MoneySupermarket Group lauds impact of both brand and performance marketing

The MoneySuperMarket Group says its performance and brand marketing efforts are driving growth, helping leave the business “probably in [its] best shape ever” according to its CEO Peter Duffy.

In the first half of its 2023 financial year, ended 30 June 2023, the company saw its direct to site web traffic increase by a quarter versus the same period last year. In a results presentation today (24 July) Duffy attributed this traffic, which consists of customers who directly search for the site, rather than getting there through links, to the company’s brand campaign, featuring Dame Judi Dench, and its editorial offering, MoneySavingExpert.

The MoneySuperMarket brand released the latest instalment of its MoneySuperSeven campaign, featuring Dench, in April this year. The most recent ad is the company’s “best performing to date”, claimed Duffy, adding it has driven brand consideration up by 14% and purchase intent up by 6%.

While brand building, and awareness and consideration boosting efforts have been fruitful for the company, its performance marketing has also had an impact in driving results in the first six months of the year. Revenue generated by pay-per-click marketing has risen 25% versus the same period in 2022, the company says.

The company has sought to improve its customer relationship management (CRM) and make its communications more relevant to customers. As a result of this work, conversion rates on campaign are up nine percentage points, with the revenue contributed by CRM rising by 16% in the first half of the year.

Performance and brand marketing helped drive increased revenue in the half. Its revenue increased 11% year-over-year to £213.8m, and profit after tax increased 22% to £41m.

The company’s marketing spend increased by 7% year-over-year to £89m. It particularly increased its online spend, which rose to £48m, a 16% year-over-year increase. Cashback marketing spend also increase 9% in the year to £20m, while TV and radio was reduced by 10% to £17m.

The company’s marketing margin increased slightly year-over-year, growing by one percentage point to 58%. Marketing margin denotes the inverse relationship between revenue and total marketing spend.

A higher marketing margin would suggest effectiveness of spend. Efficient acquisition of customers has been a priority for the group. It has hailed the introduction of acquisition platforms in areas such as pay-per-click, SEO and CRM in helping it to “attract customers in a cost-effective way”.

Another major goal for the business is customer retention. To this end it has been trialling a loyalty and rewards scheme, “SuperSaveClub”. This scheme offers rewards for purchase and referring a friend, as well as a “price promise”, which pledges to refund the difference and give customers £20 if they find a better price elsewhere.

“Our investment in data has allowed us to double-down on pricing to the point where we’re pretty confident that we shouldn’t be meaningfully beaten on price,” Duffy said.

“So, any exposure through the guarantee here is limited and the rewards to customers are a substitute for what are today significant third-party marketing costs.”

It is hoping the scheme will help with acquisition costs as well as increasing the number of products bought buy each consumer.