Time for me to vent for a bit. I’ve been an affiliate for Yahoo! for years, and I have promoted their Search Marketing team for a long, long time. They called me last week to offer me a special promotion that they were running. Essentially, their Fast Track Service for their Pay Per Click model (Overture) which is normally $199.00, they were waiving the setup fee but for just two days. I mentioned that we would probably bury their department because the deal is so good.
Their response? “Bring it.”
And bring it we did. On three separate occasions during this two day process, we filled up the voice mail of those taking the orders. We promoted this hard for them and we had a great response. When Monday rolled around, I was informed that all the customers that we referred to Yahoo! who were not contacted on Thursday or Friday due to the response would NOT get the offer: “They are just out of luck,” said my contact (basically repeating management).
This is a clear example of how Yahoo! just doesn’t understand the merchant /affiliate relationship. I hope that Yahoo! decides to make good on this offer, as in the meantime, I have a group of people that are highly unhappy with dealing with a large corporate head. I don’t blame them.
If this doesn’t get worked out, I will be recommending AdWords only – unless Microsoft can get it in gear and launches their PPC model. Honestly, are we really surprised by Yahoo!’s response?
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