Review: BT Web Clicks
Don’t get ripped off by the BT Web Clicks service. Why pay £460 every month for a year for a service that would only cost you £150?
More importantly, why is BT claiming to generate “contacts” for your business, when indeed all it is doing is charging you for a “click” to your website . Since when is a click the same thing as a valuable contact?
BT are aggressively marketing their own Pay Per Click management service branded BT Web Clicks. Delegates at a number of workshops I recently taught have mentioned there is a carpet bombing telemarketing campaign promoting their money back guarantee. As soon as I see money back promises, I reckon it is worth looking more closely at the detail of what is being promised.
BT Web Clicks guarantees a “level of contacts” – and they price the offer at a sensible £40 per month (+VAT) giving a business 40 contacts, or £60 gets you 60 contacts, and so forth.
BT will promote your site, thus generating contacts, via
- BT’s own BT directory sites like BTExchanges.com
- Proprietary directory like Ufindus
- Pay Per Click services on Google, Yahoo and MSN.
So, why are BT being so generous with this offer, and why am I recommending my clients to avoid committing to the BT Web Clicks?
Who Uses BT Exchanges.com?
Have you even heard of BT Exchanges? It’s a big secret to me, and it looks like not many other people are using it. Take a look at the visitor data for BT Exchanges. No data means insufficient visitors to register on Google’s radar.
What about the other directories BT are promoting in?
Taking a look at visitor traffic to Ufindus, SmileLocal, and MoreUK. There is a distinct downward trends as fewer Internet users make use of these directories, dipping towards half the amount of traffic they formerly received:
So, how will BT get all these “contacts” for you?
The answer is likely to be Pay Per Click advertising.
Indeed, in it’s own terms and conditions BT describes the service thus:
“BT Web Clicks is a package of online advertising, enabling business to advertise on Internet search engines such as Google and Yahoo.”
And herein lies the rub.
Let’s do the maths together, and you’ll see why I recommend you avoid BT Web Clicks
A BT Web Click contact is defined as “calls, clicks, texts, emails.” Note how BT have cannily included “clicks” as a successful contact. I would hardly equate a Click on my website as a Contact, but that is the marketing spin being put on this package.
I suspect people think a “contact” equates with an enquiry, but given the low volume of traffic to the directories they are promoting your business in, I think it is fair to assume BT will be getting a delivering the bulk of business contacts as paid “clicks” to your website.
So, at a budget of £40 for 40 contacts, that means you will paying a £1 per click on the pay per click network for a click that might actually be costing BT 2 pence. My maths aren’t great, but I think that means for every click there is 98% profit for BT.
But the price of a pound per client is only for the easiest clicks to acquire. If you are in a more competitive field like Teleconferencing, then BT will charge you £400 per 40 visitors, or whopping £10 per click.
If we take a look at the estimated price per click for teleconferencing using Google AdWords, the price is estimated at £3.75. That means a business might pay BT £400 per month for a service that costs BT only £150. You do the maths on the profit BT is making. By the way, the £400 is plus VAT, and the £150 includes VAT
Why is is BT Web Clicks a Bad Idea?
- You are paying a huge mark up on Pay Per Click advertising that you could do yourself, or get a professional agency to do for your more cheaply
- In addition to this cost, you will also be paying a significant set up fee running to hundreds of pounds.
- You are restricted in terms of the flexibility of testing new keywords, and changing your keyword strategies
- You are locked into a 12 month contract. Even if you’re not happy with the service you have signed on the dotted line and you must continue to pay up
- It is not compatible with a business doing their own PPC advertising. Either you use BT’s service, or nothing at all.
I hate to even link to the service, but here is where you can learn more about the BT Web Clicks service
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July 6th, 2009 at 8:03 am
I think BT is taking advantage of small businesses who don’t really understand about advertising on the web. They put their trust in a big company like BT, and the advertising is all about the benefits of getting more “customers” and doesn’t really mention it is just buying clicks.
