Giving value to Bing
Give with Bing (GWB), an offshoot of Microsoft Rewards, allows Bing users to donate to a nonprofit of their choice with every search. The program has donated over $12 million to charity but is used by less than 1% of Bing users. Microsoft wanted to promote the program and make giving closely aligned with the Bing value proposition.
Role: Product designer
Process: Personas, competitive analysis, information architecture, user flow, low-fi & hi-fi prototyping
Tools: Figma, UX labs, usertesting.com
Microsoft Rewards members can use their search points for gifts or donations.
Our problem
What does Bing stand for? In internal and external tests, users struggled to answer that question. It was primarily thought of as a comparison to Google. In addition, of Microsoft Rewards’s 66 million members, only 2 million opted into Give with Bing, which had proven positive reception from Bing users. In research, most Rewards and non-rewards members had never heard of the giving program.
Bing lacked a strong name but relied on its background images.
User research to reach millenials
Research showed the Give with Bing catchphrase “Search that gives back” was successful in raising favorable awareness of Bing and Microsoft among users, especially millennials. Leadership wanted a small feature on the homepage highlighting the amount of money GWB raised and examples of the nonprofits the money could go towards.
91%
...of millennials would switch brands to one associated with a cause
87%
...are more likely to purchase a product with a social or environmental benefit
85%
...seek out responsible products where possible vs 79% US average
84%
...consider a company’s social responsibility when recommending products & services to others
The goals
Improved brand perception
GWB had a promising selling proposition compared to other major search engines. We wanted to make Bing synonymous with doing good and reach a younger audience.
Greater GWB feature awareness
Show people that Give with Bing is the other side of the rewards program - for rewards and non rewards members
Increased rewards product engagement
We wanted to increase GWB users by 1% . We also wanted to grow our daily active users for both Rewards and GWB members.
How might we improve Bing’s brand perception among millennials by focusing on giving?
Competitor evaluation
Search sites like Ecosia and Ocean Hero have clear giving value proposition on their search and homepages. Their clean interfaces incorporated their message throughout the user journey.
The sites clearly focus on ocean preservation and land conservation.
User flow
From competitive and UX research, I knew a small homepage feature would not have the desired effect of changing perception. I knew we needed to create a larger inclusive feature. Leadership agreed and the scope of the project expanded to include the search page. I wanted several touch points and means of entry for users to join GWB.
Users should be able to join GWB from the home and search page.
Digital sketching
I started by sketching various placements and layouts for this feature on the home and search page.
In user tests, we discovered a strong preference to features above the news application.
Directing our users
I worked within the confines of the project scope to rebrand Bing. The Bing background image would change each day to represent that day’s featured nonprofit (in the example below, the nonprofit is a land conservation group). The Give with Bing promotion would open to a side panel and the search page would feature a real-time counter to show how much money is raised by searches.
Homepage flow
Search Engine Results Page flow
