Since the splitting of Bing and Yahoo in 2014, BingAds has exclusively focused on the search network. It has positioned itself as a compliment to Google AdWords, but with a cheaper cost-per-click and an audience demographic that is older, more educated, and more highly compensated than their competitors\u2019 audiences (making it a great B2B-focused demographic).<\/p>\n
However, in late 2017, BingAds announced a move to venture back into the native ads space, making them a more robust marketing platform with greater targeting options than ever before.<\/p>\n
One of the new targeting options offered is In-Market Audiences. These audiences are designed to target potential customers who are more likely to buy than their upper funnel researching counterparts, based on their browsing behavior.<\/p>\n
In-Market Audiences better equip advertisers to reach users who may be specifically interested in their offers, a capability that had been lacking in search since its inception. Currently, there are 14 different In-Market audiences, including a variety of audiences in the Finance & Credit, Travel & Tourism, and Motor Vehicle markets with more to come in the\u00a0 future.<\/p>\n
BingAds generates these audiences through the use of proprietary information generated by Microsoft\u2019s multiple platforms, including Bing and MSN, as well as other Microsoft services. Among the data utilized to construct the audiences are hundreds of previous search queries, clicks, and previous purchases that help construct the audience model centered on greater intent.<\/p>\n
Because of the different requirements needed to build these audiences effectively, they tend to be smaller than traditional custom\/remarketing audiences. It\u2019s important to understand this difference.<\/p>\n
At Rocket Clicks, we\u2019ve had the opportunity to test In-Market Audiences, including one notable example in the Sporting Goods industry.<\/p>\n
We\u2019ve focused our tests specifically on the Sports & Fitness\/Sporting Goods\/Golf Equipment audiences with a small (+10%) bid modifier. Although BingAds does not officially recommend an initial bid modifier, we recommend starting with a smaller adjustment (+10-20%) when beginning an In-Market audience test to help minimize risk.<\/p>\n
This allows you to test higher average positions more often when your ad shows to these targeted In-Market audiences, helping to raise click-through rates.<\/p>\n
Our test was centered around trying to increase sales above and beyond what our traditional search remarketing (RLSA) audience was driving. Our test was specific to the Golf ecommerce industry.<\/p>\n
Results were significantly better with the presence of the In-Market overlay as shown in the table below:<\/p>\n
Golf Club In-Market vs. Traditional RLSA \u2013 Last 30 Days<\/u><\/p>\n