NMA.co.uk

NMA.co.uk: "Insurance industry first to trial Miva's pay-per-call ad service
By Nic Howell

The financial services industry has become the first major adopter of pay-per-call advertising in the UK this week, with insurers HSA and More Than among the first advertisers to test search engine Miva's service.
Health insurer HSA will test pay-per-call for one month in a campaign to boost conversion rates for its cash and personal medical plans.
Next month More Than will follow suit in a test campaign for its life insurance product.
The campaigns will run across Miva partner sites, displaying a pop-up window with a freephone number rather than a link through to the insurers' Web sites.
The HSA campaign has been co-ordinated by digital agency Unique. Account manager Kate Hussey said that by offering customers the chance to talk through its products, HSA hopes to increase Web conversion rates to at least 30%.
'Instead of booking a private health plan online, the consumer can search online, phone through to HSA, have a conversation and make a fully-informed purchase,' she said.
More Than's campaign has been planned and bought by Universal McCann Interactive London. John Kimbell, account director at UMI, said that giving people the chance to talk through an involved product like life insurance would benefit More Than, and potentially deliver leads at a fraction of current costs.
'This takes out a huge step from someone clicking on an ad,' he said. 'This is delivering someone who is potentially ready to buy, so we thought the cost efficiencies were attractive.'
Kimbell added that he was initially sceptical of pay-per-call, but now that most Internet users have always-on connections it's a viable proposition. 'I felt it was a bit of step backward - it relies on people having broadband so th"