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$4,000 Advertising deal yielding NO RESULTS

MoreVolume

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Long story short, my company produces a sexual health supplement. In terms of results, and popularity, we are the industry leader.
Every time we run paid advertisements, we recoup our investment in at least in 72 hours at the MOST. We usually see a crazy uptick in site visits and sales as soon as the ad is up and running, whether it be on a website or podcasts.

In November a popular website (as they described themselves) reached out to us to advertise. They ran the numbers by us and made themselves seem like they could do alot for us. I agreed to work with them and paid $4k to run ads with them. The ads started Monday, and we have yet to see an increase in usual traffic. I included a coupon code to track sales, and I havent had ONE sale yet.

So at this point I feel as if I wasted $4k. I reached out to the company contact, letting him know my displeasure.
I'm definitely not going to get any type of return on investment. What should my next course of action be?

Its clear as day that I am going to lose money on this one. Is there anyway to stop the bleeding, or am I going to have to eat the $4k loss?
What would you do? What would you advise me to do?
 
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Jon L

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Did they guarantee an ROI, or did they just say that they would run your ad? If its the latter, I think you're obligated to pay the money.

Same thing if you take out an ad in a newspaper that fails to convert.
 
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Peal

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How communicative have they been since you notified them? I've worked for several ad agencies and when something like this would happen, we would immediately do a technical audit. In an audit, we would check to make sure links were setup properly, the ads were clickable etc. By now, they should give you some confirmation that it is setup as it should be.

Also, what was your agreement based on? CPM? CPC?

If it was an informal: "$4,000 to run ads on our site for one month" handshake, a refund is basically at the discretion of the site owner.
 

MoreVolume

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How communicative have they been since you notified them? I've worked for several ad agencies and when something like this would happen, we would immediately do a technical audit. In an audit, we would check to make sure links were setup properly, the ads were clickable etc. By now, they should give you some confirmation that it is setup as it should be.

Also, what was your agreement based on? CPM? CPC?

If it was an informal: "$4,000 to run ads on our site for one month" handshake, a refund is basically at the discretion of the site owner.
I understand that I am not owed a refund. It would be childish to think that would be a possibility
But the fact that I could challenge the transaction on Paypal.....what do you guys think about that?
 

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As you know only too well ad placement, type of ad, how relevant the product is to the websites core niche etc. will all affect conversion rates but zero sales? Something doesn't sound right. How much traffic do they usually get to the page(s) you are advertising on?

I would ask to see their stats. Page views, etc.. What do your stats show? You must be able to track click throughs. How much traffic is your 4k supposed to get? Have they given you a minimum guarantee? If your product and their niche are a good fit I'm sure you can work out the wrinkles. If they are legit and want long term advertising revenue it is in their best interests to ensure you are happy after all.
 
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StrikingViper69

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As you know only too well ad placement, type of ad, how relevant the product is to the websites core niche etc. will all affect conversion rates but zero sales? Something doesn't sound right. How much traffic do they usually got to the page(s) you are advertising on?

I would ask to see their stats. Page views, etc.. What do your stats show? You must be able to track click throughs. How much traffic is your 4k supposed to get? Have they given you a minimum guarantee? If your product and their niche are a good fit I'm sure you can work out the wrinkles. If they are legit and want long term advertising revenue it is in their best interests to ensure you are happy after all.

Everything here... something sounds fishy...
 

MoreVolume

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As you know only too well ad placement, type of ad, how relevant the product is to the websites core niche etc. will all affect conversion rates but zero sales? Something doesn't sound right. How much traffic do they usually get to the page(s) you are advertising on?

I would ask to see their stats. Page views, etc.. What do your stats show? You must be able to track click throughs. How much traffic is your 4k supposed to get? Have they given you a minimum guarantee? If your product and their niche are a good fit I'm sure you can work out the wrinkles. If they are legit and want long term advertising revenue it is in their best interests to ensure you are happy after all.
The guy told me they were getting around 150,000 page views per day. Said they have a relationship with TMZ and other heavy hitters. I should have asked him for visual proof. I just took his word for it, because every advertiser who has reached out to us so far, has delivered SUPER results.

My site averages 300 and change in page views per day. This is day 5 of the ad being live and they have only brought in 74 views based on the analytics. F*ing ridiculous.
$4K should have got me 10's of thousands of views/visits. Other deals result in 1-2k additional page visits.
There were no guarantees on paper, but the company contact assured me that I would see dynamite results based on their numbers.

I voiced my displeasure with the guy, and he gave some BS response talking about how the viewers need 7-10 visits to convert a sale. Dude, with other advertisers, I literally start getting sales as soon as the ads are live. I ALWAYS recoup my investment in 3 days at the MOST.

