HayStak thoughts

[KyleHayden]

Hello all- we are currently using Haystack for our SEM/ PPC and while we're not terribly unhappy with our results, we're certainly not thrilled either. I have found very few online reviews about Haystak from Dealers and was curious if anyone is using them or has used them in the past. Were you happy with their service? Where were they lacking?

Thanks for your help-

Kyle Hayden

 

[Chris Leslie]

I've never used them so i can't really offer my opinion about their programs.

Although i do believe that you should really spend some time learning about the thing you are hiring them for. That way you can better inspect the stuff you expect from them.

 

[JessicaRuth]

Great advice @Chris Leslie

What are you hoping to get from Haystak @KyleHayden Traffic? Leads? Expanded presence? Do you know how much you should be spending for your area and makes? Do you know if your competition uses them?

 

[KyleHayden]

Thanks for your responses. We're mainly looking for Traffic and Presence. A small, local company used to handle our SEO/SEM/PPC, but we didn't think they had the man power to properly handle our stores (2 Chevy Stores, Ford Store and CDJR Store). However, since moving to Haystak, and keeping the budget the same, our Paid and Organic Traffic had dropped off significantly. To make matters worse, the analytics that Haystak is providing us on a monthly basis, never add up with the analytics we're seeing on our end (Haystak's numbers are always much higher).

 

[JessicaRuth]

@KyleHayden Time to get a new provider then....that sounds no bueno!

@Daniel J. Mondello knows a lot about this topic. I'm sure he can help!

 

[craigh]

I've dealt with a number of SEM companies (at least 5, if not closer to 10) and I've run into issues with inaccurate reporting before. Everytime this happens I find a new vendor - there's no way I can calculate an ROI, see results or even understand what they're doing if the reporting is inaccurate.

For what it's worth, my current favourite (based purely on metrics and results) is Move Your Metal.

 

[KyleHayden]

Thanks Craig- I've never heard of Move Your Metal but I'm going to look them up

 

[Ryan Montville]

We gave Haystak a tryout at one of our larger stores. We also found that performance dropped after giving a solid 4 months to the effort, and quickly switched back.

 

[skutchhenks]

However, since moving to Haystak, and keeping the budget the same, our Paid and Organic Traffic had dropped off significantly.

Hey Kyle, Haystak uses a reverse proxy to track clicks, calls, and forms on your website. Usually they'll use *.calls.net in the PPC ad urls, looks like they have with your site too: http://billestes.calls.net/ That's the reason you are seeing differences in your reporting vs. theirs.

Personally, I'm not a fan of reverse proxy tracking, and I don't need the conversion justification to know it's if it's working or not, I use other methods. You could ask your rep to remove that, then your traffic will line up, but I doubt you are losing or missing traffic if all things are the same. If you are relying on Cobalt CDK reporting though, it won't line up regardless. There is too much bloated traffic with their analytics in my opinion.

Also being GM stores, do you have multiple websites which you are also pushing traffic to with PPC? If so, I would use just one site. Another possible reason might be under spending, over targeting. Possibly by spreading out your focus on too many strategies, like dynamic used inventory ads, new inventory ads set in a too large an area, broad premium display ads, etc. I noticed you're outside of Indy, I would focus your PPC money on 20 miles around your dealership first, it looks like you are spread thin compared to the competition.



I have a few dealers I run PPC for in-house, I also use Haystak and Dealer.com for some, both are excellent in my opinion.

 

[KevinO]

If I was you I would look for transparency. It’s very common to see PPC companies charge between twenty & thirty percent of spend.