Microsoft’s latest customer incentives program: SearchPerks!

This week sees Microsoft launch yet another customer rewards-focused incentives campaign to try and get people to use Live Search, in an attempt to gain ground in the search market.

Requiring users to install a small desktop counter that calculates how many times they use Live Search, “SearchPerks!” then rewards users with virtual 'tickets' for joining the program, and every time they search – up to a maximum of 25 a day. These are accumulated for a chance to win prizes such as; music downloads, airmiles, video games, or even an Xbox.

Previous reward programs that Microsoft has run to boost their search numbers included the Live Search Club, a somewhat criticized program that rewarded users for playing games using Live Search, and the Live Search “Cashback" feature that rewarded users for using Live Search by offering rebates for products bought online.

Although it’s not likely to be market changer, it does seem to be having short term benefits for Microsoft's search business. Searchperks! appears to be far more straightforward, logical, and despite the large number of tickets you need to redeem a prize (7 months of searches for an Xbox) it is very consumer friendly.

But there is a catch. You have to be an IE user and have a Windows Live ID to take part.

However it does look like Microsoft has finally realised that it’s never going to achieve the marketshare enjoyed by Google, but that they do understand that incentivising its already large user-base across its network puts it in a much stronger position.

While the program seems to have had initial success, the real test for Live Search will no doubt come when the program ends, and we learn if the new searchers like Microsoft's search engine enough to remain without the incentives.