Refunds for paid advertising that doesn't pay off?

I've never heard of that Jon, and I wouldn't give the refund because you kept to your end of the deal by supplying traffic/advert space.

There could be many reason why they haven't made a sale, which is something they have to take responsibility for.

I remember buying my first paid advertising around 1975 and have been buying Ad space and doing direct mailings since then.

It the Ads didn't work, the problem was mine - bad copy or wrong media for my intended audience. Yes, we learn from out mistakes.

That said, I've never heard of a refund for Ad space/time/mailings if the Ad didn't work. I have had media offer additional space at a discount (and even free) for me to try it again with a different message.

:-Don

I don't sell paid advertising on any of my sites, so I am not familiar
with how to deal with those types of customers, but I do buy advertising
and I would never ask for a refund nor would I expect it.

Only exception where I asked for a refund was when I paid for it
and the seller never actually fulfilled the order.

Try asking Google for your money back if the traffic you buy from them doesn't convert. LMAO!!

I would not give a refund but what I would do is rerun the ad (If it doesn't cost you much) and perhaps help the advertiser put together a better ad. A happy customer will retll the good story 1-time. An unhappy customer will tell it again and again.

You sell advertising. You advertised for them. They have no reason to get a refund. You do not sell results. If you had a results guaranteed statement then sure they'd be entitled to a refund. But I've never asked Google to give me my money back for ads that never made me money nor any newspaper classified ad that didn't give me a single call!

You can't guarantee results because there are so many variables to take into consideration and ultimately the responsibility of the effectiveness of their ad lies with the advertiser.

Perhaps in future for your own protection you might want to include a legal disclaimer stating that you can not guarantee results.

If I bought paid advertising in a newspaper and their circulation was what they claimed it was then I'd have no recourse for a refund, no matter how poorly my ad did.

I would assume that your customer checked your stats and/or Alexa ranking and made the decision to buy advertising space on your site. As long as your traffic stats and ranking performed within reasonable expectations they have no right to a refund.

Of course if you do give them one you'll have a customer for life - except they may never pay you!

Bill

If you opted for advertisements such as G, and didn't receive any sales, would they give you a refund?
Refunds in advertisements as far as i'm concerned don't exist. In the beginning I lost $5000 to G and have excepted the responsibility totally on my behalf. It's a risk you take, but hey, if you don't, you will never know. You lose some before making some!
Don't refund!
cheers, Pierro

As long as there was no language in your communication about the ad space that was misleading, they have no entitlement to a refund. I'm guessing that they're fairly new to business because it sounds like they thought they were purchasing sales, not just distribution.

Purchasing advertising is an investment, and investments entail risk. You may want to point out that millions of businesses spend money on Yellow Pages advertising, TV and radio spots, Pay-Per-Click advertising, etc. and don't see a profit, and that their ad copy and whether or not their offer was matched to your audience are deciding factors as well. Not to mention the copy on their website itself (assuming the traffic was going to a website), or whatever conversion system they had in place.

My 2 cents worth:

To get a legal answer, I would have to look at the wording of your promotion for advertisers, and perhaps also look at the clients actual ad.

As a business answer:

It's not the fact that you get a complaint but the way you handle a complaint that defines your business.

Dealing with compaint is the biggest area where people lose business. Confused? Let me explain (I teach this companies for a living so I know what I'm on about)

Scenario 1:

customer comes, bad experience, you tell 'your own fault'

What does the customer do? Never comes back, hates you, never buys your other products and tells friends. YOU LOST MONEY

Remember, this is a paying customer, not just a lead. They have put the money on the table, and if you treat them right they will keep putting money on the table. It's in your interest to sort this out.


Scenario 2:

Customer comes, bad experience, you act 'sympathetic'

You ask the customer what the results were. You ask if they have tracking. You ask if they have had results before. You spend 5 minutes of your time being 'sympathetic'.

Even if the client still isn't happy he never hates you, and may return when he realises it's his fault. BUT WAIT, there is an even better scenario:

If you truely believe it was their ad, and not that you actually have poor quality traffic, then why wouldn't take this opportunity to increase your revenue from this fella?

Here's how:

Discuss quickly what you would change with the ad to make it more responsive (usually simple change, or the creation of a splash page). Tell, them when they have made the changes, to come back to you, and if your happy with it, you will run another free ad for them.

The customer is excited, thinks your great, and loves you and your future products. And 90% will never even ask for the re-run!

But for the 10% that do, once they get results from you, tell them a few things else they should maybe look at, and that they should use your consulting package at $xx/hour.

I've did this with 1 client last year who now buys all m consulting packages and has been worth $30k last year alone, and he recommended me to all his clients.

Remember, see an opportunity in everything but also keep in mind:
It's not the fact that you get a complaint but the way you handle a complaint that defines your business.

Just my thought on what you should do. If you want to send them away, give them my contact details, and I will take care of your PAYING CUSTOMER for you.

Venturetothetop: Great answer! That's the kind of thing that Ritz-Carlton taught me while working with them.

Did you guarantee any results? If not simply refuse to refund the money. If an advert fails to get desired results it's the marketing team (or an individual who is looking after the marketing or promotion) who is to be blamed, the advertisement media can't be held responsible for that.

Could you ever imgine even in you dream that Google Adwords is making a refund because the 379 clicks for which you paid them $79.30 didn't convert to any sale?