Hello,
Dorian is correct, email address was optional since account creation became possible via the API, with CreateAccountService first and ManagedCustomerService later. Oliver, I want to tell you we had an internal discussion based on this thread. We've also assessed number of API requests we receive with this field (which is very low) and other factors. The decision was made to continue with the change as announced. I am sorry this requires changes to your system and workflow. I still believe the correct way of handling this is to keep account ID - email pairs in your data store and to use that for both report delivery and UI rendering. -Danial, AdWords API Team. On Wednesday, September 17, 2014 5:57:24 PM UTC+4, Dorian Kind wrote: > > FWIW, out of the ~480 accounts I can see in our agency's MCC account, > around 70 have no login email set. So it seems this hasn't been a required > field to create an Adwords account for some time already. > > On Wednesday, September 17, 2014 3:03:33 PM UTC+2, Oliver wrote: >> >> >> >> On Wednesday, September 17, 2014 1:05:52 PM UTC+1, Danial Klimkin wrote: >>> >>> Hello Oliver, >>> >>> >>> >>>>> *How about API users that build tools for agencies? An agency might >>>> have their own way of contacting their clients but how can our systems, >>>> that rely only on what the API gives us, be able to do so? Are we going >>>> to >>>> have to ask our agency users to manually enter their customers details on >>>> our system? * >>>> >>> >>> This something that needs to be discussed between the tool provider and >>> the agency. Access permission on MCC level doesn't mean consent to share >>> email addresses of every sub-account. Please also note account can have no >>> email address associated with it at all. >>> >> >> *Clients sign up to agencies and expect to receive monthly reports on how >> well their account is managed. I've never come across a client who told >> his agency not to email him regarding his account performance.* >> >> *In SaaS products, the whole process of people using online tools is >> automated. We don't call an agency, when it signs up to our tool, and >> exchange info manually to set them up properly. I suspect that how most >> other SaaS vendors work.* >> >> *Yes email addresses can also be blank, but that's a lot less often than >> descriptive names being blank. I know this because I have access to >> thousands of adwords accounts on our system and can see this info.* >> >> *Are you removing the email address from the adwords interface as well? >> If so, then fair enough since users will be accustomed to this. But if >> not, then how can software vendors continue to innovate and build tools >> that make adwords management easier?* >> >> >> >>> >>> >>> >>>> *We're not using the email address to identify users or permissions, >>>> and we don't rely on it for anything. We use it mainly to display it on >>>> the screen, next to the account, so that the MCC user can visually >>>> identify >>>> each account in his hierarchy. We also use it when the agency wants to >>>> send >>>> monthly reports to their clients. If the agency doesn't want to send a >>>> report to the email address identified, they can switch it off. But most >>>> agencies do indeed use the email addresses associated with their customer >>>> accounts.* >>>> >>>> >>> For reporting purposes it should be possible to request email address on >>> the same screen a user can choose whether to receive reports over the email. >>> >> >> *Apologies if I didn't clarify my point. What you're referring to is fine >> for a single adwords account users. But what about for agencies that have >> a number of accounts within their MCC? How can we request tens, if not >> hundreds, of email addresses on the screen (for every one of their client >> accounts under the MCC)?* >> >> >> >>> >>> >>> *Using descriptive names has two major problems:* >>>> >>>> *1) As I mentioned before, we see many accounts with blank names. We >>>> can't force users to give their account a name before they start using our >>>> system. How is the user going to visually identify such accounts then? We >>>> can not show them only the 10 digit account ID. * >>>> >>>> *2) Account names are not unique. You can have multiple accounts >>>> within the same MCC with exactly the same descriptive name which can >>>> visually be very confusing when navigating the screens.* >>>> >>>> *What you're trying to achieve with descriptive names above is exactly >>>> what the email address is used for.* >>>> >>> >>> I understand you have some kind of internal data storage you can keep >>> additional information about your clients. I suggest adding metadata such >>> as contact address, display name etc. identified my account ID to this data >>> storage and use it in the UI for display. >>> >> >> *The email address, in my view, is the single most important meta data >> about an account. What is the difference, from your point of view, between >> using display name vs email address? Most adwords users are accustomed to >> viewing the email address of an account as a way of visually identifying an >> account. * >> >> >> >>> >>> Oliver, there is countless options for additional information that can >>> be displayed in a custom UI, we can't really store and provide access to >>> the data not directly related to ad serving. Customer email address is not >>> required for authorization, account identification, campaign management or >>> reporting and thus should not be part of the AdWords API. >>> >> >> *The same is true about the display name (descriptive name). It's not >> related to ad serving and is not used for authorization, etc.* >> >> *If I was given the option of choosing between display name and email >> address, I'd choose email address anytime.* >> >> *I urge to please consider again how this will affect software vendors >> who serve the agencies market (MCC accounts) and not just the single >> account users.* >> >> >> Oliver >> >> >> >>> >>> -Danial, AdWords API Team. >>> >> -- -- =~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~ Also find us on our blog and Google+: https://googleadsdeveloper.blogspot.com/ https://plus.google.com/+GoogleAdsDevelopers/posts =~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "AdWords API Forum" group. 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