Does anyone else find it odd that Google doesn't send us email notification when debiting our account for Adwords payments? They're the only company I’ve come across that doesn’t do this in some way, although they send out automated emails about a lot of other things. Most creditors send me a bill. Any that automatically debit my account do it on the same day every month, so I know it's going to happen, and I receive a statement by mail or email.
With Google, chunks of money disappear from my account with no warning, and I find out about them only if I log in to Adwords and check the accounts page. I don’t think it should be up to us to do this. Aside from the inconvenience, it strikes me as rather discourteous to take money from people without letting them know.
Perhaps Google does it because they don’t want to remind us how much we’re spending on our ad campaigns. However, this would be inconsiderate and not in the best interest of their customers.
keep in mind that google is being pretty cool about offering the "post-pay" option along with pay-by-credit card, even for new accounts.
Does anyone else find it odd that Google doesn't send us email notification when debiting our account for Adwords payments?
I'll be happy to pass this on as a suggestion for an opt-in feature, mark1111. However, I'd guess that many advertisers would prefer to not receive an email about this - as was the case for elsewhen. We hear from some advertisers that we send out too many emails as it is. ;)
Also, remember that many advertisers may be billed every day, or even multiple times per day.
What is really called for is an understanding of how the billing cycle works, combined with an understanding of the spend occurring in one's account - which is very much under the control of the advertiser.
With Google, chunks of money disappear from my account with no warning, and I find out about them only if I log in to AdWords and check the accounts page. I don’t think it should be up to us to do this.
AdWords accounts are intended to be actively managed by the advertiser, and in my opinion, being aware of one's spend is critical to this management. Within an account, and given an understanding of the billing cycle, it's very straightforward to anticipate when the next bill will occur - just compare your spend since your last bill to the amount at which your next bill will occur.
Here's a brief overview of the billing cycle, from the AdWords Help Center, which should help to clarify the cycle. Billing is not random, and will occur either when you hit a particular dollar amount in accrued clicks, or when 30 days have passed since your previous bill, whichever occurs first.
When do you bill?
[adwords.google.com...]
Perhaps Google does it because they don’t want to remind us how much we’re spending on our ad campaigns.
Quite the contrary. We actually hope (and perhaps even expect) that advertisers will know exactly what they are spending - as it is entirely up to them to make the settings that define this. As I mentioned, AdWords accounts are intended to be managed, and the idea of an advertiser not knowing what he or she is spending makes me very nervous indeed.
AWA
Both for adwords debits and adsense credits.
Why?
So then it can be seen in the inbox, entered into the accounts as a debit (or credit) with the date and quantity, and finished with.
No need to have to log in and check records every time you need a financial summary or tax report. I really do think it is an important feature and have suggested it in the past.
Carrying your argument to its logical conclusion, many people now have autopay set up for household bills. Even though you might know approximately what your rent/mortgage, insurance, gas, electric, and phone usage and bills are, how would you like to have your account debited for those amounts without notification, on a different day every month--and having those companies tell you they don't notify you because it's up to you to keep track? Anyway, I think an email would be great as an opt-in.
