Microsoft has shut down Bing Cashback, according to a blog post. Bing Cashback, which is a program that allows users to save money when they purchase items found using Bing search, will be shut down on July 30, 2010.
The blog post says that Cashback is being shut down due to lack of adoption. Cashback offers will still be available until the end of July and users will have a year to redeem any money they’ve earned through the program.
Microsoft launched Cashback on its old search engine, Live Search, in May 2008, when we called it a “desperate and brilliant move” to trade search revenue for market share. Cashback failed to do much to improve Live Search’s market share, but it did result in a significant increase in advertising revenue.
With the launch of Bing, Microsoft thought that cashback would gain more traction as a rebranded product, even launching a TV commercial and special promotions. But clearly this was not enough to drive traffic to the program.
Bing is a decision (search) engine from Microsoft officially announced on May 28, 2009. It combines technology from the Farecast and Powerset acquisitions, as well as new algorithms and a more colorful page design, to attempt to understand the context behind the search, which Microsoft claims gives users better results. Bing as a brand is also an attempt to eliminate the confusion caused by Microsoft’s “Windows Live” branding. Bing is now everything “search” related, whereas Windows Live encompasses the remnants...
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