I have an interesting story and copies of email correspondence between someone I'll call MysteryMan and his MSN AdCenter representative that I think you might enjoy.
The Backstory - MysteryMan Says:
I was spending, I dunno, some decent money at Google and Yahoo for PPC in a mix of kw and site ads. Probably doing $50-$100 a day or so.
Anyway, I stopped by the adCenter booth at SES San Jose. They convinced me to try their "quick launch" program. with an assigned rep. Their test was to try to beat either Google or Yahoo on conversion based on their "advanced PPC" knowledge. I agreed to export my campaigns, giving them my keyword list, ad copy and landing pages for a fair test.
After 3 days, the rep wrote back and wanted the total budget and the max CPC for each keyword or site exported directly from AdWords editor. She thoughtfully provided instructions. I already knew how to do the export. I had deleted that -- why would I give one channel the other channel's rates? The goal was to beat ROI, right?
I sent a scathing letter last week. It's now day 5 with no answer. I just told them we're do not call/do not write/do not fax and have no plans to ever work with them again (just like we decided two years ago with their awful traffic).
And now, here's the email correspondence to back that up. I've replaced any mentions of actual names or company names with the words [radio edit] or [MysteryMan] so MysteryMan remains a mystery and the rep isn't named.
On 9/20/07, adCenter QuickLaunch Team [radio edit] wrote:
Dear [MysteryMan],
I'm glad that we had a chance to discuss your account and what you will be receiving as part of your customized service in the QuickLaunch program.
What does your service include?
To recap what we went over during the phone call, your service includes:
- 45 days of one-on-one assistance.
- One upload of ads/keywords from another search engine.
- Help with creating ads/keywords.
- If needed, feedback on resolving editorial review issues.
- Account reporting and analysis.
- Help with optimizing a campaign.
How to get started:
- Complete the QuickLaunch sign-up form, reviewing and approving the terms and conditions, so we can begin the QuickLaunch service.
- Export your current campaign(s). You can find directions for exporting on our Microsoft Digital Advertising Solutions FAQs page. Reply to this message, attaching the Excel (XLS) or CSV file that contains your current ads and keywords.
- Log in to your account and update your credit card information, per our phone call. Your username is [radio edit].
If you have any questions, feel free to contact me at [radio edit]. I look forward to working with you!
From [MysteryMan] Sunday, September 23, 2007 8:14 AM
Hi, [radio edit] -- Things got crazy busy Friday so I wanted to tackle this early today.
A couple of quick things:
1) Remember that we don't have a minimum requirement regardless of the agreement. That said, if you beat the other guys on ROI, my combined spending is more than double your minimum. We agreed to go for 2 weeks (14 days), no dayparting, max spend of $200 for that time. It's okay to reach the limit before 14 days. We're all about ROI which is why we deliberately suppress CTR by using the price so prominently.
2) I would love a way to delete credit cards from my account. Since I can't, maybe you can. Everything under the name [MysteryMan] or the company name should be deleted. The only active card since my accident in [radio edit] is the one listed under [radio edit] name. [Bonus points for feedback: your credit card help screens are not very intuitive. SEMs are probably embarrassed to tell you that. I'm not. You may want a tech writer to look at them.]
3) I am giving you an Excel file with some current campaigns and keywords. There is a site buy (which you can replicate in similar demographics), a local buy in [radio edit] and two keyword buys. The ad copy is there, but AdWords editor doesn't export landing pages. Accordingly, you can choose from these:
http://www.[radio edit].com/orderpages/[radio edit].htm
http://www.[radio edit].com/orderpages/[radio edit].htm
http://www.[radio edit].com/orderpages/[radio edit].htm
http://www.[radio edit].com/complaint/[radio edit]-complaints.html
*If you think there is landing page copy that should/must be tried, let's try it in phase 2 to get a fair comparison between engines, but we're certainly open to your ideas. If you come up with some wonderful landing page that closes better, we'll obviously extend longer with MSN.
