Internet Marketing Blog

Get Cashback from Live Search!

May 23, 2008 – 8:04 am

Microsoft has received a similar amount of encouragement and flak from its soon to be released Live Search Cash Back program, wherein Microsoft promises to pay users for using Live Search when searching for products that they would eventually buy. Search engine purists see the new program as Microsoft’s desperate measure to match up with Google’s success in the web search market. Some industry players view the program as a good move on Microsoft’s part which may not translate into monetary returns, but might actually snag some valuable numbers on Google’s share of the search market.

Let’s leave the SEO purists’ perspectives and take a deeper look into the Live Search Cash Back program from the point of view of the ecommerce practitioners.

How does it work?

In partnership with some 700 merchants that include the likes of eBay, Overstock, Sears, Circuit City among others, Microsoft will be paid on a cost per action (CPA) by these merchants whenever a customer successfully completes an online sale transaction using the Live Search Cashback program. But after receiving the payment, Microsoft will not keep that amount but instead will pay it back to the user in cash. Just think of the credit card cash reward programs with the Microsoft Live Search branding on it.

How can you participate?

If you belong to the generation of consumers who are now into online consumerism (nearly 70% of the U.S. population), you can sign up for a Live Search cashback account when you make your first purchase through the Live Search program. You’ll receive your rebates/cash reward via check, direct deposit to your account or, through your PayPal account, within 60 days after you made your purchase. The amount of rebate that you’re going to receive equals to 2% of your total purchase.

Will it make you tons of money?

The Microsoft Live Search program does not promise to give you more money than you could have purchased. The fact that it’s just 2% of your total purchase is suffice to say, just a monetary reward for using the program and Microsoft’s Live Search engine. But in the long run, no matter how small those rebates are individually, they will still sum up to a bigger amount of money. The key here is the fact that, you’re going to use a web based search engine when searching for products and buying them online anyway, why not use a search engine that will give you something in return?

What’s in it for online merchants?

Like its immediate impact on consumers, the Live Search Cash Back Program does not guarantee participating merchants and businesses with tons of sales for their products. But it’s a good way of marketing their products. Online consumers will opt to use search engine first when they want to buy products online. Even if online merchants have their own vertical search engines in their respective sites, search engine portals are still the springboard for finding products and services online.

Now, that we’ve answered the question that may be haunting us all, the question that still hangs in the balance is, will Microsoft gain something from this? In the long run, yes, would like to think that Microsoft could finally gain some stride when it comes to getting additional share in the overall search market performance. If you are a Microsoft fan, you would certainly patronize this new program. But if you are a Google fan, you’ll forget about the cash reward and stay loyal to your search engine patron. Who knows, Google just might bring out something good if not better than Live Search’s cash back program later on.

If you’ve participated in the Live Search Cash Back Program, share your experience with us!