Compare.com: Finding The Opportunity In A Crowded Category

With behemoth brands spending billions every year to inundate the airwaves with ads, there aren’t many categories more crowded than auto insurance. Somewhere in that pack was Compare.com, a website that allows consumers to compare multiple quotes from auto insurers to choose the one that’s right for them.

The question: how can Compare.com break out of the crowded pack to accelerate its growth and make sure the right people hear the brand’s unique story?

Brand Federation took a three-pronged approach to the challenge:

1. Internal Interviews: we interviewed Compare.com’s leaders and stakeholders to gain a better understanding of the brand’s unique capabilities, its business model, and its aspirations. Through those conversations, we were able to understand the untold story of Compare.com.
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2. Data Analysis: we dove deep into 8 million records from Compare.com’s customer and inquiry database to understand the profile of the brand’s best customers. What kind of consumer benefits most from Compare.com? We used data analytics to create detailed profiles of Compare’s best customers, and we cross-referenced that data with 1,500 attributes from syndicated databases to find people around the US who shared their characteristics.
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3. Primary Research: After we developed those profiles, we conducted intensive qualitative research into those audiences. Of course we talked about their attitudes toward insurance, but we also went deep into their lives–how Compare’s business model helped them manage their budget and why it was important to work with a company who could help them make the most of their money.

Our research uncovered a new target audience focus for Compare.com: Young Adult ALICE. Asset-Limited, Income Constrained, Employed consumers. These young people are struggling to get by on a limited income, even though they have jobs. And they feel like nobody is on their side as they fight to create a better life than their parents and marketers chase the more affluent Millennials. 

Not only are they the perfect audience for Compare’s unique approach to direct comparison of insurance options, they’re hungry for a brand built to help them navigate every aspect of their financial lives. And they provided the focus Compare.com needed to make the most of its marketing efforts in a category where the mass market had become too expensive for all but the biggest spending brands.

This was the strategic opportunity for Compare.com: to be the ally the forgotten ALICE consumer is looking for.

Compare used the focus on Young Adult ALICE to completely re-tool the brand. They re-designed their brand identity, re-built their website, and created a long-term business plan to optimize their insurance offering and expand into other categories. All their efforts were unified by the opportunity to help their audience make the most of their finances when no other brand seems to be on their side.