Learning from data

Generali Switzerland has enlisted the help of start-up Nexoya, which relies on machine learning and artificial intelligence for data-driven predictions. On this basis, marketing optimizes multi-channel campaigns and budget allocation - and is thus one step ahead of the competition.

The SaaS start-up is a certified SAP partner. The Nexoya Marketing Analytics solution is available in the SAP App Center. Users with SAP Marketing Cloud in use can read their data with Nexoya's solution and process it together with the data collected there.

This makes it possible to assess the future performance of digital marketing measures, optimize campaigns, and align budgets based on data-driven predictions. Integration provides marketers with one-click analysis of information from a wide range of sources. Data from third-party systems such as Google Analytics and exogenous factors such as weather data are also processed.

Generali is one of the largest insurance and asset management
companies in the world. Founded in 1831, the company employs nearly 72,000 people and serves 61 million customers in 50 countries; in Switzerland, around one million customers. Unlike most players in the industry, Generali Switzerland develops innovative solutions for products as well as for internal processes. And for good reason: There is a great deal of competitive pressure in the market.

Maintaining an overview here and responding quickly to changes is an enormous challenge. It is therefore becoming increasingly important for insurers to address customers at the right time on the right channel with the right message.

At Generali Switzerland, this was followed by the implementation of an always-on strategy in collaboration with the media agency Dentsu Aegis Network and the creative agency TBWA. With a sophisticated target group strategy using audience analyses on Google Analytics 360, users are addressed in real time with contextual messages on various channels and end devices.

AI increases efficiency

In the summer of 2020, Generali Switzerland enlisted the help of Zurich-based start-up Nexoya, which relies on machine learning and artificial intelligence for its solution. Marketing is thus able to estimate future performance, optimize campaigns, and ideally align budgets based on AI-based predictions.

During the selection process, it was crucial for Generali Switzerland that the solution complies with its high data protection policy even when using state-of-the-art technologies. Nexoya only collects non-personalized data, which is located in certified Swiss data centers. In an initial simulation, targeted cross-channel optimization between Google Display Network (GDN), Programmatic, Facebook and Instagram enabled a 24 percent increase in efficiency.

Analytics and exogenous factors

60 percent of companies already use artificial intelligence for day-to-day decision making. In online marketing, AI-based automation does much more, as marketers gain deep insights into their data through the use of predictive analytics. This calculates how each individual campaign and asset will behave in the future based on historical performance.

In addition, the AI takes exogenous factors such as weather data into account for its predictions. Based on the performance predicted in this way, the algorithm calculates the optimal alignment of individual budgets across many different channels and campaigns. Marketing also has the opportunity to increase efficiency across channels: AI easily aggregates and processes huge amounts of data from different channels and, on this basis, uncovers insights and correlations that lead to a significantly better return on investment.

Unlike simple automation of processes, AI algorithms learn about different patterns and continuously improve their results. In this way, campaigns can be continuously optimized and costs reduced by up to 30 percent. The potential increases when marketers combine campaign optimization with always-on marketing. For example, Generali Switzerland was able to reduce CPL, or cost per lead, by up to 90 percent thanks to the switch to a modern always-on strategy in combination with the use of artificial intelligence.

"At Generali Switzerland, the use of AI-based approaches for campaign optimization is nothing new. However, most solutions are built channel-specific and a holistic view was still missing. With Nexoya, we found the ideal partner to forecast our KPIs across channels and make data-driven budget adjustments based on them", says Maurizio Miggiano, Head of Customer Journey at Generali Switzerland.