how little unprompted interest exists.
Non-standard property is the row that determines whether a campaign works. These households are highly motivated and shop persistently precisely because they keep being turned down. Sent to a standard panel they convert at almost nothing. Sent to a specialist they convert well and retain, because the alternative is starting the search again. The lead is not bad, it is misrouted.
Home insurance carries the same regulatory framework as motor, with one additional issue that matters more here.
The FCA's pricing practices rules apply equally, so renewal pricing cannot exceed the equivalent new business price. Consumer Duty brings fair value obligations across the lifecycle, and in home insurance those bite hardest on add-ons such as home emergency and legal expenses cover, which have historically been sold with poor value relative to price.
The distinctive issue is underinsurance. A household insured for market value rather than rebuild cost, or with contents limits set years ago and never revisited, may find a claim settled proportionally and be significantly out of pocket. Marketing that competes purely on headline premium encourages exactly this, because the cheapest quote is often the one with the lowest sums insured.
Our position: no encouragement to understate sums insured or omit claims history for a cheaper price, clear treatment of excesses and add-ons, and honest framing of what a quote does and does not include. A policy that fails at claim is the most damaging possible outcome, and it starts in the advertising.
Quote volume is particularly misleading here, because the category generates a lot of idle curiosity.
We report on:
Cost per contacted enquiry. The first honest figure
Cost per quotable enquiry. Tenure correct, property type within appetite, details sufficient to quote
Quote-to-bind rate by source. The clearest signal of whether a source delivers committed households or browsers
Cost per policy written
Non-standard mix by source. Worth tracking in both directions. Too much non-standard for a standard panel destroys conversion, and too little for a specialist panel wastes their expertise
First-year retention. Home insurance economics depend heavily on renewal, so a source producing single-year customers is worth substantially less
Bind and retention outcomes are fed back to the platforms rather than quote requests, so campaigns optimise toward households that buy and stay rather than households that browse.
Around renewal and immediately after a house move. Moving forces a genuine decision, whereas annual renewal frequently passes without the customer engaging at all.
Forms suit standard properties where the customer wants a fast price. Calls suit non-standard property, high-value households and anyone whose risk an automated engine will refuse.
Usually low engagement, tenure mismatch such as tenants enquiring about buildings cover, non-standard property sent to a standard panel, or the saving being too small to overcome switching inertia.
Yes, and for specialist panels it is usually the strongest segment. Flood risk, subsidence history, listed and thatched properties convert well when routed to a panel that can actually write them.
Cover type is captured at enquiry, since a tenant needs contents only while an owner may need both. Getting this wrong is the most common avoidable mismatch in the category.
Underinsurance is where sums insured fall short of rebuild cost or contents value, which can result in claims being settled proportionally. Leads generated on headline price alone encourage it, and the resulting policies fail customers at claim.
Renewal prices cannot exceed equivalent new business prices, so acquisition economics depend on retention rather than on recovering a discounted first year later.
Yes, though these are distinct products with different appetite and should be qualified separately rather than blended into residential home insurance.
Tenure, property type and construction, cover type required, renewal date, claims history, and any flood or subsidence exposure. Missing these makes accurate routing impossible.
Consumer Genius operates across 11 markets. Property risk profiles, regulation and distribution structures differ considerably, so campaigns are built per market rather than translated.
Book a growth strategy call and we will map where your home insurance pipeline mismatches on tenure and property type, and what to route differently.
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