How Progressive’s Paid Media Strategy Paves the Way to Customer Growth

In today’s fiercely competitive insurance landscape, standing out is harder than ever. Progressive Insurance, America’s largest motor insurance carrier, has maximized growth across its user acquisition funnel with an aggressive paid media strategy.

In this blog post, we dive into the specifics of Progressive’s success, including the PPC spend, winning display ads, and aggregator referrals, and how its approach to paid media has set it apart from key competitors.

From Past Progressive to Future Perfect

The US insurance industry as a whole grew by 13.4% year-over-year (YoY) in the last 12 months, but Progressive was in a league of its own.

The company’s quote request page traffic surged by an incredible 181% YoY, resulting in 13 million more visits than its closest competitor, Geico. Both Geico and Allstate, its next closest rival, recorded YoY traffic growth of 57% and 55%, respectively. Liberty Mutual saw a more modest uptick of 5% YoY growth.

The power of paid media

In 2024, Progressive made a bold move by massively increasing its investment in paid media. As of June 2024, pay-per-click (PPC) spending increased by 340% YoY.

This investment translated into 10.2 million more paid search visits to progressive.com than second-place allstate.com over the past six months. Such a massive push into paid search not only boosted visibility but also drove significant customer acquisition, leaving competitors scrambling to catch up.

Alongside its paid search strategy, Progressive’s savvy use of display ads has also contributed to its growth. These are two of the most recent ads active:

By tailoring display ads to the right audience segments, Progressive has managed to maintain a strong presence across various digital touchpoints, reinforcing its brand and driving more traffic to quote request pages.

Progressive’s significant investment in paid search was central to its customer growth strategy and screamed success as the company captured over 50% of the search traffic for key non-branded keywords like “car insurance” and “auto insurance quotes.”

By concentrating on these high-traffic terms, Progressive ensured that it reached potential customers early in their buying journey, making a strong first impression before competitors had a chance.

Growth through third-party lead generation platforms

Progressive’s growth story doesn’t stop with paid search. The company also capitalized on strategic partnerships with companies like Mediaalpha, which prides itself on being the: “lead-buying platform that helps you connect with high-intent insurance shoppers.”

Progressive’s paid strategy led to a 900% YoY increase in aggregator referrals from Mediaalpha, resulting in nearly 1 million additional visits over just three months. This surge underscores the effectiveness of tapping into trusted third-party sources to drive high-intent traffic directly to your site.

Enticing the competition’s customers

Progressive’s comprehensive, omnichannel paid strategy has also triggered an increase in cross-visitation rates.

For instance, 12.5% of visitors from Liberty Mutual and 12% from Geico also visited Progressive on the same day. These figures highlight how effective Progressive is in attracting and converting customers who were initially considering other providers.

Driving towards a  winning strategy, together

Progressive’s aggressive paid search strategy in 2024 has clearly paid off, enabling it to outmaneuver its competitors and secure a dominant position in the insurance industry. By leveraging paid media, strategic partnerships, and targeted advertising, Progressive has set a new standard for customer acquisition.

If you’re looking to replicate this success, try Similarweb’s digital marketing suite.

Our all-in-one competitive analysis platform offers the tools and insights you need to craft data-driven marketing strategies that can help you gain the edge you need to win online.

Title photo by Brock Wegner on Unsplash.

by Maria Pashi

Data Specialist

With 10+ years in CPG and roles at Unilever and Apple, Maria uses data to shape ecommerce strategies and market insights. Outside work, she loves dancing and exploring.