Comments on: MerchantCircle: ‘Zero Customer Acquisition Cost’

By: gostrath

gostrath — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 22:17:43 +0000

I have some information. Merchantcircle is hiding their information, hosting contacts and the like. I did a little research and found that they are hosting with the following firm:

Silicon Valley Colocation, Inc.
PO Box 390804
Mountain View, CA 94039
Phone 4087470724
Phone 408400-0550
email: abuseteam@svcolo.com
info@svcolo.com
support@svcolo.com

These people knew nothing of the trouble and asked that people contact them with complaints. Lets make a difference and shut down a bad company.

By: Greg

Greg — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 12:21:03 +0000

Well, one point worth mentioning, Google certainly hasn’t scored MC poorly. Their member listings certainly rank well. What’s rather ironic is their homepage is not geared toward promoting members, it is all self promotion.

Based on others opinions, MC will eventually hang themselves. Until then Google will continue to offer them exposure in return for updating their own databases. I would suggest taking advantage of MC until that time even if it means dealing with some annoying sales tactics.

By: Greg Sterling

Greg Sterling — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 19:44:48 +0000

There may be some SEO or referral value. The company certainly promotes the idea that there’s value but I don’t have any independent data one way or another.

By: greg

greg — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 19:05:47 +0000

Is there any value in linking to other merchants on MC? I get periodic emails from other merchants I don’t know. Not seeing the value.

By: John

John — Wed, 21 May 2008 21:38:33 +0000

Please read David W’s post above. Unfortunately the dark side of CDA section 320 is that ‘review sites’ are immune from liability for ‘third party posts.’ That is how sites like ‘Rip Off Report’ stay in business while demanding huge fees from ‘reported’ companies. In the old days we called it extortion. Google apparently LOVES review sites and gives them what I feel is unwarrented domain trust [translation: they show up in YOUR brand search]. Businesses are unjustly being harmed. We need to write our congressperson and attorney general’s office.

By: John

John — Wed, 21 May 2008 21:27:30 +0000

OK, I got the robo-call today that someone wanted to’verify’ my business. I would think they could just contact me directly. In fact, in our industry that would be the normal way things happen. I’ve dealt with the phony phone directory companies and the aptly-named ‘Rip Off Report’ [it is itself an extortion racket]. There seem to be a lot of people trying to make businesses pay them money these days, some legit and some not, so I’m inclined to be careful. If you want to sell me advertising, say so, but if you call me up and play games, I’m not playing.

By: Sioux City Sue

Sioux City Sue — Wed, 21 May 2008 18:20:19 +0000

Thanks guys and gals! You just saved my hide. I got one of those phone calls this morning and was going to check it out but got here first. You have made my day!

By: Air Quality Guy

Air Quality Guy — Wed, 21 May 2008 14:09:39 +0000

Same BS business, just changed tactics. These guys have a long history of scamming. Why would anyone do business with them if they just spent 5 minutes doing a little homework? They just phone spammed us yesterday with the robot telling us someone is trying to verify we are a legitimate business too. Nothing but trouble. Stay away.

By: Predictive analytics based CRM Analytics

Predictive analytics based CRM Analytics — Tue, 20 May 2008 05:07:47 +0000

Customer retention is gaining a lot of importance due to the fact that amount spend in retaining a customer is less than acquiring new customers. Earlier, companies used to spent largely on planning customer acquisition strategy. Data Analytics has already firms in core verticals in this area such as banks, finance, insurance etc. Companies have now started focussing more on retaining right customers, preventing customer attrition or increasing life-time value of a customer. It is easy to retain an already existing customer than to acquire a new customer. Companies have enormous amount of data about their customers. With proper predictive analytics models, one can predict the customer behaviour and act accordingly to achieve customer satisfaction.
Analytics service providers such as Fractal Analytics, have delivered their clients CRM Analytics and Customer Analytics services to help them increase their customer base and hence increase their marketing ROI.

By: cashrush.net

cashrush.net — Sun, 18 May 2008 18:56:57 +0000

well i set up a nifty little page with them and they put me fourth on the list in the finacial services section , and we do offer these FINANCIAL services we are CASH GIFTERS saving the world one gift at a time!! well today i tried to log into my site and it appears to not be there? any body know wazzzuup???