My Run-In With AdRoll

In a previous post I recommended using Adroll to advertise your small business. 99% of the time that I suggest something it is because I have tried it first. So Adroll is a service I briefly experimented with to advertise Entrepreneur Apparel. I learned about Adroll while listening to This Week In Startups (TWIST) podcast. Because there was an offer to try the product at a discount of $100 off my first campaign (at adroll.com/TWIST) I was eager to investigate.

I went to the site, set up my campaign and let it rip. A couple days later I also initiated a second campaign of Facebook advertising through Adroll, just to try it out. They say curiosity killed the cat and for this black leopard it was true. Two weeks later, my campaign was concluded and I noticed a bill in my inbox for the entire first campaign. What's this? I used my coupon and it didn't work?

They sent me three emails at the end of the first ad campaign asking for my feedback and I was certainly ready to give it. I responded with a quick note of complaint about my billing. I also left a short note on the customer feedback section of the website. Within minutes I received a response. Their explanation was that the first campaign exceeded the coupon by $5. The second campaign was well under the coupon so they weren't going to charge me for the second campaign. They would hold the difference between the second campaign and the $100 coupon for future spending. The first campaign they had to charge me the full amount because it was over the coupon amount. In the end they apologized for the confusion and quickly agreed to refund my money. 

Take this as a lesson in communication. They should have communicated that the coupon does not apply to your first campaign, rather it applies to your first campaign under $100 (USD). Furthermore, since your campaign spending must be under the amount of your coupon to apply then the difference must be held by Adroll for future campaigns. So, Adroll requires you to spend more than the amount of the coupon you are getting. Plain and simple language would have helped here. But I do commend them for their speedy refund. The time between my complaint and my refund was only 24 hours so good on them for their swift and decisive customer response.

But beware of using tricky wording and creating unclear deals like this for your own business. Although I have walked away from this run-in with Adroll with a fairly good customer service experience I am put-off by what feels like a sneaky sales tactic. 

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Have you had a run-in with a company with a hidden discount policy? Let me know in the comments below!