As a merchant account provider, there’s nothing more heartbreaking than seeing a high-potential campaign coming to an untimely death. Anyone who’s survived managing a successful DR campaign can offer some sage advice about running the next one. Most of these lessons learned involve some variation of an “If I’d only…†story. Since there are no “do-overs†in DR, you better make the best of each and every opportunity. The trick then is learning what to look for when the next one presents itself. To that end, I’d like to share one of the more common pitfalls encountered by untested DR marketers in hopes of helping others avoid similar fates.
Imagine you just launched a homerun direct response campaign. You’re getting a 4:1 MER (media efficiency ratio). You have thousands of units flying out of your fulfillment house. You’ve just spent a million dollars for more media and are getting ready to order more units. Everything’s running perfectly. STOP. Your local business bank, which you’ve banked with for years and gave you a great deal on your merchant account, just notified you that it placed a hold on that transaction because you have exceeded your merchant account limit and it is uncomfortable with your recent merchant processing activity. WHAT?!
Translation: We don’t understand how your account grew so fast, and we’re afraid it might be fraud, so we’re not going to give you any money until we figure this all out, however long it takes. This is a typical response from merchant banks that are unfamiliar with the direct response industry. Meanwhile, orders are being delayed, people are canceling orders and demanding refunds, vendors are demanding payment for services, and to top it off your ulcer is growing by the minute.
Lesson Learned: There’s nothing more important than finding a merchant account provider who knows the ins and outs of DR.
Travis Gomez is a sales manager for CambridgeCommerce
Tags: cambridge commerce, Direct Response, Payment Processing, travis gomez
[...] The following horror story comes from Travis Gomez, sales manager for CambridgeCommerce [...]