4) When you pick your landing pages, I probably need a few hours to get the tracking code put on the page.
From Adcenter, Sept. 26
Hi [MysteryMan],
Thank you for your e-mail! I just got back from a business trip and have been working on this. However, I noticed that you still haven't signed up. Please take a moment to fill out this sign-up form so I can proceed.
Also, I'm having trouble with the format of the file you sent. Could you please export your google campaigns using the steps below to ensure that it's in the proper format for the upload into adCenter?
Exporting from Google:
1. Login to your Google adWords account
2. Click on "Reports"
3. Click on "Create a Report Now"
4. Choose these options:
A. Report type = Ad Performance
i. Make sure the box next to text ad is checked
B. View = Summary
C. Date Range = set a large range, at least one full month
D. Campaigns & Ad Groups = All Campaigns and Ad Groups
i. If you do not want to export all your campaigns and ad groups use the manually select option and select the campaigns and orders that you would like to export.
E. Click on the Add or Remove Columns link and make sure the following items are selected:
Under Level of Detail:
Campaign
Keyword
Ad Group
Under Attributes:
Campaign Status
Ad Group Status
Display URL
Headline
Daily Budget
Destination URL
Description Line 1
Description Line 2
Keyword Status
Keyword Matching
Keyword Destination URL
Current Maximum CPC
Under Performance Statistics:
Choose any one of the options in order to run the report
5. Name the Report
6. Click on Create Report
7. Download the Report in .csv format
8. Save Report
9. Email Report
Please let me know if you have any questions.
On September 25, [MysteryMan] replied:
[radio edit] -- Welcome back. I did sign up and will do so again if we're going to test this.
I'm not sure what more you need about my advertising than what I've supplied you. Let me be absolutely clear. I am not sending the details of my Google spend to you. I'm stunned that MSN would even ask and only the willingness to potentially partner is stopping me from blogging that request and Sphinning it to the entire SEM community.
Do people really do that? Are folks that naive? I can assure you that in previous roles that I would never give my media buyer the previous media buyer's data. It just isn't done. Frankly, neither Google nor Yahoo have ever asked for that level of detail when customizing campaigns in the past.
If that's a dealbreaker, then by all means, we'll move on as friends. As for the file, it should be relatively straight forward for anyone to follow. It's a file from your company's spreadsheet with an AdWords Editor export. The missing information is information you won't be receiving deleted at the column level.
Sorry if I've wasted your time. It seems like this just isn't meant to be. Maybe I'll poke around a little bit on the site myself when I have time. Take your time to decide whether it's even worth messing with little fish like us. Meanwhile, I did ask that the multiple credit cards (see the bottom of this thread) were deleted. If someone else is supposed to do that, do let me know.
Thanks,
[MysteryMan]
No reply from adCenter after 5 days, so the following is a reply to adCenter from MysteryMan on Oct. 1 regarding the silence
Wow -- 5 days without a response.
Go ahead, please, and cancel anything having to do with [MysteryMan] and Microsoft. We'll keep our little buy at Google, Yahoo, Ask and AdSonar. The first delay was one that gets shrugged off. The second is intolerable. We'll not do business with you.
By the way, do you know what other job I hold? I run SEM for an [radio edit] company. My spend in 2008 will be over $100k. adCenter won't be in the mix.
Do look for your letter asking for the Google spend soon, however. It is being released to the SEM blogs tomorrow.
Arrogance from the #3 player in a marketspace is pretty sad. Mark us as do not call, do not write, do not fax.
Thank you.
---
So, that's a recap of the events that occurred between MysteryMan and an AdCenter rep. What do you think? Does MysteryMan have a legitimate beef? Or is he refusing to share information that the rep had a legitimate right to request? Is MSN over the top for wanting him to share that much info? Should MysteryMan call it a day and go play online poker instead? Share your thoughts.