Joel Comm Screwed Up
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Joel Comm launched AdSense Secrets 4.0 last week to fanfare and a subsequent firestorm.
The day after the release of AdSense Secrets 4.0, Mark Wielgus posted a video at 45n5.com, Adsense Secrets Scam Alert, where he took Comm to task for a tactic in the sales process where buyers were also opting in for a subscription that would be billed $29.95 every 30 days.
Darren Rowse followed with a post at ProBlogger about the automatic subscription fee.
And now Joel has posted a page to apologize for his initial marketing effort.
He starts with the headline, “I SCREWED UP!”, and goes on to discuss the issue and how he has addressed it.
In addition to changing the page to give an option to buy with or without the subscription, Joel is donating 100% of the profits for the next two weeks (starting today) to Hearts and Hands International.
I applaud Joel’s response and think we should all bear in mind that we make mistakes with marketing experiments from time to time.
- Posted in Affiliate Opinions, Affiliate Resources
7 Comments
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On April 21 @ 6:14 pm posted[...] Weilgus gave Joel kudos for apologising, Zac Johnson is giving away free copies of the book and Shawn Collins has went as far as saying that he applauds Joel’s response. I have a lot of respect for these [...]
Shawn thanks for telling us a bout this. I saw Joel’s book and wanted to buy it but saw the continuity billing and decided not to. Now that I have seen his apology I am going to buy the book and I might try the newsletter too. Thanks again for all you do!
reply to this commentI wrote a post about the “scam design” of these type of sites and why they fail to convert
reply to this commentblizme -
Great – link to me from there and you’ll get a link back.
reply to this commentContinuity is the basis for lots of commerce – eg: cellphone subscriptions, newspapers, utilities.
You also have the less transparent (or some call it “shady”) side of cellphone ringtone subscriptions, etc.
The issue here is one of “permission-based subscription” or having the offer prominently displayed.
I ordered a low-priced product from another marketer and started seeing $39.97 monthly charges on my bill, and did an immediate chargeback.
As a marketer I’m very attuned to reading fine print and he didn’t even have the courtesy to mention it anywhere.
Shocking to say the least and it’s safe to say I won’t be doing business with him anytime in the future.
reply to this commentI was shocked that someone with the marketing presence of Joel could have done such a despicable thing as to have an auto billing subscription on the order but to also claim it as a bonus was simply ridiculous. Bonuses are free gifts they are not an excuse to squeeze money out of innocent customers.
reply to this commentI am pleased to see that he has responded to this issue and he deserves some credit for that but I suspect that it was his bottom line that persuaded him and not a guilty conscience. He knew his reputation was shot if he didn’t act fast.
It would have been obvious when the sales page was set up that people would end up paying for a subscription they did not want. An idiot could see that and I do not believe for one minute that Joel Ccmm is an idiot.
If he is really as honest and genuine as he likes to suggest the free issue of the newsletter should be exactly that. A free issue with a card or an email address inserted so that if you like it you can take out an order to the subscription and if you do nothing you will never be billed again.
It may be a superb newsletter and if so let it sell on it’s own merits not by devious and dodgy practices that belong in the gutter.
Not Good about Joel Comm.
He’s not a good person. Everything about this guy reeks of insincerity.
http://www.45n5.com/permalink/adsense-secrets-scam-alert.html
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