July 6th, 2009 at 5:06 pm
[...] Hallam has had a right old go at BT's "Web Clicks" service, and her controlled demolition is well wo…. She reports that there seems to be "a carpet bombing telemarketing campaign" on this [...]
July 7th, 2009 at 7:52 am
A typical BT offering!
In difficult times spending £5520 p.a. on something such as this means that I have to get new business to the same value just to break even, sorry but its not tempting me.
I’ve been away from the web development business for a couple of years and looking at it with a fresh mind there seems to be a need for a “back to basics” approach; time to re-define and re-align and prevent smaller businesses from chasing themselves round in circles and losing sight of their actual business goals. Anyone else feeling like this?
July 8th, 2009 at 6:34 am
I just wanted to add that my business was a victim of the BT telemarketing carpet bombing campaign today.
What I thought was particularly cheeky is that the salesman asked me to ring him back on his mobile phone. Normally I would never ring back, but this was just too tempting!
He had 3 products in his kit bag: phone book listings, BT Exchanges listings, and BT Web Clicks.
Needless to say, I didn’t take up his offer!
July 9th, 2009 at 9:59 am
Just had a bt operative phone me promoting BT Clicks. They just happened to have a sales rep in my area (surprise surprise) I hate cold calling and just said no and in the end had to put the phone down on the lady as she would not give up. After reading this I am glad and always believe in go with your instinct.
July 19th, 2009 at 7:47 am
I am Expecting a sales rep tomorrow.and will be happy to tell them where they can put their clicks now.for warned is for armed THANKS.
July 21st, 2009 at 7:32 am
So, BT webclicks is a bad idea?
… Regardless of the money back guarantee?
… Regardless of the fact that unlike google add words you get listed on the trade directories, which 99 times out of 100 I use myself to find contacts?
… Also taking into concideration that the cost varies greatly for each different type of buisness.
I mean yeh its not going to work for everyone, also Its not perfect but for the buisnesses that its aimed at it works, To a big buisness who more than likely has an expansive client list and are quick to say something does not work maybe its not for you.
It works for me, It cost me initially yes, but When you look for reviews on something the negative usually appears first.
I have made a good return on my investment and will no doubt continue to work with Webclicks untill something better comes along.
Kind Regards,
Joel
July 25th, 2009 at 1:11 am
I think Joel works for BT… he writes like an advert…!!
I have not heard about BT EXCHANGES apart from when the BT salesman called!
I regret trusting BT and feel completely ripped off!
August 6th, 2009 at 4:10 pm
had a cold call , had a sales man come in and give me the break down,
we ended up calling it “clicks” when i poited out a so called contact was actualy a good old fasion click!.
Did a quick google serch of ” BT webclicks” this forum came up 4th on the list… Sales man werent to happy when i said i will need to read this before i decide..
guess it probley be a no and stick to goole ad words instead ,
August 29th, 2009 at 3:51 pm
Thanks for the article on BT Webclicks: I read it too late unfortunately. However it is not the issues yo mention that worry me: I knew it was PPC etc etc. What bothers me is that they purport to be sending me people that don’t appear in my weblogs – e.g. for a certain period they say they sent 197 people via Yahoo (to my home page) but my logs show a total of around 45 from Yahoo for my whole site. Something wrong, surely?
September 4th, 2009 at 4:29 pm
A note from Susan Hallam:
I received this comment, and despite my reservations decided to publish it in its entirety.
I would like to make one important observation. The author does confirm, in the very last paragraph, that he has worked on the development of the Web Clicks product, and alludes to his role selling the BT Web clicks product. I quote:
It’s a shame, and potentially illegal, that he doesn’t make his connection with BT more transparent in his comments.
I have taken the liberty of highlighting some of the more entertaining bits.
And there is a PS at the bottom of this post that I couldn’t resist adding.
And now, here is the comment for your reading pleasure:
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Let me educate you people.
Directories – What are they? A platform to search for business by name or classification.
Name a directory – Yellow pages or yell.com, The Phone Book or BT Exchanges, Thompson, need I go on?
These are the major players in the directory market.
