Launching a Travel Insurance Start-Up with Paid Search at Scale

Launching a new brand into a competitive market is never easy — especially in the travel insurance sector, where established providers dominate search results and customer trust plays a huge role in purchase decisions.

When Gigasure approached Loop Digital to support the launch of their new travel insurance brand, the challenge was clear: generate rapid growth through Paid Search while building the credibility needed for a completely new entrant in the market.

Through a carefully structured Paid Search strategy, supported by helpful on-site content and continuous optimisation, Loop Digital helped Gigasure scale quickly while maintaining strong efficiency.

The campaign has now been shortlisted for the Start Up Launch (Paid Search at Scale) category at the UK Paid Media Awards.

Launching into a Competitive Market

As a new travel insurance provider, Gigasure had no existing search visibility, no historical performance data, and no brand recognition in the market. This meant the initial strategy needed to focus on capturing high-intent demand quickly while building trust with potential customers.

Loop Digital built the Paid Search account structure around the core customer needs within the travel insurance market. This included campaigns focused on key product areas such as:

• Travel Insurance
• Car Hire Excess Insurance
• Schengen Visa Travel Insurance

These categories represent some of the most common entry points for travellers searching for cover online. By structuring campaigns around these intent-driven themes, the team ensured that ads and landing pages aligned closely with what users were actively searching for.

This approach helped Gigasure compete effectively from day one.

Reducing Waste Through Search Term Control

A key part of scaling efficiently was ensuring that budget was focused on the most relevant searches.

Every week, Loop Digital reviewed incoming search queries to identify irrelevant or low-intent traffic. Using shared negative keyword lists across campaigns allowed the team to systematically remove searches that did not match Gigasure’s services.

This process significantly reduced wasted spend while improving the alignment between the search term, the ad copy, and the landing page experience.

The result was stronger ad relevance, improved quality signals within Google Ads, and more efficient use of the marketing budget.

Learning What Messaging Actually Converts

One of the most important parts of the campaign was understanding which ad messaging would genuinely drive conversions — not just clicks.

During the first phase of testing, the team experimented with price-led messaging such as “prices from £X” to attract attention in search results.

While this messaging increased click-through rates, deeper analysis revealed an unintended effect. Some users were entering the quote process expecting a specific price and dropping off when their final quote differed from the advertised starting point.

To address this, the team shifted the focus of ad messaging away from price-led promotions and towards clearer, benefit-driven propositions that better reflected the customer journey.

This change helped improve conversion efficiency while ensuring expectations were better aligned with the product.

Creative messaging across display and video activity supported this approach, including travel-focused examples such as “from just £3.41 for a 3-day Euro trip”, helping reinforce affordability without misleading users.

Building Trust Through Helpful Content

Because Gigasure was a new brand, building trust was just as important as driving traffic.

Alongside the Paid Search activity, the Gigasure website was supported by helpful informational content designed to answer common customer questions around travel insurance and coverage requirements.

This content strategy helped improve organic search visibility while giving users confidence in the brand.

Over time, Gigasure’s website grew from zero visibility to ranking for over a thousand travel insurance-related search terms in the UK, including multiple top-ten positions and a growing presence across SERP features such as People Also Ask and AI-generated search summaries.

The combination of paid and organic visibility helped reinforce credibility and supported stronger conversion performance.

Scaling Efficient Growth

The results of the campaign showed how effective Paid Search can be when combined with continuous optimisation and a clear understanding of customer intent.

Within the first 12 months of activity, Gigasure saw significant growth in monthly policy sales while dramatically improving efficiency. Cost per sale reduced by more than 75%, while sales volumes increased many times over during the same period.

This growth demonstrated that even in highly competitive sectors, new brands can successfully scale when Paid Search is built around customer needs, data-led optimisation, and clear messaging.

A Partnership Approach to Performance

For Loop Digital, the success of the campaign reflects the importance of close collaboration between agency and client.

Melanie Comerford, Associate Director of Client Services and Delivery at Loop Digital, said:

“Being shortlisted for the UK Paid Media Awards is a fantastic recognition for both our team and the team at Gigasure. Launching a brand-new travel insurance provider in such a competitive market required a strong partnership and a shared focus on performance from day one.

What makes this campaign particularly rewarding is seeing how data-driven Paid Search, combined with helpful on-site content and continuous testing, helped Gigasure grow rapidly while building genuine trust with customers.”

Recognising Innovation in Paid Media

Being shortlisted for the Start Up Launch (Paid Search at Scale) category highlights the role Paid Search can play in accelerating growth for emerging brands.

For Loop Digital, the recognition reflects the agency’s approach to performance marketing — combining strategic thinking, careful optimisation, and a strong focus on customer intent.

You can learn more about Loop Digital’s approach to performance marketing and Paid Search advertising on the Loop Digital website.