Author: Guy Weismantel
Vertafore has used infographics to inform customers about the benefits of our insurance solutions for years. While infographics are just one tool in our marketing toolbox, we’ve found them to be an effective format for delivering important information in an engaging way.
During a recent marketing collateral review, we looked closely at how our infographic content was performing. That examination led to new insights on this format, which in turn has delivered significant, measurable success in the form of increased sales leads, new business, and brand awareness for Vertafore.
Here are some key lessons that have helped us dramatically increase our infographics’ performance.
Lesson 1: What’s Your Story?
First, it’s important to know and understand the target audience for a specific infographic. This seems obvious but can be easily overlooked in the rush to get a marketing piece out and produce new business.
When you know your audience, you’ll understand their challenges. Knowing these pain points – and how your product fixes them – is critical in creating a compelling story for your infographic.
That’s right, a good infographic has a story line. Often companies take “infographic” literally, compiling information and images that don’t necessarily support each other. A well-planned infographic is like a storybook, where the content contains a complete story; the images flesh out and illustrate the content.
For example, the first infographic we created under this new approach tells the story of why legacy agencies should become Digital Insurers. The top of the infographic led off with high-level benefits for switching to the Digital Insurer business model.
As the reader moves deeper into the infographic, the information gets more granular, detailing our three main reasons to become a Digital Insurer: a side-by-side comparison of legacy agency vs. Digital Insurer operation and performance; benefits of switching to cloud-based operation; and up-to-date statistics and trends on insurance customers’ online behavior and purchasing patterns.
Only then do we bring Vertafore into the story. You’ll notice that the infographic’s narrative didn’t start by listing Vertafore products and features and then matching them with possible customer pain points. We’ve found that starting with identified customer pain points – which goes back to knowing your target audience – shows that we truly understand the industry and our customers’ needs, which helps us build credibility.
Lesson 2: Identifying the Right Data
When selecting data for the infographic, we encountered a common modern-day challenge: there’s just too much data. How do you decide what to include?
There’s no one-size-fits-all rule, but a good guideline is to include information that’s both engaging and relevant to your story. Using too many statistics will be distracting and will obscure the point of your story, so our approach is to find the minimum amount of supporting data that will still tell a complete story.
Lesson 3: Design and Technology
Now let’s talk about the design element. You have the story and the data. How do you bring it to life?
Infographics are intended to be “glanceable” – able to quickly convey information to people. They are the anti-white paper. That means your infographic’s design should be uncluttered and present a clear visual path from start to finish. Using visual metaphors – icons and illustrations that enhance the data points – also helps readers navigate the infographic.
Many infographics can be static or feature simple click-and-reveal interactivity, but one fun element we’ve added to our infographics is Flash® animation. Flash adds a new dimension to your data – percentage numbers can scroll up, images can change perspectives, and more. Animation is a fun and effective way to increase engagement, but don’t use it just because you can; use it only if it truly helps tell a fuller story.
Lesson 4: Track Performance
I previously mentioned our “Becoming a Digital Insurer” infographic as an example of our successful new approach. Now I’d like to share with you some performance statistics.
On average, our previous infographics campaigns had a 20–25% unique open rate for the announcement e-mail, a click-through rate of 0.5–1%, with actual infographic downloads numbering fewer than 100.
In contrast, the “Becoming a Digital Insurer” infographic has achieved some spectacular results: 45% unique opens and 80% non-unique opens. Over 1,000 e-mail forwards. A click-through rate of 4%, and over 1,000 downloads and counting. And these results have also resulted in new business and increased awareness of Vertafore in the insurance community.
We have been very satisfied with the new direction in our infographics. The results show that the new format clearly communicates to our customers that we understand their challenges and we have the solutions to help them surmount those challenges to grow and thrive. As a company, we can’t wait to apply this new approach in future marketing campaigns.