Has anyone tried display ads for insurance advertising?

I’ve been wondering about this for a while, so I figured I’d throw it out here and see if others had the same thoughts. When it comes to insurance advertising, display ads always felt a bit… unclear to me. Like, I get search ads. Someone looks for insurance, you show up. Simple. But display ads? Showing banners to people who aren’t actively searching always felt like a gamble.

A few months ago, I started noticing more insurance banners popping up on news sites, blogs, and even random apps I use. That got me thinking maybe there’s something there I’ve been ignoring. Has anyone else felt unsure about whether display ads actually work for insurance advertising, or was it just me overthinking it?

The biggest pain point for me was trust and intent. Insurance isn’t an impulse buy. People don’t usually see a banner and think, “Yes, let me buy insurance right now.” That’s what made me hesitant. I was worried about wasting money on impressions that don’t turn into anything. On top of that, insurance ads already face banner blindness. People scroll past them like they don’t exist.

I also had doubts about targeting. Insurance audiences can be very specific. Health, life, auto, travel — all different mindsets. I kept asking myself, how do you show the right message to the right person without it feeling random or annoying?

Eventually, curiosity won. I didn’t go all in, but I tested a small display campaign alongside my usual insurance PPC efforts. I treated it more like an experiment than a serious lead driver. The goal wasn’t instant signups. It was awareness and seeing how people behaved after seeing the ads.

What I noticed first was that clicks were cheaper compared to search. Not shocking, but still nice to see. The traffic itself felt mixed. Some users bounced quickly, others stayed longer and explored more pages. That told me display ads were doing more top of funnel work than direct conversions.

One thing that surprised me was how retargeting changed everything. Cold display ads alone felt weak. But once I retargeted people who had already visited insurance pages, the results improved. Suddenly, those insurance display ads didn’t feel so random anymore. It felt more like a reminder than a sales push.

Another lesson was messaging. Generic “Get Insurance Today” banners didn’t do much. Ads that focused on a specific problem or situation worked better. Things like peace of mind, family safety, or renewal reminders seemed to connect more. It made me realize display ads for insurance advertising need softer messaging, not hard selling.

I also noticed that display ads helped other channels indirectly. Search traffic didn’t spike overnight, but branded searches slowly went up. People might not click the banner, but they remember the name or offer. That’s something I didn’t appreciate before trying it.

As for platforms, I kept things simple and focused on placements where people already read finance or lifestyle content. Random placements didn’t perform well. Context mattered more than I expected. Advertising for insurance seems to work better when it blends into content people already trust or spend time with.

I won’t say display ads magically solved everything. They didn’t. Conversions were still stronger from search. But display ads played a supporting role that I had underestimated. They warmed up audiences and made other campaigns more effective.

If someone asked me now whether display ads are worth trying for insurance advertising, I’d say yes, but with realistic expectations. Start small. Don’t expect instant leads. Use them to support your main campaigns, especially insurance PPC. And pay attention to who you’re showing ads to and what you’re saying.

I also spent some time reading about different finance-focused ad options, which helped me understand where display fits in. This page on insurance advertising gave me a clearer picture of how display and PPC can work together instead of competing with each other.

So yeah, that’s my experience so far. Display ads aren’t a silver bullet, but they’re not useless either. They just need patience, testing, and the right mindset. Curious to hear if others here had similar results or totally different ones.