Each year Google publishes its “Year in Search” compendium and last month it released the results for 2023. Reviewing search results for a platform with billions of users is a valuable exercise.
What we can learn from search results:
- Identify Interests: See what kind of questions people are asking. This can reveal what people are curious about, what problems they’re facing, and what interests them. This can be useful for businesses or content creators who want to tailor their offerings to what people are looking for.
- Stay Informed: It gives you a snapshot of the major topics, events, and people that captured people’s attention over the past year. This can help you stay up-to-date on current affairs and cultural trends.
- Spot Trends: By looking at year-over-year trends, you can see what topics are gaining or losing popularity. This can help you identify emerging trends and anticipate what people might be interested in the future.
- Compare Geographies: Google’s Year in Search allows you to see how search interest varies by location. This can be useful for businesses looking to expand into new markets or for anyone who wants to understand how global events are perceived differently in different parts of the world.
In the insurance sphere where I operate, ProNavigator is the closest thing to a Google of insurance. ProNavigator just came out with its Year in Search for 2023 and I use this quick read to get a sense of what insurance buyers, insurance agents, and internal carrier staff are searching for. Here is a summary of my findings:
- 🚘 Auto & auto-related searches topped the list. This is no surprise as auto is #1 in premium volume in both Canada and the US and is well known for being a highly transactional line of business. It is interesting to see that UBS/Telematics was one of the highest searched terms on the ProNav platform. This is something that I think will trend over the next few years. This is something to keep in mind when you think about documentation, training, and education around telematics. Probably worth getting ahead of this and prepare significant marketing collateral to answer the questions that are emanating from this topic.
- 🌊🔥 Flood & Wildfire Return – Canada and the US have been getting hit with historic wildfires and flooding the past few years, so it is not a surprise to see those terms ranking highly in the Year in Seach 2023 report. This is to be expected as these catastrophic events affect lots of policyholders at the same time. Though “earthquake” was not a highly searched term, should there be a large earthquake in the Western US or Canada, expectations are there would be an immediate surge of searches for that topic. A takeaway is to have plenty of marketing collateral and documentation AHEAD OF TIME for all of these catastrophic perils. You should assume you will be overwhelmed with inquiries and it would be prudent to have answers to questions ready at your fingertips. What if you don’t know what questions might be asked? You can use the searches and inquiries from other related topics (such as Wildfire & Flood) to gauge the commonality of inquiries for natural catastrophes.
- ☃️ Seasonal Searches – Some topics are seasonal. You will begin seeing topics around winter weather in the fall. Seasonal topics provide a valuable opportunity for insurers to be proactive and get common season questions, concerns and inquiries to your agents, brokers, and policyholders BEFORE they ask for them.
By looking at what people search for, businesses can understand customer interests, stay informed on trends, and anticipate future needs. It can also help you identify where your agents, broker, and internal staff are struggling with. Both of these propositions create opportunities for insurers to be proactive, anticipate issues, and provide informative solutions BEFORE THEY ARE REQUESTED. Good stakeholder experience will have you stakeholders feeling as though their needs are being met…GREAT STAKEHOLDER EXPERIENCE, will have your stakeholders feeling as if they do not have any needs at all.
About Nicholas Lamparelli
Nick Lamparelli is a 20+ year veteran of the insurance wars. He has a unique vantage point on the insurance industry. From selling home & auto insurance, helping companies with commercial insurance, to being an underwriter with an excess & surplus lines wholesaler to catastrophe modeling Nick has wide experience in the industry. Over past 10 years, Nick has been focused on the insurance analytics of natural catastrophes and big data. Nick serves as our Chief Evangelist.
Nick Lamparelli is a 20+ year veteran of the insurance wars. He has a unique vantage point on the insurance industry. From selling home & auto insurance, helping companies with commercial insurance, to being an underwriter with an excess & surplus lines wholesaler to catastrophe modeling Nick has wide experience in the industry. Over past 10 years, Nick has been focused on the insurance analytics of natural catastrophes and big data. Nick serves as our Chief Evangelist.