BT Webclicks is part of BT directories. BT directories knows directories because they have been doing it for 132 years.
If you take note of the media focus on decreasing advertising revenue this year for directories, national press, magazines, TV etc you’ll see there is a decline in print marketing generally. Yes? Figures of revenue losses of 45% spring to mind during the first half of the year? Any big names disappear due to advertising revenue losses? Setanta? ITV is struggling too oh and channel 4, why? Because you get more response from marketing online direct to people specifically searching for you by keyword and in the places people log onto daily like Yahoo, MSN, Facebook, Twitter, Myspace . . . . . . etc etc they simply are loosing out to more responsive interactive audiences online.
I see now BT Webclicks is one solution to a global problem in marketing. In fact a very clever solution to marketing.
Not just advertising! The high street is suffering too you know, look at our beloved Woolworths, they couldn’t compete on the high street with costly overheads and products you could buy cheaper online. So where are they now? Online as an online ordering shop.
This is the way of modern business and those who haven’t woken up to it better take a reality check.
Why? – Because the modern world has chosen the Internet as a source for information with interactive results and speedy delivery. Fact: 70% of people in the UK will use a search engine to search for a service, business, product etc (oh yeah that’s 32 million online in the UK) Get this though, almost 70% of businesses either don’t have a website or simply don’t optimise a current site correctly (fact). Imbalance? yeah just a bit!
But when you type my business name in I come up on the first page!? – What planet are these guys on? So when I bought a laptop the other day online, my brain came up with loads of company names to search through yeah? NO I typed in ‘cheap laptops with dual core’ and the results came up. These are known as keywords and you need them in your metatags or built into your home page to come up on results. This is known as optimisation.
Those companies that came up on the page got my view or contact as BT calls it and one of them got £400 of my hard earned money. Those who didn’t appear lost out. It’s simple, people have money to spend when they search, and they will make a decision based on the results the search page presents to them. If you’re not in the results you’ve lost out on a potential new customer. Even if you do come up and they don’t buy the first time you will have what we call a profile and maybe provide something they may come back to later to buy. You have to be in it to win it and it so true for the first page of a search site.
BT Webclicks does this for you.
Not all businesses will come up on a search so the only way you can get on the first page will be through sponsored links. Also you may come up tops locally but what about those customers not local you can cater for? in most cases you won’t come up in a search outside your town.
BT Webclicks does this for you whether you want local business by village, town, county, region or UK wide you set your ‘hotspots’ and BT will deliver contacts from your chosen areas – Nice, so will I get people contacting me, only from areas I cover? – Yes.
I get traffic already to my site why do I want this service as well? – Ever heard of raising your game? If you have done everything you can to optimise your site and you for example get a good level of business from 400 hits a month; BT can deliver an additional 400 contacts thus doubling your traffic and possible doubling your online revenue and they will use keyword for your business that you may not appear highly on searches – Nice.
BT Webclicks can provide any thing from 480 – 72000 contacts over 12 months!
My figures may be off by a few £million but with the shift in search trends for businesses from print to online, the online market in the UK is on course for £63b up from £57b last year.
Fact: Google, Bing or MSN and Yahoo account for 92% of the online search market.
So with less people using the old fashioned directories they are turning to the internet now. So with this the directories business has shifted with consumer trends and they all offer an online proposition.
With me so far?
Good – So look at the bigger picture.
BT has Webclicks.
Yell has yell.com – one directory search site with an option of a pricy landing page or web link.
Thompson’s online directory. That’s one directory with a simalar service as yell.com.
Both yell and Thompsons use sponsored links to pull people to their directory site, but why go from the most used search engines to one directory with another list of results that probably won’t be that great and will maybe have a few web links? I don’t know myself, probably down to clever marketing and the old belief that you need to be in Yellow pages, lmao! But the UK spends hundreds of thousands for this unproven concept with no guarantee. That’s right no guarantee and guess what. . . BT Webclicks guarantees this for you.
Getting it yet? Ok this is how it is.
