Jacqueline MoodyJammin’ Jests, Jukin’ Jives, & Jolly Roger Justice

MIcrosoft sent me a nice email telling me three things. Of course, the most important at the top was that they changed their branding for Live Search. Whooppee!!!! Yahoo!!!!  It’s just what I’ve been waiting for!

What I actually did get excited about was what they put at the bottom - that they were creating a new cash back program for people who purchased certain items through Live Search and MSN. Having Microsoft promote something new and giving people a cash back incentive sounds great to me! Well, almost great.

You see, there’s just one little snag. Microsoft will only let people who sell physical products participate. Huh? Why in the world would Microsoft, of all people, discriminate against digital products? This makes about as much sense as giving people discount if they mail or fax in their order, but no discount if they send in their request via email or a web page. Delivering electronic products via the web is the most economic and efficient method of delivery. Here’s the requirements posted at their web site: http://advertising.microsoft.com/advertising/cashback3?pos4

To qualify to advertise with Live Search cashback, your business must be:

• Headquartered in the United States
• A retail site with e-commerce capabilities
• Able to fulfill the physical shipment of a product
• Able to create and maintain a product data feed
• Able to implement a standard tracking pixel on your website’s order confirmation page

They are still stuck in the stone age of computing. It is no wonder they keep floundering in the Internet space. Once again, Microsoft just doesn’t get it.