MoneySupermarket boss on the impact of Google

Backed by the firepower and scale of its parent company, Google Compare has the potential to make waves in the price comparison arena – if it can avoid the wrath of the European Commission and its aggregator paying clients.

MoneySupermarket alone spends £40m a year with the search giant. Here, its chief executive, Peter Plumb, talks to Insurance Times about how Google could influence the future of the insurance market.

Q: What effect has Google promoting its own comparison site above that of MS in natural search had on traffic levels?

A: MoneySupermarket use organic search, paid search, customer relationship management (CRM) and TV advertising to attract new customers to its service.

Organic search is significantly less than one-third of our traffic. Google promotes its own tools in paid search, and this has had no significant effect on our business.

Q: How much does MS pay Google per click on sponsored ads? And is it possible that MS may halt sponsored ads in the future, given that Google has effectively become a competitor?

A: Paid search is one of our marketing tools to attract new customers. It is a complex science for which MoneySupermarket hire the brightest and best digital marketers who spend in the region of £40m a year with Google.

Every day, the MoneySupermarket team bid on more than 8 million different terms through complex and sophisticated bid management systems. As such, every day we adjust and flex our spend based on efficiency and profitability.

Paid search is a difficult marketing tool for businesses to make profitable because of its auction-based methodology; it contributes very little to our overall profitability.

Q: Is MS looking at other sources of traffic generation to reduce its reliance on Google, for example, with the purchase of MoneySavingExpert.com?

A: MoneySupermarket is the leading UK price comparison service and has built its reputation with customers through all marketing channels, and this will continue in the years ahead.

MoneySavingExpert joined the MoneySupermarket group on 21 September 2012. It is a unique business fighting the customer’s corner on wide-ranging issues including payment protection insurance and better financial education.

The team at MoneySavingExpert constantly search out the best deals for its customers and communicate these through both its website and its weekly email, encouraging people to take action and save money.

Q: What effect might Google have in the future on MS’s mobile app traffic and associated revenue, particularly given Google owns a mobile phone manufacturer and can build a comprehensive mobile app on its own Android phones as standard?

A: We can’t respond to this question because, as a listed company, we aren’t able to make any future-looking statements about how revenues may be affected.

We can, however, tell you that we are investing in mobile and in mobile apps to ensure our customers can access our site wherever and whenever suits them.

Q: What effect could Google have on commission paid by insurance brokers to aggregator sites like MS in the future, given that it is largely prevented from advertising on television but as a result can save money on marketing costs?

A: Google’s pricing policy is a matter for Google – as such, it would be improper for us to comment or speculate on this.

Q: Does Google have an unfair advantage over MS and other aggregators in terms of the collection and use of user behaviour data because of its dominant position in the generic search engine market in Europe? Or is this counter-balanced by user registrations, brand loyalty and marketing?

A: Google undoubtedly holds a great deal of detailed information on a large number of people, as we know from projects such as ‘Street View’. But this is an issue for the European Commission and individuals using Google services.

MoneySupermarket, however, as a completely independent business, has spent more than 10 years building its service to be the easiest way for customers to shop for financial service products. As a result of this focus and investment, a recent YouGov survey ranked MoneySupermarket.com as the most trusted brand above both Google and other price comparison sites.

Q: What effect, if any, could the driverless cars that are currently being developed by Google have on the largest part of the comparison market: car insurance? Could Google reshape car insurance in the future through the use of driver aids?

A: Driverless cars could, of course, have a major effect on the whole car insurance industry. At this stage, however, the technology is still being developed and, as such, it not possible to comment on what may, or may not, happen in car insurance or the comparison market.

To read our full analysis of Google Compare’s entry into the aggregator market, click here.