How many companies out there can guarantee someone will contact your business by phone, email and visits to your website? Only one and that’s BT.
This service is a proven and accountable form of marketing for the new generation of online business and trading. Companies spend many thousands in a Yellow Pages directory, local paper advertising (that’s another joke!)leaflets, bill boards etc. with no guarantee of response and in most cases the business owner will never know how much business or how many people contacted them from an advert. Money down the drain for a misconception that you have to be in there? Maybe if it was 1985 and the only place you could get a number or find a service was Yellow Pages. Wake up!
How do I know all this? Because I deal with these businesses every day and the majority report a succesfull campaign.
Why do you think BT sold the product Yellow Pages? Declining revenue? Usage? Shift to online propositions maybe? Hmm maybe BT saw this coming a long time ago and decided they better focus on a service for the new online generation.
Clever BT, for if it wasn’t for BT we probably would still be in the dark ages when it comes to internet.
Thanks BT your efficient network has helped the UK economy prosper whether by phone fax, internet, business support, broadband TV, digital external backup, redcare, IT support for 132 years!
BT Webclick fits comfortably in an already successful portfolio of products and services. Remember Cellnet and BT combined to create O2? another success story, in fact BT pioneers and revolutionises the way we work in the UK today whether your a consumer or a business.
Getting the bigger picture yet?
So why spend £10k with yell for adverts with no accountability, when for the same money you can get 10,000 contacts from the BT service BT Webclicks. I can tell you now 10,000 people will never look at a one particular local advert in a directory. I know because I work in the directories market.
Remember this – BT Webclicks will market your business across Google, Bing, Yahoo, Exchanges, Ufindus, Smilelocal, Moreuk and many other online directories BT owns.
Nice, that’s handy BT, now I can have a free website and get people contacting me guaranteed; and I’ve been spending £10k every year in the yellow pages? I would get a better response with the BT service for half the cost yeah? – YES YOU WILL a 4800 contact package (and most businesses are £1 a contact) is ample for any business and will achieve brilliant results for any business.
So in a time when businesses are reluctant to get a presence online because, well let’s face it, it is a bit of a mine field and they know they need to be because that is where new customers will be searching for them, this is the best service currently in the UK.
Let me share a true story with you.
A tree surgeon in Hertfordshire who never had a website until BT built him one last year and BT provided 960 contacts at a £1 a contact for the year; booked at least one order a week from his site. His Average Order Value is £500. Did it pay for itself? What do you think?
It’s not rocket science it’s easy and you need to be in it to win it.
There are people searching for your business by keyword online every day. Go to the Google adwords tool (search: Google adword tool and use the old one – it’s easier to use) and type in some keywords for your business, tick the synonyms box and click search. You will be amazed at the amount of searches in just one month! Oh and also you’ll see that a lot of the keywords that are specific to your business will in most cases be more expensive than the contact cost of a BT Webclick. Why is that? Because BT buys keywords wholesale a lot cheaper than average Joe, why? Because BT spend a lot with the search engines bidding on keywords on behalf of all the happy Webclick customers. So like Talk Talk who buy call time from BT and sell it to their customers at a margin but below the BT rate, BT do the same for adwords, thus proving to be a cost effective way of letting BT Webclicks do it for you
BT puts you in front of your new customers with a guarantee of a level of them coming to you through exposure.
So have we got it yet? Websites are portals to your business and an interactive advert all in one yes? YES they are and that is the way the world of marketing is going and that is why I have job security in online marketing.
Random fact: 98% of people when making a search will never click past the first page.
These people have money to spend as a lot of trading is now done through sourcing online and if you don’t have a website or have a website that doesn’t function properly or not correctly optimised they will be spending with those who do appear on search results.
Are you getting it yet?
Also as a natural by-product to the service BT Webclicks, your own website page ranking is increased due to the increase in traffic and links to all the many search sites your website will be linked to. Nice that’s handy so does that mean I will naturally move up through the pages so I appear closer to the first page as a result? YES YOU WILL That’s great, what a fantastic little service.
