Recently, social media was abuzz with talk of Google no longer accepting credit cards for certain customers.
The reasoning is fairly obvious, and makes good business sense for Google. If Google pays roughly 2% in credit card fees, a large client spending $150,000/month could cost the search engine $36,000/year in fees. Now multiply that number by X.
That’s a big…BIG number. And there are plenty of companies spending much more than that.
This is not-so-great news for many advertisers, since a lot of us take advantage of the miles and cash back perks that many credit card companies offer – allowing business owners to offset some of the cost of their marketing. So, you can see why many advertisers were concerned.
The good news is this change will affect a very small portion of businesses advertising with the search giant. In fact, this change will affect less than 1% of all AdWords customers, whom Google has deemed Large Customer Sales (LCS), so if you do not fall into that bucket, there is nothing to worry about at this time.
This does leave a big, lingering question, however: What constitutes a Large Customer Sales advertiser?
I spoke with Melissa at Google today and asked her what kinds of accounts would fall into this category. For the most part, Large Customer Sales advertisers are those who have a dedicated AdWords support team. If you, or your advertising agency have to call into the 866-2-GOOGLE number you shouldn’t have to worry about losing your credit card points.
But what about companies who are considered Large Customer Sales? It will be interesting to see if any advertisers reduce their Google spend each month in order to maintain things like miles and cash back, as many companies use these for conferences, trips, and to finance things like holiday parties and bonuses.
Needless to say, there will be plenty of businesses unhappy with the change. An actual date has not been set, but if you fall into the LCS crowd, your dedicated support team will contact you with the details.
Google has made a business off of small to medium-sized advertisers, allowing them to play on a more level ground with the big boys. If you are unsure whether you fall into the Large Customer Sales bucket, give Gatorworks a call today – 225-924-6109. We would be happy to take a look at your account and help you figure it out.