Case Direct Insurer: +22% more economic value with PLR-based SEA & PMax

The challenge: when conversions are no longer enough

The online insurance market is fiercely competitive, especially in auto insurance. Rising CPCs, constant price comparison and aggressive competitors mean that traditional SEA setups geared solely toward conversions fall short. The reason: the insurance premium says little about the actual business value of a policy sold.

Our client, a German direct insurer, faced exactly this challenge. The goal was not just more volume but winning profitable customers with the lowest possible expected loss ratio. At the same time, Google Smart Bidding optimizes by default for policies sold or revenue, not for contribution margin or profitability.

Our hypothesis: if we integrate the real economic value of a policy sold (PLR, profit-loss ratio) directly into bidding, Google can aim the campaigns at more valuable customers and use the budget noticeably more efficiently.

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Our approach: PLR scoring as a new performance lever

Technical implementation

• Development of scoring logic to assess the individual contribution margin per policy sold (e.g. plan type, cancellation probability, claims risk)
• Capture of the calculated score as a separate conversion event on the website via OWAPro™
• Dynamic adjustment of the revenue value in Google Ads based on the PLR score → high profitability = high value, low profitability = low value
• Transfer of the scoring values via the Google Ads API (gclid-based) to steer Smart Bidding
  

Test setup

• Channels: SEA Generic & Performance Max
• Method: 50/50 A/B split
• Control group: classic optimization for revenue (premium)
• Test group: optimization for PLR-scored conversion values
• Period: 15 September to 6 November 2025
• KPIs: CPO, CTR, conversion rate and, above all, contribution margin

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The results: more profit without a higher CPO

The effect is clearly measurable:

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7% more applications, but 22% more economic value with a 2% lower PLR. Clear evidence that bidding on scored conversion values prioritizes more profitable customers.

Further insights

• CPO (post-click) improves by 16.45%
  
• Cost per value (gross) falls by 12%
  
• CTR rises by +14%, a sign of higher ad relevance
• The closing rate rises despite a similar entry rate
  

Conclusion: profitability becomes a KPI and Smart Bidding becomes more precise

The case makes one thing clear: if you take performance seriously, you no longer optimize for conversions alone. You optimize for profit. By integrating PLR-based valuation logic, we took Smart Bidding to a new level: away from flat premium values and toward real contribution margins.

The result:

• more economic output at the same spend
• less cannibalization between plan segments
• much more precise control of SEA & PMax
  

hurra.com takes SEA further

This case is part of our profitability initiatives: approaches in which we combine traditional SEA with custom business logic. Whether in insurance, travel or e-commerce, we don’t run search by the standard playbook. We build it around real business relevance.