• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, July 20, 2023

Microsoft has opened its Performance Max platform, an automated campaign type, in beta to select markets -- giving them access to inventory and the ability to serve ads across its network.

Google announced the development in 2020 of a similar Performance Max (PMAX), a goal-based platform that allows advertisers to access all Google Ads channels from one campaign using Merchant Center. It officially launched in November 2021.

“As more advertisers embraced this product in Google, we wanted to capture the demand close to parity,” Lauren Tallody, senior product marketing manager and automation lead for Microsoft, said during a presentation.

Key features rolled into Microsoft Performance Max include Responsive Search Ads, Product Ads, Automated Bidding, Audience Signals, Predictive Targeting, Dynamic Search Ads, and many more.

The idea is to simplify the workloads of marketers and give them back time to focus on the creative process. Being able to work directly with Microsoft on Performance Max campaigns will also give advertisers more transparency and insights into asset-level reporting.

Based on the marketers’ inputs, Microsoft will serve up a variety of rich ads across Bing, AOL, Yahoo, MSN, Edge, Outlook, and more.

The automated platform pulls together different media in one campaign to find and attract the best audiences.

At launch, Microsoft Performance Max will have all the controls that the Smart Shopping campaign has. However, some glitches remain that the company needs to resolve.

The creation process requires five steps:

- Set up conversion tracking through a UET or with offline conversion goals.

- Set budget and bid strategies to maximize conversions in optional target return on ad (ROAS) spend goals. Set and maximize conversion values with optional target cost-per-acquisition (CPA) goals.

- Turn on the final URL expansion because it helps to drive consumers to the most relevant landing page and enables Microsoft to create additional assets based on what works well on landing pages.

- Add assets such as text and images to ensure that the brand’s store is set up with Microsoft when using the Merchant Center.

- Audience signals will help Microsoft with regard to predictive targeting, which in turn can help marketers their your target audience.