https://www.ft.com/content/a71ace1b-37b8-49f4-b8a5-baddbdb67b8b
This week marked the end of Internet Explorer. Many would ask why anyone would care with Chrome and Safari so dominant in the mobile first world. The same could be asked of Bing Search Ads.
And so to the surprise of many, panic ensued around government agencies and mega corporations around the world whose security and monopolies are often built around archaic moat like architecture which makes their businesses impenetrable to competition aside from the cosy duo or oligopoly in which they’ve carved up the market.
With this in mind, prospective clients are often shocked at the mere mention of Bing. “Do we have an account? I’m sure we do. Yes.” Eventually we discover the account access has been completely lost somewhere, the account is paused, or in such a dreadful state that there is no conversion tracking. Yet we have clients making 30% of their search profits on Bing or Microsoft Ads as its officially called. Yet why is this forgotten channel so profitable?
- Agencies who use people rather than tech can’t justify allocating any resource to it.
- As there is no competition, the bid prices are lower.
- As there is no tracking of conversions, nobody knows what to bid.
- The users are locked down, typically wealthier, older, in super steady well paid jobs.
- They are at their desks. Many client accounts still have far higher conversion rates on desktops, particularly on considered purchases like holidays, cars, property, white goods, etc.
The advantage of choosing a tech led supplier of search management is that scaling across both verticals doesn’t cost any more. As long as you have working conversion tracking for Microsoft Ads, you will be in an excellent position to take advantage of the forgotten channel. Like the users of Microsoft Explorer, Bing users will reward you with cheap clicks, high conversion rates and high basket values.