17:00:51Microsoft Advertising on Monday announced a new advertising format designed for service
providers such as insurance agents -- from health insurance to automotive, credit card issuers and realtors, among others.
Professional Service Ads reach consumers looking to connect with an
agent, advisor, consultant, or any type of professional, and provide support. Pilots are now running in the United States and Canada.
The ad format aims to promote regional offices or
branches, along with national companies.
The ad unit is dynamically generated based on the data in the company’s feed file, such as plan type, organization category, federal registration
status, and URLs. The more details provided in the feed file, the more information will be included in the ads. Microsoft plans to expand this ad unit into other markets.
For advertisers using
Professional Service Ads, conversion rates have increased by about 60% compared to regular text ads, the company estimates. On average, advertisers have seen cost per acquisition (CPA) fall
by 67%, compared with overall performance, in their campaigns.
Microsoft notes that the auction is independent from the text ads. This means advertisers can participate in
Professional Service Ads -- a cost-per-click ad auction -- with the campaign associated to the feed file, and participate in the text ad auction with regular campaigns.
The company recommends
starting with a daily budget of between $100 and $500 to ensure consistent results for optimization. The start bid should be set between $3 and $5, and performance and average position should be
monitored, adjusting up or down accordingly.
Advertisers should set location targeting in campaign settings to “United States” or “Canada” and measure and monitor
baseline performance first, then tune the return on investment based on audiences.