As a pivot, today we sent brand new advertising banners, which were more aggressive (explaining product benefits) and created a landing page, specially for them. Now we can really track the progress of their ads.
The dude definitely doesn't seem like he is worried about long term advertising, because he ignored alot of points that I made in an email. I mentioned that we need to discuss dissolving this campaign and he straight up ignored it.

Things are fishy indeed, which is why I personally feel as if I would be justified to contact Paypal to get my money back. I told him that I will give him 5 business days to see a change, once the new ads are up. If there is no change then I am just going to ask for some type of prorated refund.

What would be your course of action, based on my reply?
 
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Zahida A. Khan

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Long story short... In November a popular website (as they described themselves) reached out to us to advertise. They ran the numbers by us and made themselves seem like they could do alot for us. I agreed to work with them and paid $4k to run ads with them. The ads started Monday, and we have yet to see an increase in usual traffic. I included a coupon code to track sales, and I havent had ONE sale yet.
@MoreVolume, since you used PayPal you can file a dispute, however I would recommend that you give the company the benefit of doubt by:

1. Tell your contact that results are dismal and what changes are needed to yield better results?
2. If you're not satisfied with their reply, dispute the PayPal transaction

I'm sure you'll get your money back for failing to deliver
 

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Things are fishy indeed, which is why I personally feel as if I would be justified to contact Paypal to get my money back. I told him that I will give him 5 business days to see a change, once the new ads are up. If there is no change then I am just going to ask for some type of prorated refund.

What would be your course of action, based on my reply?

Have you seen a significant uptick in visitors? If they haven't provided any form of guarantee of traffic but from their written correspondence you were led to believe you were getting fair value for money I would open a dispute and chalk it up to experience; i.e. ensure you see evidence of traffic number and testimonials of previous advertisers before parting with cash.
 
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LightHouse

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Have you followed through the ad itself on their site and verified placement, click through, tracking, Etc?

It's also possible that their userbase is tech savvy and uses ad blockers, you might not be the top ad, etc.

In your situation, It seems like you are trying to validate the right to try to refund something you knowingly agreed to. Getting validation from this forum based on only your side of the story isn't going to align well.

If we told you to do it, would you do it? If we told you not to do it..... would you still do it?

It sounds like you realize that this was a bad bet (it happens), so let it run it's course and don't run any more ads with them. It doesn't sound like they did not fulfill their part of the deal, they didn't promise conversions.

It also sounds like there is a lesson here on taking anyone's claims of "DYMAMITE RESULTS" with a grain of salt. I typically always step into test environments with either a small starter or burnable cash used to try new things that may not work out. This way your expectations aren't high and don't have you over focusing on a few dollars and ignoring future potential elsewhere.
 

MoreVolume

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Hey guys. I wanted to wait until there was an official decision, before I posted an update
But I got the money back. Thank god that I used PayPal instead of wiring the money
I admit that I did play dirty when it came to my PayPal claim, but i don’t feel bad about it, since I was deceived

the website in question is “ego tastic.com” (just delete the space)

I’m not worried about them suing us...I’ve threatened them with a counter suit. Not because I think we will win. But because I know they don’t have the financial stamina/resources to keep fighting us in court. We bring in $4K in less than 2 weeks, meanwhile they have to scam for it. Do you really think they can afford a lawyer? It costs to sue, lol

Someone mentioned my company’s reputation being soiled after this. Nothing will happen.
1) they are small time with no reputation
2) they have no way to reach our target audience.

Everything is all good. I learned a lesson in all this, and now I can move forward in a smarter manner.
All I can say is....fight for your damn business. Even if the money is a small amount, don’t you dare let anyone take advantage of you


@Johnny boy @Jon L @Peal @SEOguy @RazorCut @SamRussell @Kid @Zahida A. Khan @MarkJT @LightHouse
 
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Carlitos

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Hey guys. I wanted to wait until there was an official decision, before I posted an update
But I got the money back. Thank god that I used PayPal instead of wiring the money
I admit that I did play dirty when it came to my PayPal claim, but i don’t feel bad about it, since I was deceived

the website in question is “ego tastic.com” (just delete the space)

I’m not worried about them suing us...I’ve threatened them with a counter suit. Not because I think we will win. But because I know they don’t have the financial stamina/resources to keep fighting us in court. We bring in $4K in less than 2 weeks, meanwhile they have to scam for it. Do you really think they can afford a lawyer? It costs to sue, lol

Someone mention my companies reputation being soiled after this. Nothing will happen.
1) they are small time with no reputation
2) they have no way to reach our target audience.

