Received a call from 411.ca advertising sales rep and there happens to be a promotion ending tomorrow. The promotion was 50% off and it will increase site page rank to 10. The high pressure pitch and misleading information was a red flag but for only $250/mo it’s low risk to try it out. Here’s my honest 411.ca review with all numbers.

The promise from 411.ca Advertising:

51,372 searches a month and 12% CTR (Click rate) and I’m sharing the top banner with 4 other business.

This translates to 10,274 impressions with 1,233 clicks.

The cost per click would be $0.2027 a click which is substantially lower than Google’s $5 per click for Dentist keywords.

The Real Numbers with 411.ca Advertising:

The CTR or 12% was ridiculously high but I wanted to test it out. In reality this is what I got for the last 30 days:

Impressions: 2036 compare to the 10,274

Clicks: 7 compare to 1233

CTR = 0.3% compare to the 12% they promised

Cost per click = $35.71

Google Adwords cost per click for top dentist keywords = $5. In addition look at the length of the visit, it’s very short. Google Adwords provide more targeted searcher which will stay on your site longer.

The other promise of a Google Pagerank of 10 is not true. They said they are only 1 of 2 companies in Canada that is authorized to be a partner and will boost your Pagerank of your site to 10 if you buy from 411.ca advertising. This is not true, there are only 12 sites on the internet that has a Pagerank of 10. Later the rep clarified and said it will boost your content quality score to 10. I suspect this is also very improbable, if you have bad content on your site, why would Google give you a high quality ranking just because you pay 411.ca.

There were also many other issues as well other than the high pressure tactics and false information. They promised to start in July but charged my credit card the amount on day 1 and have charged it again and it’s not even July yet. Additionally they have not contacted me to set up my ads. When I respond by email I get an auto responder saying my account manager is on “absence leave”.

When I logged into the panel to get data I was absolutely shocked at the lack of data available. The only information they show you is the views. Nothing else. Not even the clicks which is quite simple to track and show.

How can you as a dentist avoid being taken from other advertisers. Here are some general tips:

1. Do a Google search on the company – if I have Googled “411.ca advertising reviews” I would have seen a lot of red flags.
2. Set up proper analytic and tracking. This is the most important and hardest thing to do but it’s very important you track your spending and your return on investment.
3. Monitor closely for the first 1-3 months. Within the first 3 months you should have a good indicator the success or an advertising campaign. There are seasonally slow months but even in the slow months you should see a little success.
4. Make a note of what they promise you. There are many metrics to look at, if you are like the majority of dentists out there and have not set up different numbers to track calls then the next best things is to ensure your receptionist track where new patients are coming from. You will also want to track the clicks to your site, the company who manages your web hosting can do so.
5. Start with short term or no contract. This will ensure that if it doesn’t work out then you can go.

Follow these tips and you can ensure that you do lose money trying marketing techniques that doesn’t work. Make sure you review the Dental Marketing Framework to set the spending.

411.ca Fraud Charge (Oct 8th 2013)

Cancellation was quite difficult but I was finally able to speak to a staff that was willing to help and said “I will remove your credit card so they cannot charge you again.” She made it sound like this has happened before and that they would charge my credit card again without authorization. After that I have not heard from them again until today when I got my credit card bill!

How to reverse and block 411 from charging your credit card

Over three months after the ordeal I got a charge in my credit card statement for $299. I tried contacting 411 but apparently their phone has an error. Then I called my credit card MBNA. The great thing is that they reversed the charge and block the merchant. He asked when I contact them to cancel, after that date they can block and reverse the charge.