MICROSOFT ADVERTISING

Bite sized insights on Health Insurance (AU)

Microsoft Advertising. Intelligent connections.

Key changes in the industryOn March 25, Australia banned non-urgent elective surgeries for public and private hospitals to free up resources to combat the pandemic. Furthermore, major private health funds have delayed the scheduled premium hike for April 1 roughly 6 months and offered fee relief for select policyholders. It is vital that customers gain clarity on the importance of taking out health coverage.

Insurers promoting extras cover need to tailor

messaging and ensure clarity on what’s provided, e.g.

telehealth services

Hospital cover becomes the key product for potential policyholders

The original March switching seasonality would be expected

to occur around October

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Health insurance searches, clicks and clicks YoY, by week

Clicks YoY

Searches

Clicks

1. Searches and clicks have contracted in the last two weeks due to announcements that most non-essential elective surgery has been banned and the April 1 price hike has been pushed to roughly October 1

2. Though volumes for the month of March have been disrupted by the noise from COVID-19, searches for March are still up +26% year over year (YoY)

Current performance

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CPC and CPC YoY trends by week

CPC YoY CPC

Lower costs per clicks (CPCs) offer an opportunity to increase return on investment

Source: Microsoft Internal Data Jan – Mar 2019 and 2020, data across all devices.

opportunity to retain your brand visibility

Health insurance competitors are retaining their click share

The leading competitors in the market are showing no signs of slowing down or decreasing their position in the market

Action: Defend your click share with adequate investment to stay competitive

Source: Microsoft internal data, January to March 2020. Data across all devices.

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Competitor click share by month

Comp 1

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Comp 6

Tailor messaging as motivations for private health insurance cover have been disrupted

Source: Finder survey results, Health insurance statistics 2019. https://www.finder.com.au/health-insurance-statistics

17%

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More choice

Avoid wait periods

Use a lot of extras

Avoid tax penalty

Don't trust public system

Avoid lifetime loading

Always been on my parents

For children

Pregnancy cover

Have poor health

Reasons people take private health insurance 2019 (disrupted reasons in orange)

Government-funded telehealth services may shift behaviours long-term

$100 million package under Medicare to fund health consultations via phone or video potentially make lasting impact on behaviours

Similar lasting effect expected within other areas such as teleconferencing services

Action: Where applicable highlight telehealth and other relevant extras through ad copy within extras campaigns

Source: Media Release 11th March 2020. www.pm.gov.au

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Telehealth* searches over last 30 days

Health Insurance is a brand keyword-dominated industry on our platform

Microsoft Internal Data. March 2020. Data represents all devices.

[brand]

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Keyword Type

Searches split by keyword type

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% of brand searches

Generics

Brand

Varying levels in consumer engagement are clearly shown between age groups

Microsoft Internal Data. March 2020. Data represents all devices.

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Searches split by age group

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Click-through rate (CTR) by age group

+20%+30%

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Search forecast with budget adjustment recommendations

Budget Recommendations* Actuals Forecast

Expected recovery period up to end of financial year tax season as pandemic slows down and economy recovers, expect spike in July volume based on previous year patterns as people research policies for financial benefits

March switching seasonality from 2019 expected to occur in October this year due to price increase pushback

*Budget recommendations are relative percentage values based on January budgets, e.g. we recommend 65% increase in budget in July compared to January.

Source and Methodology: Microsoft Internal Data 2019 – 2020. Data represents all devices. Forecasts and trends based on values in similar times shown in 2019.

A forecast into Health Insurance for the rest of the year

Strategies and recommendations

Learn immediate and recovery-phase strategies, and how to approach new opportunities and optimize account health in the Digital Advertiser’s Guide to COVID-19

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