1 Understanding the synergies between

Search and traditional Above the Line in

10/05/2010

driving new account applications for First

Direct

A case study from:

2
10/05/2010 Background
First Direct have used econometric modeling for a number of
years, to assess the effectiveness of their marketing investments

Econometric models of sales - built by Mindshare - break down

the drivers of new current account customers and allow us to
calculate the return on investment to each media channel

However for the first time Mindshare worked with Google Uk to

incorporate raw query volume into the First Direct Sales models.
The inclusion of this data has allowed:
• More accurate quantification of both search and ATL
advertising in driving new account applications
• A stronger basis for ongoing media resource allocation*

Details not included here due to client confidentiality*

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10/05/2010 Ingoing Hypotheses

Above the Line (Atl) advertising drives a response for First

Direct both directly and also indirectly via Google search.

The indirect response can be broken down as follows:

1. AtL increases the overall volume of relevant search
queries for First Direct,
2. Increases the likelihood of click-through (both
AdWords and organic) for First Direct
4
Banking sector advertising increases
Google search activity
10/05/2010

Mindshare built models explaining how the number of Google

searches for different banking terms is affected by advertising
spend in the UK banking sector

Nine independent models looked at the reaction to advertising of

different ‘buckets’ of keywords

Keyword “Buckets”

- Internet Banking
- Open / Apply
- Overdraft Measured
UK Banks ATL - Current Accounts increase in
Advertising - Interest Rate search volume
- Information
- Generic / General
- Debit /Credit Cards
- Brands
5 Above the line advertising increases search
volume by c. 10% and searches for ‘Internet
10/05/2010

Banking’ by 30%

Overall Increase in Number of Searches due to

banking sector above the line advertising
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10/05/2010 How was the search effect measured

Mindshare’s existing econometric models of new First Direct

current account customers break down the advertising drivers of
sales

With the inclusion of Google query volume as an intermediary

conversion, sub-models of search (both natural and paid) were
added to the existing acquisition model, and therefore allow
insight on:

1. The direct impact of advertising on sales

2. The increase in sales due to increased natural search clicks

3. The increase in sales due to increased paid search clicks

The First Direct business is heavily driven by
Search and Search marketing.

Paid Search First Direct AtL Advertising

Drives an additional 9% of First

Direct Branded searches

Drives 14% increase Drives 4%

in Paid Search increase in organic
impressions search impressions

Is responsible for 13%

of new account Drives 2% of new Drives 6% of new
applications account applications account applications

Search is responsible AtL is responsible for

for 21% of new 23% of new account
account applications applications

The remaining 56% of new accounts are driven by influencing factors not quantified within the
model. These include but are not limited to: Seasonality, Price (rate), Word of Mouth, Underlying
consumer demand.
The First Direct business is heavily driven by
Search and Search marketing.

2%
6%
13%
21% of First Direct’s
business is driven by
search
23%

56% 44% of First Direct’s business

48% of
is driven by advertising advertising effect is
driven by search

Base AtL advertising Paid search AtL & Organic AtL & Paid
search Search
9 Search is the media channel with the
lowest cost per acquisition
10/05/2010

Current Account cost per acquisition Index

2.63
Applications
driven through
both AtL and
1.73 search are the
most cost
efficient*
0.95

0.32
0.23
0.14 0.11

Press Press Direct Mail Display TV Paid Search Search

Inserts (ajusted
for
Synergies
with ATL)

Assuming AtL investments are considered sunk costs*

Search’s effect is not just limited to online
response. A significant ROPO effect of search is
also evident

Response channel – New business driven by Search

8%
Of search related conversions occur Offline via phone

92%
Of search related conversions occur Online
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Summary
10/05/2010

1. Offline media drives a circa 10% increase in relevant

search volume for First Direct

2. Search drives a very significant volume of First Direct

business outcome
• Paid search is “directly” responsible for 13% of current account applications

• Another 8% of current account applications are driven through search and

synergy with above the line media

3. Search is First Direct’s most cost efficient media

4. Search has a significant ROPO impact (Research online

Purchase offline)
• 8% of applications driven by search occur offline