Time Management.
I’m a hairdresser and I would love to do this myself, build a website and try adwords on Google because it might save me money as suggested above. REALLY? Would you let BT cut your hair? . . . I don’t need to answer that, but letting the country’s largest and most successful media company manage your campaign will in most cases be a success, and it saves your time (that is a cost when trying to fathom the online search world of marketing) and time is money as not mentioned above and time costs need to be factored into a business when making a choice. BT offers a new much improved support service with a local new media Executive trained in online new media by the world 4th largest telecommunications company.
A little test for you: Go to Google and type in ‘beauty salon watford’ what comes up? only a highly optimised BT rapid site with a guarentee of contacts. and if you look closer this BT customer has a link from her BT site to an old site that doesn’t appear any where near the first page. I’m sure you wouldn’t complain if you were in her position.
Wow that’s a confident pitch? Why so confident?
Because for 10 years the software and technology BT uses for the service controls 80% of the US online marketing campaigns on Google – successfully.
It didn’t mention that in the slating above? – I know but the slating doesn’t look at the BIGGAR PICTURE.
Wow! Proven? 10 years? 80%? – Yes, and it works.
So why all the scepticism then?
Because as a major player in the market with a new revolutionary service, BT will always but small businesses in a similar field, not able to provide a service as good as this, in a position of competition. With competition comes slander and scepticism and a degree of trying to hold on to the measly market share they have and will say anything negative and publish it without drawing a line and showing you the positives of a competitors service.
Oh I see now, the bigger picture, so this is one of just a handful of highly optimised websites with accusations from people who don’t really understand the service fully.
Got it?
So when it comes to where you should spend your marketing budget, and you’re not web savvy and you don’t really have the time to do it yourself, BT Webclicks offers the best all round service in the UK with a guarantee; and oh yeah it’s no big secret, but, if BT are not as successful as they promise and they fall short of contacts by the end of the 12 month campaign, you get your money back for those contacts they haven’t delivered! – nice! now you don’t get that with an advert do you!?!
So BT Webclicks is the new generation of directories and it is a revolutionary concept that its competitors don’t even come close to.
Thanks BT you just made the internet so much more accessible than just connecting my broadband.
So there you have it Webclicks explain with the bigger picture of marketing and economy in mind and may I add I’ve been in marketing for ten years and I worked in the development of Webclicks so I’m well placed to advise of this service.
And remember investing in this, is investing in your business and will in most cases give you a strong Return On Investment no other directory company can offer this so why would you invest in them? I’m not sure but hopefully you’re a little better positioned to make a choice based on FACTS from someone with firsthand knowledge
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And finally, I have to add that the domain name and email provided for this post, muggedoff, appears to be owned by a fellow called Jerry Pettie, who on Facebook belongs to the BT network. Surprise, Jerry!
September 4th, 2009 at 6:37 pm
Thanks to Chris Rand at http://www.bmon.co.uk for pointing out that muggedoff took the time and effort to write 2,632 words of copy.
September 8th, 2009 at 6:41 pm
I have looked around this site and found it to be quite informative altough at times a little biasedd but altogether interesting. thanks for publishing my little rant, I hope your users take something positive from it.
September 10th, 2009 at 9:46 am
Talk about an ‘office stopper’!; phones were downed, cuppas on hold!
Now, being upfront, a certain provider of telecoms is admittedly at the wrong end of our own ’satisfied spectrum; but bias aside, we really believe from our observations that one size does not all fit all, and certainly the more ‘in the Tail’ your business is, the more a lavish application of sound SEO will fit your on-line marketing needs, negating the need to pay for directory listings.
After 5 years, getting further and further, into SEO and on-line marcoms (and more), I really don’t recall coming across anyone who still uses an on-line directory to wade through ’searching’ for a service / product provider. Why make the ‘route to result’ as long, less visible, and time-consuming as possible? ‘Surfers’ are only becoming used to a ‘ cut to the chase’ approach, and expecting the 1-2 clicks route, aka SEO results, top half, page one etc, etc.
