We specialize in performance-based marketing for healthcare businesses. That is why we always want to add a volume to our bottom-of-the-funnel prospects. Search engines are the best place to target user intent. We typically start with Google Ads when we market Acoustic Shockwave Therapy for ED.
Adding negative keywords and removing unprofitable postal codes, young people and those searching for pills usually significantly decrease campaign volume. Naturally, we thought, let’s try Microsoft Advertising to add to the volume. Bing now has AI, and if people are searching for ED treatment, we want them.
With this objective, our team allocated $10,000 monthly (aka $120,000 per year) to Microsoft Ads, anticipating expanding our audience reach for one of our ED Marketing clients. Surprisingly, our campaign faced repeated rejections without a clear explanation and, at times, comical communication. At the same time, Microsoft Ads has no problem running ads for enhancement products and supplements.
This article follows the timeline of our communication with Microsoft Ads and some observations on Current Microsoft Ads for ED Treatment.
We looked to expand our search advertising to Microsoft Ads for three reasons:
We initially expected ads to be disapproved and wanted to submit client licenses if needed proactively.
Our previous experiences show that simply importing Google Ads campaigns into Microsoft Ads rarely works. That is why we started a new campaign. We immediately received a request for Advertiser Verification.
We’ve submitted the corporate address and certificate of incorporation. The account was verified within 4 hours.
Based on our landing page promoting or “titillating” sex. We decided to use the Adult Advertising program participation form. This form includes ads and keywords we pulled from the draft campaign inside the Microsoft Ads Account. Therefore, they’ve seen the actual ads, landing page, and keywords we aim to use.
After five days, the response was:
After receiving the Adult Team’s response, we proceeded with the campaign despite the possibility of suspension by the automatic filter.
Within 10 min, we received “Violation of Egregious Policy” from Microsoft Ads. It looks something like this:
I responded to the original ticket from the Adult team, asking why our ads are restricted as “Adult Content.”
The response I got almost immediately was.
I write an appeal indicating that we are a legitimate business and are not classified as adult content based on what their other team says.
After seven days of waiting, at 1:41 p.m., I received the message that our account was reviewed, all content was compliant, and the suspension was lifted—excellent, time to spend $10,000.
Not so fast at 1:57 p.m. of the same day – meaning 15 min later. I received another Egregious Violation Policy letter.
I log into my account and submit an appeal. You only have 1000 characters to describe the issue. I’ve explained that we’ve been reviewed twice now. The Client’s account is verified, and it seems like an automatic filter.
Two days later, I received a letter at 12:40 p.m. that “confirmed all content is compliant. We have removed the suspension penalty.”
Do you want to take a wild guess at what happens next? In 12 minutes, I received another message about Violating the Egregious Policy. I read it for the 50th time, knowing we can’t pinpoint which policy we’ve broken.
I submit an appeal recounting our experience and asking for the account approval to stick.
One day later, I received a message that it was determined that we were in violation of, you guessed it, “Egregious Violation,” with a long list of what those include.
I decided to see what shows up in the searches and see if our competitors appear in the ads or if Microsoft Ads blocks all shockwave therapy advertisers.
Well, one company provided Shockwave Therapy, too, so I wanted to see how long they’ve been running ads and if they have any licenses our Client doesn’t have. Not so fast, I got the following information.
I am still determining how it connects to the European Area, as all other advertisers appear in the Ad Library.
I left more confused than ever before after checking out the searches. You tell me that “sexual boosters” and at-home machines can advertise, but we violate the “Egregious Policy?”
If I had the opportunity to speak directly with the decision-maker for Microsoft Ads, I would suggest:
My Client was getting the same messages. He emailed me asking, “Are we giving up on Microsoft Ads?”
I struggled to answer, as after 25 days of trying to spend money with Microsoft Ads, we just got a runaround. Should I keep trying to jump through hoops, or should we put the $10k in TradeDesk or into influencer marketing?
