Minimal Gains from “Bing”
Microsoft has been barraging the market with ads for its new “Bing” search service. As anyone who hasn’t been living under a rock probably knows, Redmond is trying to steal thunder from Google and Yahoo in the lucrative search market.
As such, they’re billing Bing as a “decision engine” that can, among other things, help you figure out when the best time is to buy plane tickets and find the best deals on various other retail products. But after all that hype, not to mention millions in development and promotional costs, they’ve gained less than 1 percent in the marketplace. Was that gain worth the cost?
The other big question is how long the increase will last. In politics, candidates can expect what’s known as a “post-convention bounce” following their party’s national convention — their approval and expected-vote numbers jump a few percent. This is mainly due to all the convention hype, media coverage, and other hullabaloo. Is Bing’s .9 percent rise a similar phenomenon? Is it solely due to the media barrage and users testing the waters to see if they like the product? Or will it translate into real, long term gains? We’ll find out in a few months, once more people try it out.
Hype is a fine thing, and can help get any new venture off the ground. The real test comes when the hype wears off, the advertising budget shrinks, and customers get a serious taste of the product. Some people show up just for the novelty of the experience or product. Others, who are far more important from a business standpoint, actually decide they like it and come back for repeat business.
The proof in Bing’s pudding is whether those repeat customers start coming back. If they do, Google and Yahoo will lose some market share (along with other, small search engines like Ask). If not…if the numbers drop back to their pre-Bing level over time, then the service is yet another bust for Redmond. I expect we’ll know for certain by the end of 2009. If it fails, expect yet another offering with a different spin in a year or two. This market is too important to Microsoft…they won’t just walk away.