Regarding the PPC elements, regular straw polls, tells us it is falling from the favour of your average surfer, as so many don’t actually deliver the literal results searched for.
I met someone last week whose niche market business was a long term P1 on Google, yet was spending several hundred £’s per week on PPC ‘because I was advised to’! If, e was in an ultra competitive business, and therefore aiming to cover all angles, fair enough. However, he was the sole UK provider of what he did.
I think we are at the point where the mystery and afore-seen voodoo surrounding promoting your business on-line is on it’s way out, with the business decision makers demanding a much fuller explanation as to what they would actually be paying for, what the comparisons would are, what the ROI would be for their own business etc, and indeed just becoming much more on-line market savvy (when was the last time you had the mechanic lift the bonnet and show you the physical bits?).
September 26th, 2009 at 5:37 pm
The ‘novelist’, with all his advertising knowledge & wisdom fails to realise it’s THOMSON directories..!! I was unfortunate to be recruited for the ‘pioneering’ role of New Media Sales Consultant when BT FIRST launched their BTExchanges product – boy, I’ve got a story to tell.
Awful product, awful site, & it DOESN’T deliver – investigate for yourselves what BT deem as a ‘chargeable contact’..
September 29th, 2009 at 12:29 pm
In view of this I’m wondering what your thoughts are, Susan, on the new BT SearchSmart service that they are now also heavily plugging?
http://business.bt.com/domains-and-web-hosting/marketing/search-smart
October 9th, 2009 at 9:44 am
Hi Susan, very interesting and informative article. I wouldn’t normally spring to the defence of BT, but I do have a qualifying comment which is this: if you changed the product names the article could be quite similar if talking about a competing service, i.e. many of the competitors are as bad as BT. We have been ripped off by Yell for the last two years, extremely expensive directory listings and decreasing traffic, their response to this was to offer us a price reduction going forward, this only made us feel even less valued as a customer, i.e. they knew we were being overcharged for an under delivering service. With 4 months to go before service renewal we set them a simple challenge: do something (anything) to improve performance and show the value of the service before renewal. They weren’t able to deliver on this and we terminated our contract. We now have an additional £3000 + VAT to spend on other areas of advertising. (no BT please don’t phone). Our pay per click campaign (which we run ourselves) costs around £70 + VAT per month, and gets close to 200 visitors, because its very targeted they are likely customers. We have a good understanding of how to run our own campaign having attended some of your courses. (Readers please note that our only connection with Hallam Communications is as very satisfied customers. We commissioned Susan to write the brief for our new website last year, we have had great results from our chosen design agency, thanks Susan).
My other rant is about dubious SEO and search marketing companies, they ring up claiming to be from Google (always a worrying start), and then promise either great local results for a fixed monthly fee e.g. £100 per month to come up in local search, (our translation Nottingham campaign gets very little traffic, but gets very high click through, over 16% last time I looked and costing pence per month). I think this also equates to a very big mark up if the marketing company offer the same service. Have you written an article about how to select an SEO or search marketing company?
Regards
Mike Hunter
CEO
betterlanguages.com Ltd.
October 10th, 2009 at 5:38 pm
Hi Mike, and thanks for your comments. I would agree that small businesses need to keep a very close eye on the marketing services being offered by companies like Yell or BT. In asking for demonstrable evidence of how well it is working is a great suggestion.
Also a good suggestion about choosing an SEO / PPC partner, and will be a blog article soon!
November 19th, 2009 at 11:28 am
AG Ceramics is Hertfordshire’s leading tile centre. We sign up to BT Click recently. Their representative claimed that we would receive 400 phone calls a month to our designated telephone number or we would get all of our money back. Obviously we were sceptical and queried this several times as 20 extra phone calls a day to our offices from new customers would be incredible. We voiced our doubts but the BT representative confirmed to us this was the case and added that we could set our own geographical area and key words, and no matter how limiting they were BT would still have to come up with 4800 phonecalls per year or we would get all our money back. We signed the contract as we couldn’t lose – we either received masses of new customers or got our money back.