Everything is all good. I learned a lesson in all this, and now I can move forward in a smarter manner.
All I can say is....fight for your damn business. Even if the money is a small amount, don’t you dare let anyone take advantage of you


@Johnny boy @Jon L @Peal @SEOguy @RazorCut @SamRussell @Kid @Zahida A. Khan @MarkJT @LightHouse
This exact same thing is the reason why I am afraid of hiring any digital marketer to run my advertising for me. But i did come across a post from a member here who goes by Andy Black, he has 2 packages to offer for owners like us who are just getting started or want to take it to the next level. I haven't tried it yet but I will be subscribing to his services today when I find time.
 

RazorCut

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But i did come across a post from a member here who goes by Andy Black, he has 2 packages to offer for owners like us who are just getting started or want to take it to the next level. I haven't tried it yet but I will be subscribing to his services today when I find time.

Andy Black? Never heard of him. :rofl:

Pretty much every longstanding member here can vouch for you being in very safe hands with Andy. It will be money very well spent.


Thank god that I used PayPal instead of wiring the money
I admit that I did play dirty when it came to my PayPal claim, but i don’t feel bad about it, since I was deceived

I can't say I blame you. I hate PayPal but it does have it's uses. :rofl:

Obviously a lesson learnt that will see you more cautious in the future.
 

Kal-El1998

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I know you've got your money back...but just out of curiosity, what kind of page were they advertising for you on? I'd imagine that, that would play a huge part in sales. Could be they had the wrong target audience.
 
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WJK

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What did you learn out of all of this? Yes, you got your money back -- but, that isn't the important part. Think of all the time and mental energy you have spent on this issue. The $4k is nothing compared to the real investment that you have made. So, have you set up a test program for placing future ads? Have you honed your profile of what type of site will pull the best for you? Have you created a screening process to make sure that the sites where you purchase ad space are on the up and up? Are you testing your ads when they are placed to make sure that they are working properly? Have you done an A vs. B testing program, with a specific tracking system, to see what is really pulling the best? There's a lot of great info out there on market and how to do it well.
 

MoreVolume

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I know you've got your money back...but just out of curiosity, what kind of page were they advertising for you on? I'd imagine that, that would play a huge part in sales. Could be they had the wrong target audience.
I just found the original email that the dude sent me. He explained that the site was a pop culture site, with 3 million unique views a day. I had just advertised on a site called “The Chive”, which was the same type of site. So it wasn’t the type audience that was the issue
The issue was, the site was a scam and barely for any traffic. Meanwhile the similar site gave me dynamite results
Not trying to sound cocky, but when people get an understanding of what my product is about, they usually try it. It has the same type of demand as Viagra, but a wider audience (larger age range)


What did you learn out of all of this? Yes, you got your money back -- but, that isn't the important part. Think of all the time and mental energy you have spent on this issue. The $4k is nothing compared to the real investment that you have made. So, have you set up a test program for placing future ads? Have you honed your profile of what type of site will pull the best for you? Have you created a screening process to make sure that the sites where you purchase ad space are on the up and up? Are you testing your ads when they are placed to make sure that they are working properly? Have you done an A vs. B testing program, with a specific tracking system, to see what is really pulling the best? There's a lot of great info out there on market and how to do it well.
In all honesty, my vetting process has always been pretty thorough. I was able to get scammed because the guy outright lied to me. He gave me false stats and references, and provided a good presentation. I wasn’t going to be able to see what was what until the campaign went on.
I know it sounds like im not trying to take responsibility, but this was more of an issue I’d this guy being a scumbag scammer/liar
 

MitchC

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Aren’t there websites that tell you each sites daily visitors?

can you put in your next contract a guarantee of page views?

can you request access to google analytics before sending any money?

can you do contracts based on performance or partially on performance next time?

lots of ways to prevent this from happening again.

one huge tip I learned is that the influencers and sites who reach out to you cold are usually shit, any site or influencer who is any good does not need to do cold emails, they are busy enough.
 
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WJK

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I just found the original email that the dude sent me. He explained that the site was a pop culture site, with 3 million unique views a day. I had just advertised on a site called “The Chive”, which was the same type of site. So it wasn’t the type audience that was the issue
The issue was, the site was a scam and barely for any traffic. Meanwhile the similar site gave me dynamite results
Not trying to sound cocky, but when people get an understanding of what my product is about, they usually try it. It has the same type of demand as Viagra, but a wider audience (larger age range)



In all honesty, my vetting process has always been pretty thorough. I was able to get scammed because the guy outright lied to me. He gave me false stats and references, and provided a good presentation. I wasn’t going to be able to see what was what until the campaign went on.
I know it sounds like im not trying to take responsibility, but this was more of an issue I’d this guy being a scumbag scammer/liar
My ex-business partner would say... it's the cost of doing business. So, limit your exposure in the future. Set up a test program where you try out a new site by doing a test program before you go balls out. (and only a $4k loss is nothing compared to what a lot of people spend) Yes, people lie. So, be the questioning mind that always wants to know more.
 

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