One of the best bits of feedback I’ve ever had as a Microsoft employee was an email from a US super-affiliate – and I mean SUPER-affiliate – after adCenter and Microsoft in general were being discussed in unfavourable and fruity language on his blog.
I’d added a comment saying I thought we could perhaps do a bit better and soliciting some actionable data with regards to his readers’ concerns so I could send them to our product teams.
His email said, “The thing about you Microsoft guys is, whenever you screw up or something isn’t well received, you don’t get all down about it but come straight back asking questions! That’s how to run a business!”
Although I’d rather not screw up, it does pay to ask the right kind of questions, listen intently and collaborate with your customers to act on the path to constant improvement.
The recent launch of Bing out of beta in the UK last week is a good example of how we’ve listened... a lot!
I must have spoken at over 100 conferences to thousands of people about Microsoft adCenter and search engine marketing, and not a day has gone past in the last 4 ½ years when I’ve been asked, “When can we get more traffic? The conversions are great but we need more volume. This market needs more competition. We can’t have such a one-sided industry. We want variety!”
Now my role has always been to evangelise adCenter, but unofficially I’ve had to keep my fingers in the Dutch flood barrier – so to speak – keeping track of any piece of feedback received from the industry and feeding them to the engineers, forcing them out of their lab to exchange face-to-face with our users.
That unofficial job is now really redundant.
With the launch last week, the guys in our Search Technology Centre in London have done their bit and will continue to do their bit to push the boundaries of innovation. They’ve asked all the right questions and worked tirelessly to create a search engine that I am proud of and very happy to use. Bing is a search engine that not only delivers in the worldwide #1 search market, but also meets the needs of local consumers and advertisers.
Although my better half is American, the other half is still very keen on its conker battles, Yorkshire puddings and warm beer. So the in-depth localisation efforts on the user experience and algorithm results keep reminding me I'm in Britain and not in a Vegas hotel.
Here’s the rallying cry!
So we can gauge what you think, please use Bing.com as your default search engine for a week and comment below on what you think after 7 days. Have it as your homepage and discover some new facts about different parts of the world from the daily changing photo that teachers all over the world are now starting their pupils’ day at school with. Use it to check football scores and do your Christmas shopping while you’re at it!
The industry wanted a game-changer, and while we start working on the consumer marketing, where better to start talking about and using it than within the industry itself.
If you’ve enjoyed any of my previous 323 posts over the last 2 ½ years just indulge me this once... you might be pleasantly surprised!
http://www.Bing.com