Each month, we are sent a list of the key names and number of clicks. Loads of clicks but not for key words we have picked. It seems that the words are just picked to meet the click target and not on their relevance to the customers business.
Obviously the phone calls didn’t come and to date I cannot confirm that we have received a single call through the BT Click line. I rang BT Click who said that when receiving a call through BT Click you should first hear a faint whisper saying “BT Click”. Is this for real? No-one who works at our offices has ever heard anything! BT also stated that it does not guarantee phone calls, only clicks. Suddenly it all became clear. We had been miss sold. We immediately cancelled our payments. BT seem keen to pursue the matter but we will happily call their representative to court if it goes legal.
Rob Medley
December 6th, 2009 at 2:34 am
I would like to introduce myself as someone who knows first hand how the BT web clicks + campaign works for 2009. We have several contracts with this service and it works well for us which we refer to other businesses in the Southeast and to our BT rep.
BT Webclicks is based on a search marketing service.
BT Web Clicks is a new advertising proposition which offers small businesses advertisers media exposure via a range of sources to deliver a Guaranteed package of ‘contacts’ (clicks and calls). Customers choose a contacts package with a sales person for a 12 month term. For a fixed monthly fee, BT Web Clicks places priority listings on BT Exchanges and Google, Yahoo and Bing; and a few smaller search engines which BT now own which are: UFindUs, SmileUK and MoreUK to fulfil the customer’s contacts package.
Advertisers can track the performance of their contacts package via monthly analysis and a performance guarantee applies across the minimum contract term (12 months) with a credit or refund policy for contacts not delivered (money back guarantee.)
Our business was in Tier 3 on one package and T1 on another. This at first seems a bit confusing until you understand the logic behind what the tiers are and costs etc.
JUNE 2009
Tier 5 – Mortgage Companies, Accident Claim Experts etc
Tier 4 – Call Centres, Debt Collection, Casinos etc
Tier 3 – Kitchen Design and Installation, E-Commerce, Energy Saving Consultants
Tier 2 – Plumbers, Double Glazing Installation, Car Body Repairs, Computer Services
Tier 1 – Garage Doors, Golf Shops, Sign Makers, Vets, Water Sports
The main reason for the tier policy is to make it as cost effective as possible for both parties as BT give you unlimited keywords to run your campaign for the full 12 months.
Instead of paying for every word that you add to your campaign a fixed cost is put in place, so that you do not let it run your business which we did with Google Adwords.
The Tier policy allows for a straight forward cost and click process worked out as an average cost over the year. We think BT are taking a bit of a gamble on this service as we have 80+ keywords on each campaign we are running which cannot be cost effective for BT buying from Yahoo, Bing and Google.
Tier 5
Tier 4
Tier 3 – £3 a contact//click – Kitchen Design and Installation etc
Tier 2
Tier 1 – £1 a contact//click – Sign Makers, Painters etc
Not sure of the other Tier Pricing as we don’t do them, but I would assume that Tier 2 is £2 a contact etc.
So from here you can see how it all works.
We have a Tier 3 package with Mobile Phone Shops for 1200 contacts for the year and the cost is £3600. We pay the whole lot on 12 months Direct Debit and our costs are spread evenly every month, BT manage the whole solution so we can run our business. They email us every month telling us how the campaign is working.
Our second business is in a Tier 1 campaign and we pay a 1200 contacts package, so 100 contacts a month in the Yacht industry sector. This is not a huge part of our business as the profit is not very high, unlike the Mobile phone shops.
Packages start from £1400 and go upto £72k – If you want to know more or you want a consultation you should contact our sales consultant to learn more.
Many thanks for reading, listening and allowing us to offer our opinions.
BigBalls.
December 8th, 2009 at 1:01 pm
OK, so you sign yourself off “BigBalls” and your penultimate paragraph states “you should contact our sales consultant to learn more.” You mean “BT’s sales consultant” surely…?
