With Bing, Microsoft has achieved far more in search than many believed it was capable of. But just because Microsoft has managed to beat lowered expectations doesn't mean that Bing is doing for Microsoft what it hoped it would.
Citing a lack of the "broad adoption that we had hoped for", Microsoft announced Friday that it was shuttering Bing Cashback, which was a big part of Bing's shopping vertical search.
As the name implies, Bing users who used Cashback to make purchases through participating online retailers received cash back on those purchases from Microsoft. When Microsoft launched Bing Cashback the motivation was clear: by giving affiliate referral fees it generated back to shoppers, Microsoft might be able to lure consumers to Bing and keep them coming back for more.
Judging from the comments expressing disappointment at Microsoft's decision to terminate Bing Cashback on July 30, it appears that Bing Cashback did acquire loyal fans. But apparently not enough of them to convince Microsoft that the return was worthwhile.
Does this mean that Microsoft is giving up on shopping-related search? According to Yusuf Mehdi, Microsoft's SVP of the Online Audience Business Group:
Shopping remains one of the most important tasks people engage in while using search, and we remain committed to delivering great shopping experiences for you that help you make better shopping decisions, get great deals, and save time and money along the way. For merchants and advertisers, we have some ideas for making it easy to get a broader array of products and offers into Bing, and we’ll share some details on this later this summer.
While it will be interesting to see what Microsoft cooks up next in this area, one has to wonder: if Microsoft couldn't obtain the type of adoption it had hoped for by enticing consumers with cash back, how will it drive adoption when it isn't paying them to use Bing?
Photo credit: Neubie via Flickr.
Patricio Robles is a tech reporter at Econsultancy. Follow him on Twitter.
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Founder at AM Navigator LLC
2:47PM on 7th June 2010
I see this post is filed under "Affiliate Marketing". Did they even have it all go via affiliate links at all? Not that I know of. As mentioned elsewhere it seems that the "primary goal" of Bing Cashback "was to support the Bing Search engine by cultivating loyalty", and they never actually became an "affiliate" in the affiliate marketing sense of the word (which could've been much better for this particular project).
Either way, the closure of Bing Cashback is good news for affiliates.
9:39AM on 8th June 2010
Sad day seeing Bing go. The model still works. All the more reason to compare the various other cash back options now. I typically check with www.cashreporter.com
7:50PM on 30th June 2010
This is not good news for the frugal online shoppers. Anyways, they have AAfter Search, FatWallet, Ebates and ShopAtHome to make use of.