Bing Ads (Microsoft Advertising) Launches Smart Shopping Campaigns for eCommerce Advertisers

Bing Ads (Microsoft Advertising) launched its own version of Google’s Smart Shopping campaign type last month. We have been long-standing advocates of the benefits, and sometimes the necessity, of advertising on Microsoft’s Platform so this obviously got us excited. At last, Microsoft is really starting to catch up with Google’s automated bidding and targeting technology.

Several years ago we were initially dubious of products and features that placed more power in Google’s omnipotent hands, but having witnessed increased conversion rates and return-on-ad-spends for all our clients, we had to give in to Google Smart Shopping campaigns. Now that Microsoft/Bing is moving away from their somewhat antiquated standard Shopping product and making way for Smart Shopping, we knew we had to implement the new campaign type for our e-commerce clients opted in to Microsoft Advertising straight away.

In case you still need some convincing, here are some key benefits of running PPC advertising on Microsoft:

• There’s less competition on Bing, so Cost-Per-Click (CPC) tends to be slightly lower and conversion rate can be higher than on Google Ads.
• Device targeting is better than Google – Microsoft allows advertisers to target audiences based on their device type and operating system. Advertisers can also choose to only display ads to mobile users and opt-out of desktop ads.
• Bing has an older and wealthier demographic, which may be more suitable for certain businesses – both e-commerce and non-e-commerce.
• It’s very business-to-business marketing friendly.

We’ve checked performance for four of our e-commerce clients who run PPC – Paid Search and Shopping – campaigns across Google Ads and Microsoft Advertising. Here’s how they measure up…

Bearing in mind that the above data includes Google Ads Smart Shopping performance vs. Microsoft Advertising standard Shopping performance. Despite a slightly lower conversion rate, and a much smaller share of the Search Engine pie, Microsoft Advertising still manages to trump Google Ads in terms of lower average click cost (CPC) and a 16% higher return-on-investment (ROI).

Microsoft Advertising – initial Smart Shopping results

We’ve only had Smart Shopping campaigns live on Bing over the last week or so, so results are limited and inconclusive. What we can see so far is that Bing Smart Shopping campaigns have performed with a higher e-commerce conversion rate. Due to lower average order value, and limited data, ROI and ROAS are lower than ‘Standard’ campaigns, however we expect to see shifts in performance, much like those observed for Google Ads Standard vs. Smart Shopping campaigns.

Create your own Bing Smart Shopping campaigns, or import your Google Ads Smart Shopping campaigns for an instant revenue boost

We encourage you to launch Microsoft Advertising campaigns for your clients, or for your own business, especially if you have an e-commerce business that is seeking to top-up your revenue at a better return than via Google. And if you are an e-commerce business or have e-commerce clients, then start running Smart Shopping campaigns on Microsoft Advertising/Bing Ads ASAP. Initial results for our clients are encouraging and we expect to see ROI and ROAS steadily increase over the coming weeks and months.

If you are looking for an agency to inspect and/or manage your PPC accounts, check out our PPC audit service and our ongoing PPC management services and see what we can do for you. Alternatively, go ahead a book a free 30-minute discovery call if you want to understand a little bit more about how we can grow your eCommerce store.