I like the line “We think BT are taking a bit of a gamble on this service as we have 80+ keywords on each campaign we are running which cannot be cost effective for BT buying from Yahoo, Bing and Google.”
What makes you think that BT will buy all of the available clicks for those 80+ keywords!? They’ll just set a budget (significantly below yours so that they get a good margin) and when it runs out each day, your advert stops being displayed. Let me assure you there is no gamble in that for BT!
December 28th, 2009 at 10:15 pm
British Telecoms Rip off site!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Their reps fail to inform you that if you already do pay per click in google or yahoo, that they use these sites too, so if you supply them with keywords that you already use then you will be charged twice for the same keyword.
What a waste of money!
Dont use them!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
December 31st, 2009 at 12:54 pm
I am in dispute with BT Webclicks at this moment. Being in a business where I look for leads to develop my Networking business I have previously advertised in Yellow Pages and BT Directories with pathetic results, mainly because the only category that would be anything near appropriate was Recruitment Consultants.
Imagine my reaction when I was approached by BT again in August 2009 to advertise again. However the silver tongued manager told me abut their Webclicks and persuaded me to let their sales person make a presentation.
When the day arrived and after pleasantries, the first thing that I mentioned was that I needed leads (name, address, phone number and e-mail address) and I was only on very rare conditions that I would pay over £2 per lead.
The salesperson, with some difficulty, largely because of lack of product knowledge and after three telephone calls to her supervisor, said that she could provide 40 leads a month which worked out including the set up fee at £1.87 per CONTACT. I agreed.
When contacting them about a setup issue and their ensuing competence a few weeks later, I learned that I was only getting clicks; I immediately wrote to the head of the BT Webclicks department expressing my dissatisfaction with the service so far and cancelled. The matter is ongoing after 3 months, I have refused to pay.
Anyone else in a similar situation should put up a fight. My local Trading Standards officer is taking up the case and offering good advice.
January 13th, 2010 at 11:17 am
Don’t. Biggest mistake you will ever make.
I spend the first few days of every month answering sales calls that have used up my clicks then my listing disappears until the next month, when it all starts again.
Take the money you would spend on BT clicks, set it on fire and warm your hands, at least your getting something useful back.
January 20th, 2010 at 11:22 am
Good News! You can get a full refund from BT.
Regarding entry no.19 where AG Ceramics refused to pay BT further monies and demanded all payments returned on the grounds that we had been miss sold BT Web Click (repeatedly told phonecalls when it is actually only clicks). After being repeatedly chased by the BT accounts department and AG Ceramics standing its ground, BT have now refunded all payments and acknowledged that their selling process what not as it should have been.
We contacted Emma-Louise Brown at support@btwebclicks.com
Also if you struggle to get anywhere, the senior decision maker at BT who made things happen for us is Graham Tosh at the same e.mail address.
My MD Tony Hyde is happy to receive calls from others who have been miss-sold BT Webclicks on 01438 315400 and advise you further on how we proceeded.
January 21st, 2010 at 4:43 pm
[...] Just a word of warning for small businesses out there. I seem to have been the target of a BT carpet bombing telemarketing campaign twice in the space of two days. One word: AVOID. Despite them offering me an “attractive” package for only £10 a month, I would advise to stay clear of this advertisement mean. See the following article for some further explaning: [here]. [...]
January 28th, 2010 at 6:26 pm
i have only yesterday seen what i have signed up too a complete waste of money i only have a small company running bouncy castles and when the sales man gave me all his wisdom it sounded great so £69 a month later for the past six month what has it got me nout thats what why ? i live 30 miles out of aberdeen in a small town called peterhead i said to the sales man i would not deliver there gess what? yep you got it he listed aberdeen as one of my delivery areas.so far out of my 512 clicks i realy have only had 200 to the area were i deliver to and im told by bt its my fault as i hadent looked at my statments please please if you read this beware its a SCAM an i have told bt this and also tryed to get there complants dep bt im still waiting for them to send me a email (that wont come )and im stuck with it for the next six months too. BT ARE RIP OFFS