Bing is looking for user feedback on its new search engine. They want to consider consumers’ opinions on what makes a great search engine. The driving force behind this move is likely a desire to lure more people over from Google. Overall the response to Bing has been relatively positive. However after Bing passed Yahoo in search volume and then immediately fell beneath Yahoo again – it was time to check in directly with their consumers.
I was browsing around the other day and found Bing’s Facebook page. People are leaving comments there about what features they would like to see on Bing. When I found this I was very impressed with the comments Bing’s community had left. Here are some of the things people are suggesting:
I would like to see an ipod app. google has created one. -Nicholas Ader
I would REALLY like if on the home page, if it said “more” underneath the Explore options then went to bing.com/explore for the rest of the choices we can search for. It would be a lot more convenient. – George Tinari
I would love to have the Pic on BING become my desk top background automatically. Can work for Messenger background. Here is what I vision; my desk top, messenger, and web browser all looking like they belong together and working together…. along with outlook – Mark Wheeler
I think it’s great that Microsoft is asking their users for ideas to make their service better. This is called “conversational marketing” and this is a great example of how it can be implemented with social media sites. Typically large brands are afraid to get into conversational marketing because when you start a discussion with an anonymous public you risk getting comments you wish you didn’t. The downside to conversational marketing is that negative comments left on 3rd party sites like forums and blogs makes it difficult to remove. Setting up discussions where you can moderate is always the first option but sometimes you need to go where your community is and take that chance in order to build something better. Bing has run the gamut from their Twitter account to their own user community interface on their own engine allowing them to effectively “hear” what their consumers want out of a search engine. This is a great example of a practical implementation of the “wisdom of crowds” theory.
Bing knows they needed to do this. The comments left by the user community are giving Bing a wealth of knowledge on the usability of their engine. This is a lesson for all major brands on the usefulness of conversational marketing.
As Bing continues to grow they are doing the right thing by taking their user’s wants into consideration. Whether or not they actually act upon these requests is another thing that is yet to be seen. They probably won’t implement all of the users requests, but Microsoft is finally taking search seriously and they are on the right track with prioritizing their users needs in order to create a better user experience.
What do you think Bing should implement on their search engine to make you convert from Google? Would you use Facebook to give feedback about Bing?
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Microsoft Bing would be the closet competitor of Google. but i still use Google because it shows more relevant results on the serp.