Microsoft Advertising, search ads across Bing, Yahoo, DuckDuckGo and, increasingly, inside Copilot, is the channel most D2C brands skip and most should not. It is smaller than Google, but the audience and the economics are different in ways that favour considered, higher-value purchases.

The reflex is “nobody uses Bing.” The data says otherwise: it powers a meaningful share of desktop search, it is the default in Windows and Edge, and its users skew older, more affluent and more likely to be buying for a household or a business. For a D2C brand selling something with a real price tag, that is not a rounding error.

§01The economics usually favour the underdog

Because fewer advertisers compete, cost per click on Microsoft is frequently lower than the equivalent Google term, sometimes dramatically. Less competition also means your budget buys more impression share, so a campaign capped out on Google can often find incremental, profitable volume on Microsoft at a better cost per acquisition.

The catch is scale: you will not replace Google. Treat Microsoft as a high-margin supplement, not a primary engine.

“Because fewer advertisers compete, cost per click on Microsoft is frequently lower than the equivalent Google term, sometimes dramatically.”

§02You can be live this afternoon

The single best feature for busy teams is the Google Import. Microsoft will pull your existing Google Ads campaigns, keywords, ads, extensions, structure, and recreate them, so you start from a proven account rather than a blank page. Schedule the import to sync regularly and you keep both platforms roughly in step with minutes of work.

  • Import, then prune: strip terms that lean on Google-only features or audiences.
  • Re-check budgets and bids, Microsoft’s auction is its own market, not a copy of Google’s.
  • Connect the Microsoft UET tag and a product feed so Shopping and conversion tracking work from day one.

§03Where it fits for D2C

Microsoft tends to over-index on bottom-of-funnel, considered purchases: home, health, finance, B2B-adjacent and premium consumer goods. If your product is an impulse buy aimed at under-25s, the audience fit is weaker. If it is something a 45-year-old researches before buying, the channel can punch well above its traffic share.

§04Three checks before you scale

Microsoft is cheap to start but easy to misread, because the volumes are smaller and a handful of conversions swing the numbers. Give it enough time and budget to leave the noise behind before you judge it.

  • Run for at least two to four weeks, daily cost per acquisition on low volume is meaningless.
  • Compare like for like: measure Microsoft against the same products and goals you run on Google, not the blended account.
  • Re-write your best ad copy for the audience, the older, research-led Microsoft buyer responds to specifics, proof and price, not hype.

§05The Copilot wildcard

Microsoft’s real option value is AI. Ads are appearing inside Copilot answers, and Microsoft has folded its advertising into the same AI surfaces customers increasingly use to research and shop. Brands that build a clean, well-structured Microsoft presence now are positioning for placements inside conversational AI, the same answer-engine shift reshaping organic search.

The pragmatic move for most D2C brands: import your Google account, give it a modest budget, watch the cost per acquisition for a fortnight, and scale the segments that beat your Google numbers. It is rare to find incremental, profitable demand this cheaply, which is exactly why ignoring it is a gift to the competitors who do not.