Online Advertising
Less reach, considerably less competition and an audience sitting at a work computer. Why the second look pays off, especially in B2B.
Microsoft Advertising serves Bing, Yahoo, DuckDuckGo and search inside Windows. Market share in Western Europe sits between 4 and 10 per cent depending on the measurement. That number explains why the channel gets overlooked, and it conceals why it can still pay.
The user base differs structurally, because Bing is the default in Windows and Microsoft products. That produces an above-average share of searches from corporate machines, from older audiences, and from people who never changed the default.
For suppliers of office software, industrial supplies, training or staffing that is good news. For a fashion label with a young audience it is not.
| Metric | Ratio to the market leader |
|---|---|
| Cost per click | 60 to 80 per cent |
| Search volume | 5 to 12 per cent |
| Conversion rate | comparable to slightly better |
| Maintenance effort | about 20 per cent extra |
Cheaper clicks combined with comparable conversion rates give many B2B accounts a cost per enquiry 25 to 35 per cent below the main channel. Absolute volume stays small; the return is good.
Importing existing campaigns takes a few minutes. That is precisely the danger: an imported account is a copy, not an adaptation.
Three things need checking afterwards. Budgets carry over even though search volume is a tenth, so an imported £3,000 budget will never be spent and distorts planning. Tracking parameters from the main channel do not work here and must be replaced, or measurement is blind. Audiences and exclusions do not all transfer, and customer lists in particular must be uploaded again.
The channel offers a few controls that can justify the effort. Targeting by industry, company size and job function drawn from the same group's career network is a real advantage in B2B. Device targeting is more granular. And delivery in the syndicated partner network can be switched off entirely, which cuts waste sharply.
That last point matters. The partner network delivers cheap clicks of doubtful quality. Switch it off at the start and enable it only if you need volume and can measure its quality separately.
Start with the channel when your main account is stable and you reach an impression share above 70 per cent there. Allocate 10 to 15 per cent of the search budget. Expect three months before the numbers are meaningful, because lower volume slows data collection.
If your business is B2B, reverse the order and test earlier.
Usually only once the main account is maxed out. At small search volumes too little remains to justify the maintenance.
Yes, the import is reliable. Taken over unchecked it means the platform's own options go unused.
More from Online Advertising
Online Advertising
Cost per click is the most widely misread number in online marketing. Look only at it and you will pay more per customer than the competitor with the pricier click.
Online Advertising
Most accounts grow wild. After two years nobody remembers why a given ad group exists. A structure that is still readable after a hundred changes.
Online Advertising
A campaign type that plays across every channel and shows you almost nothing. For some firms it is the strongest lever available; for others an expensive trap.