Following adverts being run on Outlook for iOS, Microsoft is now rolling out more advertisements promoting Microsoft Edge. This time on Windows.
Microsoft has started testing new advertisements to push its Chromium-based Edge to Windows 10 and 11 users. Ads for Edge on Windows aren’t new, but the tech giant has begun experimenting with showing more ads and recommendations when users try to switch to Google Chrome.
When users visit the Google Chrome download page, a new ad pops up in Microsoft Edge’s toolbar. The advert says Edge runs on the same technology as Chrome with the “added trust of Microsoft”. Interestingly, the ad falsely claims the offer to switch to Edge is valid for 14 days.
“By continuing, you will set Microsoft Edge as your default browser. Offer valid for 1 person/account within first 14 days of joining,” the pop-up reads. The wording is misleading as any such offer does not even exist. We tried setting Microsoft Edge as the default browser from the given link but received nothing.
This seems to be the company’s latest attempt to bait users, or it could be a bug. Disabling the pop-up is impossible, but you can dismiss it at any time by clicking on the close (x) button.
On Windows 11 and 10, Microsoft now also shows adverts on the desktop attempting to persuade people to switch to Edge by offering them Gift Cards, in yet another move to increase the market share of the revamped browser.
If you’re on Windows 10 or 11 and have Edge bar (an experimental feature enabled), you’ll soon see an advert on the desktop that pops up automatically and tells you to use Edge to get Gift Cards.
As you can see in the above screenshot, Microsoft is running a seven days challenge where you can get Gift Card if you search the web using Edge for three days.
“Search with the Edge bar for three days to earn extra 3,100 points. Offer valid for one person/account within seven days of joining the challenge”, the advertisement reads.
You either get started with the challenge or turn off the Edge bar by clicking the second button.
All these promo adverts contain the exact text as the ones we’ve just seen appearing in Outlook for Android and iOS. On mobile apps, Microsoft claims Edge browser was ‘built to bring you the best of the web’, and it’s the best browser to securely open links sent via Outlook.
It is going without saying that Microsoft Edge is an excellent browser, but too many ads could turn users against Edge. Ads can have the opposite effect than intended and can hurt Microsoft’s reputation in the long run.
