Oct 1, 2008 5:57 AM

Microsoft Adds More Perks to Live Search

Microsoft has gotten some flack for the perks it has offered via Live Search to gain ground in the search advertising market, but that isn’t stopping the company from moving forward with its incentive program. Today Microsoft has launched another search-rewards offer, looking to get more searchers to use Live Search, the distant third most […]

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Microsoft has gotten some flack for the perks it has offered via Live Search to gain ground in the search advertising market, but that isn't stopping the company from moving forward with its incentive program. Today Microsoft has launched another search-rewards offer, looking to get more searchers to use Live Search, the distant third most popular search engine.

The new Live SearchPerks program, open only to U.S. searchers, requires users to install a small desktop counter to their PCs that calculates how many times they use Live
Search. Running through April, the program awards users “tickets” for joining the program and for each search conducted per day (up to 25), putting them in the running to win such prizes as free music downloads, air miles, and video games.

Previous rewards programs Microsoft has run to boost their search numbers include Live Search Club, a somewhat maligned program that rewarded users for playing games using Live Search and the "cashback" feature introduced in May that rewarded users for using Live Searchby offering rebates for products bought online.

This offers are not likely to be game changers in the search market, but it seems to be having short term benefits for Microsoft's search business.

According to Walter Pritchard, an analyst at Cowen and Co., this is
“not the move that’s going to gain them 10 points of market share, but you don’t throw good money after bad in a program that’s not working.”

And Microsoft insists that it is working. A spokesperson says via email that the success of the program has been measured by the number of offers in the system, share of commercial queries, and advertiser ROI:

"While we have not yet formally reported on those metrics, we can report that for eBay, our premier launch partner, Live
Search cashback has delivered very strong sales conversions and higher than average selling prices."

According to the spokesperson, Live Search cashback has generated a greater than 50 percent increase in eBay's advertising ROI, leading the company to substantially increase its advertising spend with Microsoft.

While the program has had initial success, the real test for Live Search will come when the program ends in April, and we learn if the new searchers like Microsoft's search engine enough to remain without the incentives.

Photo: Flickr/ stopnlook