Wednesday, October 6, 2010

How rewarding is Bing Rewards?

From banks to retailers to supermarkets and everywhere in between, loyalty programs are one of the tried-and-true tactics in any marketer's arsenal. And when they're used smartly, it can be a win-win situation. After all, everyone loves getting free stuff, and companies love it when their customers have a reason to keep coming back again and again, right?

I recently took up a challenge to use and evaluate a new loyalty program being rolled out by one of the largest companies in the world: Microsoft's Bing Rewards program. After a brainstorming session for an upcoming perspective (check it out here!) turned up dozens of ideas, I've decided to carry the experiment through. I will be using Bing Rewards for the next few weeks, blogging about my experiences, and discussing the value of Bing points and the prizes I am able to win.

A little background first. Bing Rewards lets users earn points for running a search on the Bing search engine, testing new products, and performing actions such as setting their home page to Bing. To participate, users must download the Bing toolbar for Internet Explorer and log in with their Windows Live account. Once users earn a certain number of points, they can exchange them for prizes such as gift cards, technology items, or charitable donations.

Right out of the gate, Bing Rewards is not cutting it for me. Since you can only sign in to the program with an MSN/Windows Live e-mail address, it’s making me dig out my ancient Hotmail account. I have to download the special “Bing Rewards Toolbar.” And Bing only lets users earn points if they’re using Internet Explorer as their browser – which I haven’t done in years. That means no Gmail and no Firefox, both of which play a huge role in my Internet routine. It also means a huge change in behavior, both mental and physical. I have to get out of the mindset of “Googling” things, and of automatically typing Google’s address into a toolbar when I go to search for something.

Stay tuned to this blog for updates!

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1 comment:

  1. AnonymousOctober 5, 2013 at 12:42 AM

    I agree. I'm an an everyday consumer user of the internet, not very tech savy. I shop, read articles, clip coupons, etc. I'm not very Tech Savy. They closed my account for the following reasons: Opening more than one user account per individual; . Residing outside of the 50 United States and District of Columbia;
    Not providing accurate account information, including your true first and last name, your complete and accurate mailing address, a working phone number and your email address;. Using a service intended to obfuscate your true IP address or your location;. Using a bot, cheat code, macro or other automated method to participate in Bing Rewards;
    I've lived in the USA since birth, don't even know what a macro is, I'm in the "White Pages" - look it up Microsoft - no fake address, phone number. I didn't even know Hotmail, Outlook, Bing & Microsoft were even associated BUT I got this much to say - I no longer have any respect for the company. They told to to email cs again, if i disagreed - after trying 7 trying with no success - you know where they could go ____!!! Never again -

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