Comments on: Microsoft Gives Up Earning Your Loyalty; Launches “Cashback” to Bribe You Instead

By: delade | cashback a Success for Microsoft Live Search

delade | cashback a Success for Microsoft Live Search — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 09:41:06 +0000

[...] Announced in May, Microsoft Live Search’s cashback program was instantly the source of ridicule—but now they’re showing off their success. It must be a happy day at Redmond: two big stories for Microsoft Live Search today, both announced during PubCon. [...]

By: Bill Canaday

Bill Canaday — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 05:55:31 +0000

Sheesh … MSFT has the Crapper touch … every thing they touch seems to turn to, um, ’substance’.

When they acquired Jellyfish, all they needed to change was the logo, the locks on the executive toilets and the signatures on the bank accounts.

Then pretend like that didn’t own it and advertise it like crazy.

And they managed to shank that.

Bill Canaday’s last blog post..Ad test

By: apBizz : Selected News » Blog Archive » Affiliate Program Conversion Rates

Wed, 28 May 2008 07:58:06 +0000

[...] Microsoft Gives Up Earning Your Loyalty; Launches “Cashback” to …Marketing Pilgrim – Raleigh,NC,USAInstead, the launch makes the company look: a) desperate–hey look we’ve started an affiliate program! We’re going to add a 2nd tier payout in the fall! b) … This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 28th, 2008 at 7:57 am and is filed under Affiliate Program. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site. [...]

By: Tiffany

Tiffany — Fri, 23 May 2008 07:10:22 +0000

Seems Mocrosoft start changing the strategy…It is now seems to be more creative and flexible.

By: Musashi

Musashi — Thu, 22 May 2008 16:47:18 +0000

I see the guys at google laughing their ears off. As long as Microsoft has one of the crappiest search engines in the world, they would have to pay me per search and not per sale.

By: Waun Forall

Waun Forall — Thu, 22 May 2008 16:21:09 +0000

Finally a search engine so bad we’ll pay you to use it! Only Microsoft could consider this a positive and an advancement, like we’ve made a bug a feature!

This from the supposed geniuses of Redmond, makes me wonder if the Titanic has hit a 2nd iceberg? First Vista, then Zune and now this. Is there no end to the useless crap they want to sell us, that is inferior to all the originals they try to copy?

“livesearch” the google-lite wannabe, now with extra cashback, sounds like they are selling crap from Ronco.

By: Ralph

Ralph — Thu, 22 May 2008 06:32:49 +0000

I don’t have any more comments to add on any of MSN new “things”, they are creating their own downfall imo…

By: Jayson

Jayson — Thu, 22 May 2008 03:46:49 +0000

Nevermind – it looks like the ads with the icon are only for live search – idea isn’t cutting the Googlers head off anymore.

By: Jayson

Jayson — Thu, 22 May 2008 03:30:58 +0000

This is only a good idea if they can get the word out – and – Microsoft has the money to do that. Talk about cutting the Googlers head off – if they get the word out this could go really well for them.

They don’t need a good search engine, in fact, they could have the worst search engine in the world (do they already ??) and this could still work wonders for them. I don’t think it would work for everyone but if you have money to throw at it you might get a nation of people typing everything they want to buy directly into live.com in an attempt to save a few bucks. Xmas 08 may be a great Christmas for MSN.

They could just be looking to get more people to click on their ads which would in turn get more money from advertisers. Nothing gets people to ignore organic results and pay attention to ads more than a huge savings icon. You’d have to change the name as it’s part of live search… I don’t know I like the idea…you’d think they’d use their busy msn.com homepage for a little promotion though.

JMO

By: Andy Beal

Andy Beal — Wed, 21 May 2008 22:40:53 +0000

@Dean – yeah, it’s kind of crummy that they have to mark-up the prices so they can afford the cashback.

By: Dean

Dean — Wed, 21 May 2008 21:46:49 +0000

I just googled “canon powershot a470 digital camera” (the camera in Andy’s screenshot) and found a list for $105

Your serve Mr. Ballmer

By: Dean

Dean — Wed, 21 May 2008 21:42:43 +0000

WOW! I can get a $109 camera for only $107 and all I have to do is use MSFT’s piece of garbage search engine? To quote Jerry Seinfeld, “who was the Marketing genius that came up with this one?” Seriously, you read about how brilliant the people in Redmond are, and they came up with this????? I mean this is High School Junior Achievment crap.

Things sure must be getting desperate in Microsoftland.

Way to go Monkey Boy!

By: Tim

Tim — Wed, 21 May 2008 19:24:26 +0000

Smack shopping was the real coup de grace of Jellyfish the cash back program wasn’t that new or novel. While Jellyfish cashback was neat 2 years ago. I didn’t think the prices w/rebates were that competitive. Smack shopping was much more interesting from the perspective of getting a good deal.

By: John

John — Wed, 21 May 2008 16:26:23 +0000

I was going to take a look but I'd already forgotten the brand name by the time I reached the end of the post... John's last blog post..Swapping Stuff

By: Jaan Kanellis

Jaan Kanellis — Wed, 21 May 2008 15:16:14 +0000

"Is it any mystery why their CEO gets pelted with egg? " LOLOLOLOL Jaan Kanellis's last blog post..Google Search Quality Insights from Udi Manber

By: Arthur Freydin

Arthur Freydin — Wed, 21 May 2008 14:29:58 +0000

I get this when going to jellyfish.com: "As part of our pledge to save you money on the products you buy, our Cash Back rewards service is currently offline to perform necessary service upgrades and enhancements. Jellyfish Account holders will receive an e-mail notification when our Cash Back service is up and running again. Thanks for your patience." Seriously, Microsoft needs to get their act together. Jellyfish was an awesome service with an almost cult-like following. It was also great for merchants (I've used them as a merchant before and it was effortless, logistical issues aside). They've completely lost it if they are going to let jellyfish.com die. Arthur Freydin's last blog post..Isn't it Time for Built-In USB Car Chargers?

By: Our Monmouth

Our Monmouth — Wed, 21 May 2008 13:51:12 +0000

Andy- Is it any mystery why their CEO gets pelted with egg? Not as classic as the cream pie Mr. Bill Gates received but you think they would get the message! If you want to be the industry leaders you desperately want to be then it is time to innovate and excite. Fat chance. Our Monmouth's last blog post..FBI 1 Corrupt NJ Mayor 18 to 24