The MONY Group has credited increasing investment in social media and a focus on loyalty for its positive interim results for the six months ended 30 June 2025.
Half (£48m) of the group’s £96m investment in marketing was on online spend, including social media, while £24m was invested into cashback and rewards, with a further £14m invested in TV and radio and £10m in ‘other’.
The group – which includes price comparison sites MoneySuperMarket and Icelolly – reported revenues were up by 1% to £225.3m from £223.5m year over year.
The MONY Group has credited increasing investment in social media and a focus on loyalty for its positive interim results for the six months ended 30 June 2025.
Half (£48m) of the group’s £96m investment in marketing was on online spend, including social media, while £24m was invested into cashback and rewards, with a further £14m invested in TV and radio and £10m in ‘other’.
The group – which includes price comparison sites MoneySuperMarket and Icelolly – reported revenues were up by 1% to £225.3m from £223.5m year over year.
Despite active user numbers reducing by 1.3 million to 12 million, overall trust and satisfaction for its brands remained strong, as its NPS increased from 71 to 72, with active revenue per user growing to £19.83 (up by £1.59).
In a call to investors today (21 July), CFO Niall McBride said pay-per-click costs upping by 20% year over year and competitor behaviour led to the continued move away from PPC and third-party media.
“Ultimately, our long-term strategy is to reduce reliance on paid media, which is why, we’re leaning into growing the clubs and focusing on profitable growth,” said McBride.MoneySuperMarket doubles down on loyalty as PPC costs stack up
In a report accompanying the results, the company said it is “shifting our customer base from transactional to member-based models” which will “lower” its reliance on paid advertising for customer acquisition. Through this, it hopes to “reduce the cost of our sales” to grow “sustainably” over the longer term.
The group reiterated its investment in its loyalty proposition, the SuperSaveClub, which is now at 1.5 million members compared to a million in February. The programme now generates 14% of group revenue.
When comparing members of the SuperSaveClub to regular users of MoneySuperMarket, 40% of loyalty customers come directly to them for their second purchase, and there’s a three times increase in both renewals and second purchases.
These members also show a 2x increase in their propensity to interact with CRM and a four times increase in take-up of the MoneySuperMarket app.
Targeting higher ROI
The overall group marketing margin, referring to the inverse relationship between group revenue and total marketing spend, was at 57% compared to 60% last year, put down to “higher cost of sales”. Yet marketing spend for the period increased to £96.2m compared to £90m in 2024.
According to the report, distribution (marketing) expenses were 1% lower than last year, with the brand focusing on “improving acquisition efficiency” and “targeting higher-ROI channels”. Brand marketing investment was also phased into H2.
With revenues for its travel divisions down 2%, the group shared that marketing investment was higher in this category due to “a competitive market driving increased marketing costs”.
MoneySuperMarket: Membership schemes will help us cut marketing spend
In the call, McBride commented on the move towards social media for marketing, particularly for the travel division, as being beneficial.
On social media, McBride said it’s a channel “where you can scale effectively across a number of platforms”.
“It was a good place to diversify for the travel segment in this half,” he added.
As well as forming “AI-assisted customer experiences”, the group shared that AI has been part of its marketing optimisation, with CEO Peter Duffy saying the group is “ready to make the most of changing search behaviours”, including AI overviews.
Elsewhere, other elements of the group performing well include the MoneySavingExpert app, which has a “highly engaged, loyal, and growing user base, with over 9.5 million subscribers”.
Looking ahead, the group says “increasing loyalty and customer lifetime value” in member-based propositions and its “innovative product development pipeline to enhance the customer experience, boost conversion and access new markets” are its two key priorities.
