$330,000 to $16.8 million online in four years.
Veterinary Pet Insurance, the first pet insurance company in the United States, rebuilt its online business with John Kirker's team at Stirling Bridge Group. Online sales grew to 40% of the company's new sales, and VPI was later acquired by Nationwide.
In 1999, the year before my team was brought in, VPI's entire online operation produced 1,355 applications and about $330,000 in revenue. The brand was strong and veterinarians recommended it. But one website served everyone the same way: pet owners, veterinarians, breeders and existing policyholders all started on the same page.
The opportunity wasn't more traffic. It was in how the site was put together. A veterinarian looking for program materials and a pet owner looking for a quote got the same experience, so neither got what they came for. Seeing that took marketing and technology thinking at the same time, and VPI's team was ready to act on it.
My team and VPI's people rebuilt petinsurance.com from the ground up. It stopped being a brochure and became a revenue system, measured at every step.
Four audiences, four paths
Separate portals for prospective pet owners, policyholders, veterinarians and breeders, each designed around what that audience needed.
A quote in seconds
Species, breed, age and zip code produced a quote immediately, and enrollment took the fewest steps possible.
Service for policyholders
A dedicated center for claims, account management and renewals.
Attribution from day one
For the first time, VPI could see which channels, campaigns and creative drove paid enrollments.
“When I met John, our website at Veterinary Pet Insurance was bringing in about $330,000 a year. Within four years it was bringing in $16.8 million, about 40% of all new sales, for the company now known as Nationwide Pet Insurance. More than twenty years later, he is still one of the first calls I make.”
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