Digital Thoughts - The Shot Heard Round The Lead Gen World

The Shot Heard Round The Lead Gen World

by Editor

On Friday of last week as the rest of us had thoughts of the weekend on our mind, 5 Star Affiliate Programs and Search Engine Land among others, covered a topic that represents one of the most amazing discoveries for those who follow the online lead generation space. We're not talking about the recent lawsuit just filed against Google for it's role in mobile subscription marketing. If you're wondering about that, it wasn't filed by the Florida Attorney General or any other state seeking its share of the lucrative settlement market. As reported in MediaPost, New Jersey resident Jenna Goddard believes that "Google has systematically declined to live up to its contractual obligations" by allowing ads to show that go against its mobile policy, i.e., ones that do not always "clearly and accurately displays price, subscription, and cancellation information." Where this suit will fail is in its contention that Google "intentionally misleads its users" by providing an anything goes environment. While it might be a strong statement to say that there are some things Google should be sued for in order to bring about change, e.g., their handling of advertiser bans, their handling of ringtone and other mobile subscription marketers isn't one of them. Unfortunately, Goddard's almost predatory suit shows little understanding of the true attitude of Google towards mobile marketers nor the levels to which the company goes in order to enforce its compliance. If anything, this suit will simply reinforce their existing attitudes, and it certainly won't make the task of promoting mobile subscription content on Google any easier. The same holds true for another major segment of the online advertising space. Here, though, Google doesn't look to see its termination; they look to see the dollars flow directly to them instead of through other aggregators. And, while its a validation of the value of lead generation, Google's Merchant Search, now in limited beta in the UK, shows the company wants in on the action.

As Google says on its site, directed towards potential users, "Google Merchant Search is an easy new way for you to find products or services from providers who match your needs," and it is "currently only available for secured loans from financial services providers." Go to Google.co.uk, type in secured loans and you might see the following:

You'll notice two major changes in the way Google typically promotes advertisers. First, the destination URL. It's a Google address - http://www.google.co.uk/MerchantSearchBeta. In the states, we've seen Google using its inventory to promote internal products - whether SketchUp, select job openings, Picasa, etc. - but none of those advertisements have the clear intent of disrupting a channel. This isn't some after thought use of internal inventory to help bolster the adoption of a customer facing product; this is a head-on attack and creation of a profit center. Focusing on this specific ad, the company most likely on high alert is MoneySuperMarket.com, the publicly traded price comparison site based in the UK (LSE:MONY). According to certain reports, MoneySuperMarket saw almost 60% of all financial price comparisons take place through its site. It's the eBay of auction of sites. While Google has Google Base, we don't currently see ads for the site appearing ahead of eBay or Shopping.com. Secondly, in an almost unfair advantage to the Google Merchant Search site, ads for it go beyond the Google Checkout identifier and contain an actual drop down in the ad.

Once a user clicks on the ad or selects the information in the drop down, they go to the Google run Merchant Search page which resembles a simplified comparison shopping where users view "sponsoring lenders for secured loans," i.e. paying advertisers.

A click on the "Get Quote" button pops up the following layer:

The form that pops up in the last step doesn't take you to a merchant's site, and it doesn't limit the number of quotes (or thus revenue) that Google can make. And, in a departure from others in the lead generation space, Google plays middle man, saying in their Merchant Search FAQ, "A Google operator will call you at the appointed time, then connect you with the provider. Because we do not share your contact information with the provider, they won't be able to contact you again about your request unless you decide to give then your contact details." As for response time, don't expect the US market's penchant for almost instantaneous follow-up, "Based on your requested contact time, most service providers respond within two business days."

Unfortunately, the existence of Google Merchant Search brings up more questions than it does answers, e.g., when will it come to the US market, with a name like Merchant Search does that imply entry into more comparison shopping than lead generation, what other verticals will they go into, will they adopt a Lending Tree approach etc., and trying to solve them right now is like trying to guess who will be the Vice Presidential candidate for the Democratic Party. What we have to do is learn from what Google has done with Merchant Search, as it could end up being their next biggest platform outside of AdWords. Its applications are almost endless, and it disrupts the entire online customer acquisition chain not just MoneySuperMarket and not just those doing online lead generation, if Google does indeed go the route they probably will. As is the case with Google, we have no choice but to wait and see, and in the meantime try to squeeze out what we can, I mean add as much value as possible so that users and advertisers continue to work with the aggregators. Merchant Search is no small feat and no minor undertaking, and it's a very different business. Some aggregators will be worried, others will simply wish them good luck and know that the hands-off, our way or the highway approach will drive them more business.

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